Gus's Shave diary

I also managed, through an extraordinary stroke of luck, to acquire a most unusual shave box containing a series of goodies and nasties as shown below. The highlights are the box itself and two Heljestrand razors: one with a barbers notch with a few dents on the blade, excellent honing practice material and an impecable no 4 with broken scales. The DE-stuff is of secondary interest as is the colgate plastic container which may serve as a travel container for a shaving stick.

The box itself is very interesting: on the top of the lid there is an "eight shaped" knob which can be displaced to the right. This allows the top part of the lid to be rotated. You then remove a small wooden cover on said top part of the lid revealing a vertical slot comprising a locking pin which can only be removed if said top part of lid is at 180 degrees from its starting position. With the locking pin removed, the whole lid can be displaced to the right and turned on a hinge giving you access to two compartments. This box was evidently designed to keep inquisitive fingers at bay.

Last but not least, I got hold of the coticule a relative had promised me. It is a old family heirloom from my great grandfather or possibly even his father. To give you an impression of its size I included a fat handled tech in the picture. It will need some lapping but apart from that I think it is safe to say that I will not be needing any further coticules. Taking no chances with such a priceless artifact and tool, I left it in Sweden where I spent my holidays to avoid the risk of it getting broken in the checked in luggage or confiscated by an overzealous ATC agent. Next year I will be taking the car and in the mean time, I will make due with my BBWs.

That's some really nice stuff you got there Erik, and that box is something of it's own, very cool

Very nice mate!

Shave 156: first with a self honed blade

I happen to be home alone which is a rare treat nowadays and I figured it is now or not in a while if I want to take my first staggering steps into honing. As a first candidate I took the Heljestrand with the barbers notch that I got in the unusual shave box. It is very similar in shape and weight compared to my Törnblom. It had a few dents in it so I honed those out on a DMT 600 until they were gone, I then flipped the DMT over and perfected the bevel on the 1200 side until it shaved a few arm hairs when pulling it across the skin. I then went over to the BBW on which I generated a slightly milky slurry and did 100 laps to the best of my ability. By now when doing the TPT it cut the outer layers of my skin effortlessly. I then thinned the slurry out and did a further 50 laps before stropping the blade 50 laps on wet stone with no slurry. I then stropped twice as long as usual and shaved.

Now I really understand why it is so important not to get into honing before having learnt to shave with a razor honed by a pro, I could immediately feel that although it was cutting hair, it lacked the keenness that my other razors and especially the similar Törnblom have which felt strange considering the TPT test was so successful. I am thinking that I might have left the DMT 1200 a little early since at that point it did not shave arm hair clean off.

On the whole though, I am very satisfied with this first experiment, the razor nonetheless gave me a DFS. I am tremendously excited at the possibilities of this new hobby.

I would suggest to get a small and cheap microscope or loupe so you can look at the edge. It should help you on getting a more consistent edge.

now that box is sweet you should draw a plan and build one. what a smart idea i might try making one after i work it out

kirk 988 said:

now that box is sweet you should draw a plan and build one. what a smart idea i might try making one after i work it out

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You know that is actually a good idea, I never won any prizes for my wood work but I know somebody who could do it for me. It is obviously unusual or unheard of judging by the response I have gotten from the forum and it has an unquestionably sophisticated appeal. Thanks for the tip!

Shave #161

Shaving quality has dropped a little in the last few weeks on account of the variable quality of my self honed blades. I am not too worried about it because it is so thrilling to learn honing skills and very satisfying to be able to shave with my very own edges. I have been using two combination DMT plates 220/325 and 600/1200 followed by a belgian blue whetstone with slurry dilutions without taping the spines, according to Bart Torfs's detailed instruction on the first page of my honing thread here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/239061-Newbie-honer-with-questions!

So far I have honed two 4/8 Heljestrand razors and shaved successfully and comfortably with them. I have further honed a 5/8 Hellberg frameback and a 5/8 Heljestrand which I will test shave later this week and I have touched up a pro-honed razor which was a bit off colour and shaved with it, delighted with its much improved edge. I have a few razors with heavy damage, warped and frowning blades which I will attend to later. On the whole I think I am getting the hang of basic honing and it seems very strange to think that I could do without replacement blades of any kind from now on if I would like to. I would like to thank all who have helped me thus far, B&B is really a most special place full of very friendly and helpful people.

Once again we seem to be on parallel tracks, until recently i had been just touching up my razors with a finisher and that was fine. But my curiosity got the best of me and i started to take them back to bevel on up. Dulled some razors in no time and have been paying the price in the shave Dept. fortunately it has taught me a lot about honing. finally a few days ago i started using slurry with my nani's and got 3 of them back in the fold and sneaking up on the other 2. Good luck. I think a lot if my issues were not using any pressure, finally decided if i was going to cut steel i better get the blade in touch with the stone.

Ian

sanfranciscian said:

Once again we seem to be on parallel tracks, until recently i had been just touching up my razors with a finisher and that was fine. But my curiosity got the best of me and i started to take them back to bevel on up. Dulled some razors in no time and have been paying the price in the shave Dept. fortunately it has taught me a lot about honing. finally a few days ago i started using slurry with my nani's and got 3 of them back in the fold and sneaking up on the other 2. Good luck. I think a lot if my issues were not using any pressure, finally decided if i was going to cut steel i better get the blade in touch with the stone.

Ian

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Thanks to Bart I found out pretty quick that, at least on slow stones like the BBW, you have to use pressure, it is also easier to keep the razor on the hone if you apply a bit of pressure IMO.

Shave #187

The Flic Celebrated razor 4/8
Palmolive SS
Thäter Best Badger

It never ceases to amaze me that although I have been shaving with straights for over a year (albeit only every other day), I still discover new things that improve on the overall shave. It seems that my neck hairs are not all created alike in terms of growth direction and therefore a combination of scything motions under the jawbone and guillotine strokes on the adam's apple level and under has brought me closer to BBS on this elusive part of my shaving routine. Apart from that, I have managed to cut down on total bathroom time for my shaves from around 40 minutes to about 30 minutes.

Question: do you consider face mapping essential to understand how to shave your face with a straight?

First off, welcome back stranger, I know your brood at home has expanded and probably has you quite occupied! I can say you have probably hit the nail on the head here. It was almost to a year exactly where i had somewhat gotten in to a comfortable rut, and though satisfied i was wondering if there was more to come. I have been shaving roughly about the same length of time as you albeit mostly everyday and that has afforded me the luxury of more on the shave count. at any rate magically one day things took a good turn and I have had a remarkable jump in my curve. I have since taken the time to think about what might have accounted for this and it comes down to two factors, the first was that I had been pretty much using the N-S, E-W pass routine to accomplish things and was leaving a few small but noticeable spots that were un BBS like. upon further review i found that on certain places the hair grew completely opposite than the corresponding spot on the other side of my face. Now i have it down to where i just do a quick two pass attack and hit the trouble spots with correct angles and like you stated some good ole swirl,scythe,guillotine action and voila. the second thing has been the quality of my edges has taken a rather nice turn as i am better understanding the honing game. I really feel the face mapping was the biggest trick though and would recommend anyone to spend the time to review theirs and make the very slight adjustments needed. I now have my shave time down to 10 minutes for a workman like shave and 15 if i want to luxuriate. congrats on your improvement and enjoy your new step forward.

Ian

Gustav said:

Shave #187

The Flic Celebrated razor 4/8
Palmolive SS
Thäter Best Badger

It never ceases to amaze me that although I have been shaving with straights for over a year (albeit only every other day), I still discover new things that improve on the overall shave. It seems that my neck hairs are not all created alike in terms of growth direction and therefore a combination of scything motions under the jawbone and guillotine strokes on the adam's apple level and under has brought me closer to BBS on this elusive part of my shaving routine. Apart from that, I have managed to cut down on total bathroom time for my shaves from around 40 minutes to about 30 minutes.

Question: do you consider face mapping essential to understand how to shave your face with a straight?

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I usually take ~30 minutes and I am not rushing. Like you, I used to spend much more time...

I don't have much to add to what Ian said. My skin seems to be right if I go ATG on pass #1 (so regardless of the direction it grows). I do not do that however. The way I do the passes it's more of XTG-XTG-XTG/ATG... So, to answer your question, I do consider it, but I don't go by the book with it...

oh and you know, YMMV!

Yesterday I completed my second century using straight razors. During these last 100 shaves I have noticed that the less I worry about the closeness of the shave, the closer they get and there is less razor burn to boot. For familial reasons I have spent a great deal of time in hospital lately under less than optimal shaving conditions, so naturally I reverted to my Merkur DE travel razor. When I have been at home, I have enjoyed the straight shave all the more and to my delight, it is now apparent that the end result is decidedly better than DEs especially when it comes to skin softness.

Also, even if basic technique was well perfected during shaves 1-100, I have still managed to pick up the odd tip, here and there on the forum, that have enabled further improvement. I have also shaved with various safties, as a side line and to satisfy my curiosity, but this activity seems more and more pointless now that the straight shaves provide such a dependable quality.

Last but not least I have discovered the delights of honing and although my skills here are as of yet, at best, rudimentary, I shall persevere until most of my razors have the same keen edge as the NOS Heljestrand 6/8 "Kloster" razor I bought during the summer.

Yesterday's setup:
-6/8 full hollow "no name" solingen
-Golddachs shave soap
-Thäter super badger
-Sienna ASB

Currently, delightedly faceturbating at work!

Excellent! Good to have you around mate! I hope that all is well for you and your family!

Shave #206

-no name solingen 6/8
-omega professional boar
-Fitjar Telemark SS + Palmolive sensitive
-Tuff sensitive A/S

I have been shaving quite a lot with the Fitjar soap lately. This particular one has no tallow and is unfortunately quite a poor performer if you do not make superlather. I have not been using the huge Omega brush for a while but I will do more so in the future because it seems to mix the soap and the cream to a very effective mixture in a much more efficient way than the smaller brushes boar or otherwise. Needless to say, after that, I enjoyed a fabulous shave.

Gustav said:

Shave #206

-no name solingen 6/8
-omega professional boar
-Fitjar Telemark SS + Palmolive sensitive
-Tuff sensitive A/S

I have been shaving quite a lot with the Fitjar soap lately. This particular one has no tallow and is unfortunately quite a poor performer if you do not make superlather. I have not been using the huge Omega brush for a while but I will do more so in the future because it seems to mix the soap and the cream to a very effective mixture in a much more efficient way than the smaller brushes boar or otherwise. Needless to say, after that, I enjoyed a fabulous shave.

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I had the same observations with the Fitjar soaps as you already know! I still use it with an unscented puck of glycerine soap and it works wonder!

i thought I had heard that fitjar was nice..

i totally hear you on the honing and trying to attain a great edge... are the bbw the only thing you are using? i'd like to eventually try one.

The Fitjar Creams are absolutely fantastic but the soaps are unfortunately not in the same league. So if you want to try Fitjar go for the creams and you will not be disappointed.

On the subject of BBWs, my experience thus far have led me to a few conclusions the value of which you will have to judge for yourself on account of the fact that the DMT/BBW is the only thing I am using right now and I have no experience whatsoever of any other stones. When using the BBWs I use Bart's adaptation of the dilucot according to the following: 100 X-stroke laps on thick slurry using eraser like pressure followed by rinsing of stone and a further 50 X-stroke laps on water and residual slurry from razor with eraser like pressure. Then I rinse the razor and the stone and rub the slurry stone once using small circular motions back and forth over the hone to obtain a light slurry on which I do a final 30 X-stroke laps with light pressure.

My conclusions:

1. Using the above procedure you can tune a razor with an existing bevel that has gone slightly dull. The results are convincing.

2. When I have set the bevel to the best of my ability on a DMT 1200 or on a progression of DMTs as needed, I seldom get a shave ready razor on the first shot using the above procedure. But if I repeat it 2-3 time more, I can get a really good edge. I am only speculating here but I think that I could speed up things by having a suitable grit stone (4000?) in between the DMT1200 and the BBW. The BBW is probably just too slow to efficiently remove the coarse scratch marks of the DMT. Perhaps I would have been able to get a decent edge directly if I had done 4x100 laps + 4x50 laps + 4x30 laps, but I am just too lazy for that kind of game. I have been reluctant to buy a coticule or a naniwa at this stage because I have a nice coticule waiting for me in Sweden where I will pick it up during next summer.

3. Bart's beer bottle trick which is in effect, dulling the DMT1200 edge on a beer bottle before moving on to the BBW is imperative to get a smooth edge off the BBW.

4. I do not believe that you can correct a bevel in an efficient way with the BBW, therefore you must have a very decent bevel to start with if you go straight to the BBW or else it will be almost hopeless to get the razor shave ready.Perhaps this is also an advantage for the beginner because it is probably difficult to do any damage to the bevel once you go over to the BBW.