Ah, makes sense now. Carry on.
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Shaving with a knife
- Thread starter bSquirrel
- Start date
Ah, makes sense now. Carry on.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2000
- Messages
- 2,116
I'd be curious to know the type of facial hair and age of all these other people who have shaved with little to no discomfort with a knife.
Also by shaving are people taking off 1 hair at a time? Or are you using your knife like a straight razor and cutting many hairs at once? With straight razors you need to prepare your face with hot water, a good shave soap, etc. I wouldn't want to take a straight razor to my face dry, and I can't imagine taking a knife to my face dry. Unless you're only taking off little patches of peach fuzz. 
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2005
- Messages
- 2,402
I'd be curious to know the type of facial hair and age of all these other people who have shaved with little to no discomfort with a knife.
I used fusion shaving cream and used my Manix like a straight razor. I was very careful, and had no more irritation than after my crappy Norelco had already irritated the hell out of my face trying to cope with my 2 day beard. Basically my face was still covered with whiskers of varying lengths after the Norelco, mostly still long (almost full length), and red irritation spots where it had cut the hairs the best. I was very careful around the jawlineand chin with the knife, and the spots where I went over the skin for a second time with the Manix I put a little more cream on to minimize the irritation. I rinsed off the whiskers and cream that were on the blade after every pass to keep the cutting edge clean. After cutting my beard and face fairly well with the Manix the Norelco was able to cope better with the now much shorter high spots around my chin and jawline where I used extreme care with the Manix, and I had done a credible job with my shave. I hope to not do it again, but it does make for an interesting story to have used a very heavy duty knife in a coarse steel to shave your face.
Mike
this is great, I was JUST thinking of using my knife to shave when I stumbled on this thread. I got about a week and a half of beard, and I know my electric razer just aint gona cut it. But I might pull out the old straight razer of gramps.... hmm........ need to have it off tonight though, I have church in the morning. :-O
yablanowitz
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2006
- Messages
- 10,037
Once again, not theoretical, but actual. I had grown a beard during a three month patrol cycle on a submarine. After all, the brass aren't going to parachute into the ocean, dive three hundred feet and sneak in through the escape trunk to hold a surprise inspection. But my I.D. card didn't have a beard showing, and I had to match it for the flight home. I was already known as an expert knife sharpener (at least by sailor standards 
) and had extolled the virtues of the lowly Opinel a few times, so a bet got made. The Opinel mowed off the three month beard as easily as a straight razor (and yes, I have done the same thing with a straight razor, so I know), using standard old fashioned shaving soap. I admit I did cheat somewhat, the Opinel was specially sharpened for the task, thinned down a bunch from its normal edge angle and stropped well. It didn't irritate my face any more than the straight razor I had been using before I grew the beard, either.
As far as the hair involved, I was in my early twenties. My beard was not as full as it is now, but the whiskers were just as coarse then as they are now (about 3 times the diameter of my arm hairs). Just to make this stunt even more stupid, we were on our way into port and running surfaced, so the boat was pitching and rolling a bit. Overall, pretty dim, but I survived and had an extra fifty 1980 dollars to spend when we got in
) and had extolled the virtues of the lowly Opinel a few times, so a bet got made. The Opinel mowed off the three month beard as easily as a straight razor (and yes, I have done the same thing with a straight razor, so I know), using standard old fashioned shaving soap. I admit I did cheat somewhat, the Opinel was specially sharpened for the task, thinned down a bunch from its normal edge angle and stropped well. It didn't irritate my face any more than the straight razor I had been using before I grew the beard, either.As far as the hair involved, I was in my early twenties. My beard was not as full as it is now, but the whiskers were just as coarse then as they are now (about 3 times the diameter of my arm hairs). Just to make this stunt even more stupid, we were on our way into port and running surfaced, so the boat was pitching and rolling a bit. Overall, pretty dim, but I survived and had an extra fifty 1980 dollars to spend when we got in