That was a close shave!

[Wombat]

G'DAy Self sufficientishers,

As you are probably aware, due to Andy's putting up pictures of myself on the site, that my face is somewhat fuzzy...but due to being part of "corporate Australia" and wanting to maintain some semblance of respecability, I shave my neck regularly.

Now for the past 12 months or so I have used a cutthroat (also called straight) razor . What I would like to know is, does anyone else use this marvelous invention? Gents, or maybe even ladies, what is your technique? how often to you strop, and how many times? What dressing do you use? etc.

I would be interested in any and all comments

Nev

[judyofthewoods]

there is a good article on the downsizer website about green funerals if you need one. Not sure about the law in Oz about burrying someone in their back garden though.

[mountaingirl]

Like Judy the first thing that springs to mind Nev is a concern that you might do yourself an injury! Maybe its too much of a sacrifice and a more modern impliment may be safer. I mean what happens if a cat or dog jumps on you from behind or you're in a hurry, or the phone rings or some fool bangs suddenly on the door?...........gives me shivers! When you say "what dressing do you use?" I imagine loads of blood!
Be Safe!

[Wombat]

Sorry for causing the concern!

The strop is leather and requires a regular application (dressing) with a material to keep it supple, help it sharpen the blade, and I wonder what people were using.

I have found it causes no more problems than the disposable variety, but I was shocked by the wastage that disposable razors entail.

Thanks for the info Judy but I don't have any intentions just yet!

Mountaingirl, I have no intention of doing anything else but keeping safe After all it's what I do!

Nev

[leedarkwood]

Ah ha! I have some dried fungus by my desk that I got last autumn, a bracket fungus called a razor strop becuase that was a old use for them! But I don't know how they were used? They grow on dying beech trees and were also used for corks and pincushions.

http://www.hlasek.com/piptoporus_betulinus_a7301.html

I have recently made a shaving soap using oils that create a firm longlasting lather. Haven't yet convince my OH to try it, looking for an old fashioned shaving cup for him!

[Wombat]

G'Day Lee,

what is the formulation?

Nev

[leedarkwood]

I think I used a base of olive and coconut oil plus the castor oil and maybe some cocoa butter to enrich it, running it through my favourite sap calculator at www.thesage.com. Haven't got my records to hand. Are you a soap maker? Best craft I ever took up, would recommend it to anyone. I am thinking of getting certified and registered to make it professionally so that I can start selling some by Christmas but it is a big step to take! (and costly!).

[Wombat]

G'Day Lee,

I'm an ex-chemist and used to do research and development on woolscouring soaps, but that was 20 odd years ago!

Nev

[leedarkwood]

Then you would probably enjoy hand making soaps, they make good 'trade goods' as long as you take a sensible approach to the dangers of both making them and curing them (as you will know!). The invention of the stick or hand blender has revolutionised home soap making, you can whop up a batch in minutes.

[Andy Hamilton]

A friend of mine once bought a cut throat and he got a leaflet on how to shave with it, sharpen the blade and all that from the local chemist. (phamacy). It is a bit of an old fashioned chemist and specialised in all that sort of stuff. But I would have thought somewhere like sydney may have an equivilent.

[Wombat]

Thanks mate,

Yeah we have specialty shaving shops, which is where I bought the gear. I was interested to see what other people's experience was of the process, but so far I seem to be on my Pat Malone!

When I suggested to Linda she might like to try it on her legs, the answer was less than encouraging. . Never mind, we shall persevere.

Nev

[leedarkwood]

It is a skill I have always fancied learning, but my OH declines the honour. I am not very good at putting an edge on a chesil, so maybe I had better leave well alone!

[Muddypause]

There was a site called Scary Sharp, IIRC, but I'm afraid I've long since lost the bookmark. All about putting fine edges on to blades.

I remember, when I was about 6, going into an attic room in our rambling old house, and finding a trunk of old junk (or so I thought). In there I found a cutthroat razor, with a yellowing ivory handle, presumable once my dad's, or even his dad's. Stroking my thumb across the blade confirmed it to be the sharpest blade I had ever come across, and subsequent experiments proved that it was well capable of whittling large slices out of the nearby furniture. However, I was disappointed to find, in my 6 year old way, that it was not so good at hacking lumps of plaster out of the wall, and the blade broke. Pity; I should now like to have inherited that little treasure - not that I've even looked at a razor for twenty or more years.

AIUI, stropping is not sharpening. The strop just takes the burr off the edge that develops as you use it (you can similarly de-burr a chisel on the palm of your hand as the final sharpening process). Eventually the razor will need proper sharpening, as stropping is no longer sufficient. In the days when I used to frequent barber shops, they would use a razor to clean up the back of my neck, and strop it before use, and often once or twice during use. This may say more about the back of my neck than about their razors.

Now, has anyone got any recipes for home made moustache wax?

[leedarkwood]

Oddly enough, yes I have and I will dig it out for you.

[leedarkwood]

http://www.handlebarclub.org.uk/wax/diy.htm
Melt some beeswax and add petroleum jelly in proportions of either 1:1
or 1:2 - you can also add a bit of shoe polish to colour so the recipe
goes .......