Anyone regularly shave with your "shaving sharp" knife?

Nope that is what a razor is for plus my room mate would look at me funny. She still isn't quite sure about the whole knife thing in the first place.
 
The last time I used a knife to shave I was in Disneyland and a 3 bladed bic disposable cut a couple chunks out of my face on my left side, so I tried the Krein reground Small Sebbie I had in my pocket to finish the job (.007" edge thickness). It was finished to .05 microns and was whittling hair nicely. I went slow and smooth and got a much better shave (no cuts!) than with the disposable with not much more irritation than I get with my Fusion. However, whenever the Fusion is around I use it. It goes WAY faster than when I use a knife and out of self preservation have to be real careful, and the Fusion shaves closer with less irritation.

Mike
 
This made me think of the movie pitch black when vin diesel shaved with that knife, nothing but sweat on his face. Man if he had been doing that for real I be his face would have burned like crazy the next day.
Was that a real manufactured knife he used in that movie or just something for the movie?
 
I'm one of those guys with thin, patchy facial hair, and I feel the need to shave maybe every couple weeks, so I have it easy. but more than once I've looked at myself in the bathroom and said "damn, you gotta get rid of that" the last time that happened I pulled out my bump and cleaned off my upper lip. no problem.
 
I would never shave with a knife. My beard is very thick. Arm and leg hair for testing sharpness is a different story...
 
When I was in high school I carried a little folder that I had sharpened at a very shallow angle for just that purpose. I shaved with it pretty regularly. Of course I also sharpened it pretty much every day. It would get dull just from shaving. Then my girlfriend got me a Mach 3 for Christmas and I've never looked back :D
 
Anyone seen/tried this knife?

http://www.agrussell.com/knives/by_type/folding/slipjoint/bker_one_arm_jack.html

I'm doubtful that even this would shave. I bought a similar knife made by S&W and the "razor" was so short that it's profile was really more of a "V" than a typical double hollow ground razor, meaning it was so thick behind the edge.

Though the S&W blade was itself was about 17 degrees inclusive, it was sharpened to 40deg inclusive. What's up with that? Are these just for show?
 

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ducksoup said:
Have you ever lathered up and used your pocket knife (or camping knife etc) as a straight razor? Does anyone even do this on a regular basis? I've been thinking about trying it with my Camillus slippie, but I'm not usually that adventurous early in the morning. :D
Click to expand...

I shave hair to apply band-aid around cuts or other small wounds otherwise it is painful to remove it later. For this I always use knife as well as to cut out splinters without drawing blood etc. - what can not be done without really sharp knife.

So if you learn how to sharpen and get one really sharp knife - do not worry you will find so many uses you did not even think about before.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
I've been using straights for several years, and I'm pretty good with them. In all honesty, though, they are pretty much a draw with the Mach 3. Either one gets my face BBS (baby butt smooth). The straight is a lot more enjoyable, the Mach 3 much faster. I think a lot of it does depend on beard type, so YMMV.
 
I just had my first shave with a knife. I used my Opinel No 8 and I honed it on DC4 and stropped on a scrap peace of really thin leather that I smeared metal polishing paste on. No fancypants strop used, no green compound ( because they dont sell that here, or any other straight razor shaving gear) and DC4 is a small compact portable stone for outdoor use, so it doesnt get the edge as fine as water stones. Still I have a pretty good shave, nice and close, although it pulled a little when I was doing the first shave. Im considering using the ceramic side a bit more to get a bit steeper angle and than strop some more, but you can have a nice shave using a knife. Im really new to sharpening so I guess if I was a little more skilled it would be even more comfortable shave.
If you have water stones, or any other system that can make your knife nice and sharp, and have a spare knife you can put really thin edge on (for really comfy shave you would need quite thin edge) I would say go for it and you will feel the testosterone just oozing out of your ears :D , just strop well and you are good to go.
And dont let anyone tell you you shouldnt do it or whatever, it doesnt hurt, not as comfortable as safety razor but men dont need comfort :D

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Btw, thats the gear I used, with that peace of scrap leather for a strop
 
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I used to use a japanese higo no kami to shave with as well as general utility. It was made out of blue paper steel so I was thinking "Sushi knives are sharper than disposables, this is the same steel so why not?" Usually I'd shave dry like that with no issue, even now a days with my disposables I shave dry most of the time, seems backwards but unless I've got my straight edge or DE I prefer to dry shave. On occasion I have shaved with my japanese bowie (again, same theory) while backpacking.

Often times these edges aren't that thin (20+ deg. or convex) just well sharpened, and I only downshave (I find one good go-over with a straight or one of my knives is almost as good as upshaving with a disposable).
 
Yeah, my EDC's are my razors. Using a two-blade disposable is a little "smoother" feeling, but not by enough for me to consider it more comfortable--or more like the knife isn't rough enough for me to call it uncomfortable. The shave I get with each is equally close. They're both incomparable to an actual straight razor in both smoothness and closeness of shave, but I feel a lot safer using my EDC than a straight razor.

The first time I used it to shave I was thinking of the Crocodile Dundee scene as well. Thought I'd give it a try, and it worked so well that I prefer using it over safety razors now. Having a knife with a good belly really helps me shave the corner of my lips, and it also gives me a weird prideful feeling. If I'm just in a hurry though, the safety razor has its advantage in that I don't need to be careful with it, but I don't like sticking my tongue into my cheek to get the parts of my face I need shaved in contact with the flat surface of the safety razor, so when I have time for a "nice shave", I use my EDC.

I never thought the Crocodile Dundee scene was real, and always sharpened to that goal as if it was something I'd never reach. Now that I've found it's not so far fetched I'm working on getting an edge I can split a falling hair on like Elemer Fudd; I think that will take longer.

I only shave about three times a week to take care of stubble mostly though. However, I had my friend try it out. He shaved a little off his face and then his entire leg. He use to swim so he has experience in shaving his leg and says it usually hurts more than his face--I guess face and leg hair being different occurs in different ways as well. Either way, I don't know how fine or coarse our hair is, but it works for either one of us so I'm not sure it's just a matter of only fine hair being shave able.

Both EDCs I've used for this aren't very acute either. One was 30 inclusive, and the other is 40 inclusive. I've noticed the 40 inclusive has a little more "drag" to it, but it doesn't really qualify as uncomfortable or rough. With shaving cream or lather it's all the same, the only time safety razor feels just a modicum more comfortable is when I dry shave.

Oh, and I just use a 1000 grit waterstone and a strop with green compound.

I'm not really sure why so many people think of it as if it's impossible or something. I think most people are just comparing the shave to their multi-blade saftey razors or their straight razors, and if you already need that for a shave to be comfortable, there's no way you'll be able to use a knife. I think that most people that dry-shave with a disposable saftey-razor could shave with their EDC though.
 
Only when severely intoxicated and usually/nearly always while being goaded by my "friends"/relatives during hunting season. aka: Deer/Duck camp. NOT RECOMMENDED!!
 
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