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Natterings of a Nasal Barbarian

It’s surprising how few SR makers put nice edges on their products, that it’s more of a select artisan thing. I wonder why that is?
 
Chris:
I’m such a newbie 5 1/2 mos. into it that all I can say is that the edge felt too rough to me. I’m fortunate to have a son who’s an amateur bladesmith. He’s taught me to coax a really nice buttery edge out of a razor. I’ve never used a professional honemeiste, but I imagine their edges are pretty smooth. I’m just hoping I haven’t ruined a perfectly good edge.
 
GearNoir said:
It’s surprising how few SR makers put nice edges on their products, that it’s more of a select artisan thing. I wonder why that is?
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my guess is it all comes down to time. most of the non artisan SR makers just want to get the blades out and in peoples hands. getting the razor sharp enough to cut hair is relatively quick. making it a comfortable edge takes longer and requires experience of the use of a SR to actually shave.
 
Graybeard57 said:
View attachment 35728
That is a perfect edge! Very impressive.
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Thanks, Bruce, but it’s about 2 hours work. An hour on my Imperia La Roccia with gradually diluted slurries and finishing on my jasper stone with just water. Then three levels of pasted strop (0.t, 0.25, 0.1) before the regular leather strop. Did the same thing to my new Riga Razor yesterday afternoon after having my first shave with Sergej’s, the maker’s edge, Many like his edges. He tapes the spine which protects the spine from hone wear, but results in a more obtuse (wider angle). The shave for me was hard and sharp. I spend about 2 hours adjusting the edges of each of my straights so they resemble the edge above. I hone without tape, after all, it’s my razor and I don’t mind some honewear on the spine. It’s actually barely visible since I’m not bevel setting, just resetting the edge to what I like on some very fine natural stones.
 
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SOTD SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 20, 2020

Today’s shave deserves to be framed. I spent yesterday afternoon applying some of the honing principles my son, Ben, has taught me. I began with the Imperia La Roccia (ILR) stone I nationalized from Ben’s rock garden. Worked up a slurry on the ILR after first lapping it with Ben’s coarse Atoma diamond plate and followed with a tomo nagura slurry stone and kept gradually diluting the created slurry until I was working with just water and the blade began to stick. I then spent about an hour with the UF side of my jasper stone and plain water until the blade again began to stick. Three pasted stroppings (0.5, 0.25, 0.1) and 30 strokes on the leather paddle strop and the blade began to resemble my Diamond Hayashi Nichiri Tokusen Silver Steel Razor’s edge under 200x magnification. The pattern is not identical because the steel’s different, but the smoothness is evident as is the slightly more acute angle as I did not use tape on the spine.

I just can’t stop grinning after today’s mug shave. Yesterday’s shave was ok, and many would be happy with it. Maybe it’s just the fact that I rebuilt the edge by increasing the angle slightly and smoothing it out. Despite the slight stubble, the blade floated through the MWF lather both above and below the jawline. The weep from yesterday reopened, but the MWF lather did its thing and by the end of the first ATG pass was no longer bleeding. The second and final XTG pass put the baby in the velveteen cradle. My greatest learning which was truly freeing was recognizing that my straight shave was just that and need not mirror many of the straight shaving exemplars on YT. It was Jared Connerty’s video and his unconventional - at least according the others I’d viewed - two handed blade hold on an ATG neck pass that helped me realize it's my shave, freeing me up to use a variety of unconventional holds.

After that great mug shave, I loaded the RR Hawk V3 with a fresh palm-stropped Feather Super and had at it. The huge 26mm Two Band Badger ferrule in the Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute brush worked up a rich, yogurty, slick lather. Applying the lather with this huge rush really felt good and just contributed to what turned out to be a truly paradigm-shifting shave. Particularly so when my mug shave feels so much closer than my dome shave. I had this same experience two days ago with the Feather DX. Now don’t get me wrong, I do believe that technique trumps tools. It just appears to me in retrospect that the infinitely flexible angles afforded the open edge shaver do provide a leg up technique wise when compared to the fixed angle built into a safety razor. I’ll have to think some more on this recognition. Maybe I just experienced my first Kuhnian Shaving paradigm shift! In any case I feel velveteen, clean and refreshed on this beautiful morning in Philadelphia!

RAZOR: Riga Razor 7/8 (Mug), RazoRock SS Hawk V3 (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute w/ 26mm Two Band Badger Ferrule
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub. Finished with Alt-Innsbruck and A&E Post-Shave Serum.
 
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SOTD SUNDAY MORNING, September 27, 2020

RAZOR: Manhattan Cutlery UK French Point 5/8 (Mug), Colonial General V2 Silversmith Handle (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
CREAM: Nancy Boy Signature
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brushsqueezings followed by Nancy Boy Signature Balm.
 
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SOTD TUESDAY MORNING, September 29, 2002

Talk about serendipity! I stopped at an antique furniture dealer to pick up a bench SWMBO purchased. When I entered I saw a bunch of old barbering supplies and tools on the cashier’s table. Chatted up the owner and discovered my old barber had passed and this guy had bought his old shop chair. In the pocket were two razors. One was an old Pearl Duck with a cracked blade and the other was a Frederick Reynolds with what looked like a black blade. I mentioned that my son was a bladesmith and could use the black blade.

I gave the guy $10 for it. Got it home, cleaned up the blade with some ultra fine steel wool. Discovered that the black material on the blade was old dried oil. Did some research and discovered it was a Victorian era razor from the stamp ‘R’ overlaying a ‘V’ standing for Regina Victoria. So I know it was made between 1837 and 1901. Further research revealed it had bovine horn scales, a little worse for the wear, but still usable. The blade edge was chipped along its entire length. Worked off the chips on a coarse DMT plate. The blade was crazy wavy! Spent close to 3 1/2 hrs setting the bevel and finishing the edge, and decided to shave with it next day morning.

Spoke to Glen Mercurio who is restoring another vintage straight for me, and mentioned this razor. When he heard I’d restored the edge withouttaping the spine he was horrified, telling me how I probably devalued the razor by doing so. Oh well, I don’t really give a hoot! I’ll let my sonworry about my straight razors after I’m pushing up daisies. All I know is that I had probably one of the best straight razor shaves ever. The bladewas lighter than I’m used to, but the Barber’snotch made two handed use on my neck very easy! Great mug shave followed by an excellentdome shave.

RAZOR: Frederick Reynolds Sheffield (Mug),Colonial General V2 w/ Silversmith Handle (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super AC
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: JR Rosewood Silvertip Badger #378
CREAM: Lush Prince
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with GlyceGlycerin Soap followed by Pre de Provence Balm.
 
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SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

Excellent lime shave this morning! I’m a very basic scent guy - lime, spice, peppermint and sandalwood are about all these barbarian nostrils of mine are capable of discerning. SWMBO never complains about lime or peppermint. So that’s really all I use, and I do it sparingly due to her fragrance allergy. My son’s straight razor collection (well over 100) consists of 80% Japanese, 10% Engstrom and Filarmonica, and the last 10% Reynolds, Rogers, and assorted other early UK makers (Bengall?). He helped me pick the NOS Diamond Hayashi 6/8 razor I shaved with this morning, and honed it for me exclusively on jnats. The model is called a Nigiri Tokusen (2 finger opening). If there’s such a thing as melting whiskers, that’s what I experienced. One very minor tremor-related ear nick, but otherwise a wonderful extremely close mug shave. I skipped the dome shave this morning. I find myself continually feeling my face, amazed at the closeness of this shave.

RAZOR: NOS Diamond Hayashi 6/8 (Nigiri Tokusen Model)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute w/ 26mm Two Band Badger Ferrule
CREAM: Castle Forbes Lime
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Pre de Provence Balm.
 
GearNoir said:
Very nice Diamond!
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Thanks, Chris! It was originally apparently honed for the first time by Max Sprecher. The original owner claims to have only shaved with it 5 or 6 times. I stropped it, and had a decent shave with it. The edge my son put on it was amazing, all done on jnats.
 
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SOTD THURSDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 1, 2020

The new C-Mon Special arrived yesterday, and like many vintage razors required a bit of a touch up. The edge was chipped requiring a new bevel set and the blade is not centering. As one friend (@Trigger) at TSD mentioned, after honing this C-Mon is now “wicked” sharp! What some might call ‘whisker-melting’ sharp. It systematically reduced my facial stubble in three buttery smooth passes (WTG, ATG, XTG) leaving me smooth clean and velveteen! I really like this razor. Still need to work on the blade-centering issue! When I began my dome shave, I remembered why I like the LaResche 51 so much. It plowed effortlessly through my noggin stubble shearing it right down to the skin line leaving me with a velveteen smooth dome to match my mug! Just a fabulous shave this morning to kick off Open Comb October!

RAZOR: C-Mon Special 11/16 (Mug), LaResche 51 (Dome)
BLADE: Polsilver
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Pre de Provence Bergamot & Thyme Balm.
 
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