Sounds like a great time with you Dad and Son. As usual your pictures are fantastic.

Great picture and lineup Perry.

Thank you Jim.

Good to hear the shaves are already getting better. It sounds like you have already learned about "ride the cap" -- starting with the cap touching the face and lowering the handle until you just barely have blade contact with the skin to keep the blade angle as shallow as possible. The other two key elements preached here are "no pressure" and "skin stretching".

If you scraped a patch of skin on your last shave, that sounds like a pressure issue. It's the biggest change from shaving with cartridge razors. With them, most people press down to get the razor to cut. With a razor-blade razor of any kind, you just rest the razor on the skin and let the weight of the razor do the work. Absolutely no pressing down of any sort.

The third one is skin stretching. Use your offhand to pull your skin taut in the section you are shaving. With the skin tight and relatively flat, the razor cuts the whiskers better and is much less likely to cut you.

Since I am rambling on here, one final suggestion: you may want to get an alum block. You use it to rub over your wet face after your last rinse when you are done shaving. The alum does three things:
1. The main one: it tingles or even stings on spots where you used too much pressure, letting you know how you're doing and what areas of your face are causing you problems;
2. It usually seals any small nicks or blood weepers so you don’t need to use the styptic pencil; and
3. It tones and tightens your skin a bit.

You leave the alum on for a little while, then rinse it off and apply any balm or aftershave you plan to use. I usually leave mine on while I clean up my equipment and the sink area, then rinse it off.

Just some suggestions.

Three generations hunting together, wow that is a special day.

January 8th
Short Handled Black Beauty w Wizamet IS (2)
Sudsy Soapery Jack Frost
Omega ‘49/ Walnut
Thayers
Jeeves of Hudson St Tobacco&Bay Leaf AS

Last day of the week with the Black Beauty. I have enjoyed this razor, and do find that it shaves a little different than the long-handled version. Today was another smooth, easy shave. Grabbed the Jack Frost for ‘menthol monday’, whipped up a creamy lather and am completely smooth after 3 passes.
I’ll swap out the razor tomorrow morning for a razor I received a few months back, but have yet to use.
Have a great day all!

Thanks, Clint!

Welcome to the thread, @Steve G! I'd like to echo something that Jim (@Norcalnewb) mentioned, which is to not shoot for BBS. It will come and it will be easier as you learn better technique. I shave one pass with the grain (WTG) and then shave my neck and jaw line a second time. I go across the grain (XTG) on my jaw and basically do another WTG pass on my neck. Then I call it quits. More shaving than that for me can cause irritation. That set of passes gets me pretty smooth, probably what others would call a darn fine shave (DFS).

Your passes are for beard reduction and not beard removal. Reduce on the first pass and then you can reduce some more if you'd like on a subsequent pass.

Looking forward to following your progress!

Thank you, Clint!

Super photo, Clint. So far, how is that knot in the new Thater?

Sounds like a great trip, Jim. Great photos as well!

Informative write up, Perry. I’ll be using my first GEM tomorrow morning.

Awesome! They are effective and fun razors.

First GEM did ya say?

A master of understatement.

It was a lot of fun, Keith. Thanks!

Thank you, Jason! You're in for a treat with the Gem! Great razors.

Yes, got a Gem Jr from Andrew in a trade a few months ago. Will be pulling it out tomorrow for a week or so.

Thank you Jason. My experience with the knot so I will update my thoughts with continued use. Thus far the knot has proven to be very quick to break in. Not as quick as my Zenith Boar but much quicker than my Omegas. The bristle size and thickness is very similar to the Omega while the Zenith has much thinner bristles. I have been very impressed with the handle. It feels nicer than several of my custom brush handles. I am looking forward to seeing how my thoughts change of the remainder of the month.

Little down today-chest cold, weird cough, that sort of thing. Just got dome Zicam and "Menthol" cough drops. Why did I quote menthol. Because My shave didn't include anything menthol, but now I have the drops to make up for it. Or perhaps not.

Loveley photo, Clint! The New brush looks amazing!

Great photo Perry! Im glad the PTFE performed well! I was a bit worried after your last bulk blade experience.

Fantastic photo, Jason! I cant wait to hear how the shaves with the Gem Junior go!