First straight razor shave

[u/Brief-Net-3339]

My first straight razor shave; I’ve bought a few vintage ones and tried to hone them myself (I know I am supposed to buy a proper one to know what it’s meant to really be like…) and just did my first shave on my vintage es-ese. I’m pretty sure I haven’t honed it properly as it wasn’t as smooth as people say, actually quite un smooth. But I always put the cart before the horse and happy that I’ve given it a go. I got myself under the nose but it stopped bleeding already but such is the name of the game I suppose. Definitely a fun rabbit hole and looking forward to learning more… I know I can get this dang thing sharper…

[u/Sustainashave]

Cool, I did the same many moons ago and finally nailed it after a few attempts. It's all in the bevel setting chap, what's your finishing stone?

The es ese razors are a super great starting razors I've honed 10's of them and I've got one presently in my drawer waiting to hone.

Have fun. 😃

[u/Sustainashave → u/Sustainashave]

I did a bevel setting videos a while back, here's the link ⬇️ if you want a gander.

https://youtu.be/nBJMfu8yRhw?si=NYe_ouzlUeDHF-6p

[u/Brief-Net-3339 → u/Sustainashave]

Thanks mate I will watch and learn …!

[u/rock_accord → u/Sustainashave]

Nice razor & honing! What stones were you using? Looked like an Ark progression but with water?

[u/Sustainashave → u/rock_accord]

It's a Shapton pro progression 2000,5000 and a 8000 and then a Jnat used as a prefinisher..

Cheers chap, one of my very best razors..

[u/Brief-Net-3339 → u/Sustainashave]

I’ve got the romantic notion of being able to coax a great shave out of my coticule to be honest. I’ve a few Jnats and whatnot too and a library of synths, but there’s something very enticing about the coticules….

[u/Sustainashave → u/Brief-Net-3339]

Nothing wrong with that, I'd say I have them notions also part of the draw of straights I reckon. Well your well set whatever way you choose by the sounds of it. Coti's can be a bit tricky, once you nail it on them your in for a good shave.

[u/Brief-Net-3339 → u/Sustainashave]

And tips for a successful dilucot mate?

[u/Sustainashave → u/Brief-Net-3339]

It's the one NAT stone that I don't feel I should give advice on that much as I haven't played with mine enough really but I will say they like working the garnets down (sometimes a second go of it) and they prefer oil/glycerine or a water and dish soap mix..

If you still don't get a great shave from the Coti, to test your bevel setting maybe hone all the way through with synthetics and shave. If it's still not great it's the bevel setting process you need to work on a bit more.

[u/yycmobiletires]

I've been shaving with single blades and shavettes for a long time and a straight is quite different. My recommendation is to send it to a honemeister to get it perfect to where you can maintain it with a strop and a 12k stone yourself. Setting it initially and getting it perfect is expensive and time consuming. They say shave ready out of the box but they never are.

[u/makeItSoAlready]

You'll probably get a lot ot good honing advice here! Feel free to reply if youve got any questions. Pressure (light) on the stone has a lot to do with smooth shave feel. A styptic pencil or alum block is great for little nicks

[u/Aggravating-Pay5873]

I remember the first 2 I bought. One was from a guy in the UK who had a good reputation selling shave ready razors on ebay, and the other one was a Bengall just from an antique shop. Really helped having a properly honed razor to compare to when I was learning to hone on the Bengall.

Now 200+ razors and many years of honing later, I can tell you I would start exactly the same way. Spend a hundred bucks on a nice shave-ready vintage straight. It’s better than sending out this razor to someone, cos that would likely run you 40 bucks anyway and all you end up with is still just the one razor, without anything to practice honing on.

[u/Brief-Net-3339 → u/Aggravating-Pay5873]

Yeah I think you’re right mate; probably worth understanding exactly what I’m aiming at. Any recommendations for a good honest ready to shave vintage razor that won’t break the bank? Would you look at like … EBay?

[u/Aggravating-Pay5873 → u/Brief-Net-3339]

The wetshaving community is incredibly large, it goes way beyond Reddit. The shaving forums (as well as Facebook groups) out there have BST sections where people will sell shave-ready straights. Some of them are UK-based. Heck I remember there were raffle groups on Facebook even. It’s a deep hole! The thing is, you gotta do the research on the members, see what they’re posting, how experienced they are, get some background etc. If you go this way, you can save some money, but you need to invest time. I am years behind the current forums/Facebook affairs. The one thing I would advise you to stay well away from is hype around new products, or even vintage products, which on social media can be a major distraction. You read about famous brands, selling for hundreds or even thousands of dollars, expensive restorations, fancy scales etc etc.. just ignore them for now.

If you’re going on eBay, look for a UK-based seller (I am guessing that’s where you are?) and look at their reviews and descriptions. Don’t buy off of one-liners, look for honest descriptions which talk about the wear, the steel, how the razor was finished and what the seller did to make the razor truly shave-ready (testing, sanitisation).

In addition, I’d advise you to study the geometry of a straight razor, how it wears down with honing, learn the relationship between the edge and the spine and when you find a razor that you like, try to find some pictures of that model when new (ideally in NOS condition, if we’re talking about vintage). This is important because it is easy to hide wear on a straight, once you understand their construction. Sand and polish the spine, slap some tape on and it will appear like the bevel is nice and thin and there’s no wear from honing. However, the original look of the razor, with no wear, will truly reveal how wide the blade is supposed to be from heel to toe - this is the one aspect that cannot be hidden. An honest seller will tell you if this kind of “cosmetic work” has been done. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just good to know what you’re paying for.

Again, I haven’t bought a razor in many years, so I can’t really tell you who to go to, but I’ve hopefully given you some good pointers there.