What do you use to shave?

[frank nitte]

a straight razor all the way with a boar hair brush and thick cream

[mkd]

New here, hope I don't intrude. I used to use a straight which took disposable snap-in-half safety blades (which work very well), but now have invested in a Dovo Solingen Prima Silver Steel. It's very effective, if a little too light in weight for my liking. I've a couple of vintage ones with more weight to them, however they both need some work to bring them back to proper working order.

[Shangas]

Hey MKD. What work would that entail? Depending on what it is, it could be something that you could do yourself.

[mkd]

The blades appear to be in good condition (ie no chips etc), and I have a small Belgian Blue Whetstone which has got them sharper but it is still a very rough shave (they didn't cut at all when I got them). It sharpened up the Dovo just fine so perhaps they need a few more strokes and a thorough strop?

[Shangas]

Give them a good sharpening and then strop the hell out of them. You need dedication and perseverence for this. But you will get there. I did!

Also, make sure you're keeping good tension on the strop. If it sags, you're not doing it right. That will cause the blade to roll and screw up your shave.

[mkd]

Thanks for the tips. I have got the hang of stropping (no pun intended!), and have found that mink oil paste works well.

Also, what is generally preferred for bringing it back from the dull grey to a shine?

[Shangas]

I use sandpaper (fine-grit sandpaper mind) and metal-polishing paste (Simichrome) to clean my razors of rust. Fine steel-wool also helps. That gives it a clean, matte kind of shine, but it's hardly mirror-finish. To get that, I believe you need professional cutlery buffing-wheels. I'm not aware of any products that give a similar result.

[mkd]

There's no rust - it's more of a patina - and am not inclined to use anything abrasive to remove it. There seems to be a school of thought that recommends leaving it there as it protects from rust.

[Michaelshane]

I don't understand the desire to remove patina from a beautiful old razor.

[David Conwill]

An exchange, via Facebook, with another lounger made me realize some things about my shaving techniques this morning. I typically favor a single edge razor, but lately have been using a double edge more often. Initially I blamed a bad SE blade for turning me off, but I think it may be that I’m running low on preshave oil and had gotten stingy with it. The stiffer blade on the SE gives a great shave, but requires extra protection for my skin. Usually I accomplish this with a coating of preshave oil followed by a fairly thick lather of C.O. Bigelow (Proraso) Shave Cream.

In running low on preshave oil, I was getting stingy with my applications and discovered that my DE was giving a more comfortable shave than my SE, even with thinner creams and soaps. I suspect this is due to the flexibility of the DE blade.

Who knew? In any case, I’m grateful, as skipping the preshave oil has opened me back up to using my grandfather’s old DE, which I had largely set aside because I wasn’t satisfied with the closeness of my shave.

-Dave