There seems to be a few journals here, so I figure I might as well chuck mine up too.
After shaving with DEs for a year or so I finally took the plunge a couple weeks ago and ordered a Dovo 6/8's Bismarck and Dovo wide strop from Mensbiz (a forum sponsor in Australia). It arrived the next day and after reading a lot here and elsewhere saying it wouldn't be shave ready from the factory, I hit it up on the strop for a few minutes and had a go anyway!
I prepped with a hot shower and Proraso pre-shave cream and got a nice lather going with some Taylor of Old Bond avocado shaving cream and with great trepidation took the edge to my face
I was very nervous at first but managed a reasonable WTG pass on my right side with not a single nick. I'm fairly sure the edge wasn't as good as it should have been, I felt a lot of pulling or catching of the hair, but when I got the angles right the shave was pretty smooth for a single WTG.
Having read that you're best of shaving the left side with the left hand I swapped hands and felt all sorts of awkward! Somehow I managed to get the left side done, again with no nicks at all. I then put the straight back into the right hand and really struggled to get a remotely close shave on my chin. I don't know how many passes I did mainly with the grain, but a little ATG. It was probably the worst shave my chin has ever had, but still I'd managed not to cut myself, in fact in the end I had less irritation than I get with a DE!
I wasn't confident doing my upper lip, so rocked a mo for the week while getting used to the straight.
Calling the first shave a reasonable success, I shaved every second day for the week, just stropping the edge before and after every shave. I got a lot more confident holding the razor in that first week and while not getting as close as a three pass DE shave with my Merkur, I reckon it was about as good as a 2 pass WTG DE shave would be (if I ever tried one).
As there's no Honemeisters in my area and I like learning things for myself anyway, I ordered a Kasumi 3000/8000 whetstone, which arrived on Friday. After watching a few Lynn Abrams videos on youtube, I lapped the stone and tried my hand at honing... I should say now, that my first job as a young fella was in kitchens and I spend 10 years in restaurants where I learnt to, and regularly sharpened knives to the point where they shave arm hair, so I may have a bit of head start. Anyway, after using Lynns circular method on the 3000 and then 40 X strokes on the 3000 I had the blade catching hair about a cm off the arm - I could feel the little pull though, but though that would do for the 3000 grit. I turned over the stone and did about 20 or X strokes on the 8000. This is where I start to think I may have done something a little wrong. After the strokes on the 8000 the blade was no longer slicing through the my arm hair and it didn't pass the HHT either. I figured the strop would get it where I wanted it, I was wrong
So after my first attempt at honing the Bismark was definitely sharper than it came from the factory, but even after stropping wouldn't pass the HHT with very fine hair. I shaved with it though and felt a big difference, so I think I'm very close to getting the edge right.
Yesterday I felt confident enough to do a pass against the grain after my WTG and was astonished by the results! I'm still struggling a little with the chin area, but my jaw and cheeks were the smoothest they've been since I started shaving! Neck, was OK, but no better than a DE shave. My wife was blown away and finally forgave for spending so much coin on kit
So that's the last two weeks of my journey into shaving with straight razors. From here, I'm going to have another go at getting the hone right and try to master the chin area. I'm also in the process of restoring an old French razor, but that's for another post.
Thanks for reading.
After shaving with DEs for a year or so I finally took the plunge a couple weeks ago and ordered a Dovo 6/8's Bismarck and Dovo wide strop from Mensbiz (a forum sponsor in Australia). It arrived the next day and after reading a lot here and elsewhere saying it wouldn't be shave ready from the factory, I hit it up on the strop for a few minutes and had a go anyway!
I prepped with a hot shower and Proraso pre-shave cream and got a nice lather going with some Taylor of Old Bond avocado shaving cream and with great trepidation took the edge to my face
I was very nervous at first but managed a reasonable WTG pass on my right side with not a single nick. I'm fairly sure the edge wasn't as good as it should have been, I felt a lot of pulling or catching of the hair, but when I got the angles right the shave was pretty smooth for a single WTG.Having read that you're best of shaving the left side with the left hand I swapped hands and felt all sorts of awkward! Somehow I managed to get the left side done, again with no nicks at all. I then put the straight back into the right hand and really struggled to get a remotely close shave on my chin. I don't know how many passes I did mainly with the grain, but a little ATG. It was probably the worst shave my chin has ever had, but still I'd managed not to cut myself, in fact in the end I had less irritation than I get with a DE!
I wasn't confident doing my upper lip, so rocked a mo for the week while getting used to the straight.
Calling the first shave a reasonable success, I shaved every second day for the week, just stropping the edge before and after every shave. I got a lot more confident holding the razor in that first week and while not getting as close as a three pass DE shave with my Merkur, I reckon it was about as good as a 2 pass WTG DE shave would be (if I ever tried one).
As there's no Honemeisters in my area and I like learning things for myself anyway, I ordered a Kasumi 3000/8000 whetstone, which arrived on Friday. After watching a few Lynn Abrams videos on youtube, I lapped the stone and tried my hand at honing... I should say now, that my first job as a young fella was in kitchens and I spend 10 years in restaurants where I learnt to, and regularly sharpened knives to the point where they shave arm hair, so I may have a bit of head start. Anyway, after using Lynns circular method on the 3000 and then 40 X strokes on the 3000 I had the blade catching hair about a cm off the arm - I could feel the little pull though, but though that would do for the 3000 grit. I turned over the stone and did about 20 or X strokes on the 8000. This is where I start to think I may have done something a little wrong. After the strokes on the 8000 the blade was no longer slicing through the my arm hair and it didn't pass the HHT either. I figured the strop would get it where I wanted it, I was wrong
So after my first attempt at honing the Bismark was definitely sharper than it came from the factory, but even after stropping wouldn't pass the HHT with very fine hair. I shaved with it though and felt a big difference, so I think I'm very close to getting the edge right.
Yesterday I felt confident enough to do a pass against the grain after my WTG and was astonished by the results! I'm still struggling a little with the chin area, but my jaw and cheeks were the smoothest they've been since I started shaving! Neck, was OK, but no better than a DE shave. My wife was blown away and finally forgave for spending so much coin on kit
So that's the last two weeks of my journey into shaving with straight razors. From here, I'm going to have another go at getting the hone right and try to master the chin area. I'm also in the process of restoring an old French razor, but that's for another post.
Thanks for reading.
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I'm not sure if it was the shaving soap or if I'd stropped better, but the razor felt a lot smoother on both WTG and ATG. I'm still struggling with the upper lip, no angles feel quite right and I'm not getting anywhere near close enough. I'm sure I'll get it soon though.
