Syngents Straight Shave Journal

[rockviper]

Alfred does ship nice and fast, yes?

 

[syngent]

Alfred does ship nice and fast, yes?

Proximity is a nice thing to have as well !

 

[syngent]

So First Strop went well,... no leather hunks missing from the Strop,.. happy with how it looks too

I video Taped myself doing it and could see quite a few things wrong,... pressing to hard,... wrist turning a lot,.. just had to find a comfortable way to hold and hang, found a sight upward angle and turning the strop to about a 45 degree angle helped get it to a more comfortable place to let my hand do its thang

the shave was almost like a step backwards though used "the friday" blade tonight and the first pass seemed okay but by second pass all of a sudden my off hand caused a nick, and a few weepers on neck,.. think my few days off didnt help

But we will get there soon enough

 

[joshua1970]

So First Strop went well,... no leather hunks missing from the Strop,.. happy with how it looks too

I video Taped myself doing it and could see quite a few things wrong,... pressing to hard,... wrist turning a lot,.. just had to find a comfortable way to hold and hang, found a sight upward angle and turning the strop to about a 45 degree angle helped get it to a more comfortable place to let my hand do its thang

the shave was almost like a step backwards though used "the friday" blade tonight and the first pass seemed okay but by second pass all of a sudden my off hand caused a nick, and a few weepers on neck,.. think my few days off didnt help

But we will get there soon enough

you are on the road my friend!! keep experimenting!

re stropping techniques - ideally the old-timers push for the 'pencil roll' technique. frankly, my fingers are too big to comfortably do that, and if I tried i will drop the razor or nick the strop, plus some of my razors' tangs just don't allow such a grip (ie; they are way too thin or way too thick) so I am a wrist roller myself. and have no issues stropping that way - the key is the amount of pressure obviously..

I am working on becoming ambidextrous with my hands while shaving, but too many years using my dominant hand (right) to hold razor and left to stretch skin is hard to break.

keep on keeping us appraised! and ENJOY the process. sounds like you surely are!

 

[Slash McCoy]

Shave number two is in the can,... much better tonight used some spiek and my H.I.S. Brush got a DFS did one up and one down

but we have a problem lmao no leather in the house yet so until I get my hands on a strop we may be done till then,.. which will have to wait till the new CC arrives since i lost my old card

one minor weeper small enough cold water took care of it and we are feeling good,... really getting excited now, cant wait until i get my second baby back, ugh its been a day into a 5 week wait !, May have to pay a visit to Sam see if i can borrow his leather lol, i got some pens to play with and inks to trade anyhow to keep us both entertained at the moment

I think im going to like this much more then i thought, its like starting all over again, one bit of trouble i did get into that could have been a problem till i noticed a hand in my pocket that should have been stretching skin... nothing bad happened but the blade caught up a bit on me and skipped on an upward pass on cheek

wont let it happen again, stretch flatten stretch

I was gonna recommend stopping on newspaper, but I see you have a strop now. For future reference, a newspaper strop works fairly well and it is good to know how to make one in an emergency, so you might want to give it a go some time. Just fold it longways until it is 2-1/2" to 3" wide, pass one end over a towel rod and pinch both ends together, and pull it tight and you have a disposable emergency improvised strop.

 

[syngent]

ya man, The original goal before the DEs was to go straight,... got side tracked for a while so im super happy to actually have things going.

 

[syngent]

I was gonna recommend stopping on newspaper, but I see you have a strop now. For future reference, a newspaper strop works fairly well and it is good to know how to make one in an emergency, so you might want to give it a go some time. Just fold it longways until it is 2-1/2" to 3" wide, pass one end over a towel rod and pinch both ends together, and pull it tight and you have a disposable emergency improvised strop.

Thanks Slash, not a bad idea to use while i hone my Stropping skills either !

 

[joshua1970]

while i hone my Stropping skills

NICE play on words wink wink

 

[syngent]

yeah that one was totally on purpose lmao

 

[syngent]

Tuesday Oct 9th
Stars aligned for this shave,.... man the stropping got a good rythem blew through it quick too and the shave was perfect,.... used my "friday" blade this time out and some Arlington soap (stick) first pass north south, removed almost all of my 4 days growth, and my second pass a south north, got almost all of what was left over rocks a DFS with supreme comfort, and was sorry i had no reason to do a third pass, felt great lkooked great and the shave lasted well into the second day...

Cant wait to turn the duties back over to Joshes honed Blade for tonight, last shave before the Darwin Twins show up at my door to play with, thanks to Intrigued (Connie) and MrConnie for that one,... my straights will be4 on pause for two weeks whilst i play along with them

 

[syngent]

Well, Ive had to take some time off as i was playing with some Darwins on loan from our very own Intriged (Connie) but i went back to the straights again

First with a Dubl Duck i put an edge on by myself the shave went surprisingly well considering i had no experience, the wrong tools, and a pretty much dead duck,... two quick passes, and the shave lasted me a full day too

no nicks weepers after a few hours passed i did have a bit of irritation but only under my nose in the lip area,.. wasnt that bad

Today i used my returned restored Sheffield razor a brand spanking newly honed edge for tonight,... man i had a few nicks and a few weepers,.. just when i think i got it down i got backwards a wee bit,... ubt then i had a thought i guess there is a difference between the bad not as sharp edge and the amazingly sharp one my restorer Nate did,.. so the two edges he has done for me i have more problems with because they are less forgiving then my other two edges that seem smoother

I think ill stick with the two nate did for a little while, whilst i continue to build my technique

 

[rockviper]

Looks awesome and those scales rock!

Hey, whaddaya mean .... "wrong tools"?
I prefer to think of them as providing an opportunity for you to show what you can do

 

[syngent]

Well I meant wrong ones to bring the duck to snuff... big gap between the diamond plates and the dmt lol

 

[rockviper]

bah.... 360 to 8000? That's not a gap
I think you did REALLY well to get a semi-usable edge with the stuff I gave you.

 

[syngent]

Thanks Sam, and thanks for the loan

 

[syngent]

 

[rockviper]

Welcome back!! We missed you.
Is that your AS dispenser on the left?

 

[syngent]

Lmao well maybe when I get a sac in it I can use it for air travel

 

[joshua1970]

View attachment 283755

that post is awesome!!! lovee the ink color (goes well with the scales) need to get me more ink samples

sxo glad the edge is treating you well.... I've definitely improved substantially since then too!!! I generally go by feel & feedback from the stone and now when it 'feels' done, I do an extra 40+ laps on both tomo nagura (slurry stone from same stone generally) and on water.... makes it even smoother!

PS oh yeah I've been to the Nib more enabling bastids LMAO

 

[rockviper]

This thread is dearly missing someone....
(I know because it PM'd me )