Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Glad to help out.
Geo says about 100 shaves I think. It takes time to build muscle memory.I did my eighth straight razor shave today. I keep removing variables from the equation, but I just can't seem to get it right.
I have everything: a Feather AC Kamisori shavette, 2 Gold Dollars, 2 professionally honed Dovo 6/8th razors, a vintage Bohemian Boston, an Illinois strop, bench strops, all the diamond plates, synthetic and natural stones I could ever need, a strop made from a dress shirt sleeve, denim for more strops, Flitz, green chrome compound, bench strops.
A few shaves have torn up my skin, and the rest didn't remove a reasonable amount of my beard before throwing in the towell and finishing with a crappy shave or a DE razor.
I am taking my time, minding my angle and going to 30 degrees, stretching skin. Today, I couldn't actually get any part of my face smooth. I was using a sharp professionally honed razor. I used it yesterday, too. No stopping, then stopping. Yesterday was a disaster.
I have watched videos.
Someone said it takes 30 shaves to get competent. Is that a typical experience?
I am not looking for a miracle here, I just want to have a reasonably successful shave with a straight where the success isn't actually achieved when I pick up a Blackbird.
Any idea what I am doing wrong?
Sorry for the ramble. I am lost.
I started with Naniwa Chosera 800, then shapton glass 8k
Yeah. Naniwa is a funny scale and scratches were nearly gone, but I could put a 3k chosera between them. I was thinking to go to the Naniwas pro 12k or best surgical black after the shapton glass 8k and skip the flitz on denim. I just am not sure what us better, how many strokes stroke direction if I do. My freshly flattened Naniwa 12k seemed to make a rougher edge than the Shapton 8k before, too. I have since hit the 12k with a kitchen knife to burnish it a little.That's a pretty huge jump.
After your 8k, you should only need to use 5-10 strokes on your 12k. Pressure and a large lap count will likely just ruin the edge at this stage.My freshly flattened Naniwa 12k seemed to make a rougher edge than the Shapton 8k before, too. I have since hit the 12k with a kitchen knife to burnish it a little.
Since all your reference edges were honed by the same person, it would be worth sending one to someone else to get a different perspective, in my opinion.None of the GSG shave ready edges seemed very sharp to me. They were more like barely sharp enough to get the job done. Not in the same ballpark as a Feather. Were they done properly or poorly? I really don't have the relevant experience to say.
What stones do you have in the 1 to 5k range? Personally I would want one, probably two stones between the 800 and the 8k. The other thing, since you have an 8k and a 12k, I wouldn't bother with the SoS method at all, just do edge leading strokes through your progression. Not sure what's going on with the 12k, I lap mine every time I use it. 10-15 laps at the most is the ticket if the prior work was done well. What did you lap it with?Yeah. Naniwa is a funny scale and scratches were nearly gone, but I could put a 3k chosera between them. I was thinking to go to the Naniwas pro 12k or best surgical black after the shapton glass 8k and skip the flitz on denim. I just am not sure what us better, how many strokes stroke direction if I do. My freshly flattened Naniwa 12k seemed to make a rougher edge than the Shapton 8k before, too. I have since hit the 12k with a kitchen knife to burnish it a little.
I shaved with shavettes for years (mostly feather SS) before trying traditional straights. I kept sending different razors to different people with different stones and pastes before I finally realized that traditional straights will just never be as sharp as the feather AC blades that I had grown accustomed to. I can shave my head with them just fine, but not my hard facial whiskers... especially the goatee area.nnThat said, they can still get sharp enough for most people, and it's much too early to assume it's not just your edge/technique/other... though I doubt it's entirely your technique if you can get good shaves with the much more demanding feather AC.Oh, I don't think I am overestimating my edges. I am very open to the idea that the Feather AC is the only shave ready edge I have actually tried.
I haven't tried a true straight edge that I can say was certainly good, so I am not really qualified to say where any of them are on any reasonable scale.
None of the GSG shave ready edges seemed very sharp to me. They were more like barely sharp enough to get the job done. Not in the same ballpark as a Feather. Were they done properly or poorly? I really don't have the relevant experience to say.
It is possible that everyone shaved with edges like that 125 years ago. They are functional. It is possible that enthusiasts are shaving with edges like that today. All of my own edges are worse. I haven't tried anything better. I just don't know.
Anyway, my honing and shaving are coming along, but honing is more difficult than I expected it to be.