Hey everyone I've been creeping in the shadows lately. I thought I'd come forward.I'm Cody I'm new to this sport, I've got about 6 shaves under my blade with all of your help. I'm using an art of shaving kit my fiancé bought me, oil,cream,pure badger brush,post shave lotion. My first mistake was buying a hold dollar razor. The first 2 shaves were magical and my last3 or so not so much. I'm sure it must be the razor since its pulling more and cutting me like never before. I've narrowed it down to 3 options and would like some opinions. Popular vote wins on Saturday. I'm looking at: a whipped dog razor A Boker king cutter from straight razor designs And this beauty http://therestoredrazor.com/shop-an...page=flypage.tpl&product_id=175&category_id=7 Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Welcome! We have a lot of experienced users here that will help you out on SRs. We also have a resident expert here: Glen at www.GemStarCustoms.com You can also reach him on this forum. http://theshaveden.com/forums/members/gssixgun.2180/ Oh and one more thing ... Welcome to the Den. We know you'll fit right in. So grab yourself a comfy chair, and give our threads a spin! Burma Shave
In reality you cannot go wrong with Whipped Dog, Gemstar or SRD. They're all excellent with honing blades. Gemstar will have vintage restored blades with an edge sharp enough to cut through time; SRD has new blades that have been honed by Lynn and will still cut through time, and WD has inexpensive unrestored razors but the steel and edge are fantastic. Its really up to your personal taste among those 3.
to TSD Cody..........I hope you enjoy it here....... The first question to ask is are you stropping your blade correctly and regularly between shaves? Can you hone your blade? With Straight Razor blades maintenance is "ABSOUTELY"critical for a decent shave....If you can't strop then there is really no use in buying another Straight, because what your experiencing now is just going to repeat itself...
The folks above saved me a lot of typing! Great advice. Welcome to the Den. Be sure to sign up for the January Newbie Give-Away.
I think Eddie's probably right. Your stropping technique is the most likely culprit here. There is the possibility that your Gold Dollar just can't hold an edge very long but I don't have any experience with those. I've heard mixed opinions on them.
Welcome, Cody. Actually, a Gold Dollar can make a very serviceable razor, IMO. In the beginning it can be tough to determine a razor problem from a technique problem. I'd say send it out to get it resharpened and pay attention to your stropping when it comes back. Good luck
Stropping is one of the most important parts of using a straight. I bought a laptop strop from Star Shaving a year ago. It's lasted me all this time and has really improved my stropping technique. http://shop.starshaving.com/product.sc?productId=121
Might I suggest also before buying anything Google "gssixgun honing or strop" on youtube and take a few minute to watch some of the vids I have up there,,, Something might click for you.. The shave test Vid I feel is a very good one for tips.. and is also here on TSD http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/video-what-is-the-shave-test.32920/ The mixed reviews on GD razors come from getting them to shave ready, once they get there, I have found them to be OK shavers... The issues on getting them there and honing after are well documented but those are for the person honing them not for the person shaving them
Thank you all for the replies. I started stropping on a leather backed with a board and have since made 2 strops. One of latigo and another out of vegetable tanned Herman Oak. I cant decide which I prefer. Could I be over stropping? I generally do 50 to 70 passes it seems excessive to me. I really enjoy doing it though. It also appears that the blade is not ground to the same angle on both sides Ive spent a lot of time on gemstarcustoms.com those tutorials are a large part of my decision to begin this journey. Also because my fiancé hates my beard. Haha. Thank you for the great tutorials.
Overstropping ???? Not really, Mis-stropping yes that is possible and actually the second leading cause of issues for a new SR shaver... 1. Angles 2. Bad Stropping 3. Bad prep 4. Rushing into it 5. Pressure, SR shaving is all about a light touch, from shaving to stropping to honing... My biggest tip on stropping "Pay attention to the spine, keep the spine on the strop and moving evenly and equally across the surface, the edge will do just fine by following along for the ride" 50-75 is a good starting point on numbers as you get better you can adjust that to your best effectiveness...
Welcome to TSD, I'm jealous....I would love to be able to use a Straight Razor, but I have been having problems with my hands going numb. I like the Whipped Dog http://www.whippeddog.com/products/view/double-edge-razor Looks like a great deal
