Straight razor newbie

[CBLindsay]

I have a ?, do you know of anyone using African Black Soap to make shaving soap.

I don't BUT, while not the same, I did make a version of my premium tallow with activated bamboo charcoal. I made the soap as an unscented soap for those with sensitive skin and noses, it was truly unscented (perhaps an added benefit of the charcoal) and people seemed to like it. A true "african black" soap would use charcoal from various plant materials like plantain skins, cocoa pods, palm tree leaves, and shea tree bark rather than bamboo. I have not tried true African Black soap so I can't attest to its properties but I would assume the use of such plant material to make the charcoal would influence the smell and the mineral properties in a way that bamboo charcoal does not. I think bamboo is commonly used in skincare products because it is pretty neutral and abundant.

 

[guillermo]

Neat! Yeah that could speed you up. A slurried Belgian blue can get you there, but it would take you a bit longer than a slurried 1000-1500 grit stone. Yes a nice yellow coticule is a go to for a lot of guys. I have several vintage Coticules that provide an exceptional edge, but they are on the smaller side. Well done on going natural all the way, serious respect.

My go to is setting the bevel on a 1K Naniwa Chosera -> Naniwa Chosera 3K -> JAPANESE NATURAL STONE Base and a nagura progression using a Botan -> Tenjou -> Mejiro -> Koma -> Tomo Nagura. Or I finish on a Jasper or Escher Thuringian.

There are so many different ways to get there and it’s a blast playing around with different finishes. Have fun!

I don't BUT, while not the same, I did make a version of my premium tallow with activated bamboo charcoal. I made the soap as an unscented soap for those with sensitive skin and noses, it was truly unscented (perhaps an added benefit of the charcoal) and people seemed to like it. A true "african black" soap would use charcoal from various plant materials like plantain skins, cocoa pods, palm tree leaves, and shea tree bark rather than bamboo. I have not tried true African Black soap so I can't attest to its properties but I would assume the use of such plant material to make the charcoal would influence the smell and the mineral properties in a way that bamboo charcoal does not. I think bamboo is commonly used in skincare products because it is pretty neutral and abundant.

Thank you,
I wished I had waited for your answer before I made my purchase,
On the site, you have it listed as old stock, does that mean you have discontinued making it?

 

[guillermo]

Hello Everyone,
Should the stone be dressed at the grit range want to be working at? what I mean is should I use 1200 grit wet / dry sand paper to dress my bevel setter or the DMT 600 grit?

 

[CBLindsay]

Thank you,
I wished I had waited for your answer before I made my purchase,
On the site, you have it listed as old stock, does that mean you have discontinued making it?

Yeah, that unscented stuff is long gone. I have a lot of old stock on sale now, some of it will be completely discontinued but some of it will rotate back in.
I put some soap in the package too, i just sent you a PM about it.

 

[Luecke3262]

Hello Everyone,
Should the stone be dressed at the grit range want to be working at? what I mean is should I use 1200 grit wet / dry sand paper to dress my bevel setter or the DMT 600 grit?

It depends on which stone you're using. If I were setting a bevel I would freshly dress the stone with a lower grit diamond plate or sand paper, somewhere in the range of 140-400. I like to refresh my stones every session and sometimes multiple times during a session to increase the amount of cutting the stone can do. As the stone gets loaded up with swarf it will slow down a lot. The same goes for my finishing stones, I typically use a 600-1200/fine grit diamond plate and I make sure to flatten and remove swarf from these stones as well. I'll even take my rub stones(nagura) and dress them with a lower grit diamond plate, so that they release more slurry onto the base stone if I'm using them to do dilutions. If using a rub stone, the base stone will receive its conditioning from the stones you are rubbing on it as well. This is why I would dress the base stone with a higher grit and the rubber with a lower grit. As grit is removed from the rubber, the finish on the base stone will become progressively finer(assuming you're using a natural stone as a rubber).

Does this answer your question?

 

[CBLindsay]

Hello Everyone,
Should the stone be dressed at the grit range want to be working at? what I mean is should I use 1200 grit wet / dry sand paper to dress my bevel setter or the DMT 600 grit?

I am not an authority on the subject but I think to some degree this will depend on the stone or type of stone. I usually lap my stones flat using a lower grit, 600 or 1000 usually work for me, then I will slurry them a few times to smoothe it out and work loose any large crystals that might be randomly poking out. I choose the grit based on the stone type and how much work it needs. Most of my Coticules and synthetic stones can be done with a 1000 grit diamond plate.

My goal is to do the least amount of damage to the honing surface as possible.

 

[guillermo]

It depends on which stone you're using. If I were setting a bevel I would freshly dress the stone with a lower grit diamond plate or sand paper, somewhere in the range of 140-400. I like to refresh my stones every session and sometimes multiple times during a session to increase the amount of cutting the stone can do. As the stone gets loaded up with swarf it will slow down a lot. The same goes for my finishing stones, I typically use a 600-1200/fine grit diamond plate and I make sure to flatten and remove swarf from these stones as well. I'll even take my rub stones(nagura) and dress them with a lower grit diamond plate, so that they release more slurry onto the base stone if I'm using them to do dilutions. If using a rub stone, the base stone will receive its conditioning from the stones you are rubbing on it as well. This is why I would dress the base stone with a higher grit and the rubber with a lower grit. As grit is removed from the rubber, the finish on the base stone will become progressively finer(assuming you're using a natural stone as a rubber).

Does this answer your question?

Yes, tomorrow I will receive my new BBw / Pyrenees, so I will dress the Pyrenees with my DMT 600 grit, BBw with 4000 grit wet / dry sand paper and the Rozsutec with 10000 grit wet / dry?

 

[Luecke3262]

Yes, tomorrow I will receive my new BBw / Pyrenees, so I will dress the Pyrenees with my DMT 600 grit, BBw with 4000 grit wet / dry sand paper and the Rozsutec with 10000 grit wet / dry?

Sorry I missed this. I would not go above 8-1200 grit. The higher up you get, you will receive diminishing returns. At 10,000 grit you’re burnishing the surface and will not be doing too much sharpening on your blade, because it will reduce the amount of cutting your stone will do. At 4000-10,000 grit paper, you’ll also notice that the stone will load up with swarf quickly and again you won’t be sharpening much. It’s better to use a lower grit diamond plate than to go even up to 4000 grit with sand paper. Also, high grit sandpaper would take forever to lap a hard stone flat.

In this case more is not more, it’s less. You need the grit in the stone to be acting upon your blade, not the blade further burnishing a polished surface(the stone).

 

[celestino]

Welcome.

 

[Strop Dragging]

Greetings, Guillermo! I started my straight razor journey about 10 years ago, and adore it as a (sometimes) meditative, "me time" practice. I struggled through lots of ups and downs in many aspects of the hobby, frustrations and triumphs in pretty much equal measure, haha.

Like you, I decided to tackle honing and learning to shave at the same time. I am not a person who feels I am at an expert level enough to tell you what to do...but many wiser people on this site gave me the advice of having a pro honemiester hone at least one blade for you, so you have something to gauge your own work at. Lots of folks told me that learning both things simultaneously was going to make my journey more of a challenge. I was just so hungry to do it all that I pushed though...but having a properly, expertly honed blade or two in my arsenal did make measuring my own work easier...and also gave me a concept of the different feel of different stones can give you on the face.

Excited for you journey!

 

[CBLindsay]

Greetings, Guillermo! I started my straight razor journey about 10 years ago, and adore it as a (sometimes) meditative, "me time" practice. I struggled through lots of ups and downs in many aspects of the hobby, frustrations and triumphs in pretty much equal measure, haha.

Like you, I decided to tackle honing and learning to shave at the same time. I am not a person who feels I am at an expert level enough to tell you what to do...but many wiser people on this site gave me the advice of having a pro honemiester hone at least one blade for you, so you have something to gauge your own work at. Lots of folks told me that learning both things simultaneously was going to make my journey more of a challenge. I was just so hungry to do it all that I pushed though...but having a properly, expertly honed blade or two in my arsenal did make measuring my own work easier...and also gave me a concept of the different feel of different stones can give you on the face.

Excited for you journey!

Wise and wonderful words indeed. I learned to to both at the same time but I bought a shave ready razor to have on hand so I always had one I could trust. That said, maintaining an edge in shave ready condition requires SOME effort. Learning to strop without damaging or dulling the edge is not difficult but there is enough technique involved that it must be learned and practiced. I found that using a balsa strop (thin balsa wood affixed to a glass plate, lapped flat and pasted with VERY fine diamond paste) had made it possible to keep an edge near perfect forever.

 

[SpeedyPC]

Oooh.... G'day