I love the looks on that blade. I had my first run with a wedge this weekend, I know I'm a fan of them at this point. Keep at it, could be you just aren't used to it.
I hear you, and my first and most important test for a new "shave ready" razor is to shave with it. I haven't been stropping shave-readies before I use them, but I think I'm now at the point where I'm confident enough that my stropping won't destroy the edge, and know what a shave ready (for me)should feel like, that I'll probably strop any new blade before I use it. I think that would have vastly improved the quality of today's shave with the MK 3, but I suppose I'll find out tomorrow.I personally don't put much stock in the HHT. I have had a razor that seemed to not really pass that at all, but I always got smooth comfortable shaves from it. *shrug*
lol Cute footnote...
I've never lathered my strops, I only strop my hand/palms on them a few times a week so they get naturally oiled, so I'm not much help there.
Oh, there's counterfeit everything. I doubt very much it is counterfeit -- for one thing, it works really well. I guess I'm just surprised such an expensive soap would come with such a cheap label.I've never heard of counterfeit soaps, even the pricey ones like MdC.
I have the MdC fougere, and I merely take some off the top, put it into a plastic tub for the daily use, and use the glass jar as a storage container for the remainder. Less chance I'll drop the glass one and break it when trying to handle it with wet hands. lol
No, but I'm tempted.Have you tried a shavette? I found I lightened up a lot after a shavette shave.
Thanks! I feel in making slow but steady progress on the neck. Hopefully by shave 100...My cure for an irritated neck and I'm not perfect at it, is almost flat spine against the neck and learning the contours of the neck. It's a tough spot to figure out. Sounds like you're doing awesome though keep it up!!
good looking out on the edge, but what does the other side of the bevel look like on the heel? a hige or small bevel doens't tell you how an edge is gonna be, but if the other side is wide than it could be either a slight warp or non-matching hone wear induced.HHT worked on middle AND toe after stropping, but still no joy on the heel side. The shave, however, told the full story. After a good stropping, this razor was much smoother and cut through hair with ease. A very satisfactory shave (2 pass, WTG/XTG, plus cleanup on the neck) resulted in DFS bordering on BBS. The extra attention on the neck yielded a close shave, but a fair amount of irritation (the alum block lit me up bright red all along the lower part of my neck, where the hairs grow out from the middle towards the side). I gave myself a couple of weepers on the neck in spots where I ended my stroke near perpendicular with the skin. I don't think I'll be sending the razor back after all, as I found this to be a very enjoyable shave.
interesting, i much prefer a edge going from center towards ear than away from it...I had a bit of an epiphany last night, as I was stroking my jawline in thought and realized that the hairs right on the jawline tend to grow outward toward the ear, but my "XTG" strokes there are usually ear-chin, which works well for the cheek area where the hairs grow basically N-S. I realized I may have been shaving more WTG/ATG on the jawline, which probably accounts for the extra irritation I often get there. This morning I came in from the ears until I got to the jawline, then for my chin and jawline stared in the middle and worked my way outward. This is definitely a more awkward stroke for me at the moment, but the results bear out my theory, and I'm going to switch to this for my daily routine.
don't know but MdC is great! the 293 is the davinci? boars dfor mne always made less airy lather. but i face lather for the most part so i no longer get pillows of product like a bowl lather process induces.I face-lathered the MdC today, and had no trouble producing a wet, cushiony lather with the Semogue. I think this has to do with the amount of product and/or water the boar brush holds vs. the 293, but I'm not sure. Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.
some of us just lurk at times... we are still reading... on occasionA couple of of other questions arose from today's shave, and I'll throw it out there to you, my loyal readers*:
1. After today's shave I wiped some of the remaining lather from my brush onto the strop, as suggested in the little pamphlet that came with it, and as I have read others suggest as well. I let it sit for a few minutes while I cleaned up, then wiped down the strop and used it to strop the razor. When I was done, the razor had burgundy lines on both sides where the spine had run along the strop. This did not happen when I stropped the razor before the shave, so I'm assuming it happened because of the soap, and was either soapy residue that picked up the stain of the leather, or leather that got scraped off because of the water or the soap. My question is: what am I doing wrong? Should I wait until after the stropping to put the soap on the strop? Should I wipe it off sooner, or later (e.g., should I let it sit overnight, or just paint it on and wipe it right off)?
good looking out on the edge, but what does the other side of the bevel look like on the heel? a hige or small bevel doens't tell you how an edge is gonna be, but if the other side is wide than it could be either a slight warp or non-matching hone wear induced.
interesting, i much prefer a edge going from center towards ear than away from it...
the 293 is the davinci?
boars dfor mne always made less airy lather. but i face lather for the most part so i no longer get pillows of product like a bowl lather process induces.
some of us just lurk at times... we are still reading... on occasion
definitely wait to lather the leather after stropping. let the strop dry and then brush off the residue with your palm. my palms are not oily enough and the room my strops are in is a bit drier. so palm oiling that was not effective for me.
One side has a nice, even bevel. The other has a bevel that narrows to nearly nothing at the ends. I'll try to take some pics with a loupe.
EDIT: Here are some pics of either side of the blade near the heel:
View attachment 347333View attachment 347334View attachment 347335View attachment 347336
the heel on both sides looks suspect...
The blade is oddly-shaped, but here's what I get with my cheap digital calipers:whats the calculated angle if you can figure it out?
No, the edge shots are of the 7/8 near-wedge. The 4/8 (KB Extra) is indeed the one I have trouble stropping, but it's the 7/8 I had questions about the edge/bevel.is that a 4/8s now?
That spine width delta is odd. I dont see any hone wear. Does it have any?was it honed on lots of tape?