Stirling Vanilla Sandalwood
Maggard's 24mm synthetic
Crown King scuttle
Geneva Cutlery Extra Hollow
40's Super Speed (ATG pass)
Stirling Vanilla Sandalwood splash
I picked up this straight from
Razor187 for $20. I bought it as a "garbage straight" that I could practice my honing on, but it showed up with a very nice bevel, and fairly sharp. So I ran it across my hard ceramic water stone for about 150-200 laps, than ran it across a newspaper strop for about 50-75 laps. It passed the hanging hair test, so I lathered up, and had at it.
WOW!! I never really believed people when they told me how much more forgiving straights were compared to shavettes, but they are not kidding. This thing was incredibly smooth, and so, so, SO much easier to maneuver and work with. I have been shaving with the shavette for a solid week, and I was still getting cut and nicked. My first shave with this thing was like butter...smooth, easy-going, and just incredibly enjoyable and entertaining to use.
In the vein of full disclosure, I did NOT go ATG with the straight. I used her for WTG and XTG on the whole head, then I used the Super Speed for ATG all around. I needed almost no touchups, but I used the Super Speed for those as well.
I am not going to give up on the shavette, but I am going to put it on the back burner, and use the straight. I have a second straight coming, and a strop, and I intend to use the straights exclusively, or close to it, until I am able to use them for the entire 3-pass shave, plus whatever touch ups might be needed. I have a feeling that this can become another acquisition disorder...