26 shaves with straights and I'm loving it even more! 
I'm now the proud owner of 3 "shave ready" straights...just got my Gold Dollar #208 back from being honed by Bart. It was definitely worth the wait. I've just shaved with it and I think it qualifies as "scary sharp" but it also felt tremendously smooth. Now I've really got something to aim for when I get my own Coticule, if that's the result that's possible!
The razor is technically a 6/8, although it actually measures 13/16 so it could be a "small" 7/8
Round point so my ear lobes can breathe a sigh of relief after their close calls with a spike recently!
I realise that I should have given the Offenbach another few shaves to get used to it, but I was like a kid on Christmas Day and couldn't wait to take the GD for a test run
I followed Bart's advice and just (carefully) wiped off the oil before use. No way was I going to risk wrecking the edge with a potentially poor, newbie stropping technique.
I face lathered with my Men-U boar brush and a Palmolive stick. I must be in the shaving gods good books at the moment...perfect lather ensued
First pass was my usual WTG going North to South on my cheeks. The scales feel a bit flimsy so it's definitely a candidate for a re-scale (I've got some acrylic sheets lined up already). The edge went through the stubble like a hot knife through butter!! Even though I'd had a DFS with a Slim 24 hours ago, there was significant hair removal.
My decision to start learning using both hands seems to be paying off, it's feeling a lot more natural to use either hand with a straight...it certainly makes getting my jawline easier. I do a XTG from my chin towards my ear, whilst looking away to the side, this seems to stretch the skin a bit more. The final inch or so gets stretched by pulling my ear outwards and cutting from ear towards my chin.
My neck gets a North to South WTG pass followed by a South to North ATG pass around my Adam's apple area, the sides get 2 XTG passes, one pass each way.
The only bloodshed tonight was a tiny weeper when I nicked my mole.
Finished off by giving the razor a quick, careful, rinse. Dried with toilet paper, 10 laps on Latigo then oiled the blade with baby oil. Applied Witch Hazel to my face, only a very slight "tingle", mostly near the mole I'd nicked.
I'd like to finish by giving a very public thanks and to Bart for a very nice job!
EDIT: Just noticed I've posted this in Hones/Honing instead of General Straight Razor Talk....it's definitely Coticule related but maybe more suitable in the General area.
I'm now the proud owner of 3 "shave ready" straights...just got my Gold Dollar #208 back from being honed by Bart. It was definitely worth the wait. I've just shaved with it and I think it qualifies as "scary sharp" but it also felt tremendously smooth. Now I've really got something to aim for when I get my own Coticule, if that's the result that's possible!
The razor is technically a 6/8, although it actually measures 13/16 so it could be a "small" 7/8
Round point so my ear lobes can breathe a sigh of relief after their close calls with a spike recently!I realise that I should have given the Offenbach another few shaves to get used to it, but I was like a kid on Christmas Day and couldn't wait to take the GD for a test run
I followed Bart's advice and just (carefully) wiped off the oil before use. No way was I going to risk wrecking the edge with a potentially poor, newbie stropping technique.
I face lathered with my Men-U boar brush and a Palmolive stick. I must be in the shaving gods good books at the moment...perfect lather ensued
First pass was my usual WTG going North to South on my cheeks. The scales feel a bit flimsy so it's definitely a candidate for a re-scale (I've got some acrylic sheets lined up already). The edge went through the stubble like a hot knife through butter!! Even though I'd had a DFS with a Slim 24 hours ago, there was significant hair removal.
My decision to start learning using both hands seems to be paying off, it's feeling a lot more natural to use either hand with a straight...it certainly makes getting my jawline easier. I do a XTG from my chin towards my ear, whilst looking away to the side, this seems to stretch the skin a bit more. The final inch or so gets stretched by pulling my ear outwards and cutting from ear towards my chin.
My neck gets a North to South WTG pass followed by a South to North ATG pass around my Adam's apple area, the sides get 2 XTG passes, one pass each way.
The only bloodshed tonight was a tiny weeper when I nicked my mole.
Finished off by giving the razor a quick, careful, rinse. Dried with toilet paper, 10 laps on Latigo then oiled the blade with baby oil. Applied Witch Hazel to my face, only a very slight "tingle", mostly near the mole I'd nicked.
I'd like to finish by giving a very public thanks and
to Bart for a very nice job! EDIT: Just noticed I've posted this in Hones/Honing instead of General Straight Razor Talk....it's definitely Coticule related but maybe more suitable in the General area.
Last edited:
(my apologies for the long wait)
