Starting the switchover.

Figuring I am switching to Straights, I am keeping separate logs for each. This is a repost from the first straight shave. Yesterday my first PDF shave.

EUREKA! I have found it!
PDF Shave #1

Kit:
Gold Dollar fresh from eBay cleaned
Van derHagen shave soap, a bit of extra glycerine added
El Cheapo Grande Especial brush

Today I wanted to try something to move the ball. And boy did I!
After showering, and a good deal of trepidation I worked up a good lather with the VDH and added a dime sized spot of straight glycerine in the bottom of the mug. It seemed to help get a peaky lather, which went as usual.

Then, with trembling hands, I deployed my most recent acquisition, A Shave ready Gold Dollar fresh (actually about a week) from eBay. I held the blade in as close a fashion as I could to what I've seen in instructional videos and took my first pass on my right cheek. Zzing! The blade actually made a singing musical sound! And no bloodshed! A thought went through my head; 'you have passed pretty ok shave 2 and 3, but in your hand is an implement of death! Learn the secret of a good shave or I shall take your life!'. I took another pass, Zzing! the blade happily sang again! And so it went for the right side of my face down to the dreaded jowel line.

The left half of my face stared at me in disdain. Again that thought went through my head as before. How do I hold the razor, how do I get the angle so I don't ki.... ZZzzing! Without even thinking much I took a broad stroke across nearly the entire surface of my cheek! No blood. My confidence thus boosted, I awkwardly completed the left side of my face and went on down and got my neck because it seemed my grip shouldn't change much, but the angle would swing down. The blade happily singing I finished both sides of my neck.

That left my nemesis; Chin and adam's evil apple of blood! I remembered watching my father using his tongue to stretch the skin under his lip, so I tried that with pretty good success. Somehow, probably Divine Providence I got the rest of my first pass done without any carnage.

The second pass ATG went pretty much as the first pass. The blade singing in lower tones.

I rinsed my face and passed the Alum Block over the entire surface of my face. Only a hint of stinging on a tricky spot right on the crease of my chin.

Cold rinse, Bay Rum and massage with glycerine. My hands are still shaking a bit from excitement as this is the best shave I have ever given myself, except the chin which needs a little technique work.

The plan: Continue to work on the fundamentals with making lather. Figure out how to maintain this new weapon until after Christmas when I am allowed to buy things for myself then get a strop. Saturday will now be Straight Razor day until I gain a lot more confidence. I fear that by being intimidated, I may make poor decisions (such as going completely N-S on my neck which is starting to burn a little).

All in all an exciting pretty fine shave for 2 passes!

Respectfully submitted
RB

PS. face was still smooth this morning so took the day off and will try to replicate the shave tomorrow. Will stropping the razor on newsprint help any or should I just skip it and use the blade as it was?

Welcome to the fun world of straight shaving! It sounds like you have started off way better than I did.

Yes, fold some newspaper to make a 2.5-3" wide strop and get to it. Just wipe the blade down after to remove any ink smudges or you might look funny the next time you shave.

Straight shave #2 Pretty OK shave.

Kit: Gold Dollar straight razor
Soap: Williams shaving soap
Brush: El-Cheapo Grande Especial

Stropped the razor using the ironing board linen cover and again using this mornings newspaper. This was my first try at stropping so it was a little awkward until I got the hang of changing direction. Edge looks exceptionally bright and clean.

Williams suds up pretty good compared to the VdH I tried last time. Lathered up after shower without incident. Despite the volume of lather in the mug, when I brushed it on, it seemed to collapse and made a rather thin coating. Perhaps I need some work on technique here.

I attempted to hold the razor in my left (off) hand as I saw a couple of videos, but gave it up as a bad idea. I like having an ear on each side. Disfiguring razor slashes also seem like a bad idea. Replicating roughly the same grip as last time, I was able to make the blade sing again. I found in some places choking up on the blade and almost holding it by the spine worked good on my lower lip and chin area. I felt i had better control that way.

The soap seemed to turn to a cottage cheese like texture drying up before I was done so I re-applied suds to the areas I had not completed.

Second pass across the grain went pretty much without incident. Same problem with the soap drying up before I was done. Is this an issue with Williams? or did I make a technique error? Postshave analysis showed what looked like I missed half my neck where the soap curdled up. I just hit it with the DE and called it good. It's part of the learning curve I guess. No blood for 4 shaves in a row. My confidence is coming up. I secretly ordered two more razors that I will need to hone and polish. I have an old Pike stone that was my Father's I don't know what the grit is, but it's red. I am getting 2 ZY supposedly shave ready Chinese made razors. My assumption is manufacturer shave-ready may not necessarily be actual shave-ready. I also have Diamond Lapping compound coming in and plan to try the balsa wood technique I've been reading about. These will be a good opportunity to learn about sharpening.

Repectfully submitted
RB

majorrich said:

... I secretly ordered two more razors ...

Click to expand...

Yup, You're going to fit in just fine here.

Welcome to the Adventure Rich and you definitely started better than I did, my first shave was not a blood bath, but it was also only the cheeks. I have had a few Blood Bath McGrath shaves since though but all have been fun and educational I as well used some folded up news paper a few times myself and it does work pretty well in lieu of a proper strop. Ironing Board linen though I had never thought of, that is a very interesting idea to be honest. It gives me an idea for some creative projects

Great shaves thus far and keep up the great work

Today I spent the better part of the morning honing my Dad's blade. It's a Henckel Graef & Schmidt. I had quite a bit of trouble keeping the stone from scooting around until I grew a brain and put it on a towel, then things went pretty good. the old Pike stone must be very fine grit because it seemed to take forever to make any progress, but once it did start to get sharp it got sharp real fast. I stropped it on yesterdays sports page across the Buckeyes loss (alas I am an alum) and the edge took on a bright sheen. Tugging a whisker from my moustache I attempted to cut a thicker hanging hair. Figure I would try on a hair with some 'oomph' so I had a better chance of severing it. While it didn't just 'tic' and cleave said whisker, if I slid the blade across it so that it was slicing, it would indeed cut the whisker. I shall strop some more later today. Still having trouble changing directions whilst stropping, I find I have to lift the blade and place it back on the paper. I can't seem to get the hang of rolling it over on the spine. Maybe because I am stropping left to right rather than to and fro. I don't know. Poor sports page has some more stroking to go. The wife caught me stropping on her ironing board and grounded me from doing it any more. I am going to Aldi later and looking at one of those mini-ironing boards that maybe I can put linen over a cork backing and then put lapping compound on different sectors. Maybe that would be a worthwhile project. I still have two more beater blades coming so I can experiment a little on them. Heck at $8 a pop I am not risking much. While on the subject of lapping compound, would putting a bit on the newspaper help or hinder?

Congrats on holding steel to neck and living to tell about it. This is a fun journey. I know you said you're waiting until Christmas to purchase new things, but since you've already broken that rule, let me point you to the poor man's strop at whipped dog. You can get one of the unsightly rejects that will still strop just fine for under $20--might not be too much different than a mini-ironing board on price. That will hold you over until after Christmas at least. While I'm tempting you, I might mention that you can pick up a sight unseen razor that will be shave ready for not much more.

You may find you have a different preference for lather consistency with straights than you do with DE. While most like lather with peaks and cushion for DE, most seem to prefer a wetter lather for straights. I also found that VDH didn't provide enough slickness, though I didn't try adding glycerin to it. You can pick up tallow based soap from Stirling soaps for a very fair price.

Straight Shave #3 PFS (qualified)

Kit: Gold Dollar 66
Williams Standard soap
El Cheapo Grande Especial brush

Expecting lots of family over for turkey gorging and they are travelling today. Took the opportunity to slow down and practice my art. Soaped up a little wetter than last time which seemed to actually make more suds than before. I must have been dry last time. This time instead of leaving water in the sink, I threw a big sponge in there as I saw in somebody's video. This turned out to be a great idea for wiping the shavings off the razor as I progressed. Stropped the razor on Ezekiel Elliot's picture trying to 'flip' the razor as I've seen so many of you guys do. My fingers just won't cooperate yet. I will keep trying. I can no longer say I've not drawn blood with my razors as I caught a little weeper on my cheek. I think I got a little vertical and the blade kind of 'jumped' and reminded me to keep it on the down low. Still struggling with my chin and underside of my chin. I am holding the blade almost completely on the spine there so I can keep the angle good, but am not erasing whisker. Need a little guidance there.
Finished up with Alum Block and OS from Dad's old stores. (Classic Shulton) I probably won't have time to shave until Saturday. At last count we will have 8 guests and only 2 baths. Thank goodness an Asian Man's beard doesn't come shooting out like many peoples! Have a wonderful holiday everybody. I am looking forward to having my quiet time again.

respectfully submitted
RB

Good shave, despite the weeper. Chins can take a little while -- those curvy bits have a learning curve (hah!) to them. So does "the flip" in stropping. You'll get there, just go slow. Enjoy the holiday, Rich!

Underside of my chin is my weak spot as well. I get good success with a S-N pass with chin held up high on the first pass and then a E-W pass pulling the skin upwards. Obviously you'll need to adjust for your own hair growth direction and chin shape.

Attempt at Straight shave #4 Aborted blade was way not sharp.
Continued with the following kit:

Gillette Superspeed F-2
Darby blade
Williams shaving soap
El Cheapo Grande Especial brush

After prep and stropping I thought my Dad's old razor was about ready to go. I was mistaken. A test stroke on the cheek felt like it was preferring to pull whiskers out rather than cut them. Mission control sensed disaster in the making aborted the shave. Continued with backup razor freshly bladed just for such an eventuality.

Working on lather fundamentals as before I found I got more and thicker lather with a wet brush and keeping the tips on the soap until lather began chimneying up around the brush as it went round the mug. Then held the bristles against the sides so as to squeeze the bristles flat on the contact side and allowing the other side to collect the 'proto lather' which was mixed with the bristles as I continued the rotation. I needed to sprinkle a bit of water in, but an adequate lather was achieved.

Continuing my practice on fundamentals I used the DE with the grain and tried wiping the head on the sponge I adopted with such success last shave. It worked ok, but there was significant cloggage on the under-side of the blade. I ended up using the faucet to flush out that part. Eventually re-found my angle and got my wtg pass done with little incident. I tried wetting my fingers and rubbing them on the alum block and got great traction stretching out my man-hide. I even got a satisfactory chin and under-chin this time! Since I had several days growth it was easy to pick out the grain and plan ahead for pass 2 across the grain.

Pass 2 went pretty smoothly, As with the straight, still lack confidence with the swirly grain on my neck. I am pretty much guaranteed a little bit of irritation regardless of what I do on those spots. I just took it easy and re-suds the spots and gingerly hit them an extra time N-S

Alum block alerted to a couple of spots I may have applied pressure to, but no bleeders or nicks. I will go far enough to say Pretty good shave for 2 passes, approaching DFS if I had decided on a third pass. I am forgoing third passes until I feel I have a good grasp of all the fundamentals and my hide gets used to the extra ministrations of the blade.

I experienced a bit of the soap 'cottage cheesing' again this time on the first pass when I aborted the blade and went with DE. Shouldn't the lather be able to hold up to a small delay without drying out like that? Am I not using enough water (that's what I think) or is that just a Williams thing. I believe my brush to be boar although it was only labeled 'genuine bristle' on the box when I got it at CVS. after Christmas I have an afternoon planned to hit the barber store in Nearby Columbus, Ohio to see about a mid-grade boar brush until I can justify the commitment to Badger. Images of bald badgers make me giggle a little. They must not be happy at all come shearing time if they do it that way. Probably better to do them like minks and feed the meat to the local shelter, or Chinese people who seem to eat just about anything that roams the earth.

Respectfully Submitted
RB

I will be receiving a very generous PIF from Rockviper! Two new brushes and a Shavette! The ElCheapo Grande Especial is still good and softening some since I've been using it. I believe I will experiment with the brushes to see if that is the cause of my suds production problem. SWMBO may not necessarily be pleased with me, but she will be at work and unable to do anything about it. So I will be unsupervised in my lab time. Kind of disappointed in my honing so will be putting in some more time tomorrow trying to bring it into spec. If I cannot. It will be farmed out. .

Thank you for propelling me on my journey RockViper! I hope I can find a suitable Christmas gift to send northward. He is now a friend.
I will continue to seek a Cadre of Friends and Mentors as I continue the quest for the BBS!

RB

Enabling Encouraging folks is what I do best.

Have a peek at my wiki page and you will see that there is nothing that I really need. Of course, should you have some common sense to spare, SWMBO would not be opposed to that delivery.

Well done (to both)!

And for the record, aborting a bad shave is a smart thing to do -- there are no medals for bravery in shaving!

William's lather is notorious for disappearing. It's not at all the brush's fault.
Have you another soap you could use?
Does your barber shop carry other options?

My original boar (pure bristle) brush was used well after I received a gift of an unknown badger from my parents.

I have some Van DerHagen and a tube of C.O.Bigelo. I'll probably pick up something at Rivers Edge in Columbus in a couple weeks. My Barber uses a lather machine and doesn't have any supplies for sale. I am open to any suggestions to look for after my Christmas blackout time. (although I've already violated the rule a couple times.) Perhaps if I added some Glycerine to the mixture. it might add some cushion to the mix.

rockviper said:

Enabling Encouraging folks is what I do best.

Have a peek at my wiki page and you will see that there is nothing that I really need. Of course, should you have some common sense to spare, SWMBO would not be opposed to that delivery.

Click to expand...

Yes You Do LOL

I hazard to give you a recommendation as both my top, favorite, soaps, at the moment, have quite a polarizing scent (Arko & Tabac). Both provide a lot of cushion, ample stable lather and I really enjoy both of their scents. I've also not used the other two you have on-hand.

My experience with Williams was unimpressive with a lot of "hey, where'd that lather go?" moments and quite a few where I was sorely missing the cushion of my other soaps. There was a group that commiserated in a thread last year forcing ourselves through a puck of Williams.

You may find that your lather needs may change using a straight over a DE razor as well. I prefer "cushiony" soaps for my straight.

Received a package in the mail from China today! Woot 2 shiny new ZY Shenzhen 430+ "shave ready" blades. Initial inspections indicates it would be a brave brave man indeed to use these blades right out of the wrapper. Out comes the Ol' stone and baby oil (I certainly hope it doesn't hurt the stone because I used a lot today. For 'Shave Ready' I removed quite a bit of material! Maybe this old stone has sharper teeth than I know. I will strop on the Steelers before giving a very brave test tweek with one of these. I also have some lapidary compounds coming that I may apply to the paper and see if that improves the sharpness. Plans are in the works to make a set of paddles as in the excellent tutorial by Slash. Balsa intuitively seems to be a good idea and we shall see how well this works. Perhaps it would be best to farm the first honing out? This also intuitively seems a good idea that maybe I can maintain an edge before I can attain an edge. What do you guys think? this would be two of the cheap ones and my Graef & Schmidt bringing my rotation to 4 blades with compound and balsa I hope I can be allowed to wear big boy pants. Attached (with any luck are pics of the blades in question)


PS. Do stones occasionally need to be tested and adjusted for flatness? This one is probably about 60 years late for it's last tune up.
RB

A marble tile from home Depot or glass plate along with some wet/dry sandpaper should cover the basics of what you need to flatten it.