My foray into straights was accidental, but I've just had my 1st complete (no assist from the DE) shave today; SAS shave. However, to be honest, yesterday morning I had a BBS shave with my DE, so today I was SAS anyway. But still, I had been finishing up w/ DE at this point, because I couldn't quite reach all of the areas on my face with the straight. I did this time, and then did a complete XTG pass. The last two times, I've been experimenting with different grips and found that I do better going with a different grip than the traditional one.
Still haven't found the angle that does the job right though. I tried everywhere from almost flat on my face to 45 degrees; Just about all of the angles I tried gets some hair, but not like it should. Yet, each day I get excited about trying it again.
A local member hooked me up with another local straight shaver who honed my razor, but I haven't been sure whether it was truly shave ready; it passed the HHT only about 20% of my attempts to test it. The local member gave me his Poor Man's Strop and some pointers. The strop was nicked and cut up pretty bad, so I sanded it down to smooth it a little and sanded the back side of the strop a little. I've been primarily using the back side to strop, thinking it may work like a linen strop since the texture is rougher. Then I finish it on the smooth side, but I still worry that the nicks and cuts in it could harm the edge. Anyway, after about of week of stropping (still haven't nicked it myself) and shaving, the blade now seems much sharper. It easily passes the HHT every time.
Anyway, thanks for all of the support from all of you, and the local member who has been giving me good advice. And thanks to Badger & Blade for giving us a place to vent, share our experiences, and get the support we need.
Still haven't found the angle that does the job right though. I tried everywhere from almost flat on my face to 45 degrees; Just about all of the angles I tried gets some hair, but not like it should. Yet, each day I get excited about trying it again.
A local member hooked me up with another local straight shaver who honed my razor, but I haven't been sure whether it was truly shave ready; it passed the HHT only about 20% of my attempts to test it. The local member gave me his Poor Man's Strop and some pointers. The strop was nicked and cut up pretty bad, so I sanded it down to smooth it a little and sanded the back side of the strop a little. I've been primarily using the back side to strop, thinking it may work like a linen strop since the texture is rougher. Then I finish it on the smooth side, but I still worry that the nicks and cuts in it could harm the edge. Anyway, after about of week of stropping (still haven't nicked it myself) and shaving, the blade now seems much sharper. It easily passes the HHT every time.
Anyway, thanks for all of the support from all of you, and the local member who has been giving me good advice. And thanks to Badger & Blade for giving us a place to vent, share our experiences, and get the support we need.