My Journey on the Straight Path

filobiblic said:
So maintaining the angle becomes critical, especially on the curves up the neck. It's easy to increase the angle of the razor without thinking, but this will result in cuts.
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This is the region (neck) where you will get quite a few cuts. You do so well on your cheeks & just continue at the same pace and style on the neck without taking care of angles and stretching/tautening the skin nicks will occur.
filobiblic said:
but it does't help having kids squawking in the background...
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Or wives talking from the bedroom.
filobiblic said:
So I think that I need to watch some more videos In order to watch how different people hold and use their razors on their necks and under their chin.
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It definitely helps but at the end of the day it is your face, your dexterity/agility and you will develop what works for you.

Great report to encourage others on this path.
 
The neck and chin seem to be the most difficult for most. I don't have it easy either because I have fairly large depressions in the neck area and I need to use the point to get in there and get all the hairs. What I found to be helpful is keeping your skin taught at all times, especially around the jaw line whilst shaving from north to south will cover a lot of real estate on the top portion of your neck. You can either continue to shave downwards while keeping your chin up or shave upwards depending on your hair growth and what you're comfortable with.

It's also very important to try to maintain that cutting angle, it feels too aggressive during the shave, decrease the angle so that its closer to the vertical line which will make it very hard to cut yourself. Focus more on shorter strokes which I'm sure you already do, don't be hesitant to go over the same area a couple of times, you would rather that than accidentally using too much pressure to get it all at once and end up with irritation.

Take your time when you shave under the chin because throwing your head back whilst pulling your arm in to get the right angle can be disorientating in the beginning but then again if we required a degree in geometry to learn that I'd be the first to fail. It's only a small learning curve and it will be second nature in no time. Don't rush on chasing a bbs with a straight either, it will find you. That was my first mistake.
 
Another question : I read somewhere that stropping paste together with a second stroppe will give you the same result as a honing stone, but is much easier to master. Any truth to that?
 
Incoming zulu grey, clean up of multiple vintage nearing stage they will be allowed into public @Mark probably being their first visitor and a vintage strop smoothing out nicely.
Probably find me jumping in here soon too...
 
alfredus said:
Another question : I read somewhere that stropping paste together with a second stroppe will give you the same result as a honing stone, but is much easier to master. Any truth to that?
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I haven't gotten anywhere near honing or touching up with a pasted strop... @Mark is the man to speak about that. Perhaps some others too could chip in? @Dale.Whiley ?
 
Dale.Whiley said:
Never used paste, just hone and strop.
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What hone do you have?
I'm more inclined to perfect the (leather) strop and use a hone rather than a pasted strop. But all in good time...
 
filobiblic said:
What hone do you have?
I'm more inclined to perfect the (leather) strop and use a hone rather than a pasted strop. But all in good time...
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A Shapton 8000. 1 x hone only. I give the straight 40-50 laps every 2-3 weeks just to keep it resonably sharp. As I have a Stainless Steel blade they retain their edge for longer but take more work to get that keen edge. It could be sharper but it's getting there.
 
Shave 9
Full pass today (in one direction only). I had an opportunity this morning to spend time shaving so I decided to go for a full pass (WTG only). Slow and steady was it. Came away with a decent result; certainly I was able to take off a suitable level of hair. It wasn't a complete shave as I would have needed to go a second pass either XTG or ATG. But very pleasing to have completed a full pass using the straight.

The angles are coming together, as is the switching hands and holds on the razor. Now I need to refine, repeat and repeat and repeat...

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Good work @filobiblic Glad it's coming along well

@alfredus Usinga pasted strop is not the same as honing, however strop pastes with a fine cutting compound (no courser than Chromium Oxide 0.5um) can stretch the life of your edge before you need a rehone. I recommend using balsa wood ($2 p/ metre from bunnings) load it with chromium oxide (the green stuff). Whenever the edge feels like it's no longer keen you can always try 10 laps and see how she shaves, the same way you would when stropping, then rinse the edge and wipe it clean before you take it to the leather to prevent cross contamination. Don't over do it so you don't end up with a small burr or a wire edge that can cause serious irritation. You can get a decent size bag of ChOx powder from whipped dog for around $6 delivered last time I checked and that will last you 4 life times. The whole set up should cost you under $10 and will last you forever.

If you want to get very serious about compounds, CBN (cubic boron nitride) from ken Schwartz is the best I've tried at 0.5um, also good to use on balsa wood. Try to stay clear from diamond spray, that stuff is brutal on the edge. Definitely avoid the Thiers Issard strop paste ($10 tube), 10k grit is approx 2.5um when you only need 0.5um, again, will truly torture that edge (my hard work lol).
 
Mark said:
Good work @filobiblic Glad it's coming along well

@alfredus Usinga pasted strop is not the same as honing, however strop pastes with a fine cutting compound (no courser than Chromium Oxide 0.5um) can stretch the life of your edge before you need a rehone. I recommend using balsa wood ($2 p/ metre from bunnings) load it with chromium oxide (the green stuff). Whenever the edge feels like it's no longer keen you can always try 10 laps and see how she shaves, the same way you would when stropping, then rinse the edge and wipe it clean before you take it to the leather to prevent cross contamination. Don't over do it so you don't end up with a small burr or a wire edge that can cause serious irritation. You can get a decent size bag of ChOx powder from whipped dog for around $6 delivered last time I checked and that will last you 4 life times. The whole set up should cost you under $10 and will last you forever.

If you want to get very serious about compounds, CBN (cubic boron nitride) from ken Schwartz is the best I've tried at 0.5um, also good to use on balsa wood. Try to stay clear from diamond spray, that stuff is brutal on the edge. Definitely avoid the Thiers Issard strop paste ($10 tube), 10k grit is approx 2.5um when you only need 0.5um, again, will truly torture that edge (my hard work lol).
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Many thanks Mark - I think I am still very far away from my Straight Razor adventure - I am just trying to get a picture of what is actually involved...
 
alfredus said:
Many thanks Mark - I think I am still very far away from my Straight Razor adventure - I am just trying to get a picture of what is actually involved...
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Just buy a 7 day set. Once one gets too blunt, just pick up the next... After going through all 7 of them, send them to @Mark to re-hone. Then you get to start again. I'm sure he'll give you a discount rate as well. [emoji6]

Actually, I think straights are almost a "choose your own adventure". It seems to me that there are lots of different paths you could go down. Some are optional (Cr-Ox pasted board) and others have different choices (hone your own or send it to someone). I have gotten to that "fork in the road" yet, but I can understand if you're the man who wants to see the lie of the land.
 
alfredus said:
Many thanks Mark - I think I am still very far away from my Straight Razor adventure - I am just trying to get a picture of what is actually involved...
Click to expand...
Just buy a 7 day set. Once one gets too blunt, just pick up the next... After going through all 7 of them, send them to @Mark to re-hone. Then you get to start again. I'm sure he'll give you a discount rate as well. [emoji6]

Actually, I think straights are almost a "choose your own adventure". It seems to me that there are lots of different paths you could go down. Some are optional (Cr-Ox pasted board) and others have different choices (hone your own or send it to someone). I haven't gotten to that "fork in the road" yet, but I can understand if you're the man who wants to see the lie of the land.
 
Shave 10
After 10 shaves I feel confident on the cheeks but still slow on the neck. The chin and under the nose are still...well...it needs work.

I recently read a comment that it takes 100 shaves with a straight to be fully confident. We'll see.

First nick today. Very small but it was preventable. I started to rush (as I needed to be at a wedding- not mine!) and didn't fully concentrate but started to be a little rash. A clean cut at a very shallow angle so it won't take long to heal.

Shave 11
I'm able now to shave WTG my cheek and my neck quickly and easily. (Apart from the jawline where the angle changes.)

For the past 10 shaves I have been lathering only the area I am going to shave stage by stage. For example I will lather both cheeks, shave and then lather my neck and shave that.

But now I can lather both cheeks and neck then shave both before the lather drys out. I see it as a win! [emoji106]

However shaving around my chin (below and on) is still tricky. I guess that because the angles keep changing it makes for a challenging area to shave. You have to keep the angle the same so it requires deft skills and good technique with your razor. I'm not there yet but it's all about practise and control.

So after 11 shaves...
I can:
- shave WTG my cheeks and neck area well
- carefully shave WTG my chin and moustache area

I still need to conquer:
- shave WTG my entire face with one one pass of lather
- shave XTG
- challenge: potentially shave ATG

A question: I want to know how those with a straight razor shave the day or two after they've made a small nick or cut themselves?
 
Looks like you're going to nail it a lot sooner than 100 shaves. That's probably worst case scenario. Rushing is definitely a no no. Everyone is different, there's no doubt that it will be second nature to you a lot sooner. When I get cuts it heals almost by the next morning because it's a very clean cut where a dull razor would tear (not that you'd shave with it) like the one that tore my finger open yesterday during a polish before I honed it. I'd much rather get sliced with a sharp blade. But I can shave over a cut the next day without a problem unless it was very deep, happened once with a stupid shavette, they can be quite nasty.
 
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