Can't say that I will be posting about every shave I have, but I'll post about major event's. I'm happy to say that today's shave was a great one. I've read in countless other threads that when shaving with a straight it should be like "wiping the whiskers away." Today I have achieved that feat.
I started straight shaving back in January with a whipped dog kit. Most shaves were good, but I would have a slight tugging sensation. I tried using the balsa strop but I believe I will need to rehone the razor on my coti. I have purchased some razors from various antique shops, and with my La Grise have began my attempts to hone them. After a couple of attemps and tips from the forums including the great Gary Haywood, yesterday I managed to hone my Wade and Butcher to achieve a HHT3/4 and the shave today was great.
I believe the issue was blade angle, having the spine at too great of an angle was causing more of a scraping than shaving action which I believe was really taking a toll on the blade.
So going forward I will continue to refine my honing skills, going to try finishing with oil on my Coti. And I'm going to make sure I keep the blade as flat as possible.
Please excuse the poor sentence structure, flying high on allergy medicine due to the obscene pollen levels, but I couldn't wait to post about my shave experience today.
Jim
I started straight shaving back in January with a whipped dog kit. Most shaves were good, but I would have a slight tugging sensation. I tried using the balsa strop but I believe I will need to rehone the razor on my coti. I have purchased some razors from various antique shops, and with my La Grise have began my attempts to hone them. After a couple of attemps and tips from the forums including the great Gary Haywood, yesterday I managed to hone my Wade and Butcher to achieve a HHT3/4 and the shave today was great.
I believe the issue was blade angle, having the spine at too great of an angle was causing more of a scraping than shaving action which I believe was really taking a toll on the blade.
So going forward I will continue to refine my honing skills, going to try finishing with oil on my Coti. And I'm going to make sure I keep the blade as flat as possible.
Please excuse the poor sentence structure, flying high on allergy medicine due to the obscene pollen levels, but I couldn't wait to post about my shave experience today.
Jim