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Taking the plunge - slowly.

You are doing great Josh. You might try doing just a one pass shave on the weekdays till you become more proficient. Or do one at night and another in the morning?
 
After further consideration I think I am just going to use DEs during the week for now and save my straight practice for the weekends. The next month is going to be pretty crazy finishing up my MBA program in addition to working full time, being a Father to my 15 month old and helping to run a side business with my wife.

This will allow me to wait for the lapping films to come in and hopefully get this edge in even better condition to make sure that isn't a factor. I'll also be picking up some 30x and 60x loupes to inspect the edge.

One thing that surprised me was how light the razor is. The plastic scales don't help I'm sure, but the whole thing feels very delicate and almost unwieldy. I'm not sure how much of that is universal to straights and how much is just my cheap razor. Would a wedge feel more substantial?
 
No more shaves yet but I an feeling the telltale signs of my AD perking up. The site I bought my starter kit from posted another deal yesterday for $5 shave ready GD 208s on Amazon. The only problem was they were "add-on" items so you have to spend $25 to get them shipped. My future brother in law has been wanting to get into straights and was jealous of my deal from last week so I picked up one for him... And 2 more for me... And a 30x and 60x loupe. Fortunately I also sold one of my ATT plates yesterday so that covered the cost.

I actually watched a video on stropping the other day and realized that I had been doing it wrong. I was lifting the blade edge off the leather at the end of the stroke rather than rolling on the spine. Rookie mistake. It is possible I rolled the edge a bit before I even used the first razor so these new ones will provide a good comparison hopefully. I will have 3 of the same razor so I am considering sending one to another member to hone, practice honing one myself, and keeping the last one "shave ready" as per the vendor and compare the edges.
 
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Tried 3/4 of a WTG pass tonight to scratch my straight itch. I didn't mess with my chin or upper lip for fear of getting another embarrassing cut I would have to explain at work (not to mention to SWMBO who is not the biggest fan of this new interest - imagine Ralphie's mother from A Christmas Story with straights playing the part of the Red Rider BB gun).

I'm pretty convinced that I screwed up my edge with bad stropping technique. There was definitely hair removal but it did not feel smooth or effortless. Fortunately I have two more supposedly shave ready GDs arriving tomorrow along with my loupes. I also received my lapping films from @Heespharm today so I could theoretically jump into honing as soon as I find some marble/granite scraps to serve as a substrate. I will most likely practice setting a bevel and honing on my current razor, leave 1 stock and send one to another member here for honing to give me a spectrum. Updates to follow .
 
Fortunately I have two more supposedly shave ready GDs arriving tomorrow along with my loupes.

Look out, he's gone from 1 to 3 in a matter of a week! Quick! Shut off the ebay access! Straights can multiply like bunnies, do be careful. :lol:
 
Look out, he's gone from 1 to 3 in a matter of a week! Quick! Shut off the ebay access! Straights can multiply like bunnies, do be careful. :lol:

I'm only bidding one one at the moment...

I gave it another shot this morning. My purpose was to test out the claimed "shave readiness" from the vendor. I took them at their word and took it from the packaging and shaved with no stropping or other prep to eliminate the possibility of my lack of skills affecting the experiment. I did three passes on my cheeks and neck but did not attempt the chin or upper lip area since I had a family gathering today and did not want to get the eye roll from SWMBO every time someone asked what I did to my face. No blood on the face, but I did nick my left earlobe during my XTG pass. Bled a bit until the 3rd or 4th dose of styptic pencil. Cleaned up with 3 passes of my DE on the chin and upper lip and an ATG pass on the rest of the face. Fully 12 hours later and there is considerably less growth than a normal DE only shave so the straight is doing something.

The razor did take hairs off of my face, I will give it that much. The shave definitely felt rough despite great lather (MWF) and pre shave oil prior to each pass. The blade feels as though it is catching on my beard and pulling the hairs rather than just cleanly slicing through them like it does with my DE. At times the blade wants to "skip" along my face which is a serious red flag to slow down and reevaluate the situation. All of this leads me to believe that these blades are not truly "shave ready" which should come as a surprise to no one.

@Krodor has generously accepted my request to hone another of the new GD208s to actual shave readiness so that I can compare that to the condition I received them in. I also picked up some of the supplies I need to start honing myself, namely tiles to use as a substrate for the lapping film I got from Heespharm. I still need to pick up some 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to set the bevel. Home Depot's website said they had it in store, but the highest they had was 220 in the paint section and the employees weren't much help. Autozone, here I come...
 
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New toy in the mail today!

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Very grateful to Frank @Lakebound for selling me this razor. It is in amazing condition.

I've also got a 3" Split Side Walkin' Horse Strop on the way.

I had my fourth shave tonight and went for a full three passes, minus ATG above my lip. Not quite ready for that yet. Good news is that there were no cuts and only one small weeper. I'm feeling a little more comfortable with hand position and manipulating the razor but I think I need to watch some videos of others to get a better understanding of what works best.

Finished off with an ATG pass from my ATT H1 and I can definitely tell the improvement of the combo straight-DE shave over my DE only results. Obviously the goal is to go 100% straight shave and get amazing results but I'm still a long way from that point.

SWMBO is still afraid of walking in on a decapitated husband, but my ability to complete 3 out of 4 shaves with no cuts has been a step in the right direction.
 
Checking in again! I am about 10-12 shaves in and things are getting better all the time. A few minor nicks here and there but no more big slices like on my second shave. The blade is becoming more comfortable in my hand but I still need to refine my hand holds for several tricky areas.

Most of the shaves since my last post have been with the 5/8 Gebr Lang as @Krodor was generously tuning up a couple of my 6/8 GD 208s. The 5/8 is very nimble and a pleasure to use, but feels very light and insubstantial at the same time.

My last shave was with the returned GD and I can say that Krodors edge was far superior to the "shave ready" status from StraightRazors.com. I got a very pleasant shave out of it and look forward to using it again soon, but not as much as I'm looking forward to..,,,

My 7/8 Satin Finish Square Point Lacewood Hart! Ordered it last night and am very anxious to receive it. Some of you probably saw my Milestone Razor thread so I won't rehash everything here, but this is a gift for my completion on my MBA as of last week. I plan to have the scales engraved with my initials once I am convinced that I want to keep the razor (which hopefully won't take long).

I decided on a heavier grind and larger blade based on my lack of enthusiasm for the featherweight GD. I have a somewhat heavy beard and enjoy heavier DE razors as well so I believe I will like the Hart. I was also attracted to the utilitarian aesthetic of the design. Nothing against fancy scroll work and gold wash, but this just appeals to me more at this point.

Also enjoying my Walkin Horse Split Side strop which has found a permanent mounting place in the towel cabinet.

Apologies if I have rambled too much, but thanks for reading. I'd like to try to develop done left handed skills but fear getting cut too much to pursue that at this point. I have considered bread knifing one of my extra GD razors (don't worry Krodor, not the ones you tuned up!) and practicing technique with that as a low risk alternative. Thoughts?
 
Josh congrats on the Hart, I hope you like it as much or more than I do mine. Some reports on the factory honing on the Harts have been hit and miss so I also hope you get a truly shave ready razor delivered to you. If not just know that Hart blades, for the most part take a wicked edge if done right and will hold that edge well if properly maintained. One of mine, honed by a friend is my reference edge for my own honing quality and that blade is as good as I have ever shaved with.
It sounds like your shaving is coming along quite well and I think your idea to use a dull razor to practice with your non-dominant hand is a good one. I find it very useful to be able to use both hands when shaving, another idea is you could practice shaving with that same razor any time you want as length of beard would not be an issue and you could work on angles, stretching and different strokes.
Just a thought, keep up the good work.
All the best FrankC
 
Thanks Frank. I really enjoyed talking with you briefly on the phone. Your generosity is a prime example of the high caliber of B&B members.

I have been working on a little project of making my own paddle strop. I bought a blank paddle at Hobby Lobby for a couple of bucks, cut up some old blue jeans, add staple gun and presto I've got a double sided paddle strop.

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Ordered some abrasive powders from Whipped Dog and pasted it up.

As for results, I mentioned earlier that I wasn't thrilled with the edge on the factory fresh Hart 7/8 I got a few weeks ago. I gave it about 15 laps on each side of my newly pasted and dried paddle strop, then 25 cotton webbing, 50 leather. The improvement was immediately apparent. It would tree top some arm hairs before but now it really mows them down. Finished shaving about 15 min ago and there is a bit of irritation but it was much easier to use the razor in the sharper condition.

I can see where CrOx gets a reputation as a harsher edge. Does this mellow out a bit after a few shaves and more normal stropping?
 
I have been working on a little project of making my own paddle strop. I bought a blank paddle at Hobby Lobby for a couple of bucks, cut up some old blue jeans, add staple gun and presto I've got a double sided paddle strop.
Staple gun? I'm new to straight myself but i remember reading that the edge cannot bump into any nails, staples, rivets, etc or preferably not even on any uneven surface. If they are at the end i would mark them with some color to make sure you don't come close. Supposedly that can ruin a edge very fast.
 
Staple gun? I'm new to straight myself but i remember reading that the edge cannot bump into any nails, staples, rivets, etc or preferably not even on any uneven surface. If they are at the end i would mark them with some color to make sure you don't come close. Supposedly that can ruin a edge very fast.

I stretched the denim over the sides of the strop and stapled it on the sides only. Stropping surface is very smooth and flat.
 
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