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Ramblings of a MilkCrate

Shavewizard420 said:
I see you found Love My Skin. they can be had for a decent price, and is not a bad M&P soap base. They have a nice selection of scents to choose from.

A buddy of mine Jim from another fourm uses LMS quite a lot. Have a few sample pucks floating around the den somewhere, should pull them out and give it another shot, i know the Patchouli Oud smells pretty good.
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The Dragon Blood did ok for me. The Patchouli is on deck today. I’m gonna pick up the AS samples and try them.
 
Sharp's said:
Tim after reading your journal a bit might have repealed my interest in hitting a straight. Seems like you have a few. How do you work your razor rotation and how often are you honing a blade? Is there a rhym or reason to the method?
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\n\nI have 5 in rotation and try to keep my kit the same during the work week. Weekends are random shaves, so I may just grab whatever. All my razors have been bevel set and honed once. I just maintain them with a leather and pasted balsa strop.\n\nFor bevel set or honing I have used either lapping film or the Naniwa stones. I learned on film, but got a really good deal on the stones. Hope that helps. If I missed anything just let me know. Oh, I am on vacation this week, so you may see a bunch of random shaves ?
 
uacowboy said:
It was mostly out of necessity but I used 2 razors for 2 years Shaving 2-3 times per week without touching them to a hone. Granted they are wedge/near wedge grinds so they have more edge support. When you start you really should avoid honing yourself unless you have 1 blade for that and 1 to use while you learn.

Tldr they are not as bad maintenance wise as they seem. I have used them almost exclusively for about 5 and a half years.

That being said I am curious what milkcrate does as there is more than one way to do things.
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Like you, I think it’s better to start with two, so one is always sharp. I bought my first shave ready from WhippedDog. The second was a vintage beater from the bay to practice honing on. I followed “the method” that Slask McCoy uses with lapping film. It’s easy to learn and gives consistent results. The technique carried over very well to the Naniwa stones also. No special slurry magic with these stones.

Right now I am testing FeOx balsa as a daily maintenance to see how long it will keep an edge going. 50 laps after each shave. I got to try the .1u diamond paste and I know it will keep an edge going for some time. So when I run out of the FeOx, I’ll move up to diamond paste. The diamond paste is supposed to be crazy sharp at 200k, but it was a very smooth edge.
 
These are my lapping film notes:

Items needed:

4x12” marble tile (2 pack - $8 @ HD)
Lapping Film ($18 on ebay)
Loupe (up to $15 on ebay or Amazon)
1/4” Balsa wood (3"x36"x1.4" - $5 @ Hobby Lobby)
.3u Chromium Oxide / .1u Iron Oxide (I had bought this with my poorman’s strop)
Leather strop (from my poorman’s strop)
spray bottle of water ($1)

Here is the process I follow:

My progression:
600 grit WD sandpaper (if needed for chips)
1000 grit WD sandpaper (bevel set)
Bevel set with the burr method
Lapping film- 9u, 5u, 3u & 1u (40-60 laps on each film)
Pasted balsa- .3u & .1u (Chromium/Iron Oxide)

Coming Soon-
Pasted balsa- .5u, .25u, .1u (diamond paste to replace the Oxide strops)
50 laps on each

Maintenance:
50 laps .1u balsa after shaving. 12 laps on leather. Then 20 on leather before shaving again.
 
I haven't tried the films. i jumped right off the deep end and got a set of Norton hones 220/1k and 4k/8k. once i was getting a comfortable shave of the 8k i got a purple welsh slate that gives an ok edge and then a bit of a mystery stone from a guy in B.C. Canada that is a fantastic finisher. beyond that i have my webbing and leather strop to keep them in shape and they seem to do well, although after 2 years they were very much ready to visit the finisher again. i have heard good things about the FeOx and diamond paste but haven't jumped down that rabbit hole yet.
 
Thank you both Tim and Kyle.

Time and maintanice has been my main issue. I had two razors. a Thiers-Issard in silver steel and a Dovo from AoS. My first was the Thiers that I dont think came shave ready to me. It was sharp but not like it should have been. So that might have been the struggle there. And I think I messed it up that much more improperly stropping it. Now when I got the Dovo it made things so much easier. within three shaves I think I was getting the hang of it. But as it started to loose its edge I was afraid to incorrectly strop it to mess it up again. So I gave up on the sucker.
I should get a cheepie to practice the strop on. Then maybe get the Dove shave ready again.. Honestly I think it only needs a stropping.
I can not find my Thiers. I could always use that to F. up. Since is probably alreayd is.

MilkCrate said:
Like you, I think it’s better to start with two, so one is always sharp. I bought my first shave ready from WhippedDog. The second was a vintage beater from the bay to practice honing on. I followed “the method” that Slask McCoy uses with lapping film. It’s easy to learn and gives consistent results. The technique carried over very well to the Naniwa stones also. No special slurry magic with these stones.

Right now I am testing FeOx balsa as a daily maintenance to see how long it will keep an edge going. 50 laps after each shave. I got to try the .1u diamond paste and I know it will keep an edge going for some time. So when I run out of the FeOx, I’ll move up to diamond paste. The diamond paste is supposed to be crazy sharp at 200k, but it was a very smooth edge.
Click to expand...

uacowboy said:
It was mostly out of necessity but I used 2 razors for 2 years Shaving 2-3 times per week without touching them to a hone. Granted they are wedge/near wedge grinds so they have more edge support. When you start you really should avoid honing yourself unless you have 1 blade for that and 1 to use while you learn.

Tldr they are not as bad maintenance wise as they seem. I have used them almost exclusively for about 5 and a half years.

That being said I am curious what milkcrate does as there is more than one way to do things.
Click to expand...
 
Sharp's said:
Thank you both Tim and Kyle. \n\n Time and maintanice has been my main issue. I had two razors. a Thiers-Issard in silver steel and a Dovo from AoS. My first was the Thiers that I dont think came shave ready to me. It was sharp but not like it should have been. So that might have been the struggle there. And I think I messed it up that much more improperly stropping it. Now when I got the Dovo it made things so much easier. within three shaves I think I was getting the hang of it. But as it started to loose its edge I was afraid to incorrectly strop it to mess it up again. So I gave up on the sucker. \nI should get a cheepie to practice the strop on. Then maybe get the Dove shave ready again.. Honestly I think it only needs a stropping. \nI can not find my Thiers. I could always use that to F. up. Since is probably alreayd is. \n
Click to expand...
\n\nJust go slow on the strop. it helped me to have the strop along the edge of the counter as i first learned. the key is to just let the weight of the razor do most of the work. and roll the spine so you don\'t slice the leather.
 
uacowboy said:
Just go slow on the strop. it helped me to have the strop along the edge of the counter as i first learned. the key is to just let the weight of the razor do most of the work. and roll the spine so you don't slice the leather.
Click to expand...

I did this as well, just keeping the pressure light. You don’t want to roll the egde.
 
Sharp's said:
Thank you both Tim and Kyle. \n\n Time and maintanice has been my main issue. I had two razors. a Thiers-Issard in silver steel and a Dovo from AoS. My first was the Thiers that I dont think came shave ready to me. It was sharp but not like it should have been. So that might have been the struggle there. And I think I messed it up that much more improperly stropping it. Now when I got the Dovo it made things so much easier. within three shaves I think I was getting the hang of it. But as it started to loose its edge I was afraid to incorrectly strop it to mess it up again. So I gave up on the sucker. \nI should get a cheepie to practice the strop on. Then maybe get the Dove shave ready again.. Honestly I think it only needs a stropping. \nI can not find my Thiers. I could always use that to F. up. Since is probably alreayd is. \n
Click to expand...
\n\nThe maintenance aspect does turm some people off. I started with a Parker shavette that CBL PIF’d to me. Some use shavettes to skip maintenance, some hone, some send their razors to be honed. Sending you a PM.
 
Shave Count (DE: 231 SR: 83)

Pre Shave-
Warm water splash to shave.

Shave-
Henckel SR
Graydog Synth
LMS Patchouli soap

Post Shave-
Warm water splash
Nivia ASB

Another late morning random shave ... good stuff! Kept the same razor, but changed out the soap and brush. The scent was light on the puck. Loaded for 60 seconds and cranked out a good lather. The Graydog runs wet and the soap held up well. Unfortunately the scent was really lost when lathered.

I hit the strop 20 laps on fabric and 20 laps on leather. I then went with my standard three passes: WTG, XTG and ATG and have no drama to report. I really like the feedback from this razor. I was on the fence about chasing that whale today. I finally decided to let things come naturally without extra effort. I have plenty of time to reach my goal. So ... with that said, I walked away with a solid 98% BBS for the win!

Wrapped up my shave with a splash of water and a towel dry. A splash of the ASB and everything was right as rain! A real shame about the scent, I would have liked a stronger sho
wing. Life is good!
 
Shave Count (DE: 231 SR: 84)

Pre Shave-
Warm water splash to shave.

Shave-
Henckel SR
Vie Long Horsehair
LMS Barber Shoppe soap

Post Shave-
Warm water splash
Nivia ASB

Early morning shave today. One of the dogs woke me up to go outside (grrrrr). Mixed the kit up a bit today too. Went with the LMS Barber Shoppe. This soap smells pretty good. Here is their description:

Barber Shoppe: Vibrant Bergamot and fresh basil leaf are complimented by earthy notes of Oakmoss and white patchouli.

Loaded the brush for 60 seconds and cranked out a decent lather. The scent on this one does fade a bit when lathering, which is kinda a bummer. It is there enough to still smell though.

I hit the strop 20 laps on fabric and 20 laps on leather. I then went with my standard three passes: WTG, XTG and ATG and have no drama to report. No chasing today either, but I walked away with a solid 99% BBS for the win! Oh so close...

Wrapped up my shave with a splash of water and a towel dry. A splash of the ASB and everything was right as rain! So far, these budget soaps haven’t been too bad. Tomorrow I should have French Lavender on deck. For today a few more errands to run and some work from home. Life is good!
 
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