I saw this last night at my girlfriend's house. I was dying to comment, but waited till I got home. I sure hope you've come along in your straight razor journey! You have to hold the blade at about a 30 degree angle, and scrape the hair off in smooth sweeps. Shaving soap works wonders. I've been loving wet shaving for about 8 months now, and I love learning the ins and outs!
@@Burrfection I would love if you revisited straight razor shaving... I started knife sharpening because of you riki! And I started straight razor shaving and it was a whole new world that opened my eyes. I would love to know if you keep straight razor shaving.
I was in knots the entire time you were shaving. I switched to double-sided safety razors and straight-blade razors about 8 years ago and there is absolutely a learning curve. Grab a Muhle open-comb double sided safety razor to learn blade feel - I found it to be a good approximation to a straight razor in terms of blade contact and angle of attack. After using that for a while try the straight razor again but please, please, please read up on soap and lather technique. Get a good badger brush and find the soap that’s right for your skin.
This is coming from a guy with 10 years of using and maintaining a straight razor - so take it for what it is worth to you. Just trying to help. First - just like knives the steel you use in a blade matters. Invest in a decent German brand to begin (dovo, boker, etc..) then move up from there. There is whole world out there for straight razors. The razors you purchased are - how do say this politely - junk. You technique to sharpen a str8 is different than a knife. You intended only to create a burr/wire edge which is great for a knife cutting veggies / meat not for a str8 cutting hair on you face / skin. I am afraid your technique was not good you are asking for razor burn with that sharpening technique. You want to create as very smooth and very sharp edge. Place the razor on its spine and move it down on the stone - not up. Also do not apply any pressure when sharpening simply let the blade do the work. Keep direction of you blade at same on both sides. The good news is you have the stones to do it. You will also need a leather strop to finish the razor. There are plenty of tests you can do to measure the sharpness of your blade. The bar for sharpness is much higher than a knife. MUCH higher. I can tell you looking at your video your str8 razor was not sharp based on how much the blade was tugging at your hair rather than cutting. Shaving technique another big area to cover here. Need a lot of help here as well. Start with a 15 degree angle approx. Read up on some forums on shaving techniques and sharpening. Lots of material out there. ask for help!
If that’s a “Henckels” Friodour then it ain’t junk I stand corrected, Paul. Gold dollar is junk. eBay would be a good place to find a decent sub $50 str8, really like old bokers king cutter or red imp highly underrated.
Though the old Gillette DE razors are amazing and are built like tanks. Been using my Dad's since he's gotten old with shaky hands, he had to get an electric. I'm never going back to modern cartridge razors again. Biggest scam of the century when company's started moving from DE shaving to cartridge razors.
@@Sam-Icy you're spot on with the DE recommendation. I've been using DE razors for ~15 years now. I think it's a bit ironic that Gillette basically created the disposable economy but managed to do it with a product that they have yet to improve upon despite so many efforts to attract most shavers away from their original product.
The vintage DE Gillettes are unbeatable, both in terms of engineering and build quality. So good, in fact, Global Shave Club has begun manufacturing replicas of the vintage Gillettes, which imo still outperform the latest DE offerings. The vintage Gillettes are now anywhere between four to eight decades old, and they will easily last another century or more.
One comment on your sharpening/stropping technique. Straight razor blades (as you can tell) are very, very fine. Fine enough that you can actually roll the edge on your strop. The trick is to always lead with the spine and then when you get to the end, roll the blade up over the spine before moving the blade. You always want the edge off the strop or stone before you lift the blade. I'm a long time straight razor user myself and am pretty stoked to see you start out. Shaving with a straight becomes a ritual as much as an exercise in grooming.
I got myself a nice Boker Elite Carbon from Classic Edge Shaving Store, best shave ever, stropping helps a ton and obviously a nice cream, foam or oil goes a long way. I don't use any past but use a good quality leather strop. I am going to attempt to whetstone sharpen this weekend. Thanks for all your videos. Cheers.
hey ryky, have you continued using straight razors? if so, how much time would you say it takes a week to maintain the blade at an appropriate sharpness? I've been thinking about switching to these ever since you uploaded this video.
I’ve been using a straight for a few years and I love it. Japanese Natural stones are my current favorite to use for a straight, I got a Shoubudani Mizu and Nakayama Asagi from Alex G. at thejapanstone. Natural edges are very smooth. Also, don’t hone with any pressure. Shallower grit scratches will make a smoother feeling edge for your skin. A razor can’t just be very sharp, it also needs as much smoothness as you can attain. Some people put Shaving lather on their stones just to cushion the grit for shallower scratches on the bevel. Definitely buy a Shaving soap! Slick and protective stuff and a brush. I would recommend Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood and Citrus with Turneric and a bottle of witch hazel to finish the shave with. Also get a brush, a basic synthetic would do fine like a Razorock Plissoft. You’ll also want a good strop. Tony Miller makes his fast bridle strops for a good intro price and they’re great quality.
Love the shameless attempt at honing and shaving with a straight razor…. I’m sure your getting lots of advice. I would recommend a 1000 grit Norton or a 1200 king to the profiling done and a Norton yellow 8000 a diamond plate for flattening and a nagura stone for softening the stone edges and removing swarf. Watch somebody’s on how to hone, Kieth Johnson for pure no none sense honing, Dr. Matt for a technical rabbit hole of valuable info to consider. Never roll the razor on the blade when changing directions on a strop, always on the spine. Nice flat leather for daily stropping, and just the leather, no oils or pastes. Heat leather by rubbing with a clean hand and this should ideally create a light pull on the leather called a “draw”. Lots of prep with soap and brush and do three passes for the BBS baby butt smooth finish on the skin. Before putting razor away, strop on the rough side of the leather and wipe blade with a cloth lightly saturated with mineral oil to avoid corrosion but be sure to clean the oil off the razor with a clean cloth before stopping again as that you don’t want to transfer oil to your strop as that this can affect the friction/draw on your strop. There is lots I didn’t cover but there is lots of info out there and lots of apposing opinions so just go for it and enjoy the learning process… and the shave!
@@smithnjefferson Dang, weird to get a reply here after 5 years. I forgot all about this post. Just finished honing some cascade steel before finding this, too. Norton 4k/8k was my first stone and it's worn to death and retired now, but is a great starter. Any decent 1k or so for bevels is a good way to go. What I use now is a 1K Shapton Superstone for bevels, and then I use a JNAT with slurry straight after. I've got a nice Shoubudani that, with slurry, can take a 1k edge all the way to a shave ready edge on its own by working with slurry, then finishing with just water. If I want a different finish after this, I can take the JNAT edge to another hone just to replace the final finish. Nice thing about the JNAT edge after slurry is how straight the edge apex is compared to any other edge, so it even enhances the final finish provided by other stones by using it prior to final edge honing and stropping.
A nice test for sharpness of razors: Pick a single hair and move down across the edge at 90deg. The razor should first cling to the hair and cut it clean. The edge should grip every time and cut through the whole hair, not split it. It's a quick and easy test and you can feel and hear the difference quite clearly. Do thi from both sides to check if the edge is even. Since hair hair fine-structure holding from the tip or the root makes a clear difference. This also works on knifes, depending on how sharp you get them. Would be great to see this!
I'm 33 and use a straight razor, it is great for a few reasons and one being you can cover more area and two you don't have to clean them out like a regular razor. Also it is great that you only need to buy one and can sharpen it instead of buying 30 dollar refill cartridges so it saves lots of money in the end!
I was all set to buy one a few years ago. Then a friend lent me one of his. Once was enough, and i went back to my DE razors - Edwin Jagger, Muhle and Merkur. I guess these things are not for everyone, and i do my head too. One of the pleasures of wet shaving is that we get to treat ourselves to all the fabulous soaps, creams and smelly stuff on the market to make the chore into more of a treat. I cannon understand why anyone would want to dry shave! I recommend Mitchells Wool Fat, Tabac, Cella, La Toja, Speick, Proraso, Arko, but there are many more. Treat yourself!
I’ve been using a 3 inch translucent Arkansas pocket stone that I’ve kept in my portable shave kit for a few years now, and always had a super smooth shave after a couple swipes on the stone, followed by some stropping.
A hot shower before shaving, use soap and a brush. One pass with the grain, one pass to the side and another pass against the grain. Also stropping with a hanging strop before shaving, first on a linen side and then the other side with leather
When sharpening a straight razor turn it over on the back side of the razor, not the blade side. Also, I always used a good leather razor strap to hone the blade. This will help you get a sharper edge.
I would love to see more straight razor content! Did you stick with it? Are you still shaving with a straight. Did you watch any how to videos or do research to learn the proper way?
Kudos on putting up the video. My first straight razor shave was sort of like that. I wonder if you are still shaving with a straight razor. I was actually binging your videos because I'm waiting on some pocket knives that are in the mail and watching sharpening videos helps me cope with the wait. I was actually going to comment on one of them to suggest that you try straight razor shaving. Anyway, I love your channel. Others are suggesting a buch of info on where to get advice. The best advice I can give is is to watch tutorials by either Lynn Abrams. His sharpening technique is what gave me the best results and I've watched tutorials from geofatboy for shaving technique. My system: Norton 4000/8000 combo Chosera 10000 to finish. Strop lightly, almost not at all, on a strop with green compound but better to not do it at all than to do it too much. It can really ruin your efforts. Then before every shave strop on the smooth side of a nice long leather strop BUT put the strop on a flat flat surface (as per the recommendation of Murray Carter). You need to do at around 50 passes but if you put your strop on a flat surface, then you can't overstrop. Going from stropping like barbers do to stropping with the strop on a flat surface has really increased the quality of my shave. I put a good amount of pressure when I strop on a flat surface. I'll strop until the razor tree-tops arm hair while hovering about 2-3 mm above the skin.
I am impressed you admittedly attempted this process with no research. You actually did a decent job-no blood, clean outcome. But imagine what you’ll do with some experience and a gain in knowledge. Great video!
i learn as i go, which how my channel has always been. gotten lots of great feedback, so next time, i'll focus more on actual testing of different stones and strops. thanks for the input!
y have a full beard and i also shave dry sometimes, it's easier with soap of course but there is nothing wrong on dry shaving, it is just more difficult and umconfortable
Hello Ricky, good video glad to see you branching out. I too am looking at getting into straight razor shaving. Would like to see you do some more razor honing. Take care.
If you like the carbon Kramer steel, you might want to check out Jerry Stark razors out of AZ. He uses 52100 to make some of his razors. I use one and it holds an edge really well but can be intimidating because it’s a larger, heavier razor.
From a guy who is still learning and trialling combinations after many years.. I just come agross this video and could stop laughing... (in a nice friendly way)... it just reminded me of my beginnings with cut throats. I wasnt as bad but i did watch tutorials on the Tube thanks to Lyn Abrahams & DrMatt my go to guys. I couldnt believe you didn't get the blade to bite your face during the video making. It was straight razors that got me into artisan knife making and care. Im sure you have learnt plenty by now on honing, sharpening, maintenance and how to shave and understand all where you went wrong. Im glad you you now can appreciate the differences in cutlery knives and cut throats razors. Maybe you will find a way to mish mash or refine certain technical aspects to apply on one or the other ... I would be very intersted with a man of your skill in blades to come up with a technique and progression with various stones and cut throat blades. Look forward to an update on what you have found that is important and your style, bcz in the stright cut throat world once you learn the basics, many variables may be applied with the gear you have and budget. Theres is no right or wrong.. it only what works for you to give you that nice shave. GaZz
Wow, razors and shaving are a bit different beast than kitchen knives... must say you are brave for doing this without any prior research.... just imagine how well you'd do and it would feel when done better
Very gutsy without hot water to soften up your face and shave cream. Best of luck in the future with using your new razors... it's worth it and most shaving costs are gone forever.
I use a pull strop. Board strops are fine I am sure. I like a strop that is thick, like 1/4". Letting a pull strop bend will dull your hone. You need a good hook that you can really pull tension on, to keep as straight or taught as possible.
Burrfection exactly, title is very accurate and people are still complaining. It's like 'first time riding a bike' and everyone complaining about how bad your riding is.
I'd suggest Portland Razor Company, they make a stellar product, beautifully crafted from the absolute ground up, they make their own scales and turn metal to blades. Really great stuff!
And all the shaving experts went nuts, LOL. First time I sharpened my own straight razor, it cut nothing. Lots of practice later, it cuts through facial hair like butter. I've started using a Japanese style straight razor, and I enjoy it very much. :)
The only advice I could see you needing would be reverse your flipping direction between passes....when you flip the blade between passes, do it with the spine facing the stone...that way if you accidentally brush the stone between passes, it will be the spine that makes contact instead of the edge...and when you lay the blade on the stone, spine first then the edge.
I’ve been straight shaving for years and number one use a good shaving soap I suggest sterling to start! Get a brush and that get up! Light pressure stretch your skin and do passes! With across and against the grain!
Yo Ryky great video as always, often wondered if you would do a straight razor vid but didnt expect you to shave lol. Get some proraso white cream for sensetive skin and a shaving brush and your away.
Welcome to your new addiction.What I use are vintage razors, Naniwa water stones (on bases), Straight Razor Designs paddle strop with changeable strop material. I usually just use the rough leather and finished leather. For touch ups I use hard felt with .5 diamond spray. There are a lot of great TH-cam shaving channels and I highly recommend Straightrazorplace.com for supplies and such. Nothing but great experiences with them. And if you have any questions I have been solely a wet shaver for about 7 years now, I’d be happy to help anyway i can.
Omg it makes me squeamish watching you. My beard is so tough I am afraid to go this way. But I read some of the suggestions and it is nice to see people that have experience willing to help out. I'm keeping my eye on the future vids. Great job not cutting your throat not having a mirror. :)
Heres me using a 8k finish £30 stone set finishing on a la lume to shave with my boker çarbon 3.0, get my shapton pros soon tho, cant wait to use them . Did you sharpen th the correct way at all after this hopfully used soap at least lol. With your sharpening skills to get that to dry shave with just a backward draw," on stone is normally just to take the bur off" you will have them straights cutting through trees lol if you go lead with the bevel.. Do another sharpening video to show the difference in techniques, Oh you might of already done some.
that's very kind of you. what is the name of your business? do you sell online? i don't take free products, but will be gladly buy and support what you do. my insights on knives or shaving??!?!
I hope you've watched a video or two and given this another shot since this video. Sharpening the straight razor is a bit different than a knife and gives a better feeling shave in my opinion.
as others said, never shave without lather.. also, try to hold the razor at the same angle your normal razor would be (15-20 degrees?).. Just like how you teach start with a angle and adjust until it slips...kind of the same thing, start with the blade 90 degrees to your face, like laying it flat against your face. Make as many passes as you need, increasing angle every time. You'll figure out the point with the optimal razor angle pretty fast. Good rule of thumb is angle the razor away about 1 spine width
I don't like leather or loaded strops in the bathroom, because you can't clean them. I just strop on a hand towel laid on top of the sink, and I don't care if it gets wet and soapy and hairy. I don't know why it works, but it does. I am sure there is some kind of difference between kangaroo leather and linen. Board strop vs hanging. Pastes vs dry. Japanese newspaper or a paper towel. But that difference is very small compared to the difference between not stropping and stropping... on ANYTHING, even if it's the back of your arm! That, and use soap. And try holding the razor about 75 degrees to your face. Almost perpendicular. You can get your edge too sharp to shave, properly. For the closest shave, you need to be able to press the blade into your skin, a bit, at this steep angle without cutting yourself. This starts the cut closest to the base of the hair, and the angle of the blade effectively pulls the hair as it cuts, so it cuts the hair flatter vs leaving angled stumps sticking out of the skin. I think you get a closer shave against the grain, at least for the final pass. Stropping helps to keep the nap/burr down and to slightly round and smooth the apex. The sharper/acuter you finish the edge, the more often you need to strop it as you shave, because the hairs will damage the apex, and this is when you will start to cut yourself. What we use for an edge on a straight would be considered a BURR on a knife. If we freehand sharpened a thin knife at the same angle, on a dense and smooth stone, we would end up with a very palpable burr - which we would remove with our method of choice; because the straight has a spine guide, and because we stone it with light pressure, this "burr" is hidden and becomes the tip of a clean but weak apex. On the straight, we turn schmooey, ductile metal into a keener apex, but this requires more maintenance as we use it. When the edge wears down and becomes more stable, you won't need to strop as often, but this means the edge is getting to the point it will probably need sharpening, soon. At this point it will shave fine, but soon after this point, it will start skipping over hairs instead of cutting, IME. So, if you are cutting your skin and/or pulling on hairs, strop the razor. If you are skipping hairs, sharpen the razor. And after sharpening it very keenly, be aware you will need to strop it more frequently, at first.
say what 30 dollars a month for disposable cartridges? I've been using the same cartridge from dollar shave club for 4 years using shave buddy to hone before and after use but I shave once a week.Hot towel soak and shaving cream at least-my friend. Sharpen a double edge razor disposable
Bro! You are one brave man. Your angle should be ALMOST flat... Just a little above the angle that the spine of the razor. And you ALWAYS do 1st pass WITH the grain or North to South. Then 2nd pass can be X-cross. Only after a lot of experience should you go against the grain or S>N. Your 1st shave with just water?! You Mad Man. You should've gotten some gauze ready with those t-shirts. Full disclosure: I consider myself a sharp edge hobbyist with mixture of kitchen knives, whetstones, and yes, straight razors, including a Theirs-Issard, Ralf Aust, and self-restored M. Tregor & Co. circa 1800
Welcome to the brotherhood of straight razor shaving! Lol but like everyone else that made me cringe when you were shaving without soap but it was your first time with it and got to start somewhere. A good channel to check out is Geofatboy, he has some good tutorials and advice in buying razors. Love the channel and keep it up man!
J. A. Henckles Friodur, supposedly the best shaving straight razor brand. Did some research before buying my first straight, ordered one off Ebay for a good deal, should be getting it in a week.
Fenrir Unshackled supposedly is the right terminology because, it’s not the best straight razor brand. Filarmonica is the best in my opinion because of how sharp the edge can get, and also how long an edge can last on a filarmonica. Well did you get the same one from the video? J. A. Henckles is a really good brand. But there was many many good competitors. Filarmonica, F.W Engles, Wade & Butchers + 100 others. Solingen at the time had access to really good metal, so what makes Henckles any better than others manufacturers at the time. Same goes for Sweden, Spain, Sheffield England. You just need to watch out for modern razors for geometry issues, and don’t buy Chinese or Pakistan because cheap poor metal.
Hi Ryky, Here is a suggestion for a low price but great value shaving brush, and a wonderful American made French style shaving soap. -Brush - Samoag 1305 Boar brush -Soap - Katie's Bubbles LTV There are plenty of opinions on these product categories, and I must have sifted through a thousand of those opinions before I identified these two items as standards in the shaving community and bought them a couple years back. The combination has made shaving a different experience. I’m sure you can dry shave with a spoon at this point, but life is too short. (: Hope this helps! Chris
Nice to see that you got yourself a straight razor, thats awesome. But there's a learning curve and a probably few cuts on the way as well. Personally a live my Dovo Astral, not to expensive and great quality. And by the way, do yourself a favor: proper hot water preparation and shaving soap is a must to very enjoy it and be more safe.
I was stropping a knife whilst listening to this video. You started talking about how you cut your thumb, I looked up at the screen whilst wiping off my blade, cut through the leather into my own thumb. ....oh the irony.
I think the other comments cover it. I've been hoping you would do something with strait razors, the community at large seem to limit there sharpening "stones"to just a few choices ie j Nat, coticule norton. Etc. I'd like to see some alternatives but please! Do some research! It will help me and others to weigh the different sharpening options out there! Love your channel!
Hooray ! You have found the joy I have every time I shave. In the video you were holding the razor wrong. You should hold it with a traditional grip(See a shaving video) and angle at about 30 degrees until you get familiar with it and get yourself some quality shave cream and a brush just to complete the experience. I enjoy using Sheffield Steel from the early 1900 period antique razors. Silver steel is also my favorite from the same period or you can just simply buy a decent new Dovo or Boker. You did very well for your first shave and sharpen. I was impressed as my first time was thirty years ago and was not so great. Keep the videos coming, we are here watching..PS. Never put a straight razor in your pocket. you can cut yourself or worse you can damage the primary edge and it will never sharpen the same.
Well now that you have dry shaved and jacked up the edges of those razors, you need to rehone them and use a hot towel, preshave lotion or oil, shaving soap or cream. It is a process. There's nothing wrong with a Gold Dollar razor, you just need to hone it to ensure that it is shaving sharp, not razor sharp. There is a difference. Dovo, Boker, Thiers Issard, Zertone, Naked Armor, Hart Steel, all make top notch straight razors. There are some very nice custom razors out there.
Nice video👍, you are a skilled sharpener but when you do complete shaves remember to always use a good shaving soap (Proraso, Omega, TOBS...), properly lathered and before make a solid preparation (critical) by washing the face and/or using a preshave cream/oil (Proraso, Prep...). Cutting hydrated/soft hairs is completely different than cutting dry/hard facial hairs. It is a complete process. There are several wet shaving channels.
you are meant to run the blade at 45 degrees to the long axis of the stone , u did it at 90. No need to turn it over every stroke when resetting the edge, you can do 10, 8, 6 etc each side, a lot faster that way. when stropping, flip over every stroke. When flipping , do it reverse of what you were doing ,that is the edge roles over and not under, this is specially critical when stropping. Use a disposable 'feather' blade and you will know what sharpness to aim for in the realms of straight razors. Good fun
So, while the visual results speak for themselves, when speaking in terms of wetshaving what is more important than the type of razor used is the prep work that goes on the beard area first. It's been said that facial hair whiskers have roughly the same tensile strength as copper wire of similar diameter. In wetshaving, what is of utmost importance is to soften those whiskers by exposing them to warm water for as long as possible, which disrupts the cuticle of the hairs, making them softer, more pliable, and overall easier to cut. Typically this is done by taking warm water with a shaving brush and mixing it with either a shaving soap or shaving cream. In terms of shaving brushes there are lots of options available, be it badger hair brushes, boar hair brushes, or synthetic brushes. (Personally for an inexpensive option I don't believe one can go wrong with an Omega 20106 professional boar brush.) For soaps and creams, the options are almost infinite, but Kiss My Face makes some very affordable and accessible creams, and Van Der Hagen and Col. Conks makes very serviceable shaving soaps that can be had cheaply both from online and brick & mortar stores. Whatever brush and shaving soaps/creams you decide on, the important thing is to take the time to build up a lather on your face from that warm water, and let it soak into your beard area. No matter what type of razor or method of shaving you're using, the more time you spend on lathering your face and hydrating your whiskers, the better your shaving experience will be.
I suggest for straight razor my progression Gokumyo 1000 gs, Gokumyo 2000, Debado 4000, Suehiro 8000, Gokumyo 15000.Diamond paste 0.5 micron after strop. It will cut like Evil🎉
i"m surprised you didnt do both on the 15k then test. then the 40k then test. 10k to 40k on the one razor may have been too big a jump. Hot water to soften the hair and cream. If you dont have cream, try hair conditioner. I cringed when you first started shaving. Looked like a 90* angle. More like a scrape. lol. They look easy to sharpen with a built in guide.
I like the way you go in blind. No innovation from just using traditional methods. Your skills in knives did translate into a good edge on the decent blade. Some will think it impossible to get good results not doing it the way they do. Its steel and and stones. I would keep the entire edge on the stone for even cutting. You had the tip side off the stone most of the time.
Oh man, how could you do that to yourself and us! Always have some sort of soap/shaving cream the sound was tearing me up 😜 Really interesting to watch though, the price of razor refill blades is just killing me ($30) a set of 4 these days in Aus, so this is a really cool option to look at.
hahah. just a rookie. i hope future shaving videos won't make everyone cringe too much. $30 for 4?!?!? you poor Aussies are always getting the shaft....
My fatherly instinct is pegging in the red zone watching this! I've been shaving for 45 years. Pre-shave oil 25% avacado oil 75% food grade castor oil Wash face in shower and hydrate hair. Rub pre-shave oil into face before getting out of shower. Later any good shave soap with (I use a Semogue 830 boar hair) cheap, lasts forever. Ryky your ability to feel what's right will happen for you just as easily as sharpening knives is for you. Go slow but not too slow. Short confident strokes. I use a Muhle R-41 razor(50-60 dollars)with gillette 7 o'clock Yellow blades (15 dollars for 100 blades) Light pressure always With the grain 1st X-grain next Finish against grain IF YOU NEED TO. 15 DOLLARS A YEAR IS BETTER THAN SPENDING TIME SHARPENING.
I like "aggressive" razors over "mild" ones due to greater efficiency. Beginners make the mistake of thinking a mild one will be least likely to cut or make a rash. 99% technique and practice proves that to be wrong. Would you use a "mild" chef's knife?
work your way up to 12k but then drop down to the arkansas surgical to smooth it out, then strop a bit. moving up to 12k is plenty sharp but something about hitting the surgical black after, makes it a smoother shave, you'll be able to tell the difference between stropping vs not, vs 8k vs 12k vs natural... Shaving is one thing, comfortable shaving is another. Also I sharpen against the blade, not away from it.
I ought to get a straight razor. I went with a safety razor though because well... I'm not taking a straight razor near certain parts of my body. A pack of razors for a safety razor costs me $11 a year or every couple years. Not bad at all. Also gotta take a much keener angle on the shave my man. Basically want it as close to your skin as possible without cutting yourself like peeling a vegetable. With the grain first, against after if you want that really smooth feeling, but most definitely more irritation and nicks. Some water or a soap for sure. Might want to look into better grips too. Probably need a good mirror there. Looks like the camera from our view made your shaving technique look worse than it actually was too.
It's all about the angle and learning your own techniques that work for you. But definitely need to use more of an angle. Try to mimic what a Gillette disposable razor's angle looks like and you'll shave with ease. It gets easier the more you do it too. Also I failed to see the links where you got those straight edge razors from.
Hey Ryky, well done. I realize this was done a while ago but if you need a razor sharpened up or would like me to send you properly sorted Gold Dollar, just let me know. 😁
I saw this last night at my girlfriend's house. I was dying to comment, but waited till I got home. I sure hope you've come along in your straight razor journey! You have to hold the blade at about a 30 degree angle, and scrape the hair off in smooth sweeps. Shaving soap works wonders. I've been loving wet shaving for about 8 months now, and I love learning the ins and outs!
thank you !
@@Burrfection I would love if you revisited straight razor shaving... I started knife sharpening because of you riki! And I started straight razor shaving and it was a whole new world that opened my eyes. I would love to know if you keep straight razor shaving.
Dude, where's the soap? I cringed when you started shaving dry.
murray carter doesnt use soap either ;)
didn't know about the soap. rookie mistake
Ryky is just tough and could dry shave with a spoon haha
Quentin Alexandre cant complain the guy doesnt have much experience shving!
I thought SHIVING was a prison thing xD
I was in knots the entire time you were shaving. I switched to double-sided safety razors and straight-blade razors about 8 years ago and there is absolutely a learning curve. Grab a Muhle open-comb double sided safety razor to learn blade feel - I found it to be a good approximation to a straight razor in terms of blade contact and angle of attack. After using that for a while try the straight razor again but please, please, please read up on soap and lather technique. Get a good badger brush and find the soap that’s right for your skin.
This is coming from a guy with 10 years of using and maintaining a straight razor - so take it for what it is worth to you. Just trying to help. First - just like knives the steel you use in a blade matters. Invest in a decent German brand to begin (dovo, boker, etc..) then move up from there. There is whole world out there for straight razors. The razors you purchased are - how do say this politely - junk. You technique to sharpen a str8 is different than a knife.
You intended only to create a burr/wire edge which is great for a knife cutting veggies / meat not for a str8 cutting hair on you face / skin. I am afraid your technique was not good you are asking for razor burn with that sharpening technique. You want to create as very smooth and very sharp edge. Place the razor on its spine and move it down on the stone - not up. Also do not apply any pressure when sharpening simply let the blade do the work. Keep direction of you blade at same on both sides. The good news is you have the stones to do it. You will also need a leather strop to finish the razor. There are plenty of tests you can do to measure the sharpness of your blade. The bar for sharpness is much higher than a knife. MUCH higher. I can tell you looking at your video your str8 razor was not sharp based on how much the blade was tugging at your hair rather than cutting.
Shaving technique another big area to cover here. Need a lot of help here as well. Start with a 15 degree angle approx. Read up on some forums on shaving techniques and sharpening. Lots of material out there. ask for help!
Could you recommend any brand at ard
Amyn, when did Friodur's start being referred to as junk? Solingen steel same as my Dovo.
If that’s a “Henckels” Friodour then it ain’t junk I stand corrected, Paul. Gold dollar is junk. eBay would be a good place to find a decent sub $50 str8, really like old bokers king cutter or red imp highly underrated.
I agree about eBay - my latest is a Joseph Allen non-XLL Sheffield I picked up for
thanks for the input. just learning as i go. yeah, it's a henkels friodur
All i want is a redemption video man!
Gillette the Best A Man can Forget !
Though the old Gillette DE razors are amazing and are built like tanks. Been using my Dad's since he's gotten old with shaky hands, he had to get an electric. I'm never going back to modern cartridge razors again. Biggest scam of the century when company's started moving from DE shaving to cartridge razors.
Derek Stynes Amen
@@Sam-Icy you're spot on with the DE recommendation. I've been using DE razors for ~15 years now. I think it's a bit ironic that Gillette basically created the disposable economy but managed to do it with a product that they have yet to improve upon despite so many efforts to attract most shavers away from their original product.
Unless it's a vintage DE like a Super Speed, the best of the best as far as I'm concerned.
The vintage DE Gillettes are unbeatable, both in terms of engineering and build quality. So good, in fact, Global Shave Club has begun manufacturing replicas of the vintage Gillettes, which imo still outperform the latest DE offerings. The vintage Gillettes are now anywhere between four to eight decades old, and they will easily last another century or more.
Thumbs up, he didn't cut himself even though it was his first time and he was scraping his face at first xD
One comment on your sharpening/stropping technique. Straight razor blades (as you can tell) are very, very fine. Fine enough that you can actually roll the edge on your strop. The trick is to always lead with the spine and then when you get to the end, roll the blade up over the spine before moving the blade. You always want the edge off the strop or stone before you lift the blade. I'm a long time straight razor user myself and am pretty stoked to see you start out. Shaving with a straight becomes a ritual as much as an exercise in grooming.
awesome, thanks for the great advice.
4k, 8k, and 12k super stone as a beginner set up. Stropping is very important especially on clean leather and linen. I'm new to straight razors also.
He has Shaptons they are nice hones a bit fast and aggressive for a beginner. If he had no hones for shaving the Super Stones are darn fine.
I have the super stones, but i also have a shapton pro, and i find i really like the shapton pro MUCH better for both knives and razors.
I got myself a nice Boker Elite Carbon from Classic Edge Shaving Store, best shave ever, stropping helps a ton and obviously a nice cream, foam or oil goes a long way. I don't use any past but use a good quality leather strop. I am going to attempt to whetstone sharpen this weekend. Thanks for all your videos. Cheers.
hey ryky, have you continued using straight razors? if so, how much time would you say it takes a week to maintain the blade at an appropriate sharpness? I've been thinking about switching to these ever since you uploaded this video.
you just strop them with leather strop
I’ve been using a straight for a few years and I love it. Japanese Natural stones are my current favorite to use for a straight, I got a Shoubudani Mizu and Nakayama Asagi from Alex G. at thejapanstone. Natural edges are very smooth. Also, don’t hone with any pressure. Shallower grit scratches will make a smoother feeling edge for your skin. A razor can’t just be very sharp, it also needs as much smoothness as you can attain. Some people put Shaving lather on their stones just to cushion the grit for shallower scratches on the bevel. Definitely buy a Shaving soap! Slick and protective stuff and a brush. I would recommend Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood and Citrus with Turneric and a bottle of witch hazel to finish the shave with. Also get a brush, a basic synthetic would do fine like a Razorock Plissoft. You’ll also want a good strop. Tony Miller makes his fast bridle strops for a good intro price and they’re great quality.
Love the shameless attempt at honing and shaving with a straight razor…. I’m sure your getting lots of advice.
I would recommend a 1000 grit Norton or a 1200 king to the profiling done and a Norton yellow 8000 a diamond plate for flattening and a nagura stone for softening the stone edges and removing swarf.
Watch somebody’s on how to hone, Kieth Johnson for pure no none sense honing, Dr. Matt for a technical rabbit hole of valuable info to consider.
Never roll the razor on the blade when changing directions on a strop, always on the spine. Nice flat leather for daily stropping, and just the leather, no oils or pastes. Heat leather by rubbing with a clean hand and this should ideally create a light pull on the leather called a “draw”.
Lots of prep with soap and brush and do three passes for the BBS baby butt smooth finish on the skin.
Before putting razor away, strop on the rough side of the leather and wipe blade with a cloth lightly saturated with mineral oil to avoid corrosion but be sure to clean the oil off the razor with a clean cloth before stopping again as that you don’t want to transfer oil to your strop as that this can affect the friction/draw on your strop.
There is lots I didn’t cover but there is lots of info out there and lots of apposing opinions so just go for it and enjoy the learning process… and the shave!
@@smithnjefferson Dang, weird to get a reply here after 5 years. I forgot all about this post. Just finished honing some cascade steel before finding this, too. Norton 4k/8k was my first stone and it's worn to death and retired now, but is a great starter. Any decent 1k or so for bevels is a good way to go. What I use now is a 1K Shapton Superstone for bevels, and then I use a JNAT with slurry straight after. I've got a nice Shoubudani that, with slurry, can take a 1k edge all the way to a shave ready edge on its own by working with slurry, then finishing with just water. If I want a different finish after this, I can take the JNAT edge to another hone just to replace the final finish. Nice thing about the JNAT edge after slurry is how straight the edge apex is compared to any other edge, so it even enhances the final finish provided by other stones by using it prior to final edge honing and stropping.
@@I_Might_B_Wrong that wasn't a reply from the person that made this video FYI
@@jonathanzinn158 Yes, I realized this. It doesn't take much to get me talking about honing, though.
A nice test for sharpness of razors: Pick a single hair and move down across the edge at 90deg. The razor should first cling to the hair and cut it clean. The edge should grip every time and cut through the whole hair, not split it. It's a quick and easy test and you can feel and hear the difference quite clearly. Do thi from both sides to check if the edge is even. Since hair hair fine-structure holding from the tip or the root makes a clear difference. This also works on knifes, depending on how sharp you get them. Would be great to see this!
Curious to hear a update! Are you still using a straight razor?
I'm 33 and use a straight razor, it is great for a few reasons and one being you can cover more area and two you don't have to clean them out like a regular razor. Also it is great that you only need to buy one and can sharpen it instead of buying 30 dollar refill cartridges so it saves lots of money in the end!
I was all set to buy one a few years ago. Then a friend lent me one of his. Once was enough, and i went back to my DE razors - Edwin Jagger, Muhle and Merkur. I guess these things are not for everyone, and i do my head too.
One of the pleasures of wet shaving is that we get to treat ourselves to all the fabulous soaps, creams and smelly stuff on the market to make the chore into more of a treat. I cannon understand why anyone would want to dry shave!
I recommend Mitchells Wool Fat, Tabac, Cella, La Toja, Speick, Proraso, Arko, but there are many more. Treat yourself!
I’ve been using a 3 inch translucent Arkansas pocket stone that I’ve kept in my portable shave kit for a few years now, and always had a super smooth shave after a couple swipes on the stone, followed by some stropping.
Awesome video as usual. Do you ever use the strap strop, like the barbers?
A hot shower before shaving, use soap and a brush. One pass with the grain, one pass to the side and another pass against the grain. Also stropping with a hanging strop before shaving, first on a linen side and then the other side with leather
When sharpening a straight razor turn it over on the back side of the razor, not the blade side.
Also, I always used a good leather razor strap to hone the blade. This will help you get a sharper edge.
Love your line "I'm not an expert...", dude you are a pro!!
first time! got really lucky!
I would love to see more straight razor content! Did you stick with it? Are you still shaving with a straight. Did you watch any how to videos or do research to learn the proper way?
Kudos on putting up the video. My first straight razor shave was sort of like that. I wonder if you are still shaving with a straight razor.
I was actually binging your videos because I'm waiting on some pocket knives that are in the mail and watching sharpening videos helps me cope with the wait. I was actually going to comment on one of them to suggest that you try straight razor shaving.
Anyway, I love your channel.
Others are suggesting a buch of info on where to get advice. The best advice I can give is is to watch tutorials by either Lynn Abrams. His sharpening technique is what gave me the best results and I've watched tutorials from geofatboy for shaving technique.
My system:
Norton 4000/8000 combo
Chosera 10000 to finish.
Strop lightly, almost not at all, on a strop with green compound but better to not do it at all than to do it too much. It can really ruin your efforts.
Then before every shave strop on the smooth side of a nice long leather strop BUT put the strop on a flat flat surface (as per the recommendation of Murray Carter). You need to do at around 50 passes but if you put your strop on a flat surface, then you can't overstrop.
Going from stropping like barbers do to stropping with the strop on a flat surface has really increased the quality of my shave. I put a good amount of pressure when I strop on a flat surface. I'll strop until the razor tree-tops arm hair while hovering about 2-3 mm above the skin.
I am impressed you admittedly attempted this process with no research. You actually did a decent job-no blood, clean outcome. But imagine what you’ll do with some experience and a gain in knowledge. Great video!
i learn as i go, which how my channel has always been. gotten lots of great feedback, so next time, i'll focus more on actual testing of different stones and strops. thanks for the input!
The sound definitely changed at approx 4 minutes... I have no idea what that means regarding sharpening . I'm a musician
good ear...
Brave!!!!!!!!! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 I'm curious of the hardness level of these things. Do you have a file for a simple, ballpark scratch test?
no. not sure how to test hardness
I stopped when you started shaving. Damn! Videos are free! Thanks for what you do! Greg
y have a full beard and i also shave dry sometimes, it's easier with soap of course but there is nothing wrong on dry shaving, it is just more difficult and umconfortable
How about an update on your straight razor shaving?
Hello Ricky, good video glad to see you branching out. I too am looking at getting into straight razor shaving. Would like to see you do some more razor honing. Take care.
Im interested in see if you can sharpen a paring knife to the point of being able to shave
hmmmmm.... challenge..... accepted....
Another little secret is to strop your razor hot, then cool the blade and strop once more. You will see a huge increase in the fineness of the edge.
If you like the carbon Kramer steel, you might want to check out Jerry Stark razors out of AZ. He uses 52100 to make some of his razors. I use one and it holds an edge really well but can be intimidating because it’s a larger, heavier razor.
From a guy who is still learning and trialling combinations after many years..
I just come agross this video and could stop laughing...
(in a nice friendly way)...
it just reminded me of my beginnings with cut throats.
I wasnt as bad but i did watch tutorials on the Tube thanks to Lyn Abrahams & DrMatt my go to guys.
I couldnt believe you didn't get the blade to bite your face during the video making.
It was straight razors that got me into artisan knife making and care.
Im sure you have learnt plenty by now on honing, sharpening, maintenance and how to shave and understand all where you went wrong. Im glad you you now can appreciate the differences in cutlery knives and cut throats razors. Maybe you will find a way to mish mash or refine certain technical aspects to apply on one or the other ...
I would be very intersted with a man of your skill in blades to come up with a technique and progression with various stones and cut throat blades.
Look forward to an update on what you have found that is important and your style, bcz in the stright cut throat world once you learn the basics, many variables may be applied with the gear you have and budget.
Theres is no right or wrong.. it only what works for you to give you that nice shave.
GaZz
Please, please, please watch some videos of long time straight razor shavers.
in time.
he literally dry shaved himself lol wtf surprised that he didnt cut his face without soap and water
Just wondering if you are still using a straight?
Wow, razors and shaving are a bit different beast than kitchen knives... must say you are brave for doing this without any prior research.... just imagine how well you'd do and it would feel when done better
hahha. i'm just happy i didn't cut myself. just learning as i go
Welcome to the club bro, switched to straight 6 years ago. Disposables are stupid expensive.
Why are you using a stropping stroke instead of leading with the face of the blade?
Can we get an update of your straight razor sharping
I have a solingen made in Germany. Just asking about the tensile strength of the steel, and what sight do you acquire your stones from?
where do you get a good 15000 or 20000 grit polishing stone or paper to finish off your straight razor
Hola y alfin seguiste afeitandose con barberas rectas? Que marcas recomiendas?
Try out that expensive Shapton lapping plate on your Shapton glass. I'd like to know if it works better than your Atoma.
on the way. have to wait for some stones to dish a bit first....
Very gutsy without hot water to soften up your face and shave cream. Best of luck in the future with using your new razors... it's worth it and most shaving costs are gone forever.
I use a pull strop. Board strops are fine I am sure. I like a strop that is thick, like 1/4". Letting a pull strop bend will dull your hone. You need a good hook that you can really pull tension on, to keep as straight or taught as possible.
GOOD LORD!!! Please do some research and look up Dr. Matt on TH-cam. He's the one who got me interested in straights.
but it was entertaining to watch, wasn't it?
Haha. Yes it was.
Burrfection exactly, title is very accurate and people are still complaining. It's like 'first time riding a bike' and everyone complaining about how bad your riding is.
Thanks Mate. He looks to be doing pretty good on the stones tho.
This will serve as your "before" video. I imagine it won't be long til you are fully up to speed. I like watching your learning process.
Was there a second video showing any improvements?
I'd suggest Portland Razor Company, they make a stellar product, beautifully crafted from the absolute ground up, they make their own scales and turn metal to blades. Really great stuff!
will look into it. thanks for the info
Hey Burrfection, are disposable razors reshapenable ? If so how many times it can be resharpenned before tossing into the bin ?
What type of steel is
And all the shaving experts went nuts, LOL. First time I sharpened my own straight razor, it cut nothing. Lots of practice later, it cuts through facial hair like butter. I've started using a Japanese style straight razor, and I enjoy it very much. :)
haha. you know?!?! i was only trying it for the first time.....
The only advice I could see you needing would be reverse your flipping direction between passes....when you flip the blade between passes, do it with the spine facing the stone...that way if you accidentally brush the stone between passes, it will be the spine that makes contact instead of the edge...and when you lay the blade on the stone, spine first then the edge.
That Fiodur is dope. Nice job. 🔥
I’ve been straight shaving for years and number one use a good shaving soap I suggest sterling to start! Get a brush and that get up! Light pressure stretch your skin and do passes! With across and against the grain!
Yo Ryky great video as always, often wondered if you would do a straight razor vid but didnt expect you to shave lol. Get some proraso white cream for sensetive skin and a shaving brush and your away.
Welcome to your new addiction.What I use are vintage razors, Naniwa water stones (on bases), Straight Razor Designs paddle strop with changeable strop material. I usually just use the rough leather and finished leather. For touch ups I use hard felt with .5 diamond spray. There are a lot of great TH-cam shaving channels and I highly recommend Straightrazorplace.com for supplies and such. Nothing but great experiences with them. And if you have any questions I have been solely a wet shaver for about 7 years now, I’d be happy to help anyway i can.
Omg it makes me squeamish watching you. My beard is so tough I am afraid to go this way. But I read some of the suggestions and it is nice to see people that have experience willing to help out. I'm keeping my eye on the future vids. Great job not cutting your throat not having a mirror. :)
Angle it the same way you do when you sharpening . I can't hone but I do use a straight razor. Using water is not enough lather it even if it's soap.
Heres me using a 8k finish £30 stone set finishing on a la lume to shave with my boker çarbon 3.0, get my shapton pros soon tho, cant wait to use them
.
Did you sharpen th the correct way at all after this hopfully used soap at least lol.
With your sharpening skills to get that to dry shave with just a backward draw," on stone is normally just to take the bur off" you will have them straights cutting through trees lol if you go lead with the bevel..
Do another sharpening video to show the difference in techniques,
Oh you might of already done some.
I make natural shaving soaps and after shave lotion. love to send you some to use for your future razor videos..... Love ur insights.
that's very kind of you. what is the name of your business? do you sell online? i don't take free products, but will be gladly buy and support what you do. my insights on knives or shaving??!?!
I hope you've watched a video or two and given this another shot since this video. Sharpening the straight razor is a bit different than a knife and gives a better feeling shave in my opinion.
as others said, never shave without lather.. also, try to hold the razor at the same angle your normal razor would be (15-20 degrees?)..
Just like how you teach start with a angle and adjust until it slips...kind of the same thing, start with the blade 90 degrees to your face, like laying it flat against your face.
Make as many passes as you need, increasing angle every time. You'll figure out the point with the optimal razor angle pretty fast. Good rule of thumb is angle the razor away about 1 spine width
I don't like leather or loaded strops in the bathroom, because you can't clean them. I just strop on a hand towel laid on top of the sink, and I don't care if it gets wet and soapy and hairy. I don't know why it works, but it does. I am sure there is some kind of difference between kangaroo leather and linen. Board strop vs hanging. Pastes vs dry. Japanese newspaper or a paper towel. But that difference is very small compared to the difference between not stropping and stropping... on ANYTHING, even if it's the back of your arm! That, and use soap. And try holding the razor about 75 degrees to your face. Almost perpendicular. You can get your edge too sharp to shave, properly. For the closest shave, you need to be able to press the blade into your skin, a bit, at this steep angle without cutting yourself. This starts the cut closest to the base of the hair, and the angle of the blade effectively pulls the hair as it cuts, so it cuts the hair flatter vs leaving angled stumps sticking out of the skin. I think you get a closer shave against the grain, at least for the final pass. Stropping helps to keep the nap/burr down and to slightly round and smooth the apex. The sharper/acuter you finish the edge, the more often you need to strop it as you shave, because the hairs will damage the apex, and this is when you will start to cut yourself. What we use for an edge on a straight would be considered a BURR on a knife. If we freehand sharpened a thin knife at the same angle, on a dense and smooth stone, we would end up with a very palpable burr - which we would remove with our method of choice; because the straight has a spine guide, and because we stone it with light pressure, this "burr" is hidden and becomes the tip of a clean but weak apex. On the straight, we turn schmooey, ductile metal into a keener apex, but this requires more maintenance as we use it. When the edge wears down and becomes more stable, you won't need to strop as often, but this means the edge is getting to the point it will probably need sharpening, soon. At this point it will shave fine, but soon after this point, it will start skipping over hairs instead of cutting, IME. So, if you are cutting your skin and/or pulling on hairs, strop the razor. If you are skipping hairs, sharpen the razor. And after sharpening it very keenly, be aware you will need to strop it more frequently, at first.
hey thanks for all of the great tips!
say what 30 dollars a month for disposable cartridges? I've been using the same cartridge from dollar shave club for 4 years using shave buddy to hone before and after use but I shave once a week.Hot towel soak and shaving cream at least-my friend. Sharpen a double edge razor disposable
Bro! You are one brave man. Your angle should be ALMOST flat... Just a little above the angle that the spine of the razor. And you ALWAYS do 1st pass WITH the grain or North to South. Then 2nd pass can be X-cross. Only after a lot of experience should you go against the grain or S>N. Your 1st shave with just water?! You Mad Man. You should've gotten some gauze ready with those t-shirts. Full disclosure: I consider myself a sharp edge hobbyist with mixture of kitchen knives, whetstones, and yes, straight razors, including a Theirs-Issard, Ralf Aust, and self-restored M. Tregor & Co. circa 1800
Welcome to the brotherhood of straight razor shaving! Lol but like everyone else that made me cringe when you were shaving without soap but it was your first time with it and got to start somewhere. A good channel to check out is Geofatboy, he has some good tutorials and advice in buying razors. Love the channel and keep it up man!
J. A. Henckles Friodur, supposedly the best shaving straight razor brand. Did some research before buying my first straight, ordered one off Ebay for a good deal, should be getting it in a week.
Fenrir Unshackled supposedly is the right terminology because, it’s not the best straight razor brand. Filarmonica is the best in my opinion because of how sharp the edge can get, and also how long an edge can last on a filarmonica.
Well did you get the same one from the video?
J. A. Henckles is a really good brand. But there was many many good competitors.
Filarmonica, F.W Engles, Wade & Butchers + 100 others. Solingen at the time had access to really good metal, so what makes Henckles any better than others manufacturers at the time. Same goes for Sweden, Spain, Sheffield England.
You just need to watch out for modern razors for geometry issues, and don’t buy Chinese or Pakistan because cheap poor metal.
Hi Ryky,
Here is a suggestion for a low price but great value shaving brush, and a wonderful American made French style shaving soap.
-Brush - Samoag 1305 Boar brush
-Soap - Katie's Bubbles LTV
There are plenty of opinions on these product categories, and I must have sifted through a thousand of those opinions before I identified these two items as standards in the shaving community and bought them a couple years back.
The combination has made shaving a different experience. I’m sure you can dry shave with a spoon at this point, but life is too short.
(:
Hope this helps!
Chris
awesome! will look into it
Shaving angle for most straights is to hold the spine 1-2 spine widths from your face.
Just a very warm water is enough for me when im shaving with a straight razor and repeat hydration process
This is kind of like when Ceasar Milan decided to try his techniques on a cat. Worked better than I thought it would.
Nice to see that you got yourself a straight razor, thats awesome. But there's a learning curve and a probably few cuts on the way as well. Personally a live my Dovo Astral, not to expensive and great quality. And by the way, do yourself a favor: proper hot water preparation and shaving soap is a must to very enjoy it and be more safe.
I was stropping a knife whilst listening to this video. You started talking about how you cut your thumb, I looked up at the screen whilst wiping off my blade, cut through the leather into my own thumb. ....oh the irony.
your first shave angle! omg!.
I think the other comments cover it. I've been hoping you would do something with strait razors, the community at large seem to limit there sharpening "stones"to just a few choices ie j Nat, coticule norton. Etc. I'd like to see some alternatives but please! Do some research! It will help me and others to weigh the different sharpening options out there! Love your channel!
so much to learn..... will do my best.
oil soap ?
Did it stick Ricky?are you still shaving this way.
oh yes..... maybe an update is due.
Hooray ! You have found the joy I have every time I shave. In the video you were holding the razor wrong. You should hold it with a traditional grip(See a shaving video) and angle at about 30 degrees until you get familiar with it and get yourself some quality shave cream and a brush just to complete the experience. I enjoy using Sheffield Steel from the early 1900 period antique razors. Silver steel is also my favorite from the same period or you can just simply buy a decent new Dovo or Boker. You did very well for your first shave and sharpen. I was impressed as my first time was thirty years ago and was not so great. Keep the videos coming, we are here watching..PS. Never put a straight razor in your pocket. you can cut yourself or worse you can damage the primary edge and it will never sharpen the same.
thanks James. first time, so learning lots. thanks for sharing the great tips!
Well now that you have dry shaved and jacked up the edges of those razors, you need to rehone them and use a hot towel, preshave lotion or oil, shaving soap or cream. It is a process. There's nothing wrong with a Gold Dollar razor, you just need to hone it to ensure that it is shaving sharp, not razor sharp. There is a difference.
Dovo, Boker, Thiers Issard, Zertone, Naked Armor, Hart Steel, all make top notch straight razors. There are some very nice custom razors out there.
Razor strop?
Straight razors don't clog. That is the magic of them❤
True
Nice video👍, you are a skilled sharpener but when you do complete shaves remember to always use a good shaving soap (Proraso, Omega, TOBS...), properly lathered and before make a solid preparation (critical) by washing the face and/or using a preshave cream/oil (Proraso, Prep...).
Cutting hydrated/soft hairs is completely different than cutting dry/hard facial hairs.
It is a complete process.
There are several wet shaving channels.
you are meant to run the blade at 45 degrees to the long axis of the stone , u did it at 90.
No need to turn it over every stroke when resetting the edge, you can do 10, 8, 6 etc each side, a lot faster that way. when stropping, flip over every stroke.
When flipping , do it reverse of what you were doing ,that is the edge roles over and not under, this is specially critical when stropping.
Use a disposable 'feather' blade and you will know what sharpness to aim for in the realms of straight razors.
Good fun
thanks for the tips
altovivago actually he did around 85-90
Some time he goes lower
altovivago
45° still is to steep 30-35° would be ideal.
You're supposed to use the spine to keep the angle. The spine will wear at the same rate as the edge to keep a consistent angle.
Best angle is 30 degrees
So, while the visual results speak for themselves, when speaking in terms of wetshaving what is more important than the type of razor used is the prep work that goes on the beard area first. It's been said that facial hair whiskers have roughly the same tensile strength as copper wire of similar diameter. In wetshaving, what is of utmost importance is to soften those whiskers by exposing them to warm water for as long as possible, which disrupts the cuticle of the hairs, making them softer, more pliable, and overall easier to cut.
Typically this is done by taking warm water with a shaving brush and mixing it with either a shaving soap or shaving cream. In terms of shaving brushes there are lots of options available, be it badger hair brushes, boar hair brushes, or synthetic brushes. (Personally for an inexpensive option I don't believe one can go wrong with an Omega 20106 professional boar brush.) For soaps and creams, the options are almost infinite, but Kiss My Face makes some very affordable and accessible creams, and Van Der Hagen and Col. Conks makes very serviceable shaving soaps that can be had cheaply both from online and brick & mortar stores.
Whatever brush and shaving soaps/creams you decide on, the important thing is to take the time to build up a lather on your face from that warm water, and let it soak into your beard area. No matter what type of razor or method of shaving you're using, the more time you spend on lathering your face and hydrating your whiskers, the better your shaving experience will be.
thanks for all of the input.
Sure! I switched to a DE razor several years ago and never looked back. I hope you enjoy using your new straights.
I suggest for straight razor my progression Gokumyo 1000 gs, Gokumyo 2000, Debado 4000, Suehiro 8000, Gokumyo 15000.Diamond paste 0.5 micron after strop. It will cut like Evil🎉
Have your heard about a thing called TH-cam video how to shave with a straight edge razor???
never heard of it before.
(pre watch comment ) no way i found a video that i thought i would have to ask you to make!!!!
Use a nice foaming gel or shaving cream. It makes it much easier & helps skin.
This was an interesting watch, I’ve wondered about sharpening a straight, I have a friend that redoes old blades, he goes to 10k
i'm new. don't take anything from this video into practice. haha.
i"m surprised you didnt do both on the 15k then test. then the 40k then test. 10k to 40k on the one razor may have been too big a jump. Hot water to soften the hair and cream. If you dont have cream, try hair conditioner. I cringed when you first started shaving. Looked like a 90* angle. More like a scrape. lol. They look easy to sharpen with a built in guide.
chuckyz2 yup and the 15k probably did better because it removed any remaining scratches easier than a 40k
good point.
hahah. well, there's always a first for everything. i'm a complete rookie with straight razors
I like the way you go in blind. No innovation from just using traditional methods. Your skills in knives did translate into a good edge on the decent blade. Some will think it impossible to get good results not doing it the way they do. Its steel and and stones. I would keep the entire edge on the stone for even cutting. You had the tip side off the stone most of the time.
Don't use conditioner on your face. Most have dimethicone that will cause you to get zits.
Oh man, how could you do that to yourself and us!
Always have some sort of soap/shaving cream the sound was tearing me up 😜
Really interesting to watch though, the price of razor refill blades is just killing me ($30) a set of 4 these days in Aus, so this is a really cool option to look at.
hahah. just a rookie. i hope future shaving videos won't make everyone cringe too much. $30 for 4?!?!? you poor Aussies are always getting the shaft....
My fatherly instinct is pegging in the red zone watching this! I've been shaving for 45 years.
Pre-shave oil
25% avacado oil
75% food grade castor oil
Wash face in shower and hydrate hair.
Rub pre-shave oil into face before getting out of shower.
Later any good shave soap with (I use a Semogue 830 boar hair) cheap, lasts forever. Ryky your ability to feel what's right will happen for you just as easily as sharpening knives is for you. Go slow but not too slow. Short confident strokes. I use a Muhle R-41 razor(50-60 dollars)with gillette 7 o'clock Yellow blades (15 dollars for 100 blades)
Light pressure always
With the grain 1st
X-grain next
Finish against grain IF YOU NEED TO.
15 DOLLARS A YEAR IS BETTER THAN SPENDING TIME SHARPENING.
I like "aggressive" razors over "mild" ones due to greater efficiency. Beginners make the mistake of thinking a mild one will be least likely to cut or make a rash. 99% technique and practice proves that to be wrong. Would you use a "mild" chef's knife?
oh my goodness i so happy this day has come. i have been hoping you would do some straight razor sharpening videos.
haha. i'll do my best to get at least one of two razor videos up a month.
Hi; Love the extending to real time. I got mine at Portland razor for 400 though I'd buy for the grand kids they have videos also.
work your way up to 12k but then drop down to the arkansas surgical to smooth it out, then strop a bit.
moving up to 12k is plenty sharp but something about hitting the surgical black after, makes it a smoother shave, you'll be able to tell the difference between stropping vs not, vs 8k vs 12k vs natural...
Shaving is one thing, comfortable shaving is another.
Also I sharpen against the blade, not away from it.
I ought to get a straight razor. I went with a safety razor though because well... I'm not taking a straight razor near certain parts of my body. A pack of razors for a safety razor costs me $11 a year or every couple years. Not bad at all.
Also gotta take a much keener angle on the shave my man. Basically want it as close to your skin as possible without cutting yourself like peeling a vegetable. With the grain first, against after if you want that really smooth feeling, but most definitely more irritation and nicks. Some water or a soap for sure. Might want to look into better grips too. Probably need a good mirror there.
Looks like the camera from our view made your shaving technique look worse than it actually was too.
yeah. learning a lot. haha. just a learning experiment.
It's all about the angle and learning your own techniques that work for you. But definitely need to use more of an angle. Try to mimic what a Gillette disposable razor's angle looks like and you'll shave with ease. It gets easier the more you do it too. Also I failed to see the links where you got those straight edge razors from.
he said ebay about 10x for the nicer one, the gold dollar was on amazon
Why wouldn't you use shave soap?😳
i'm an idiot?
Hey Ryky, well done. I realize this was done a while ago but if you need a razor sharpened up or would like me to send you properly sorted Gold Dollar, just let me know. 😁