All About Pocket Knives

Cleaned up after mowing this afternoon. Decided the whiskers needed chopping off. I used this old Joseph Allen & Sons original non XLL with a full wedge grind. Best I can sus out it’s feom between 1883 and 1900ish. The horn scales have some bug bites, but they’re still OK for now. Excuse the bad pics the lighting is terrible and it’s dark outside. I tried to get the etch to show.

I like that one, Colonel!

Thanks Steve.

Wade you captured the etch just perfect.

Saturday. My day for a straight shave.
A Premier Life Time Professional X98.
Some Robert Johnson and Delta Blues in the background.

I had a barber shave in New Orleans some years back and was so impressed two days later with the lack of regrowth that I went back and bought some supplies to try and duplicate it.

I did try straight razor shaving under Willie's guidance a while back, but could not get comfortable with it, nor abstain from nicking myself. I agree with Willie that it's ridiculous we cannot seem to get back into what was an almost daily activity for men just a generation or two ago.

From that visit to Aiden Gill For Men barber shop in New Orleans, I did get into using products from Truefitt & Hill, a London barber shop that's been in business since the 18th century. I cannot afford to use their products daily, but I do on Sunday mornings and on special occasions.

I like their Grafton Shave Cream and After Shave Lotion. Subtle scent, manly, not overpowering. They offer several others.

I pre-treat my face with witch hazel oil or lemon oil.

I agree with Willie re' a cold water blade rinse. It has to do with contraction vs expansion of metal.

BTW; I shave with a three blade razor from Dollar A Day Shave Club and I've got dozens of good Robeson razors from which to choose.

Charlie

Broke out the Boker S.S. St. Louis this A.M.

This morning's shave with a Dovo Astrale my wife got me for Christmas several years back.

when I was in Taipei Taiwan I had my hair cut by a Chinese girl with a straight razor and a comb in a barbershop. She told me the sit veeey veeey still. I said yes mam! ftd

Colonel26 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 3:12 am Cleaned up after mowing this afternoon. Decided the whiskers needed chopping off. I used this old Joseph Allen & Sons original non XLL with a full wedge grind. Best I can sus out it’s feom between 1883 and 1900ish. The horn scales have some bug bites, but they’re still OK for now. Excuse the bad pics the lighting is terrible and it’s dark outside. I tried to get the etch to show.

Post 1892 due to the fact that ENGLAND is included in the stamp. Very nice razor.

Nice razors everyone!! I don’t use a straight razor at home but I enjoy a good shave with one at the Barber shop… I collect a few… The first one is a Keen Kutter I just picked up recently and the second one is nothing special but it said Fred Kruger on it so I bought it… I wonder if that’s where they got his character’s name for the movie?

Nice razors!

Owd Wullie wrote: ↑Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:51 pm [quote=Colonel26 post_id=724674 time=<a href="tel:1555470760">1555470760</a> user_id=14441]
Cleaned up after mowing this afternoon. Decided the whiskers needed chopping off. I used this old Joseph Allen & Sons original non XLL with a full wedge grind. Best I can sus out it’s feom between 1883 and 1900ish. The horn scales have some bug bites, but they’re still OK for now. Excuse the bad pics the lighting is terrible and it’s dark outside. I tried to get the etch to show.

Post 1892 due to the fact that ENGLAND is included in the stamp. Very nice razor.
[/quote]

I must have had a brain freeze. Thanks for catching that! How ya been? Are you still traveling the world in the old semi?

Steve Warden wrote: ↑Sat Apr 06, 2019 2:30 pm .
I touch them up with a small barber's hone, then 25 stokes on the linen and 50 strokes on the leather of my strop.

Do you straight shave? Fill us in!

What grit or finish is the barber's hone? I have several different fine Japanese water stones I use for kitchen knives. I have one that I've never used that is 3000.

This showed up in my mailbox today. Really clean. Robson ShurEdge (ShurEdge in script & underlined) Rochester, New York. No tarnish on the blade, or rust. I think just a few touch up passes on the strop and it should be ready to use. My phone camera doesn't show it, but the handle has a fine lined pattern in it. Kind of like what some call faux Italian Ivory.

That's a nice one, Papa B.
I have no idea what grit my barber's hone is. I found it in an antique store. I brought it home, drew several pencil lines on it - corner to corner, side to side, top to bottom on both sides. Then I took a very fine sanding block to it. I sanded until all the pencil lines were gone. That told me it was darn near perfectly flat.

You may already know this, if so, it may help a newbie - a barber's hone isn't the best to use to sharpen a straight razor, it's really just to touch up an edge that is already been set for bevel and edge. And a strop will not sharpen, either. It is to smooth and polish an already sharp edge

While I can get a pocket knife to shave arm hair, I know it still isn't shaving sharp. If you've never sharpened a straight razor, I would recommend sending it out to a pro. When you get it back, you'll have a base line for what shaving sharp is, should you decide to sharpen your razors yourself in the future.

I've always sent my razors to Glen of Gemstar Customs. He does have a website www.gemstarcustoms.com
Great guy to work with.

Steve Warden wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 11:29 am That's a nice one, Papa B.
I have no idea what grit my barber's hone is. I found it in an antique store. I brought it home, drew several pencil lines on it - corner to corner, side to side, top to bottom on both sides. Then I took a very fine sanding block to it. I sanded until all the pencil lines were gone. That told me it was darn near perfectly flat.

You may already know this, if so, it may help a newbie - a barber's hone isn't the best to use to sharpen a straight razor, it's really just to touch up an edge that is already been set for bevel and edge. And a strop will not sharpen, either. It is to smooth and polish an already sharp edge

While I can get a pocket knife to shave arm hair, I know it still isn't shaving sharp. If you've never sharpened a straight razor, I would recommend sending it out to a pro. When you get it back, you'll have a base line for what shaving sharp is, should you decide to sharpen your razors yourself in the future.

I've always sent my razors to Glen of Gemstar Customs. He does have a website www.gemstarcustoms.com
Great guy to work with.

I'll keep that in mind, and I do appreciate the link!

Do you not use any kind of paste or rouge? I have a Herold block strop and use green Dialux for putting a finish on my wood chisels and on the only two planes I have. I will usually run them on a 1000 water stone and then finish on the strop with the dialux. You can shave your arm with the plane irons if you work it down. I was actually thinking of getting a loom strop.

Never got into the pastes. I only use my straight razors on Saturdays. I have 8, so individually they don't get a lot of use. Once I get 'em back from Glen, I'll strop before every shave. Once I feel the blade start to pull, I'll take the blade to the barber's hone for 10-12 strokes each side, then to the strop - 25-30 on the linen, then another 50 strokes on the latigo. Honestly I've been pushing them further than I like, as far as sharpness. They are way overdue a trip to Glen. The hone is keeping the edge just this side of tolerable...for the time being .

Steve Warden wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 5:55 pm Never got into the pastes. I only use my straight razors on Saturdays. I have 8, so individually they don't get a lot of use. Once I get 'em back from Glen, I'll strop before every shave. Once I feel the blade start to pull, I'll take the blade to the barber's hone for 10-12 strokes each side, then to the strop - 25-30 on the linen, then another 50 strokes on the latigo. Honestly I've been pushing them further than I like, as far as sharpness. They are way overdue a trip to Glen. The hone is keeping the edge just this side of tolerable...for the time being .

Yep, all edges eventually have to be maintained to the optimum.

Yup, it's Saturday.
H. Boker Red-Injun No. 101
A bit of a rough shave this morning. I really need to get my straights out to a pro to bring back the edge. Scales aren't original to the blade, but I didn't buy it for authenticity, I bought it for shaving.

I like call my Saturday straight shaves my Cowboy shave, reminiscent of their shaves of the 1800s in the old west, an era I have really taken an interest in.
Always have my coffee, black, at the ready and some tunes in the background. Today it was Marty Robbins singing songs of El Paso and telling stories about "Mr. Shorty" and the "Big Iron on His Hip".

Steve Warden wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 12:54 pm I like call my Saturday straight shaves my Cowboy shave, reminiscent of their shaves of the 1800s in the old west, an era I have really taken an interest in.
Always have my coffee, black, at the ready and some tunes in the background. Today it was Marty Robbins singing songs of El Paso and telling stories about "Mr. Shorty" and the "Big Iron on His Hip".
20200530_073224.jpg

I've been away a bit, so catching up. Marty had his own style. He was a very competitive race car driver also. The story goes, that for a while on the same nights he was to perform at The Grand Ole Opry, he would also race a car at the Fairgrounds Race Track there in Nashville. They said several times the Opry would have to shift entertainers around because Mary Robbins would be late arriving because he was finishing a race. Of course you know he went on to race in NASCAR also.

Just out of curiosity, what shaving soap to you like to use? I for the most part use Arko, and Proraso. The Arko seems to give a smoother shave. The Proraso with mint oil a close second. I think both are made in Italy. My daughter sent me some as a gift called Sasquatch, made by Seattle Sundries. Has a great scent, made with coconut oils,Olive oil, Castor Oil, & Palm oil, but still not as smooth of shave as the Arko or Proraso.

But was just wondering your favorite.

Have a great weekend.

Papa Bones wrote: ↑Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:21 pm

Steve Warden wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 12:54 pm I like call my Saturday straight shaves my Cowboy shave, reminiscent of their shaves of the 1800s in the old west, an era I have really taken an interest in.
Always have my coffee, black, at the ready and some tunes in the background. Today it was Marty Robbins singing songs of El Paso and telling stories about "Mr. Shorty" and the "Big Iron on His Hip".
20200530_073224.jpg

I've been away a bit, so catching up. Marty had his own style. He was a very competitive race car driver also. The story goes, that for a while on the same nights he was to perform at The Grand Ole Opry, he would also race a car at the Fairgrounds Race Track there in Nashville. They said several times the Opry would have to shift entertainers around because Mary Robbins would be late arriving because he was finishing a race. Of course you know he went on to race in NASCAR also.

Just out of curiosity, what shaving soap to you like to use? I for the most part use Arko, and Proraso. The Arko seems to give a smoother shave. The Proraso with mint oil a close second. I think both are made in Italy. My daughter sent me some as a gift called Sasquatch, made by Seattle Sundries. Has a great scent, made with coconut oils,Olive oil, Castor Oil, & Palm oil, but still not as smooth of shave as the Arko or Proraso.

But was just wondering your favorite.

Have a great weekend.

Van der Hagen (VDH) Deluxe and VDH Luxury are probably best bang for the buck, and available locally. C. O. Bigelow is a rebranded Proraso; great stuff. The Art of Shaving puts out a fantastic soap, but overpriced, in my opinion. Arko (made in Turkey) is good, I just don't care for the "skeeter-be-gone" scent. All of these I can get local. (Simply can't stand Williams, even if I can get it at 99 cents a puck!)

As for online ordering, Stirling shave soap is outstanding. Quitec a selection of scents. Priced right, too. I'll be ordering from them again, to be sure. Oh, and Tabac... oh, Tabac... in my opinion, absolute best in lather quality, smoothness of shave, scent and finish!

I do prefer soaps over creams.

Like my knives, I have a variety that I rotate through.

Steve Warden wrote: ↑Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:42 pm (Simply can't stand Williams, even if I can get it at 99 cents a puck!)

For sure. I tried Williams once. Threw it away after two shaves. Never again.

I call the Saturday shave my Cowboy Shave.
A straight razor was the tool of the day for wisker whacking back in the days of the Old West. Saturdays I can take time a pay attention to what I'm doing.
A mug from Texas, Pandora radio in the back ground playing film scores from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Magnificent Seven, True Grit, Hang 'em High, The Sons of Katie Elder, How the West was Won...
While I always have a cup of coffee with my shave, (on the weekends I treat myself to my own home roasted Kenya), I'm going to have to get some Arbuckle's coffee. That was what most Cookies served from the chuck wagon on those cattle drives. And what was in most saddle bags. Anyway, high of 33° today, wind making it feel like it's in the low 20s. Yup, gonna fire up the grill and throw on some steaks!