Practice Straight

[Zarniwoop]

I have seen around the forums a few mentions of someone who makes wooden straights with dull wooden blades. Anybody have pictures or know who I can contact about this.

I am looking for a straight type object perhaps made of wood or plastic to learn how to safely handle a straight without cutting myself before I actually use the real thing. One thread mentioned Palmers no blade shaver.

Perhaps what I am looking for could be a kids pretend straight.

Any advice would be helpful.

TIA

 

[Chimensch]

Cutting yourself is the best way to learn good technique... at least that's my method.

 

[michiganlover]

Cutting yourself is the best way to learn good technique... at least that's my method.

+1

I think it is impossible to learn to use a straight without cutting yourself. No amount of practice with a wooden stick is going to prepare you for the real thing.

You can't learn to drive a car by simply sitting in it, or by observing someone else. You need to sit in the drivers seat, and just start driving.

 

[ofelas]

Having said that - a butter knife would be a great way to practice stropping.

 

[life2short1971]

Buy a cheapy off ebay and dull it but its easier to learn with a sharp one. Plus the shave is better.

 

[ramon]

wow I never see something like that , is funny
My friend start with the real deal dont be scare , buy a straight razor make a good hone and start to shave .
You only see people cutting his face on the movies
take care

 

[BladeRunner001]

I have seen around the forums a few mentions of someone who makes wooden straights with dull wooden blades. Anybody have pictures or know who I can contact about this.

I am looking for a straight type object perhaps made of wood or plastic to learn how to safely handle a straight without cutting myself before I actually use the real thing. One thread mentioned Palmers no blade shaver.

Perhaps what I am looking for could be a kids pretend straight.

Any advice would be helpful.

TIA

I think the best way is to go for the jugular...don't mess around with wooden prototypes. Use the real thing. The main reason, IMO, is that wodden razors would most probably not have the weight, handling, heft, etc that you will need to build muscle memory. You can really become great at handling a wooden straight, but when time comes for you to use the real thing (and you will have to do this), it will be back to square one for you.

Don't be afraid of cutting...You really have to work hard to do harm to yourself. Worse case you will get a little nick here, but nothing worth writing and complaining home about

Go for the real thing and don't dance around the subject.

 

[Blue58]

Maybe you could buy an old straight off ebay and one of the other Aussie straight users can bread knife it so it wont cut you but you can get a good idea of the feel of it.

Of course you would probably have to pay them something for it but it would give you something to work with. I am sure one of them will come in and see what this thread is about.

 

[natchez]

Are we the same group that has many often suggesting starting with your cheeks and then moving on to other areas slowly?

Yes, I agree you have to actually shave to learn to shave. But, I will confess to using a butter knife to try and find the best way to do part of my face. I have a tricky area where the grain runs in an awkward way under my jawline on the right side and I am right-handed. After shaving, I could till feel some stubble, so I used a butter knife to learn how to best get at it.

This practice probably saved me a few nicks at worst or a slice at best. So, although I think buying a practice blade is probably not needed, practice is.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Looks like skirting round the bush is bad and I will just have to dive straight in and use a real straight. Take what happens on the chin and learn from any little mishaps.

January 1 is the big day for my start. Plenty of time to study and get my razor prepped.

 

[Blue58]

Looks like skirting round the bush is bad and I will just have to dive straight in and use a real straight. Take what happens on the chin and learn from any little mishaps.

January 1 is the big day for my start. Plenty of time to study and get my razor prepped.

Just remember we are always here and will be happy to answer any of your questions.

Go slow and take your time its not a race.

Ask lots of questions before you start. No question is a silly question, they are all good.

Good luck.

 

[BBrad]

. . .Take what happens on the chin and learn from any little mishaps.

That's where it usually happens for me . . . on the chin!!

I am still feeling my way with straights . . . getting better each time as I remember that mastering a straight is a process, not an event.

Very satisfying every time I see progress with my technique and results . . . and for the record, absolutely no blood as of yet!! (But I still switch off to a DE for the tough spots like the chin!!)

 

[Zarniwoop]

(But I still switch off to a DE for the tough spots like the chin!!)

Thats what I plan to do. Take it easy. Try the simple parts, like my cheek (pull taught) first. Get comfortable with that and then move on to the more difficult parts.
Slow and easy wins the race.
Keep falling foward.

 

[BBrad]

Sounds like a great plan . . . I like the "falling forward" part!!

Here's to our respective journeys progressing well . . . Cheers!! (Lifting glass of wine somewhere in the direction of Down Under . . .)

 

[DavyRay]

I have a nice line of dried blood on my right cheek, just under my sideburn. I honed a vintage straight razor today, and shaved with it. The first stoke was cheek-to-sideburn. The second stroke was sideburn-down. That one dug in about one half inch below my sideburn. Started bleeding immediately.

The razor is a vintage "SIMMONS HARDWARE COMPANY", "MADE IN GERMANY". The edge is raggedy, despite being honed on a coticule. I know better than to put a raggedy edge to my face, yet did it today. Go figure.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Another step in my learning curve at the moment, is learning how and where to pull my skin whilst using a DE.

Thanks to all for the encouragment

Bottoms Up

 

[Shangas]

Shaving with a practice or dull razor seems...counterintuative (sp?) in my book. You won't learn how to shave properly if you don't use the proper utensils, and at the same time, as the others have said - cutting yourself (to start with) is the only way to learn how to handle the blade effectively. It's like a...a...an initiation or a sacrifice.

Thou must pay for thy skills blood of thine body, if ever true mastery of the blade be found!

...Or something like that.

I reckon running the dull edge of a table-knife (or a buttering knife, as others have mentioned) across your face, and to learn how to strop, is the best way to learn if you're really worried, but I still think that the only way to practice is to do the real thing. You never learn to do something just by watching someone else do it.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Just found my grandfather's straight. Yippee!!! I now have a second razor to use and learn with.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Get one of the infamous Zeepk razors from ebay. Should be able to get one for a buck or two, plus shipping. The steel is so crummy that it isn't sharp even after honing it. (unless you luck out and get one of the rare solingen zeepks) Seriously, you can find something for a buck or two and dull it if necessary. But I would just buck up and use a proper shave-ready vintage razor. You can get a nice one from Larry Andro (whippeddog.com) for around $30 that might not be so pretty but it will be a good shaver. Another option is a new Gold Dollar brand Chinese razor. These can be had cheaply and there are a few vendors who sell them on ebay in shave-ready condition. They can be decent shavers, though not as good as a really nice vintage blade. At any rate, going cheap on a learning razor could be a good idea, just so you don't mess up a nice (and expensive) razor. But get one that will not only bite you if handled improperly, but will actually shave! Only if it is actually listed as shave-ready will it be so. Most brand new razors are not shave-ready right out of the box. If it is not shave-ready, find a honemeister on this site to get it into shape for you. Yes, you can learn to hone it yourself, but if you hone it and then try to learn to shave with it, you won't know whether the problem is in your honing or your shaving, so keep the blade sharpness a known factor by NOT doing it yourself initially.

You WILL need to learn to strop it yourself, though. You will have to strop your blade before every shave, maybe even during your shave, too. Light pressure! Tight strop! Roll the blade over on the spine when you get to the end and change directions. Never turn it over in such a way that the edge faces your strop. A cheap beginner's strop would be a wise investment, since you will probably nick the strop as you learn.

You won't learn much by rubbing a dull object over your face. You WILL cut yourself as you find the limits of what you can do with a real razor, anyway. If you are extremely careful, you will only have a very few gotchas before you settle in to hardly ever getting cut at all. Most razor cuts are just tiny nicks or weepers so don't worry yourself about it. They aren't painful, either, generally.

The most important issues in cut/slice prevention are the angle between the blade and the skin, the pressure against the face, and the angle between the direction of blade motion and the blade axis. The first is pretty easy to experiment with. Start out with a well-lathered face. Place the razor flat against your cheek, and stroke it down your cheek. It won't cut very well, but it should cut a few whiskers. Now gradually roll the blade out so that the spine of the blade is no longer touching your face, but the edge is. You will find that at some angle, if your blade is sharp and the skin stretched taut, the razor will shave quite well indeed. This angle will be fairly small. As you increase the angle, you increase the likelyhood of a nick, and you also will wear down the edge of your razor. The temptation is to use too great an angle. That is not a good thing. Fairly light pressure will get the job done. The harder you press, the more stress on the edge and the more chance of a cut. The last factor is pretty obvious. The edge should be perpendicular to the direction of travel, or you can get a slice which will bleed like crazy even though it will be very shallow. A slicing or sliding stroke is a recognized technique but best learned only after you get basic shaving down pat. Oh, and one more thing... stretch the skin taut where you are shaving. Loose skin makes sort of a hump ahead of the moving edge, and invites a cut. And always THINK about the blade angle before touching it to your face. Be deliberate. Be in control, with total awareness, not a shave-zombie on autopilot.

There are some pretty good videos of straight shaving on youtube, and you will find links to some of them here, by doing a search on the forums. Also look for stropping videos and later on, honing videos and tutorials. Keep reading these forums. Learn about maintaining your razor. Learn about face prep. There is a lot of knowledge around here that will improve your shave experience.

 

[Shangas]

Just found my grandfather's straight. Yippee!!! I now have a second razor to use and learn with.

I saw that thread. That looks like (once it's cleaned up some) a nice razor. I reckon you should keep that one aside until you're perfectly confident, then use it to shave, not just to practice on. That razor's too special to muck up on.