New to straight blade shaving

[DylanL]

Thanks all. I agree with most advice. I won’t, however, send my razor out. For me it’s a joy to learn as I go. My Ralf Aust came in and it is a much better blade. I’m improving my honing with better control and making great progress. My current result is much improved. Last night I progressed from bevel set to 12k on the naniwa super stones. Today I had my best shaving experience ever. Going to refine a bit more but this was hair plinging sharp and produced no razor burn. I’m going to work a bit more at 8k and then again at 12k.

 

[Frank Shaves]

^
I keep a honing log in a spreadsheet. Has helped me a lot. And it's fun to pick up, use a razor and then go back to the log to remember how the edge was finished.

The problem with being too careful is not learning from mistakes. This is why I love user-grade razors. I still have a NOS Filarmonica 13 Medallon Taurino I bought in August 2022 that I have only ever put on a finishing stone. I am now ready to reset the bevel of this razor but keep getting distracted by other honing tasks.

 

[mr_houston]

Just a word of encouragement. You are doing very well, esp now that you have better steel to work with. In the big picture of things, it’s remarkable that you can put a good-shaving edge on a straight razor this quickly. Not many men in the world could do that.

There will always be areas to improve on.

One thought - if you get rid of that beard, you’d have a lot more area to shave.

 

[1Speedster]

Just a word of encouragement. You are doing very well, esp now that you have better steel to work with. In the big picture of things, it’s remarkable that you can put a good-shaving edge on a straight razor this quickly. Not many men in the world could do that.

There will always be areas to improve on.

One thought - if you get rid of that beard, you’d have a lot more area to shave.

I couldn’t imagine wearing a full beard and not having the enjoyment of shaving my entire face. Some of the most challenging and fun terrain gets covered sporting a beard. Apologies for the razzing pile on!

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Are the photos in post 21, the Zertone or the new Aust?

You are getting better shaves with no razor burn from the Zertone or the Aust?

The razor in Post 21, needs to have all the deep stria removed, likely going back to the 5k, you may be able to remove the stria with the 8k with a bit of slurry, but the 5k is safest.

You can maintain the Aust with just the 12k, do use tape so you don’t trash the spine like the Zertone.

 

[Ravenonrock]

Thanks all. I agree with most advice. I won’t, however, send my razor out. For me it’s a joy to learn as I go. My Ralf Aust came in and it is a much better blade. I’m improving my honing with better control and making great progress. My current result is much improved. Last night I progressed from bevel set to 12k on the naniwa super stones. Today I had my best shaving experience ever. Going to refine a bit more but this was hair plinging sharp and produced no razor burn. I’m going to work a bit more at 8k and then again at 12k. View attachment 2016505View attachment 2016506View attachment 2016507

Nice work! That’s what my edges looked like, but I was happy to shave off them too! I started honing and shaving at the same time with mixed results, but I kept at it. My honing continues to develop and my shaves are close and comfortable now. Keep us updated!

 

[DylanL]

Are the photos in post 21, the Zertone or the new Aust?

You are getting better shaves with no razor burn from the Zertone or the Aust?

The razor in Post 21, needs to have all the deep stria removed, likely going back to the 5k, you may be able to remove the stria with the 8k with a bit of slurry, but the 5k is safest.

You can maintain the Aust with just the 12k, do use tape so you don’t trash the spine like the Zertone.

Post 21 is the Aust. The shave when it arrived was terrible. I’m using tape on the spine. I’m struggling with those deep striations because I don’t want to over-hone and they were there out of the box. I’m really enjoying the honing process. I’m going to work it today on the 5k for a good while and then back to 8 and 12 k. I appreciate the advice!

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

No need to worry about over-honing, it is rarely the case and more likely under honing not using enough pressure, failing to fully set a bevel and/or to remove all the previous stones stria.

All you need to do is to hone, holding the razor at a 45-degree angle using half laps, ala Alex Gilmore’s, Ax Method.

The 5k stria will be at 45 degrees and any remaining 1k stria will be at 90 degrees to the edge and easily visable.

The Ax Method is a good, simple technique, to polish off 1k stria or previous grits stria in about 39-40 laps.

(The Ax Method of honing razors)

While it is a method designed to set a bevel with a 1k and jump straight to a Jnat and finish on a Jnat. It can easily be adapted to use with a synthetic progression and works very well.

The Aust are wide and ground thin, so watch your pressure for you final finishing laps, it is easy to lift the edge off the stone with too much pressure.

You are likely close to very good shaving edges.

 

[DylanL]

No need to worry about over-honing, it is rarely the case and more likely under honing not using enough pressure, failing to fully set a bevel and/or to remove all the previous stones stria.

All you need to do is to hone, holding the razor at a 45-degree angle using half laps, ala Alex Gilmore’s, Ax Method.

The 5k stria will be at 45 degrees and any remaining 1k stria will be at 90 degrees to the edge and easily visable.

The Ax Method is a good, simple technique, to polish off 1k stria or previous grits stria in about 39-40 laps.

(The Ax Method of honing razors)

While it is a method designed to set a bevel with a 1k and jump straight to a Jnat and finish on a Jnat. It can easily be adapted to use with a synthetic progression and works very well.

The Aust are wide and ground thin, so watch your pressure for you final finishing laps, it is easy to lift the edge off the stone with too much pressure.

You are likely close to very good shaving edges.

This was extremely helpful. I followed the advice in the video to great results. I also then went back to more vertical strokes on the 8k so I could then identify the scratches with a cheap scope when I moved to 12k. Now I’m really excited to add a finishing stone…confused by the ILR conflicting information and a bit intimidated by JNATS.

 

[DylanL]

Currently at hht-3. Shave today was extremely comfortable. All the advice given has been greatly appreciated.

 

[Frank Shaves]

The Naniwa 12k is a finishing stone. Natural finishing stones are unlikely to produce sharper edges. The choice of finisher is more about how the edge feels on your skin. Remember that to the best of our knowledge tomatoes and peaches do not feel the difference between edges from different finishing stones.

 

[DylanL]

This evening I had what I consider an excellent result. HHT 4+

Thanks for everyone’s support and advice.

1-12k progression on the super stones with some linen stropping between 8 and 12k and then 30 round trips with the ultra fine black paste lightly applied to the smooth side of a leather strop reserved solely for that paste.

 

[Frank Shaves]

^
Very nice - congrats!

 

[BMFtoolco]

Welcome to B&B. Everyone here is so helpful you can learn a lot here.

Lots of good advise here. I too have a similar beard situation. I really like the proraso white soap and aftershave balm. I try not to switch the shave up too much at one time. I only change a blade or a soap or an aftershave, and so on. I think you are off to a good start. Have a trusty blade to fall back on and one, or more, to hone and experiment on. A lot of guys will say to get a vintage to learn on and I wouldn’t disagree, but I have tried some dumb stuff on a gold dollar because I don’t worry if it goes in trash after. Haha.

Happy shaving!