Thread: Boreda i bob y'r Gymru!

(Greetings to all here from Wales!)

Thought I should stop lurking & start posting

Had STR8 shave #4 yesterday, the closest yet. I'm down to under an hour for the whole job too!! The first did involve removing a month old beard though... There have been nicks, but no major blood loss I'm going for the whole face from go cos I figure I'll learn quicker. Oh & my beard doesn't really grow much past goatee The cheeks could best be descibed as scrubby.
I'm getting closer & closer each time & have the smoothness of the couple of Trumper shaves I've had to aim for. I'm staying WTG & single pass for now. The underside of the chin causes much cursing & most of the nickage.

I'm using a fairly low budget range at the mo. Razor was a present with a strop off eBay I'll post a pic when I can work out how It's 5/8 & fairly hollow ground with black plastic scale. Ran it over my Grandpa's oilstone a few time & stropped furiously. Edge seems, well shall we say usable, just. Brush is a Men-U bristle & does the job. I'd forgotten the pleasures of the brush in my years of Mock3 slavery. It'll be even better when I get some decent soap. I'm currently using Prince cream from Lush www.lush.com It's good cream but doesn't lather well & had to use a huge amount. I've gone through 1/2 a pot of their Cosmetic Lad balm too

I'm looking to improve all the above as I can afford it & will ask endless questions before I do. First up & in the post right now is some orange & clove fullers earth shaving soap from Baldwins http://www.baldwins.co.uk/Natural-So...-Soap/6845/505

Next up will be a decent strop & some paste for the old strop. Then a good razor. Seems to be a choice of Dove or Thiers Issard. Like the look of the Wheat TI
Suggestions will be gratefully received. Budget is about UK£100 ($200)

Cheers & seee ya on the boards

Spike

Congrats. The time will drop after a little practice.

Welcome to SRP!!!

Welcome Spike, I'm not too far away from you.
100 quid is plenty.

A better stone, or the paste for your strop will decrease the nicks dramatically since you won't have to use so much pressure.

A proper shave soap that lathers correctly would also help to keep the blade from digging into your skin so much.

Otherwise, it sounds like you're moving in the right direction, congrats!

Spike, there's a guy from Wales called 'Welshwarrior' and I think he may have a Wheatberry TI for sale.

Welcome at SRP!

I'll try and answer some of your questions: a cheap beginners' strop is available from Tony Miller, who is a member here. He makes great strops and usually has something nice and not too pricey for beginners. In fact I think his beginners' strop could serve you your entire straight shaving "carreer" unless you nick it.

Good razors are available in the BST forum, many members will offer shave ready razors that are less pricey than a new DOVO or TI. New razors are not shave ready out of the box in spite of what manufacturers claim.

If you want to learn how to hone at a budget I recommend a cheap and cheerful practice razor (BST forum or ebay) and a barber hone. Barber hones are less popular here on SRP but do a good job. Especially Swatys are well liked and reasonably priced on ebay. The low dollar is your best friend at the moment! Natural stones are a bit more expensive.

WOW! No seriously. WOW!
Littlesilverblade put me on to Steve at Invisible Edge & I am delighted that he did. So it being my birthday on Sunday, I decided to treat myself to a properly honed vintage. Which one? The 5/8 by Barrett of Fleet Street. I couldn't resist, Mr Todd's one of my favourite villains . So I asked Steve if he could possibly get the new shiny to me asap. When I woke up this morning, My Good Lady Had already intercepted the postie & had it on the table.



All hail Steve!!! Blindingly fast delivery with the nice new large strop to care for it. Also some yelllow strop paste I don't remember ordering... Cheers!!!! AD is in full flight already, it seems.

The razor is lovely. Ye Gods, there should be some new definition of sharp for it though. You gents talk of the HHT. I pulled one from my head & draped it on the edge. TING Straight through - without any downward pressure at all. I've been staring at it ever since in awe.

I'll post again after I've used it tonight. The new soap is working a treat too!

Spike:

Welcome to the forum.
Be extra carefull with that super-sharp blade, just take it easy and don't rush.
Lock yourself in the bathroom and don't let anyone interrupt your ritual.

Strewth was it that sharp? Shoud have charged more...........

Hey seriously! That is one good blade - I am forever amazed at the quality of vintage blades and that's an A1 rank. Take it easy and make sure your chair aint got hinges on the back legs.................!