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Kingfisher's open blade (straight razors and shavettes) journey
- Thread starter kingfisher
- Start date
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
I think he refreshes his edges on pasted balsa.
Yep. Now a year of 6 days a week shaving with a total of two honings. I think that means my stropping is getting quite good. Also, as Chris said, I refresh the edges periodically on pasted balsa. I get somewhere between 10 and perhaps 22 shaves out of an edge before a refresh is needed, depending, I guess, on a number of factors including quality of my lathers, quality of my shave technique, and quality of my stropping
Thank you!
This is true; see above. It's not required all that often, though.
I'll soon be participating in a pass-around of Gold Dollar mods with pasted balsa that has 0.1 micron diamond coating. There is a guy at another forum who claims he hasn't had to hone a razor in several years. He "tunes up" on the diamond-pasted balsa after EVERY shave, and he says the edge is always perfect. I wanted to see if there was something to it, so I signed up for the passaround. Keep tuned for my impressions. The stuff is being mailed to me tomorrow, so I'll likely get started near the end of the week.
Today was actually a no-shave day (gasp!). It's very rare for me. I had to get my car into a shop early this morning and after that everything just went awry. I'll get a chance to shave a 2-day's growth tomorrow morning. Looking forward to it.
There are not enough cashews!
It will be interesting for me, too.
CCLXX this morning.
Had two days' growth; used the Swedish steel. Lather was Doc's Special Blend.
Surprisingly easy for the amount of dense growth I had. Two passes with the straight razor left me SAS+ CCS-. Final quick pass with the vintage slant and I was as close to BBS as I've been in months, if not longer. Fantastic shave.
On the non-shave front, bad news yesterday. On the way home from work there was a large piece of metal on the roadway in front of me (to make matters worse, on a really tall drawbridge over the Elizabeth river, and on the metal grate part of the bridge). I couldn't see it because somebody crossed lanes to right in front of me a bit before I got to where I should've been able to see it. He then hit it and kicked it up so that it hit the side of my car, making a big scratch on the paint and making a cut in the plastic around the right rear tire. I couldn't have tried to avoid it because the traction on that section of the bridge is terrible; could've led to a spin, which you don't want to do at the top of a 150-foot bridge over a river.
Could've been worse. Nobody was hurt, obviously It's probably going to be a costly repair.
Man I hate it when there is something in the road that you or another cannot avoid. I have been lucky as of late. The important thing is that you are okay. But it does suck that repairs need to be made it wasn't your fault. Hoping they are not as bad as you think!
Yep. Thanks.
Thanks! I hope so, too.
This morning I had to be to work an hour earlier than usual, so I went with the vintage slant for two passes.
I spent about an hour on Saturday cleaning out the cabinet below my sink. It was getting to be a disaster! I found a bunch of stuff I forgot I had, including several tubs of shaving soap, all unlabeled. I have been a beta-tester for several soap makers and have received lots of samples over the years, some of which have been high-quality soaps, and some not so much.
So I did what any self-respecting shave nut would do: I test lathered the unknown soaps, and kept the ones that made a nice lather. There were three tubs of soap that lathered great that I kept. Two were unscented and the other has a gorgeous scent. I think the latter one is one of Maria's soaps from Through The Fire Fine Craft. If I recall correctly, it seems like it made my face tingle. I'll likely test it on the arm before I try it.
The other two are unscented, and I think both of them were iterations of Hannah's soaps (the ones that eventually became Soapy Science).
I chose one of them for this morning's shave and it made a fantastic lather. I don't really like unscented soaps, but I have some essential oils sitting around, so I can make it smell good for the next shave. But the lather was unassailable. Really nice. As good as anything I've tried that is currently on the market. So I am assuming this one was either the final recipe or very close to the final recipe.
Anyway, I am set for soap for quite some time, lol.
I also found a bunch of samples that I need to work my way though. So I'll likely be throwing sample soap shaves in at least 2 or 3 times a week for the next little while until they are gone. Stay tuned for mini-reviews of these sample soaps!
I hope you are having a good start to your week!
Yep!Chore turned into joyous occasion, nice!
CCLXXI this morning.
So, I'm part of a pass-around on another forum. The passaround is to test "The Method." For the uninitiated, here is a quick summary. There is a guy on another forum who uses diamond-pasted balsa to "refresh" his straight razors after EVERY. SINGLE. SHAVE, and has been doing so for a long time. He claims that if you do this, you will always have a very sharp and nearly perfect edge, and that your straight razors will never need honing again.
Intriguing. Balsa strops and diamond paste are not that expensive. I have no interest in learning honing, but I do like shaving with straights and I don't like shaving with a dull straight. So, I signed up for the pass-around.
The box arrived in yesterday's mail. So, it's two modded GD razors and the balsa strop. The idea is for each guy to keep the razors for a week or two, stropping them on the balsa for about 50 passes after every shave, and to report their findings in the thread.
One of the modded GD razors was modded into a shorty. The other one is probably also somewhat shorter than a normal blade, but not overly so, and it has a really nice shape. Beautiful blade. The scales are also custom. On this one, they are a nice light gray and they look great. The razor is really beautiful.
When trying out new hardware, I try to keep the variables to a minimum, so I use my most trusted software. So this morning I fired up Soapy Science in the Mint Mint scent and lathered it with my Rubberset with its new Plissoft synthetic knot. As expected, I was able to make an amazing shaving lather with this set-up.
Within seconds of putting this razor to my face, I could tell it was extremely sharp. I expected that this kind of sharpness would come with some discomfort or harshness, but it did not. It was smooth and comfortable.
I completed two passes and only had a bit of clean-up left, which I accomplished with the Fatboy set to 6. I managed to get a bit of irritation just to the left of the Adam's apple on the first pass, when I was moving too fast with a new-to-me razor that was extremely sharp, but no weepers or irritation in any other spots.
Call me a believer in this edge. As sharp and smooth as any edge I have ever tried, comparable to the edge that was on the Swedish Steal when I acquired it from Ga Tech Chris.
Time will tell whether I can manage to keep this keen an edge by using the diamond-pasted balsa, but that's kind of the point of the pass-around, I guess.
Oh, another win in Saturday's clean-up is that I found an aftershave I forgot I had purchased: Pacific Shave Company's Caffeinated Aftershave Balm. As luck would have it, it's peppermint scented, so it matched perfectly with today's lather. A win-win.
Hope y'all are having a good day.
Good report Randall! But where’s the pictures?
That's what I was wondering... all that talk about how beautiful the razors were. I want to see them!
Good report Randall! But where’s the pictures?
See above.
CCLXXII this morning.
I took the razor to the diamond-pasted balsa last night. I was anticipating it would difficult or arduous, but it was quite simple. The balsa is 3 inches wide, making the stropping simple. I did 50 laps. It took maybe two minutes, at most. Then I wiped down the blade and stropped it about 90 laps on leather.
This morning I lathered up Doc's Special Blend and went at it. The edge was once again extremely sharp and rather smooth, blasting through even tough patches without any problem at all. If anything, it seemed that it was even sharper than it was yesterday! I was more careful on the low neck and around the Adam's apple, and it went well.
My first pass was must faster than usual, probably because this edge doesn't slow down for anything.
I was going to do a Chimensch second pass like I usually do, but reduction on pass 1 was so good that I thought a Chimensch pass wouldn't really accomplish anything. I felt more stubble rubbing nose-to-ear. So I did the second pass almost a direct XTG from nose-to-ear, but just a bit of a combination between XTG and WTG. Since this isn't my usual second pass, I slowed down and took my time. It went well.
I had only a bit of clean-up on the jawline and anterior neck, which I did with the Fatboy set at 6.
End result? Smooth and comfortable. No weepers and no irritation.
A winner, for sure.
So, am I sold on this balsa method? Not yet, but it wouldn't take much for me to become a believer. I am going to stick with the same razor every day for a while; if the edge doesn't dull at all in a week or more of shaves, I'm going to say that I have become a believer!
Hope y'all are having a great day!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Yeah, we need more info. I'm now curious on this method.
Yes. The balsa is glued to a heavy piece of plexiglass. It is carefully lapped and affixed to the plexiglass. Then a very thin layer of diamond paste is applied.
CCLXXIII this morning.
Followed the same procedure. 50 laps on the balsa yesterday evening followed by about 90 on leather. Lathered up Lollipop Citrus and went to town this morning. This razor is RIDICULOUSLY sharp. Made child's play out of the cheeks in no time whatsoever.
HOWEVER, I did get irritation on the neck in a couple of spots, one of which was the exact same place as on Tuesday morning. I also got a couple of very small weepers on the chin when going XTG (sideways across the chin).
This blade is easily as sharp as a Feather AC blade. My straights are never this sharp, so I think if i were to do this I would have to alter my technique a bit. Since it leads to a smooth, comfortable shave on the cheeks, I'm sure the neck problems are a technique issue; if the blade were the problem it should cause irritation everywhere.
The other thing a person like me could do would be to use the balsa every 5 shaves or every 3 shaves or something. Using it every shave definitely keeps the razor sharp, but perhaps a tiny bit overly sharp for a person like me. (Or maybe if I kept using it every day my technique would evolve to maximize the benefits and minimize the irritation?)
Anyway, jury is still out. For now what I'm tempted to do for tomorrow is just strop it on leather tonight and see if it smoothes out some for tomorrow's shave.
Hope y'all are having a great day. Today is my wife's birthday!