What do you use to shave?

[wquiles]

I have been using a Schick Quattro for many many years. It is good for a quick and clean shave before work, but for some time now I have been thinking of purchasing a straight razor. My biggest worry is how long it will take to master it so that I do not slice up my scalp. I have yet to do any research of value to even figure which razor would be to my liking.

I am not going to sugar-coat it, it does take several weeks to master using a straight razor. At the Badger & Blade forum (highly recommended to learn about wet-shaving, DE's, straights, etc.), our rule of thumb is that it takes about 90 days to get good enough to shave daily with a straight razor. And then you also have to learn/master how to keep the straight razor shaving-sharp. That is the bad news. The good news is that it is very rewarding, and a great learning experience. Plus there are tons of videos on youtube clearly showing all of this preparation, how-to's, etc.. There are lots of places with easily accessible learning material, but again, the voyage is not quick by any means.

I would not go straight (no pun intended) to a straight razor - I would start with a DE first, to learn the basics of face preparation, lathering, etc.. This is exactly what I did myself, almost 18 months ago, so I have made this journey. You have a traditional straight razor, or the replaceable blade straight razor (like the Feather DX/RG/SS) which have zero maintenance but unfortunately have blades that are sharper than most/all straight traditional razors, so the learning curve is harder since these are the least forgiving straight razors to learn how to use. Learning with a traditional straight razor (after learning the basics with a DE) is what I recommend, but visit the wet shaving forums to learn more and get more opinions/suggestions.

Will

 

[cchgn]

I have been using a Schick Quattro for many many years. It is good for a quick and clean shave before work, but for some time now I have been thinking of purchasing a straight razor. My biggest worry is how long it will take to master it so that I do not slice up my scalp. I have yet to do any research of value to even figure which razor would be to my liking.

Some good practice is to 'shave' a balloon and a peach.

 

[Touchofevil]

Thank you, wquiles for the information and response. I should probably hold off on the straight razor until the summer when I have free time and can hide my wounds from the public.

 

[Touchofevil]

Some good practice is to 'shave' a balloon and a peach.

Great advice. Thank you.

 

[esteban68]

Got two razors yesterday, haven't tried either out as yet but giving this Valet a spin tonight!

They stopped making this model around 1935 ish I am led to believe, condition is as new...the 70+ year old bladers are still sealed and immaculate so we'll see how one fares tonight!!! ouch???

 

[esteban68]

One of the blades;

and the other British razor, an ';open comb' no idea who made it but again condition is almost mint;

 

[Gairdner]

Hi folks, new here. Found this wonderfully varied place while looking at pictures of William Lennon boots and decided to join.

I converted to DE shaving in August 2012 and its been a wonderful experience! I have a very small collection of razors including a modern Edwin Jagger chrome lined one, a vintage Gillette Rocket HD, a Gillette #58 which is sort of like a posh HD with vertical-style knurling on the handle, a fat handled Gillette Tech and a 'New' type from the thirties. All the Gillettes are British-made.

I'm a bit of a wood whittler in my spare time and like to make things like spoons, bowls, mugs and other such 'treen'. I don't sand my work down anymore, preferring to leave very small, faceted, tool marks straight of the knife. It's actually a harder skill to learn but worth it and makes for a more rustic and harder wearing item. So I made a few shaving brushes after I caught the DE bug and hope it is ok to show them here. All the wood was free and picked up off the ground or gotten from the local council when they were tree-pruning. The only tools used where a saw to cut to size, and axe to split and rough-carve then a knife to finish. I did, however, use a drill press with forstner bit for drill the knot-hole. Here we go:

Thanks for having me, gents!

 

[esteban68]

Good job on those brush handles, I really like the first one!

 

[alanfgag]

For many years I've used a large Edwin Jagger badger brush once sold by Crabtree and Evelyn and unscented shave cream from The Art of Shaving - experimenting with modern blades. I have a light beard and get a very close shave from the five blade Fusion cartridges. Recently I became tempted to try a straight razor - have a few blades that were my Dad's from art school. He used them to sharpen pencils. But a daily aspirin makes me a prodigious bleeder and not knowing where to stow a strop in the bathroom that I share with the rest of the family, I decided to buy a nicer handle for the Fusion blades. Found several that I like - keeping this one and a new stand on the bathroom countertop. The razor feels nicer with more weight and I've been shaving slower and enjoying a little quality time with a hot towel before and after.

I admire everyone's nice hardware.

 

[Gairdner]

Good job on those brush handles, I really like the first one!

You are too kind, thank you. The first one sees the most use as it fits the hand best and the knot is capital. The last is actually used by wife as a leg latherer!

Alan, your hardware is quite nice itself!

Graeme

 

[wquiles]

Good job on those brush handles

+1 - they look great!

 

[esteban68]

Here's what I found lurking under the card in my recent Valet find;

 

[Flash MacTavish]

Here is a fixed-handle straight razor I made with a custom Titanium handle (bottom of picture):

I latter made my own shaving brush, out of Titanium (far left):

Here are both of them together:

And now-a-days I am still making custom Titanium and brass DE handles such as these ones:

Respect...Titanium is bloody hard to work.

 

[1mach1]

Respect...Titanium is bloody hard to work.

+1!

 

[esteban68]

+2 even worse than stainless!

 

[wquiles]

Thank you guys

Yes, a Ti is very tough on tooling. I am not only using Titanium-specific inserts, but I also "had" to add a coolant system to the lathe, which I didn't need with Al, Brass, and mild steel (most specially for the knurling operations). But Ti looks awesome when you are done - no need to polish, and as a material for DE handles it gives the owner a larger diameter DE handle (better grip, ergonomics, length, etc.), without the extra weight from Stainless, so except for the higher cost, it is nearly perfect for this application.

 

[wquiles]

So I made my own SE razor from scratch ...

I have been using the Feather system for about a year now, and I really like the Feather/KAI SE blades. So far I have been using mostly the Feather DX and RG, but I have used the SS, and KAI Captain razors as well.

I have heard a lot about the Cobra, and recently got to try it on a pass-around. A tad on the mild side (the Cobra does have a guard like most DE's and SE's), the blade on the Cobra is not completely exposed, so you are a little "restricted" on what angle to use. BUT, the Cobra had a neat twist - it put the excellent and very sharp blade in a "T" handle, so it was very neat to use.

For a while now I had ideas about making my own T-Straight: a razor like the Cobra, but like a real straight razor with no guard of any kind. But I don't have a CNC shop, nor a 3D printer, so I am somewhat limited on what I can do by hand on my hobby shop (garage). I had used strong, neodymium magnets on a flashlight-related project, and I have been thinking that these might be strong enough to hold the blade in place. I took notes, and wrote down some concepts, and keep thinking about the idea of making my own razor (blade holder) to try these ideas, and see if I can shave with it.

But I then heard about the Huntlee, which I think an outstanding design, seems to have better ergonomics than the Cobra (I really never liked the Cobra's handle), so I put my own prototype on hold and waited for a while. After learning that the Huntlee is delayed, I decided to re-engage my own project since I just want one for myself - for my personal use. I figured it would be cool to give it a try.

Since I have easy access to DE handles, I made it so that I could screw in any M5x0.8 threaded DE handle, and I made it so that it will work with any Feather/KAI blade regardless of size (light, pro, super, guard, etc). I finished it yesterday (Sunday) and I shaved with it this morning. Yes, I was pretty nervous, but I was surprised with a great shave - same as I normally get from my Feather DX, BUT with the added ergonomics of a DE/SE type handle.

It is certainly not a pretty sight, and the magnets I had on hand where too thin to have the strength I needed, but it works, and it gives me ideas of what to try next. This is my T-Straight razor, first prototype:

Like with all of my projects I have additional photos of the build process for this first prototype, so let me know if interested to post additional photos.

Will

 

[DeaconKC]

Absolutely! Let's see some more on that.

 

[wquiles]

Here are a few more work-in-progress pictures. Getting the brass block to the target size:

Testing to make sure the blade fits:

The red "thingie" allows me to remove the piece, put it back again, and be nearly spot on perfect again, so the DRO measurements/positioning remain from operation to operation:

No guard of any kind - the blade is fully exposed:

The angle between the head and the handle was loosely done based on another well known SE razor:

Once I picked the angle, I milled, drilled, and tapped right in that fixture:

 

[wquiles]

Here I am using one of my DE handle tools to check/verify the threads:

It looks scary, but the blade can't move backwards (back wall), nor sideways (side ears), so it can only move up - this is what the magnets are doing. But I only had available (from a past project) the really thin ones you see here, and I had to stack a lot of them together to get the tension I wanted. That is why I said the magnets were not quite strong. I ordered last night some magnets of the same diameter, but longer (cylinder shape, instead of disk shaped) which should be substantially stronger to try out. That being said, the magnets are in fact strong enough as while shaving the blade has stayed perfectly in place:

To give you an idea, those side ears holding the blade from lateral movement are only 0.010" wide!. If/when I make another head, I am planning on making them a tad wider, and incorporate a few lessons learned from this one.


After two shaves the angle I used seems to work great, but I would like to move the handle further back away from the edge - this one is a tad too close:

Today I tried the new head with one of my Titanium handles, which gave me a better balance since the brass head is relatively small and light compared to the solid brass handle: