The beginning of a journey

doleeo · Post by **doleeo** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:32 pm

Yeah, I know, another "I'm going to start straight shaving" thread.

Well I've been at this whole wetshaving thing for about 2 years now. I've gotta admit it's been a very fun journey. From discovering this forum, to buying my first Simpsons brush, to recently having my first "Gordon" experience (the discontinuation of a tremendous razor blade known as the swede).

Within the past few months my shaves have gotten to the point where I can get an excellent shave with very little effort on my part. I've decided what I like in a brush, what soaps and creams work for me and discovered which DE razors and blades agree with me.

I'm now ready to start on another chapter in my wetshaving journey, the Straight razor.

Without doing much research, I bought an Erik Anton Berg 5/8's Swedish Faux Frameback. I've always loved the look of framebacks and this one looked great. Anyone have experience with this particular razor? If so, did I pick a terrible razor to learn on?

I already have a Wapi but I haven't had a strop so I think the edge might need a little work as I've used it a handful of times without stropping it.

As for the strop, I got a Vintage Blades 3'' black latigo with the canvas second strop. I'm getting it second hand and it has only been used once. Is there any special preparation I need to do to it before using it? Also, is there any rush in pasting the canvas or should I just use it as it until I get my technique down?

I'm hoping all my equipment will be in by Monday. I'm not too nervous as I've used my Wapi a few times and have been practicing different grips and finding places to stretch my skin.

My apologies for the long winded post.

As always, I'd appreciate any advice from you guys in terms of tricks and tips.

Thanks,

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:04 am

Don't put anything on the latigo, and don't put any paste on the canvas until you have lots of experience with it plain.

Have fun!

Chris

Chap · Post by **Chap** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:12 am

Start off with one pass shaves, you don't want to be going to for multi-pass ATG shaves for now. An open razor is much more effective at sloughing off the upper layers of your skin, so your face may need a while to adjust to this new regime.

Spend the extra time stropping, I find the longer I strop, the better my shave is, for me, there is a marked difference between 30 and 60 laps of the strop. I remember an experiment on SRP many years ago, when one of the guys there got two identical razors and stropped one 30 times before each shave and the other 60, if I recall correctly, the one with extra stropping had a it's period between honings extended greatly, which will be of benefit to you, as I don't imagine you hone yet?

Finally, get the women-folk to watch on in awed admiration at your feat of unbridled manliness, it is, after all, the point of the whole endeavour

Obligatory, YMMV

crankymoose · Post by **crankymoose** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:23 am

don't expect perfect shaves the first few weeks acceptable should be fine and achievable, it may take a while before you get accustomed to moving and holding the razor around your face and neck, if you haven't already I would recommend sending your razors out to be sharpened by a honemeister, and as mentioned above proper stropping is very important for canvas and latigo leather I generally do about 25-30 on the canvas and about 50-60 on the latigo

don't rush when using a straight, if necessary lock the door to the bathroom don't need any surprises with a straight to your throat, may want to have a styptic pencil available too

good luck

loueedacat1 · Post by **loueedacat1** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:05 am

good luck! just keep it fun. if you get frustrated, go back to DE or whatever you were using a couple days, and come back to the straight when you are psyched again.

It's not that hard to pick this up and it's so satisfying when you get it.

doleeo · Post by **doleeo** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:12 am

drmoss_ca wrote:Don't put anything on the latigo, and don't put any paste on the canvas until you have lots of experience with it plain.

Have fun!

Chris

That's what I thought the answer would be. Thanks for the reassurance.

The Anton Berg is coming shave ready from a well respected member on B&B. However the Wapi could probably use some work. Any recommendations for a honemeister?

Also, I have been a bad boy this morning. I happened to stumble over to Tony Miller's shop, which happened to re-open today, and decided I needed a 3'' Heirloom with Latigo and Cotton.

This is what I was afraid of, a whole new realm of acquisition disorders

John 5 · Post by **John 5** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:46 am

Good to see you on this side! As far as strops go, if you are going to get one from Tony Miller, I wholeheardedly recommend the one I got, the 3" Heirloom "New Standard" Artisan Strop with the linen and a practice strop.

As far as learning goes, a helpful concept that I picked up from some other thread here is this - there are essentially two ways to go about it. The Chris 'Brute Force' method, or nice and easy (Dominic or someone else owns that one). The 'Brute Force' method is to plunge right in, and forgo touch up passes with a DE, forgo starting out the first few weeks only on the cheeks and gradually moving on to your neck and more difficult areas, etc. The nice and easy method is the inverse.

There are adherents to both camps. I personally prefer to go the way of the brute force. You will have some rough days, rough patches here and there, and red skin on bad days. But like it or not, you will learn faster. Nothing makes you hone up your skills more than the threat of razor burn.

timc · Post by **timc** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:16 pm

John 5 wrote: There are adherents to both camps. I personally prefer to go the way of the brute force. You will have some rough days, rough patches here and there, and red skin on bad days. But like it or not, you will learn faster. Nothing makes you hone up your skills more than the threat of razor burn.

Count me in on the brute force side. Okay, okay, I did use a DE to finish up on my first straight shave. Other than that, it's not really that hard to learn. You will have some bad shaves, but those make the good ones feel that much better.

doleeo · Post by **doleeo** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:22 pm

timc wrote:
John 5 wrote: There are adherents to both camps. I personally prefer to go the way of the brute force. You will have some rough days, rough patches here and there, and red skin on bad days. But like it or not, you will learn faster. Nothing makes you hone up your skills more than the threat of razor burn.
Count me in on the brute force side. Okay, okay, I did use a DE to finish up on my first straight shave. Other than that, it's not really that hard to learn. You will have some bad shaves, but those make the good ones feel that much better.

John, Tim, this is more than likely the route that I will be taking.

When I started DE shaving, I jumped right in and my first shave was awfully good. I'm hoping the journey to straights is as easy as it was for the DE.

Looks like it's a good thing I got my order in with Tony when I did, looks like he's sold out of the Latigo strops already!

crankymoose · Post by **crankymoose** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:21 am

I don't see a list here but on straightrazorplace.com in classifieds under member services you will see a list on honemeisters, typical charge is about $20 US, there is a list on the B&B as well under honing forum

If your starting out new that's a real wise investment

doleeo · Post by **doleeo** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:09 pm

As I mentioned in my SOTD, today I did a full 1 pass shave with my Wapi.

That's probably its seventh use without being stropped. The shave was very uncomfortable. The blade tugged but did a good enough job that I didn't have to "touch up" with my DE.

I'm starting to get pretty comfortable with stretching my skin and holding my razor on certain parts of my face. Shaving with my left hand doesn't feel very awkward because I used it with my DE.

It's a shame that I shaved so early today because when the mail arrived, my Tony Miller strop and new razor came with it.

The strop is really a piece of exquisite craftsmanship. It's the 3'' Heirloom Latigo/Canvas. I also got the little 8 dollar practice strop. I'm pretty sure that I'll be using that until I feel comfortable to use the Heirloom. I'm very excited to start using it.

The razor is a Erik Anton Berg 5/8 Faux Frameback. I really like the look of the blade but the scales are plain black and a little boring. Maybe when I acquire some new blades, I'll get it rescaled.

I'm very excited for tomorrow's shave. I plan on using the Berg razor, stropped on the Tony Miller practice strop.

Pictures soon to come.

PACHUCO · Post by **PACHUCO** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 2:32 am

Good job, eventually it will all become more natural...but never, ever get over confident with either shaving or stropping. I and my strop have the scars (minor but scars none the less) to attest to that.

I agree with the Brute Force method previously mentioned. My first shave with a Str8 I couldn't help but do a full 3 pass shave; not BBS but no major injuries either.

It's been a continued pleasure since.

Serg

doleeo · Post by **doleeo** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:38 pm

So I now have 2 full (multi pass) straight razor shaves under my belt.

I've been using the Berg Razor. and my Tony Miller Latigo Strop.

The first shave was very uncomfortable. I was comfortable doing a WTG pass but the razor seemed to be tugging. I managed to get through the first pass with very little irritation but it didn't seem as smooth as a DE. I then attempted a somewhat across the grain pass. I ended up stopping midway through with a bad shave and some irritation.

My second shave was much better. I didn't strop the razor the first shave because I didn't want to hurt the edge before I even shaved with it. So I took the razor for 45 laps on the canvas and 60 laps on the latigo. I then lathered up some Valobra with my 2 band T2 and proceeded to shave.

I immediately noticed a huge difference. The razor seemed much smoother and proceeded to wipe the whiskers off the first pass. However, I zoned out and got a little irritation on my jawline. I proceeded with a second across the grain pass. I had a very hard time figuring out where to hold the razor and how to get the correct angle on my face. This is where I pulled my iphone off the dock and proceeded to reference Dr. Moss' terrific Straight shaving guide. After figuring out the right grips and angles, it seemed very easy and I ended up with a surprisingly good shave.

So far I am enjoying this process very much. I really enjoy the time spent stropping before the shave. It really gets me in the right mindset before shaving.

Here are just a couple of pictures I took.

doleeo · Post by **doleeo** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 11:34 pm

So I know I'm pretty much talking to myself, but I can't get over how much fun straight shaving has been.

Over the past couple weeks, I've gotten a couple of new razors in as well as some eBay purchases which need a lot of work and honing. I bought a couple of Sheffield Joseph Elliot blades. One is in good shape and will be sent off to get honed in a couple days. The other was in worse shape than I expected. Due to inexperienced honing the blade had been reduced to nothing. Luckily I used this razor to try my hand at restoration. I ended up chipping the blade while using my dremel to remove some of the rusting and pitting. I'm finishing up on the other one, then it's off to get honed.

Aside from the eBay purchases, I got a J.R Torrey and J.A Henckles blade that was shave ready. Today I shaved with the Torrey which was very sharp, yet very smooth. One thing I've come to enjoy from a straight is the rigidness of the blade. I find that a more rigid blade such as an injector or straight does better with my facial hair than a DE but due to the shortage of good injector blades, I shaved with a DE.

My shave today was one of the most enjoyable shaves I've ever had. I'm getting less hesitant with the straight and am becoming much more comfortable handling the blade. I did the same 2 passes that I'd do with a DE (one north to south pass and one ear to chin pass) and I had a terrific shave. I think the stiffer 1/4 hollow blade versus the almost full hollow blade of the Eric Anton Berg razor had a lot to do with it.

I really wish I would have tried straights earlier in my shaving journey. Even with my terrible technique and lack of knowledge, I've been getting more comfortable and closer shaves with a straight than with a DE.

Antique Hoosier · Post by **Antique Hoosier** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:52 am

Ethan...you sound like you have had great success on your Straight journey so far. It is so much more gratifying than using a DE for sure...although I will occassionally use a Merkur 38C from time to time. Given the choice I would use a straight everyday and I think you are finding out why now.

The difference in a shave with a well honed SHARP razor is a world of difference.... and you made an excellent choice in the Tony Miller Strop...I consider my 3" TM Strop most likely my best purchase of any shaving item since I started.

Keep up your thread/journal...I'm reading it!

bavi · Post by **bavi** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:56 pm

excuse me fellas i just wanted to say thank you for the information on the tony miller strops. i've recently bought a shave ready straight razor, which is my first and now need a strop to keep is sharp. as soon as they become availabe, i'm looking to buy the 3" Heirloom "New Standard" Latigo/Linen on Tony's site

Thanks Again

Juan Gabriel

Antique Hoosier · Post by **Antique Hoosier** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 8:13 pm

bavi wrote:... now need a strop to keep is sharp. as soon as they become availabe, i'm looking to buy the 3" Heirloom "New Standard" Latigo/Linen on Tony's site

Thanks Again

Juan Gabriel

You CAN'T go wrong with Mr. Miller's "art".

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:11 am

I'm enjoying your chronicles with the straight razors. Being fortunate enough to get the right equipment such as a razor and a strop that seem right for you, as you develop your skills through thoughtful research and practice is a huge step in the right direction.

bavi · Post by **bavi** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:48 pm

Antique Hoosier wrote:
bavi wrote:... now need a strop to keep is sharp. as soon as they become availabe, i'm looking to buy the 3" Heirloom "New Standard" Latigo/Linen on Tony's site

Thanks Again

Juan Gabriel
You CAN'T go wrong with Mr. Miller's "art".

just ordered a Tony Miller 3" New Standard Latigo/Genuine Linen Strop

with pratice strop

Juan Gabriel