WetShaving
This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
🪒 Check out these alternative front-ends for this server:
https://gem.wetshaving.social/ - a nice modern interface
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Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social/.
🪒 Track the uptime of our various services here:
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🪒 Community Rules
Rule 1 - Behaviour and Etiquette
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Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
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Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
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Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Rule 2 - Content Guidelines
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Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
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Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
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Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Rule 3 - Reviews and Disclosure
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Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
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Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
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Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Rule 4 - Advertising
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Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
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Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
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Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
Rule 5 - Inappropriate Content
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All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
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Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Rule 10 - Moderator Discretion
- The rules may not apply perfectly to every situation. The mods have final discretion.
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The razor looks very nice!
I don’t use a loupe anymore but I did when I started freehand sharpening knives. I would suggest something in the 20X to 40X range. Higher magnification is better, but they are harder to keep in focus. I’d guess by now there’s probably a great YouTube video on how to use a loupe properly.
The loupe helps you see what’s happening with the scratch pattern on each bevel. The pattern should be even from the top of the bevel to the edge and be consistent from heel to toe on both sides of the razor.
The edge should look like a straight line but might look a little saw-toothed at 1K.
Refinement should be obvious as you move from coarse to fine abrasives.
I got a 30x loupe, and I can clearly see the striation marks on the edge - neat! It's probably not that surprising, since I went from the 1k directly to the 12k. Next time I 'll do better, but even so, it's usable.
Glad to hear it! I struggled with loupes at first.
Generally, you want to use the 1K only for razors that need the bevel set. In that circumstance you might go from 1K to 4K followed by 12K or 1K, 4K, 8K, 12K if you have the stones. If the bevel is already set, dropping back to 4K or 8K followed by your 12K finisher should be all you need.
The 30x loupe works well for me, but I have also a 60x and a 90x loupe in the same contraption - where I'm not even sure whether it reverses the Image or not 😱
Ok, I'll try that!