I had my first shave after honing them yesterday to HHT pass. It turned out that the first razor I tried - my Bartmann was not so hot. So after the first try with it, I turned to the other razor the Crown and Sword and it was better by a mile but could still use some improvement.
So I sat down for another session of touch up honing today and was much more happy with the HHT passing all along the blade and the level of shine I got on the edge. I used a Spyderco UF dry. Hoping that tomorrow's try will be even better.
Well my first ever full straight razor shave today!
No nicks or cuts.
I started by lathering up and then taking the C&S for stropping. 10 on linen and 50 on the leather of the #827. I noted uneven draw and the texture is such that it requires some care with pressure and I still don't think I've got this wide strop thing down yet. I was happier some time ago with a narrower smooth belt previously using an X pass. But I was never fully dependent on sharpening the edge myself then.
Anyhow I went to shave and found the razor a bit rougher than yesterday. After trying different angulation I was sure the edge wasn't right.
I took the Bartmann and went straight for a shave rather than stropping. In effect this was straight from the Spyderco... and what a difference! The Bartmann is a full hollow but not 'extra hollow' like the C&S and has a slightly heavier feel.
I did the cheeks and neck which went very smoothly due to the nice blade. I had little stubble but the Bartmann was achieving something. I had never previously used my left hand but am training it now and I was impressed by how dexterous it was. I am a surgeon and have some left hand dexterity anyhow so this was not entirely surprising.
Then the hard parts which I'm doing for the first time... moustache and chin... the sides of the moustache weren't hard and the lateral chin areas were fine. The hardest parts were the areas at the tip of the chin and immediately next to it. I did the right part of it with a backhanded right hand hold and the left I did with a forehanded right handed hold. I couldn't quite get the stubble off entirely but thought to leave it since I wasn't going to win a prize by getting it all on my first ever attempt. Seeing the stripes and cuts across others chins made me a bit more realistic here...
Then the coup de maitre. I have a long philtrum so it wasn't quite a 80-90 degree approach but having watched videos of the stroke I found it hard at first but then the action came and went nicely.
I think with the heaviness of my beard I'll have to consider doing the chin and moustache first as that is when the blade is going to be sharpest.
Except for the chin, corners of the mouth where there is still all the stubble (just wasn't sure enough to do this), and the left side of my neck it's a pretty good attempt for a first go. No razorburn...
In terms of stropping I think I probably did ruin the C&S' keenness. I will have to get a smooth strop. Probably one of Tony's 3" heirloom strops.
Also I think that the extra hollow blade of the C&S while I know is capable of much, from yesterday's brilliant shave with it, may not be heavy enough or resilient enough for my heavy beard. I will probably sell it soon and try and get a swayback wedge which I know I'll love... The Bartmann really showed itself to be a very nice shaver though... I was doubtful of it yesterday but it's just very nicely balanced and even straight off the Spyderco is faultless.
Stropping is the missing link at the moment. I'm happy enough I can get a shaving edge, I just have to get it better with stropping, not ruin it...
Sounds good Ben. Feel free to spend a little more time
on the linen side of the strop, but of course do whatever
works best for you.
I've owned the following strops from Tony Miller: Red
Latigo 3", Horsehide 3", Original Black Latigo 2 1/2". In
fact, I still have the horsehide and black latigo. For some
reason, as much as I love these strops, I can't get them
to perform as well as my Dovo Best Russian Strop 2".
sebell wrote:Sounds good Ben. Feel free to spend a little more time
on the linen side of the strop, but of course do whatever
works best for you.
I've owned the following strops from Tony Miller: Red
Latigo 3", Horsehide 3", Original Black Latigo 2 1/2". In
fact, I still have the horsehide and black latigo. For some
reason, as much as I love these strops, I can't get them
to perform as well as my Dovo Best Russian Strop 2".
*sigh*
Again, best of luck to you!
- Scott
Scott thanks for the suggestion. I think the 2" thing is probably the key there. I think I've created a very slight curl in my 827 through the prep I did a few days ago. I can see this on straight draws as a very slight gap on the wtg pass on the strop. An oblique pass sorts this out, but an X pattern is even better.
I think I'm probably going to dispense with the idea of a 3" strop then, and get the Dovo 2" in best Russian... just seems more natural and less likely to curl or cause issues. I thought a wider strop would be easier but it turns out it's not the case...
I've been shaving with these nightly since my last post.
I've been working on better stropping and that has been trying to train myself into using very fast strokes.
So far so good. Still no nicks or cuts.
I've regained the confidence with my cheeks and neck and I'm getting more comfortable with the angles around my mouth and chin.
Only issue I have is that while the blades are very smooth on my cheeks and upper neck they begin to catch and bog down around my chin and moustache area and my Adam's apple area.
I also tried some XTG practice which is entirely new to me. I held the razor with each hand like a Japanese style straight and it didn't feel entirely comfortable but it worked.... not that I think it gave me a better shave.
There's so little stubble from the morning's shave that I'm not getting a fair idea of how I'm going. It's just that my technique still lacks to get a good shave for the whole day I can't convert or rely on the straight yet...
When I was shaving with a straight previously it was all WTG one pass, and the mouth and chin with M3 one WTG pass so it all looked fairly consistent. It gave me a slight designer goatee shadow look.
Problem is that I'm getting such fantastic shaves with my Rocket HD that I can't get it out of my head that all this sharpening stropping anguish might be in vain... though it is fun in its own right.
There's no way my straight skills even come close to DE closeness yet. I'll keep at it, but I think the breakthrough will come once I get the TI Gnome from Lynn to really see what shaving sharp is... while my blades are good I think I'm still not there yet. I've had glimpses but there's still more I think.
Only issue I have is that while the blades are very smooth on my cheeks and upper neck they begin to catch and bog down around my chin and moustache area and my Adam's apple area.
This is the last mile, and will become smooth with
lots of practice in both stropping and shaving. I
would not compare `smoothness' to a DE in this
area, since they will always feel different no matter
how sharp your blade is.
Even if you end up preferring your Rocket shaves,
you have to admit that even the learning process
with straight razor shaving is run!
