The Scything & Slicing stroke

[leighton]

This is what I mean by scything and slicing stroke. I call it a guillotine incorrectly. Scything on the left(first), slicing on the right (2nd). Added a picture of the guillotine stroke too.

WARNING These are advanced strokes, please do not try them if you are not comfortable with your shaving abilities.

 

[mdunn]

Good pictures mate.

Youll want to be careful with using #2 though - any time I try that way I end up with a cut. #1 on the other hand works every time for me

 

[dannywonderful]

I use both but #2 requires an extremely light touch.

 

[NoFair]

#1 and #3 for me as well.

I do #2 a bit with the spine touching the skin, but it probably ends up closer to #3.

 

[Seraphim]

Nice illustrations!



I'm mostly a #3 kinda guy, with a small amount of #1 on the cheeks where I can get it....

 

[ambrose]

I love the guillotine most

 

[Bertilak]

Note that #2 and #3 are the same picture with #3 just turned slightly askew. The exact same cutting stroke. In both cases you are pushing slightly towards the toe of the blade.

I do find it helps to picture it as #3. That somehow makes it feel more natural.

But the blade and your face have no way of knowing whether you have #2 or #3 in mind.

A "pure" #1 does not provide any slicing action. It is much like a slow-motion ax swing. The key action of a (real) scythe is not the arc it is swung in, but the angle of the blade with respect to the direction of motion.

 

[Chimensch]

Note that #2 and #3 are the same picture with #3 just turned slightly askew. The exact same cutting stroke. In both cases you are pushing slightly towards the toe of the blade.

I do find it helps to picture it as #3. That somehow makes it feel more natural.

But the blade and your face have no way of knowing whether you have #2 or #3 in mind.

A "pure" #1 does not provide any slicing action. It is much like a slow-motion ax swing. The key action of a (real) scythe is not the arc it is swung in, but the angle of the blade with respect to the direction of motion.

No. Two and three are different strokes. In two, you are moving in two directions at once. You are moving down, at 90° to the spine AND pushing towards the toe at the same time. In three, you are only moving in one direction but the razor is held at an angle.

 

[Bertilak]

No. Two and three are different strokes. In two, you are moving in two directions at once. You are moving down, at 90° to the spine AND pushing towards the toe at the same time. In three, you are only moving in one direction but the razor is held at an angle.

It's the same picture! Just **** your head when looking at one and you see the same thing as the other.

In any X-Y plane you can arbitrarily rotate the axes to have more or less X or Y component to a direction but nothing "really" changes.

The amount of motion parallel to the blade and the amont of motion perpendicular to the blade are the same in both cases.

 

[Alacrity59]

2 and 3 look like the DE Gillette slide.

 

[Chimensch]

It's the same picture! Just **** your head when looking at one and you see the same thing as the other.

In any X-Y plane you can arbitrarily rotate the axes to have more or less X or Y component to a direction but nothing "really" changes.

The amount of motion parallel to the blade and the amont of motion perpendicular to the blade are the same in both cases.

I agree that the picture looks the same, but when you do them, which I do everyday, they are two different strokes with two different motions. Someday, I'm going to get a camera and make a video. When you see them done, you will understand the difference. It's the difference between moving your hand at an angle, which is a vector that is a combination of two directions and holding the razor at an angle and moving in one direction. The difference is that, with two, you can easily slice your face if you're not careful while, with three, it's virtually impossible to slice your face.

 

[NoFair]

Just tried #2 and got my first cut in a few weeks

That much sideways movement makes for small cuts for me...

 

[Chimensch]

Just tried #2 and got my first cut in a few weeks

That much sideways movement makes for small cuts for me...

It takes practice but, IMO, it's worth it. When I want to practice a new stroke without cutting myself, I do a couple of extra passes with no hair. Makes a big difference.

 

[Bertilak]

Just tried #2 and got my first cut in a few weeks

That much sideways movement makes for small cuts for me...

Use less.

 

[nmerth]

Thanks Leighton...this will help with my first shave on the Razor you honed for me!

 

[NoFair]

Use less.

I normally do

 

[richmondesi]

Great idea for a thread leighton. It took me a lot of time to figure these out on my own. Good stuff

 

[Ohio]

That Scything stroke will hurt you really quick if you're not careful

I can mow a field with a scythe, but darn near cut my chin off with the stroke using a razor.

Be careful, guys. Real careful.

 

[ZethLent]

I use all of the above. But it depends on which pass and which part of the face.

I find that a committed North-South for pass one can never do any harm. For my XTG second pass I use a scything on my neck, Slicing on my cheeks, and a guillotine on my mouth and jaw area.

I also have three scars (no very visible anymore) on my left cheek that resemble a cat attack from my initial efforts at using the slicing stroke. |||

But in the end practice makes perfect. Well worth the practice in my estimation.

 

[professorchaos]

Sadly, I'll be the voice of reason here, even though I do employ some of these techniques. Any n00b reading this should know that these are advanced techniques which, improperly handled, can give you a tasty cut. Generally speaking it is best to move the razor perpendicular to the edge. Especially when starting out.