What Straight Razor Did You Use Today?

How's this 31 treating you Robert? The 33 I had was probably the most beautifully crafted straight I'd ever owned, yet for some reason I never bonded with it. It was almost as if it was too much width for the length, and oddly square-ish. I'm wondering if a 32 might be a pleasing compromise.

 

Two Pass Shaving Routine...

Hot Water prep & massage with Argan Oil
Gold Dollar 208 6/8 Hollow Ground
Mason Pearson Pure Badger
Haslinger Tallow Soap
Thayer's Witch Hazel

I Had a Lovely 2 Pass Shave with My Gold Dollar 208 6/8 today..Made in China or not this is Darn Fine Carbon Steel..Its a lot Harder Steel than my Vintage Swedish Straight's & feels Different but very Sharp Indeed..This Dollar Sings Like a Canary & offers plenty of Feed back..I reckon this would make an Ideal Learning Razor for Folks because the Heel & Toe are very Rounded & Forgiving..

I enjoyed my shave today & ended up with a Mixed BBS/DFS Result with No Touch Up..I think a Lot of folks forget that the Asians were making Swords than could Cut Through Western Body Armour & their Metal Work was way Ahead of its time..

Billy..

 

March 17 - Straight Shave 18
Wade & Butcher French Point

 

from what I've read, the good ones are good. but they aren't consistent enough for folks to recommend them.
I've got one, it seems ok. but I haven't had to hone it yet( the previous owner had it done professionally). mine has minimum quality scales, the pins are cheap, and the blade almost looks homemade.
but it does shave.
I'd be hesitant to recommend it to someone wanting to explore sr shaving, mostly because of the availability of nicer vintage blades.
I am happy yours is treating you well.

 

love that palamino revisor

 

Yeah some of them from the Box are only Fit for the Bin & Non are anywhere near Shave ready..I got this one from a Seller that has worked on the Whole Blade from Top to Bottom..I was talking to him recently and he said he is getting Dorkos sent to him by the Dozen straight form the Box that need Honing work on them..He said Dorkos are a Lucky Bag an All at the moment which I thought was Interesting..

Billy..

 

I forget how wonderful the little MK31 really is. Back before the ivory ban a couple of year ago I had a chance to get the larger 133 or 134 for $25o with new ivory, but didn't follow through. I contacted a few people in Sweden about vintage ones with original scales but thought the prices too high. I should have bought them on second thought. One person on TSR in England from Sweden told me he couldn't tell much of a difference in the smaller and larger blades by CVH.

The MK31 is excellent. A smooth and easy one pass shave for me.

 

SOTD 3/17/16
Razor: Case Brothers Tested XX
Brush: 24MM TGN Badger in Tulip Wood Handle
Soap: Barrister & Mann Seville
Post: Cold Water Rinse, Alum, Thayers’ Rose Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Lustray Blue Spice

The edge on this razor was done on the Sharpton series, up to 30k. Glenn may have ruined my other 30 straights for me, because they don't shave as nice as this one.

 

Ralf Aust 5/8

 

March 18 - Straight Shave 19
Friedr Schlemper Focus Spezial

 

Custom Joe Rodgers…

 

H. Boker - Twisted scales and worked spine. Fresh off of the hones.

 

Wilbert Cutlery SR. Not too bad today. A couple small nicks and some irritation as usual with a SR so far. Hence the use of Proraso. I find Proraso and Nivea Sensitive to be almost identical, if not identical, in application results.

Smooth cheeks on the second pass, passable neck, and a no go on the chin. If I had a goatee I could do a SR only shave...but I don't so a third cleanup pass with the DE.

 

Certain areas of the beard growth require more experience with the SR in order to get an equally close shave as other 'easier' sections. For me the chin and throat area at the jaw line were my biggest challenges when I was starting out. My DE razor performed touch-up duty until I finally become more effective wielding the SR.

 

Planned Shave 78
18 March 2016



Whipped Dog "Sight Unseen" 5/8

 

Robert Williams Purist

 

Today I used my Engstrom frameback, Proraso red in the mug, Maggards 24mm synthetic and some Aqua Velva musk.
I'm getting better at this and the chin area came out pretty good. I had to do two passes and a couple of areas three passes, but no irritation nor nicks or cuts. I'm now managing to do some across the grain passes and that is really helping a lot. I'm really liking that Engstrom.

I had myself a DFS this morning!

 

Those scales are exquisite! I'm assuming that it's real wood. What kind of wood are they made from and how were they finished?

 

Johan Engstrom



I do have a question regarding this razor I would like to bounce off some of the experienced shavers here. This razor doesn't feel like it is tugging, but I can't seem to get the same level of closeness with this razor as I can with some of my others. Does this sound like an angle of attack problem? I have a few other razors and can normally get at least a SAS, but usually what I would call CCS on one pass. This razor requires two passes to get things knocked down. It is especially noticeable on my mustache.

 

They are made of zebra wood. It has a cyanoacrylate (CA; aka 'super glue') finish. My preferred way to finish wood scales. Labor-intensive, but quite durable and water-resistant.
Here are scales shaped and sanded prior to finishing. Raw blanks of zebra wood seen in the background.


early on in the process; initial wash coats of CA; sanding between each coat.


A hard, durable finish...