I’m back … and I’ve gone straight.

TomFetter said:
The "arc" motion comes from moving the razor-holding hand like you're turning a doorknob. Take short strokes, with the tip of the razor moving no more than 3/4 of an inch at first, 'till you get the hang of it. Once comfortable with the movement, you can combine a slow twist of the forearm with your regular push cut, and take longer strokes. That's where the potential for nicks comes in.
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That I can do.

Krull said:
Ok here it is,as I said before I got it at the local gun/pawn shop box has seen hell (it's a mess one end is gone) but it's marked Germany and Genuine Manganese steel.

The blade itself is marked Graef & Schmidt on one side and J.A.Henckels-Twin Works Germany on the other.
http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs101&d=06232&f=DCFN0020.JPG

http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs101&d=06232&f=DCFN0021.JPG
It is sharp!!! :eek: you wanna drag it across your neck you're welcomed to!
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It doesn't look bad. Many were made with squared ends to give the barber precice control, the ability to selectively remove one hair while leaving its neighbor.

Hone the tiny nicks out and strop it up. You know you want to. Freud wrote about the connection of Eros and Thanatos. Imagine putting it to your throat in the morning, knowing that you're just a twitch or a sneeze away from dramatic exsanguination on the bathroom floor.

How can you live a humdrum life after starting the day like that?

;)
 
When I'm home, I generally have a couple of cups of esspresso before I shave. Sure adds to the "adventure". :cool:

Guys, if you're paying attention, you might get some nicks and cuts, but nothing all that serious. Still, if you're new at it, you'll want privacy, quiet, and no sudden distractions like cats, dogs, kids, mortar round impacts, or land mine detonations. That could get ugly. But there's really no need to be overly paranoid or fearful, you've got a pretty good chance of not cutting your own throat. Honest. :eek: :D

Sarge
 
What Sarge said. Ever try shaving while a fascinated but VERY active 7 year old boy is bopping around the bathroom, telling you jokes?

BTW, he loves my HI blades too. Sometimes a bit too much for comfort.
 
Kids are great. When my daughter was about five we had company over, and I asked her to go in the kitchen and bring me a butcher knife to cut up a pie. Them folks were absolutely horrified by it. So there in front of them I asked her, "how do you grab a knife?". She looked at me like I was suddenly stupid, "by the handle Daddy, the blade is sharp and it'll cut you". Then I asked her, "and how do you carry a knife like that one?". She smoothly shot back, "never in front of you, if you trip you'll fall down on it, carry it like this (she held it off to the side) so you can throw it away if you start to fall down". Smiley face next to her name by golly. Still, they were mortified and muttering something about how "entirely irresponsible it was to have a kid handling a knife"

Pardon my French, but screw them. My daughter's a grown woman now, and I never once had to worry about her growing up around guns, knives, or any other of life's dangers I could teach her about. She carries a knife in her purse right now, and it ain't one of them pink handled SAKs with the little nail file and scissors neither. ;)

Sarge
 
Sarge My ex and I repeat my ex was taught in school to walk with the blade pointed towards herself so if she fell she couldn,t hurt anyone else in front of her . I could never get her out of it . Thats one of the reasons she is my ex .It gave me nighmares just looking at it .
 
Kevin the grey said:
Sarge My ex and I repeat my ex was taught in school to walk with the blade pointed towards herself so if she fell she couldn,t hurt anyone else in front of her . I could never get her out of it . Thats one of the reasons she is my ex .It gave me nighmares just looking at it .
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Ohhh-kay! :eek:

Me I hold it in a reverse grip,sharp edge out,and flipped up flat side along my arm.
 
Kevin the grey said:
Sarge My ex and I repeat my ex was taught in school to walk with the blade pointed towards herself so if she fell she couldn,t hurt anyone else in front of her . I could never get her out of it . Thats one of the reasons she is my ex .It gave me nighmares just looking at it .
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I normally have a great deal of respect for school teachers, theirs if often a difficult and thankless job. But by thunder, there's a school teacher that needs to be keel hauled. What kind of idiot would teach such foolishness to children. Have them walk about with dangerous objects intentionally pointed toward themselves, I'd like to yank his (hers?) toenails out with a pair of vice grip pliers. Say you couldn't de-program it out of her? I'd have bought her a large folder and had her make do with that in the kitchen. Carrying it with the blade shut would then make it's direction a moot point. Geez that's scary. If I saw somebody toting a knife like that, I'll be durned if I wouldn't take it away from them. Geez

Sarge
 
Still, they were mortified and muttering something about how "entirely irresponsible it was to have a kid handling a knife" >>>> Sarge



I'm teaching my sons the same way you taught your daughter. I only hide the knives and guns when other kids come over to my house.


munk
 
I saw her doing it with carbon steel scissors with eight inch blades . Absolutely couldn,t get the logic that "If you fell While there might be someone in front of the blade there is always someone behind the blade . It was religious schooling . I won,t say what kind . Suffice it to say it was the kind of schooling where the teachers themselves live in a very closed enviroment .
 
It's odd. Successfully taught both my boys how to handle knives, an ax, and have done some basic chopping on a block with the youngest lad with a khuk. They've both also wanted to learn how to use a chef's knife in the kitchen ... my part-time restaurant jobs through university left me with a couple of skills there. Basic knife safety, reinforced by safe usage technique.
But my wife? My daughter? Different story. Though they each will handle knives in the kitchen and elsewhere, there's a fear of the cutting edge ... which borders on the squeamish. So paradoxically, they don't handle a knife solidly, and will rush away from using it ... which prevents getting the physical and mental skills ingrained. As a result, they're that much more likely to have a minor accident. Which reinforces the fear ... which ... and on and on it goes round in a circle.
My 7 year old, under my watchful eye, is much more reliable with either pocket-knife or kitchen knife than his 14 year old sister (though she'll listen to me). Or his mom.;)
 
Here's another thing I don't understand about women (trust me it's a long list :( ). A woman can make do in the kitchen with a knife so dull it would drive me straight up the wall. But, you sharpen that same knife up for her, and she will almost immediatel cut her finger with it. I've seen it happen again and again, with such predictability that when a friend asked me if I could sharpen his wife's kitchen knives, I made 'em both sign a liability disclaimer. Good thing too, the very evening he took the freshly sharpened knives home, he wound up taking his wife to the ER to get her dadburned finger stitched. So heads up gents, when a woman says she wants her kitchen knives sharpened, she don't mean sharp the way us guys might understand sharp to be. Just give it a few light passes on a medium grit diamond hone and hand the dayumed thing back to her, before you're tempted to put an actual edge on it.

Sarge
 
Lady Red Flower seems to have taken to sharp objects quite well, for a city girl. Another aspect of her inscrutable charm!
 
Howard Wallace said:
Lady Red Flower seems to have taken to sharp objects quite well, for a city girl. Another aspect of her inscrutable charm!
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Ah the pitfalls of generalization.:o Trust me, I know a few gals that can handle a knife as well as most fellas. Whenever I speak of "women", I never ever mean all of 'em, I just mean the majority of 'em I've encountered. My apologies to Red Flower if she was offended.

Sarge
 
ferguson said:
Howard, welcome home! You know we need pics of the new you.:) Maybe a picture of you and Red Flower together?


As Kamagong requested, my Kukri straight razor. (Though all of my khukuris can shave. ;) )

Steve



Straight_razor_kukri_blade.jpg
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Now you are impressing me. I could shave, if I was inclined!
That is really inspiring!
Sharp,
iBear
 
Krull said:
Ok here it is,as I said before I got it at the local gun/pawn shop box has seen hell (it's a mess one end is gone) but it's marked Germany and Genuine Manganese steel.

The blade itself is marked Graef & Schmidt on one side and J.A.Henckels-Twin Works Germany on the other.





It is sharp!!! :eek: you wanna drag it across your neck you're welcomed to! :D
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That looks a lot like the three that my dad had in England. I sold two at auction and still have one. They were all brand new in the original box and packing. I looked at one, put it on my arm and didn't know whether to push, slide or scrape. When I go to the barber and he shaves my neck or sideburns with a straight rasor, I always hold my breath and I can remember doing this as a 10 year old in the barbers chair. I still do it now and know that I can't hold my breath for a complete shave even if I knew how. :D
 
Howard:

In the photo, Red Flower and you appear made for each other.

Many blessings!

Noah
 
Originally Posted by Howard Wallace
Lady Red Flower seems to have taken to sharp objects quite well, for a city girl. Another aspect of her inscrutable charm!>>>>>>>>>>>>




Racist and Sexist; Howard storms the PC world.


(actually, I laughed aloud when I read, 'unscrutable'. I'm not sure where in my 'conditioning' that is, but all Chinese were once thought 'unscrutable'.A very funny and light touch by a man obviously in love.)


munk
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
I love the old antique straight razors, got a monstrous old Civil War era Wade and Butcher with a spine like a khukuri on it, and original horn handle. Intimidating piece, but shaves like a dream.
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Well Sarge, I just got an old Wade and Butcher that had seen a lot of use. It had some nicks in the blade, and one of the scales was broken near the back pin. What's left of the blade is about 3/4", so it's not a giant. You can see the wear on the spine from many years of honing. I've been working on it this evening. I used a 20 micron belt on the belt grinder to take out the nicks, then a 9 micron, and finally polished it up with a leather belt with chrome compound. The edge is smooth and hair-popping now. I have some electrical tape around the end of the handle for the time being. The break is far enough back that the blade still closes.

I'm going to give this one a try. If I like it as much as I expect I may have to craft it a new handle.

Also, I found a new-old-stock 1" stainless Henkels. It's on it's way to me now.
 
VERRRRRY OLD RAZOR song....

(gotta luv the internet...I last heard this when I was 11 y/o)



Thorogood George Lyrics - Dixie Fried Lyrics

(Written by Carl Perkins)

On the outskirts of town, there's a little night spot.
Dan dropped in about five o'clock.
Took off his jacket, said "The night is short."
He reached in his pocket and he flashed a quart.

He hollered, "Rave on, children, I'm with you!
Rave on, cats," he cried.
"It's almost dawn, the cops are gone.
Let's all get Dixie fried."

Well, Dan got happy and he started raving.
He pulled out a razor, but he wasn't shaving.
And all the cats knew to jump and hop,
Cause he was born and raised in a butcher shop.

He hollered, "Rave on, children, I'm with you!
Rave on, cats," he cried.
"It's almost dawn, the cops are gone.
Let's all get Dixie fried."

Well, the cops heard Dan when he started to shout.
They all ran in to see what it was about.
And I heard him holler as they led him away.
He turned his head, and this is what he had to say.

He hollered, "Rave on, children, I'm with you!
Rave on, cats," he cried.
"It's almost dawn, the cops are gone.
Let's all get Dixie fried."

Now, Dan was the bravest man that we ever saw.
He let us all know he wasn't scared of the law.
The black dog barked, but the boy didn't flinch.
He said "It ain't my fault, hon, that I been pinched."

He hollered, "Rave on, children, I'm with you!
Rave on, cats," he cried.
"It's almost dawn, the cops are gone.
Let's all get Dixie fried."

Now, Dan was the bravest man we ever saw.
He let us all know he wasn't scared of the law.
And I heard him holler as they led him away.
He turned his head, and this was what he had to say.

He hollered, "Rave on, children, I'm with you!
Rave on, cats," he cried.
"It's almost dawn, the cops are gone.
Let's all get Dixie fried."

"Yeah, it's almost dawn, the cops ain't gone,
And I've been Dixie fried."


(OK, not THAT much razor content.)
 
Howard Wallace said:
Well Sarge, I just got an old Wade and Butcher that had seen a lot of use. It had some nicks in the blade, and one of the scales was broken near the back pin. What's left of the blade is about 3/4", so it's not a giant. You can see the wear on the spine from many years of honing. I've been working on it this evening. I used a 20 micron belt on the belt grinder to take out the nicks, then a 9 micron, and finally polished it up with a leather belt with chrome compound. The edge is smooth and hair-popping now. I have some electrical tape around the end of the handle for the time being. The break is far enough back that the blade still closes.

I'm going to give this one a try. If I like it as much as I expect I may have to craft it a new handle.

Also, I found a new-old-stock 1" stainless Henkels. It's on it's way to me now.
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Howard, lots of times you can get an old razor at a reduced price because the handle's busted. If the blade's good, buy it, there's folks that sell replacement handle kits, here's one example http://www.classicshaving.com/page/page/523001.htm

An old Wade & Butcher is worth the effort. At one time razors out of Sheffield set the industry standard with their extremely fine grained, high carbon, crucible (cast) steel. High end razor makers like Thiers Issard still use it, because apparently Sheffield is the only place you can get it. My Thiers Issard has the name and "Made in France" stamped into it's tang, but prominently etched on the blade is "Sheffield Best Silver Steel guaranteed". Apparently the French make no bones about good English steel being a strong selling point. ;)

Sarge
 
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