Please help ! I have a honing question

[knivesfanatic]

I'm trying to hone my Mach III razor-blade, but I want to create the best possible system. I'd love your advice and help guys.

This is what I have right now --> http://imgur.com/a/Domm8

Its a strip of leather on recycled redwood with chromium oxide powder & wood glue.

Here are my thoughts -->

Is there a particular type of leather that'd be best?

Do you think that chromium oxide is the best powder I can use? The goal here is that I want to get myself the best life on my Mach III, so I'm willing to spend the money to have an awesome shave.

What are your thoughts with balsa instead of leather?

Also, here's the process I'm using now. I'd love any and all advice !
1) Casing
2) Wetting
3) Drying
4) Rolling
5) Drying again

Then, I glue it to the redwood and its good to go.

Do you have any tips on the best process to go through? Any tricks with any of the steps?

I would really love any and all information you could share with me. Thanks so much !!!

 

[9blades]

Personally, I would take saftey razors into consideration. Initial investment is probably going to be a little high, say $80 or so, but the coast per shave is sigficantly lower. The razor itself is gonna be $10-$30 depending on whether it's vintage, or a new base model from Parker, Dovo, Merkur, etc. shave soap will be $8-$15, brushes can get pretty pricey, or economical depending on the quality you find acceptable. I'm fairly happy with one I spent $25 on; while I don't think you need one (you can make lather with your hands), I think it really improves the experience. A hundred pack of blades is about $15 depending on the brand, a single blade will be good for multiple shaves obliviously. So realistically, depending on how thick you let your facial hair get between shaves, think 3-6 shaves per blade. I don't need to tell you how much 100 Mach III cartridges would cost do I? along with the fact that it's cheaper in the long run, it's just a better method in my opinion.

 

[bgentry]

On topic: That seems like a nicely made strop. I'm not sure how easy it will be to use on a cartridge razor. It's just awkward because of the surrounding plastic, handle, etc. In the past I've used a pair of jeans hung on a towel rack and tensioned between my hand the rack as a strop for cartridge razors. At the time I thought it was working, but my only "test" was the life of the razor relative to when I thought it was uncomfortable to use. That was years ago, so I'm not sure now.

Off topic: Shave prep is really the key to good results. Hot water applied to your face and lather properly built with a mug, shave soap/paste, and a very controlled amount of water are the keys. The lather from shave soap built correctly is sublime. It will totally change the shave. Bracing your face with hot water for 45 to 60 seconds (which seems like a long time when you're doing it) will change your skin a lot too and make it feel and work better. There's a reason they use hot moist towles in a barber shop before a shave!

Double edged "safety razors" really are the hot ticket for a good shave on the cheap. They shave better, but there's a learning curve. They're "safer" than a straight razor, but you can still cut yourself. If you're anything like me you'll get lots of very small cuts you can't really feel (and don't bleed). The blades themselves are very important and there are a LOT to choose from. So much so that finding the blade you like becomes an exercise all in itself. I got an assortment of blades to try from Shoe Box Shave Shop and found two that I liked from the 8 or 10 I sampled.

All this being said, I found that a *good* shave with all the prep and cleanup took me 9 to 11 minutes. That's about 8 minutes too long when I'm in a rush, which is most of the time. So for the past few years I'm back to using an electric razor, which doesn't give me anywhere near the quality of shave from a blade. It also never cuts me and is always done in 2 minutes or less. <shrug> It was fun while I was doing the safety razor thing.

Brian.

 

[David Martin]

knives, Your strop looks good but I wouldn't waist my time attempting to strop a cartridge blade. Any cartridge. You can only strop them on one side. It adds some life to them. Not a lot. I would follow bgentry's advice but stay with the double edge. These you can strop them indefinitely (on your current materials) and get great shaves. Here is my set up. Notice the blade in the photo, it has all the ink name wore off. With that blade alone I'm closing in on 200 shaves. I strop it once a week on a strop like yours (only longer) with the same slurry, 200 passes. The edge is not rounded like some with less experience think. It will give me 3-4 good shaves. A weeks worth as I only shave every other day. I've done this for a year and 4 months and it shows no signs of giving up. It's a Feather blade and it gives me a better shave than a new blade. DM