Shave Report The shave today with the Thiers-Issard was actually quite a bit of an improvement compared to Monday's shave. I even did two WTG passes on my cheeks. Good: * Felt a bit more natural holding the razor and I think a big part of that came from shifting my finger so that it was placed further out, ontop of the spine. It added a lot of stability to the strokes. * Very, very little tugging on cheeks and throat. * Really enjoyed the shave AND the stropping last night. * Was able to shave around the mouth apart from under the nose. Still challenging * Still not able to shave under the nose - it tugs and I don't want to attempt faith too much * One weeper * Seems like ATG is a real challenge both in terms of comfort in holding the razor and that it felt tuggy as soon as I even attempted. Yeah, I can see how this straight-razor-thing can be rather addicting.
Woah woah woah.....I have completely neglected this forum if I missed the fact you started shaving with a straight. I'm glad to see you are enjoying it and am very interested to see where this is headed in terms of RAD.
For now just for this week - but, having said that, once I'm done going through all my razors I fully intend to go back and explore this more as I am enjoying the experience quite a bit!
This is where (whenever things get 'tuggy'), once you've determined the razor is sharp and doesn't need honing, that skin-stretching really helps. Keeping the shaving area taut reduces the tendency of a tugging pull by the razor.
Thanks! The two things that really helped today was; a) Shifting my grip so I had a finger ontop of the spine, further out, and b) Stretching my skin out I might put ATG on hold for a bit until I gain some more confidence
Funny you should ask but yes - there is a built-in-buffer of a month to accommodate (or 2x4) eight razors to 'appear' or re-visit
For skin stretching- try running the first two fingers of your off hand on an Alum block. @Seabs suggested that, and it has made things so much easier for me. Your fingers actually get a grip in the lather leftovers. So, you want to borrow a straight to fit it into your 8 razors that appear?
A tip for the under the nose bit. Use your free hand to push your nose out of the way, side to side like. Also tuck your lip under your teeth to stretch the skin. And use short strokes. Another interesting thing about Thiers-Issard is that their blades are tempered in molten lead. The only company in the world still allowed to do so.
No problem. I have a Thiers-Issard fetish. I have over a dozen Thiers-Issard blades, though only one is a razor... The others are all in the kitchen. Also, the correct pronunciation is "chairs issard" according to Thiers-Issard literature (or "tea air ee zar," depends on who you ask) if that is something you care about.
I wonder if they used the molten lead technique already when my particular razor was made (1900-1910) - and do you know why no other companies are allowed to do it? If it's patent based I would have assumed that it expired a long time ago?
I usually treat myself to a straight shave once a week on Sundays. I still have trouble going beyond the 2nd pass. On my last SR shave, I went WTG, XTG, then switched to my DE87 for ATG. There's a little voice inside that tells me it's time to switch or you'll nick yourself. Congrats and enjoy an awesome some looking razor!!
From Wikipedia: The steel is hardened through a special process using a bath of molten lead where the forged steel blade is immersed at 800 °C (degrees Celsius).[1] The efficient metal-to-metal heat transfer, from the surrounding lead to the steel blade, enables fast and uniform heating of the steel at the optimum temperature for maximum hardness. The steel is tempered following the hardening process, where at 300 °C the steel becomes flexible and brittleness is eliminated according to phase diagrams for steel.[1][7] Thiers Issard is allowed by special exemption in French law to continue using this lead hardening process, while health concerns prohibit its use by any other manufacturer
Neat. I'm all in favour of supporting French companies using dangerous processes for my benefit. Kinda reminds me of Absinthe which I'm a big fan of
