Taking the plunge - slowly.

Howdy! Thanks in advance to everyone here for their support. I've been reading through these threads and the Interactive Guide for a while now but I've finally pulled the trigger on some straight equipment.

As a bit of an introduction, I've been wet shaving for about 2 and a half years with a brush and soap and started DE shaving back in January. Haven't had any desire to use a cartridge since I first started. I've been interested in straight shaving since before I was interested in DE but the up front expense and skill required was holding me back (not to mention some concern from SWMBO about walking into the bathroom with me bleeding out on the floor).

My grandfather was a barber for the Navy during the Korean war and a few months ago I was talking to him and showed him some of my DEs. He told me that he still has his straight razor that he purchased in Japan during the war and that he used during his barbering duties in the war! I immediately expressed interest in it and he is going to try to find it and get it to me at some point in the intermediate future. My plan was then to have this razor professionally honed/restored by Larry at Whipped Dog since he is local to me. I was concerned about learning to strop/hone/etc with such an irreplaceable razor to me for fear of damaging it.

Fast forward to today on Facebook of all places I saw an offer for a (supposedly) Shave Ready 6/8 Gold Dollar 208 along with a tub of Blades Grim Soap, Boar Brush and GB Buckingham Strop for $15 shipped. This was some sort of a special very limited time offer and so I jumped on it. For reference about 2 hours later the price is $40 shipped which would not be worth it for me but I figured $15 was too good to pass up as any one of those 4 items would cost at least that much. I have no illusions that this will be a nice razor or even trust that it will be shave ready when I receive it. Supposedly this offer also includes free honing for life from VintageStraightRazor dot com.

All that to say, I will be poking around here and asking questions over the course of the next few months to improve my technique.

Thanks again in advance for your support.

That was a smoking deal that you got! Remember to keep the blade at a very shallow angle. About one spine widths away if possible. Keep the skin flat by stretching it and puffing out your cheeks and a light touch. Good luck and keep us posted!

Good luck. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Yeah, the only problem is going to be intercepting the package. I have already spent my shaving money for the month. She'll figure it out, but forgiveness rather than permission right? She would have done the same thing if she saw a deal like that on some shoes.

The deal you got is enviable. Best of luck.

And Larry's a great guy.

Thanks! My daily brush is a WD 24mm Silvertip from Larry. Several of my "converts" use his brushes too and love them. Looking forward to interacting with him more in the future.

Sounds like a smokin' deal. That is cool about your grandfather. I hope he finds his straight so that you can use it.

If Larry is local to you, yo umay want to take the GD 208 you receive to him for an inspection. Many razors that are sold as "shave ready" really aren't and even though I am not a honer, from what I have read here, it is a challenge to get GD's to this state. Once they are there, they perform well, but not everyone takes the time to set the bevel correctly.

I use a GD 208 that I bought from Buca3152 here and it is doig it's part and waiting for me to catch up!

Good luck on your journey.

Sounds like a pretty screaming deal you landed on. I can't say how well the GD's from them come, but I can say that other blades from that vendor do indeed show up actually shave ready, hand honed and all, so hopefully that will be the case with yours as well. If not, there are several on the forum that can get a GD into a shave ready state for you as needed.

Thanks! Just got tracking info to update and the package should be here Saturday (USPS willing...)

I've been reading up on straight razor technique and tests to ensure that a blade is actually shave ready (HHT etc). I plan in making a close inspection of the blade and will try to take some pictures. My expectations aren't extremely high so I won't be too disappointed if it turns out to be subpar quality considering the price I paid.

Received my package yesterday. Contents were a basic leather strop (no canvas or metal attachments), a tin of Grimm Blades Smolder soap, a no-name boat brush and of course the GD208.



Performed the three sharpness tests.

Thumb nail test felt like there was some "bite" - Pass

Thumb pad test - pass

HHT - definitely not just slicing through a hair drawn straight down on the blade. Had to either slide it along the blade or catch it and pull to get results. It was able to tree top some arm hair however.

Stropped probably 30 times carefully then did my normal shower/prep. Didn't get fantastic lather at first so I had to rework that.

Now the moment of truth! The razor felt very awkward in my hand and getting the right viewing/arm angle was a little tedious. Short WTG strokes on my right cheek went pretty well. Definitely felt some resistance from the blade, but I did have some significant growth so it might not be 100% a sharpness problem.

I carefully progressed through the shave, WTG/XTG/ATG minus the chin area and only ended up with 2-3 very minor nicks. I did clean up with an ATG DE pass in my trouble spots.

Results were pretty incredible! Definitely closer than my normal DE routine which is usually DFS/BBS.

Looking forward to trying again soon.

Special thanks to Heespharm for the PIF of some lapping films that should help me work on the blade a bit once I receive them.

Wow - Josh... you just dove right in Good job!

Greet first shave! Keep it up!

joshf128 said:

Received my package yesterday. Contents were a basic leather strop (no canvas or metal attachments), a tin of Grimm Blades Smolder soap, a no-name boat brush and of course the GD208.

View attachment 474642

Performed the three sharpness tests.

Thumb nail test felt like there was some "bite" - Pass

Thumb pad test - pass

HHT - definitely not just slicing through a hair drawn straight down on the blade. Had to either slide it along the blade or catch it and pull to get results. It was able to tree top some arm hair however.

Stropped probably 30 times carefully then did my normal shower/prep. Didn't get fantastic lather at first so I had to rework that.

Now the moment of truth! The razor felt very awkward in my hand and getting the right viewing/arm angle was a little tedious. Short WTG strokes on my right cheek went pretty well. Definitely felt some resistance from the blade, but I did have some significant growth so it might not be 100% a sharpness problem.

I carefully progressed through the shave, WTG/XTG/ATG minus the chin area and only ended up with 2-3 very minor nicks. I did clean up with an ATG DE pass in my trouble spots.

Results were pretty incredible! Definitely closer than my normal DE routine which is usually DFS/BBS.

Looking forward to trying again soon.

Special thanks to Heespharm for the PIF of some lapping films that should help me work on the blade a bit once I receive them.

Click to expand...

Congratulations: MY GD should be arriving tomorrow from buca. You are a a brave man to attempt a three pass shave with your new straight razor. I hope my maiden voyage with a straight goes a well as yours.

I did spend at least twice as long shaving this way versus DE which won't fly on weekday mornings. I'm considering switching to night shaving to allow me time to practice.

Okay... Shave #2.

There's that slice! Tried to extend my smile a little bit on the left side of my face. Fortunately it wasn't too deep but still took about a minute of heavy styptic pencil application to stop bleeding. Happened on my first pass but I decided to soldier on for a full 3 pass.

Chose not to clean up with the DE today to really judge how much I could do with the straight. Right cheek and right neck is DFS while left cheek and left neck are SAS which is strange because I normally get better shaves on my left side with a DE. Still working on hand placement/grip to see what works for me in different areas. I don't see myself being ambidextrous, so my right hand is going to have to learn how to do the left side.

Not discouraged and it definitely could have been a lot worse. I remember reading about AndroidDad saying that slickness of lather is even more important in straight shaving than DE and I can definitely agree with that. Looking forward to continuing my journey.

Got my first slice today, too. Sounds like the rest of your shave went well!

I would love to see that edge under a loop. Is there a definitive bevel from heel to toe. What do the scratch marks look like, which can give you some idea what it was finished on. You can get a Jewelers loop for $10-$15 and it is worth it. http://www.staples-3p.com/s7/is/image/Staples/m000789259_sc7?$splssku$.

Avenolpey said:

I would love to see that edge under a loop. Is there a definitive bevel from heel to toe. What do the scratch marks look like, which can give you some idea what it was finished on. You can get a Jewelers loop for $10-$15 and it is worth it. http://www.staples-3p.com/s7/is/image/Staples/m000789259_sc7?$splssku$.

Click to expand...

A Loupe is definitely on my to-buy list but probably will have to wait until August. I've exhausted my shaving money for the month and even had to sell off on one my super speeds to fund this starter kit (but I sold it to someone as a birth year for them, so it's worth it for that satisfaction). I've got a set of 10x-20x loupes picked out on Amazon ready to buy pending funds.

I'm not an expert, but it appears that there is a definite bevel all the way down the blade. I've heard that Gold Dollars usually have a very thick section just ahead of the heel that needs to be ground down and honed. It appears that the vendor already accomplished this as the blade thickness is consistent from toe to heel. There is a very small area *just* ahead of the heel where the edge seems to be slightly ground/honed too much resulting in a less than perfectly straight edge. It's maybe 1/64-1/32" and in a section of the blade that probably won't see tons of use. I will try to take a picture of this and post it with my next update.

As for the vendor's honing prep, I asked him and this is the answer I received:

I asked the vendor about his definition of "shave readiness" and he replied with this information:

"Here is the progression 4k Norton - 8k Norton - 10k Naniwa then Pasted Felt Strop to Leather. I hope that helps. Have a great day!"

I'm not an expert, but that sounds better than just the bare minimum. Am I wrong? What are your opinions on that progression?

That progression in skilled hands will yield a usable edge. Sounds like you are off to the races. When working the chin area be sure you jut your jaw and stretch the skin but don't cut you stretching hand's fingers.

I would go with 30/ 60 loops. 10/20 is a little light.