• 2 Posts
  • 229 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: August 15th, 2023
  • KidnappedByKitties@lemm.eetoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world•What makes a good whetstone set? What sets should I avoid?
    3·
    5 months ago

    I have some better quality kitchen knives I like keeping sharp.

    I use a two-sided whetstone 400/2000 grit for basic shaping (400 is akin to those rolling sharpeners, to be used only when you fucked up real bad), a leather strop with green sharpening paste (~6000-8000 grit) glued to a piece of wood, a plain leather strop, and a honing steel.

    Green sharpening paste is most of what I ever use, a couple of strokes weekly (more realistically about 20 once a month), and maybe polish it up with the plain leather strop. Keeps the knives wicked sharp, and then I just hone them after each use.

    Sometimes I do stupid things and get burrs in my edge (like cleaving frozen bone), that’s where the 2000 grit saves me.

    400 I guess is for when the apocalypse comes or your kids decided to practice chef’s knife throwing into scrap metal. It’s nice to know I can remake a whole edge, but rarely used.

  • KidnappedByKitties@lemm.eetoaskmenover30@lemm.ee•Men who shave...
    4·
    5 months ago

    I also shave with a safety razor/shavette and spend about twice as long for a close shave as only the first pass. Also being the type worried for time, I’ve clocked myself and typically end up at just under 4 minutes including warm-up, post-shave creams, brushing, and oiling.

    You go once with the grain, once across it (90 degrees) and then once against it but with a lower angle than the others (so you don’t cut/irritate unnecessarily). Lather before each pass as per usual. The time to get everything set up and work up the first lather is longer than going another two passes.

    Edit to add: I shave like this about every other day, but let it go over weekends, or other times I resent my worksona. I have chosen shaving gear to make it fun though, with a nice brush & bowl, a nice smelling shaving soap, etc. My best trick was to find a better suited razor blade, Dorco Platinum, makes it easy, fun and lasts me two weeks before having to change. I’m sure other brands are great too, that’s just the best one I have available.

    I’m trying to grow out a beard, so I don’t trim it down, but shape it once a week with some scissors and a comb.

    Back when I couldn’t be bothered, I mostly grew it wild, brushed and shaped it 1-2 times/week, and trimmed it down in length every few months. Nowadays we have barbershops around and I can have a professional style it while I get a haircut.