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SOTD SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 19, 2020
What a glorious, sunny morning for my first shave with the Riga Razor. The factory edge was quite sharp, on the continuum, I’d say hard sharp vs soft sharp. That was fine for this first shave which seemed to literally melt the whiskers off my mug. There was one minor weep as I got started, but once I concentrated on just sweeping the lather very gently off the surface of my mug, I noticed that my whiskers went with the lather.
This razor’s definitely going to spend some time on the ILR and jasper stones this afternoon. I suspect, given the hardness of the tungsten steel the Riga blade is made from, that I’ll need to spend a fair amount of time adjusting the edge to my liking. I’ve been using a USB microscope, and after carefully examining the edges of the straights I've adjusted and enjoy shaving with, I know what I'm looking for.
Here’s an image of the edge of my Japanese Nichiri Tokusen after bevel set and almost two hours of finishing on the ILR and then burnishing on the jasper. I love the way it shaves. That’s my target edge for the Riga. I’ve decided not to tape the spine on the Riga.
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The one scent I do like is lime, and Castle Forbes is an ok cream, but just isn’t in the same slickness class as Nancy Boy, Lush Prince, or MWF. I’ll return to the two lathers and one cream I know and trust for tomorrow’s shave. I’ll be shaving with this razor until I feel comfortable with its handling characteristics. I'm hoping after I finish honing the edge the way I like it, that the shave will be smoother tomorrow. Gives me something to do while sitting through another of my dear SWMBO’s RomComs this evening. I feel refreshed, cool, and cleanly velveteen!
RAZOR: Riga Razor 7/8 (Mug), Blackland Vector (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
CREAM: Castle Forbes Lime
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub. Finished with PAA Frost Byte AS & Cologne.
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