Thread: New to razors, but not blades

Hey everyone, I have been lurking for a few weeks and trying to find out what I do and dont want from a razor. I have toyed with the idea for some time and went to pull the trigger when I walked into a store here in Raleigh called The Art of Shaving. I had not done any research and figured these guys would know what i needed. They were very helpful and gave me great info, but I had a bit of a shock when we started talking prices. I had no idea that they were of the price they are. I have a limited budget but still really want to get into this. I feel we rush to many things now, and I'm sick of routines, i would like something that took enough time and art to do daily that it would be considered a ritual, and this is it for me (at least to start). Also I feel that anything worth doing well includes at least a small amount of danger.

I am a knife man so I love practicality, and beauty (which = huge $$ in razors I see). I have several whet stones and tons of experience honing and sharpening them, so i figured I'd branch out a bit.
Now here it comes, every noobies words that you know you are going to hear.... "I have a few questions."

1. Will my experience honing pocket knives be a good thing here, or is it a totally different technique and requires me to relearn everything.
2. I also need something that wont break the bank and am looking at this set BEST SELLER Buffalo Horn Shave Set - StraightRazors.com , i know with knifes you can find great deals, but you get what you pay for. Is this set/site to be avoided?

I have looked at several of your suggestions on other threads for razors that are good for beginners that wont break the bank and saw several I liked but I am impatient and would like everything to come at once so i can get started ASAP lol.

1. It's pretty different.

2. There was a long thread on here awhile back about that exact razor. The conclusion was that it is "a razor shaped object" - looks like a razor, but cannot really be sharpened, made to hold its edge or shaved with. I'd be inclined to try a different set. Maybe try SRD, Classic Edge (.ca or .com), The Superior Shave, or the classifieds here to find a good shave ready razor. Don't rush this part of the process, it is vital to your success. Besides you're looking for rituals to help slow down the pace of your life, right? Start now.

+ 1 on the above.

Please avoid that set, better to start with things that do work but ain't fancy.
The fancy stuff use to come as you go on with it.
Try and find someone close to you who can show you the ropes and later when you got a better picture of what you "need", then you can spend the big bucks.

Take a look at these suggestions on shopping for a razor. They will show you some to avoid and some good buys. Good shops include any of the forum sponsors (the ads are on the side and top of the forum pages), the classifieds section in the forum, and many others. Be sure to ask about your first purchase before you buy - you may end up with an expensive letter opener.

Honing a razor and honing a knife, while a bit similar in theory, are different in practice. The wiki has a lot of good suggestions, as do many of the board members. Do not be afraid to ask.
Many will suggest you learn to SR shave before tackling the honing part, mostly due to the learning curve of both. Many of the members here offer honing services for a slight fee or postage only. Also, if you update your profile to include your location, perhaps some members may live close enough to you to act as a mentor.

Good luck with your new-found hobby -- I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Here is what I can tell you, I hope it helps

Originally Posted by PrimedMonkey

Hey everyone, I have been lurking for a few weeks and trying to find out what I do and dont want from a razor. I have toyed with the idea for some time and went to pull the trigger when I walked into a store here in Raleigh called The Art of Shaving. I had not done any research and figured these guys would know what i needed. (Not that we have ever seen as of yet anyway they only tell you the Company line)

They were very helpful and gave me great info, (Highly doubtful when talking about straight razors)

but I had a bit of a shock when we started talking prices. (Their Razors are NOT shave ready they still need to be honed)
I had no idea that they were of the price they are. I have a limited budget but still really want to get into this. (AOS is a little high but there is also no shipping but again you have to add in Honing costs)
I feel we rush to many things now, and I'm sick of routines, i would like something that took enough time and art to do daily that it would be considered a ritual, and this is it for me (at least to start). Also I feel that anything worth doing well includes at least a small amount of danger. (If you take your time there is no danger)




I am a knife man so I love practicality, and beauty (which = huge $$ in razors I see). I have several whet stones and tons of experience honing and sharpening them, so i figured I'd branch out a bit. (Honing Straight Razors is a bit more then branching out it is a whole new area, there is steel and you do rub it on hones but that is about all that it has in common )
Now here it comes, every noobies words that you know you are going to hear.... "I have a few questions."

1. Will my experience honing pocket knives be a good thing here, or is it a totally different technique and requires me to relearn everything. (Answered above but the knowledge will not hurt)
2. I also need something that wont break the bank and am looking at this set BEST SELLER Buffalo Horn Shave Set - StraightRazors.com , i know with knifes you can find great deals, but you get what you pay for. Is this set/site to be avoided? (At least you asked before and not after you bought it, but no that won't shave)

I have looked at several of your suggestions on other threads for razors that are good for beginners that wont break the bank and saw several I liked but I am impatient and would like everything to come at once so i can get started ASAP lol. (Impatience and Straight razors are not a good combination, you had the right idea above about taking time with the ritual)

I think I answered most of your questions, other then where to get a razor and some of the other guys answered that for new razors.. For Vintage check the Vendor Corner and the Classifieds most everyone that sells on here is very careful to make sure you get a "Shave Ready" edge and if not they normally say so..

Thank you guys for all the helpful comments. I do get excited about things and like to dive into them as fast as possible. When I started to look at products and felt the itch to buy the first set at a price i liked I knew I was rushing things. That is when I decided to stop just lurking and actually start talking with you guys.

As far as the The Art of Shaving goes, I made sure to talk with the person who was giving me the shave, not the sales associate. She gave me a bunch of good pointers as she was giving me a shave and also did warn me about the prices there and told me to look online (thank goodness for helpful/disgruntled employees)

Another reason I asked about honing too is because I was really considering getting a vintage razor and restoring it myself. I like to take pride in things I do and felt that restoring a razor would be fun and allow me to appreciate the shave that much more. Plus I could change the scales and blue the blade and make it more like I want it. I have done this several times with old knifes, but after seeing that honing a knife and razor are significantly different then I might not go this route just yet... or maybe restore and send it off to be honed. I have seen that Whipped Dog is highly recommended not only for honing, but learning how to hone.

I got my razor from Larry at whipped dog and i also have a c1k hone on the way for touch ups. Hes great to deal and the shave ready sight unseen blade was a early 1900s in great condition, Hes a great option for low cost straight shaing while still getting great quality.
Also i was concerned about getting a smaller size as he quarters them but if you wait for his next batch he may half the thickness to hapf inch so you still have the 8x2 to work on aswell as cheaper shipping.

Originally Posted by PrimedMonkey

Hey everyone, I have been lurking for a few weeks and trying to find out what I do and dont want from a razor. I have toyed with the idea for some time and went to pull the trigger when I walked into a store here in Raleigh called The Art of Shaving. I had not done any research and figured these guys would know what i needed. They were very helpful and gave me great info, but I had a bit of a shock when we started talking prices. I had no idea that they were of the price they are. I have a limited budget but still really want to get into this. I feel we rush to many things now, and I'm sick of routines, i would like something that took enough time and art to do daily that it would be considered a ritual, and this is it for me (at least to start). Also I feel that anything worth doing well includes at least a small amount of danger.

I am a knife man so I love practicality, and beauty (which = huge $$ in razors I see). I have several whet stones and tons of experience honing and sharpening them, so i figured I'd branch out a bit.
Now here it comes, every noobies words that you know you are going to hear.... "I have a few questions."

1. Will my experience honing pocket knives be a good thing here, or is it a totally different technique and requires me to relearn everything.
2. I also need something that wont break the bank and am looking at this set BEST SELLER Buffalo Horn Shave Set - StraightRazors.com , i know with knifes you can find great deals, but you get what you pay for. Is this set/site to be avoided?

I have looked at several of your suggestions on other threads for razors that are good for beginners that wont break the bank and saw several I liked but I am impatient and would like everything to come at once so i can get started ASAP lol.

Lynn, the founder of this site, and owner of SRD, has kindly posted this intro / guide to, "Introduction to Honing", located here:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...rt-honing.html

From my experience, my current state is using DOVO white / grey paste on the linen side of a spare strop, it does make a nice difference, a CrOx balsa board, and a coticule for refreshing.

I'm going to take a class with a honemeister to learn how to "refresh" my razors using the stone, and I'll continue to do that for quite awhile until I'm ready to take the next step into actual honing.

For me, I want to take all the time necessary to learn this art properly, as I continue to remind myself, it's not a race.

Good luck and cheers!

Whipped Dog, or the forum classifieds. Get yourself a shave-ready razor. The shave-ready edge is the most important part for a newbie, more so than the grind or shape or size or scale material or appearance. Get that good edge, so your efforts to learn to shave aren't crippled right from the start. Yeah it will start to get a little dull after several shaves, depending partly on the razor and most ly on you. That's a good time to get a SECOND shave-ready razor. If you go for a new razor for the first one, get a vintage razor for the second one. Okay, so now you got one sharp razor ready to shave with, and one that was sharp but now it isn't. There's the obvious time to try your hand at honing, if you want to sharpen your own razor. If it takes several attempts to get a good edge, no biggie cause you got your other razor to shave with in the meantime.

You probably should cool your jets a little bit, and have more patience putting your kit together. You can get an altogether package from the Whipped Dog, though. But you can also put together quite a nice kit a piece at a time. Maybe start with the brush, and a mug and either soap or cream. Whatever kind of razor you are already using, you can improve your shave with good prep and lather, combined with tweaks in your shave technique. So you learn to lather properly before you eaven buy a straight razor. One less thing to learn all at once. Okay, so there's your lathering equipment bought and learned. Then get a razor and a strop. Learn to shave with it, and get your second razor. Now go for a pasted balsa strop and a finishing stone or a lapping film setup, cause you don't need to be worrying about refreshing your edge while trying to get your shave on. You won't know whether the problems are with your edge, or your shaving technique. But once you have a dozen shaves under your belt, it will be time to think about honing and/or pasted balsa stropping. So maybe trying to get a whole kit at once is not only not necessary, but also maybe not even a good idea.

Balsa can be sanded flat (don't rub sandpaper on the balsa... stick a sheet of sandpaper to a very flat surface like a polished marble tile or a thick piece of glass, and rub the balsa on the sandpaper instead) and given a light application of diamond paste from one of several different sources... google is your friend. Paste, not slurry or anything like that. Your balsa should be as wide as your razor's edge, and 10 to 12 inches long. Don't put too much diamond. Too much actually prevents your getting peak sharpness. Same if you use green or red paste instead of diamond. You want the particles to embed into the balsa, not roll around on top of it. You don't want a coating. Just barely enough to get some on every part of the balsa. I was taught to use a glob smaller than a pea for the first application, and every couple of months to refresh with half that much. You can get it in several grit sizes, and we use .1 micron for the fine side and .5 micron for the coarse side. I do it a little different from my mentor. He strops on the fine side after every shave, and only uses the coarse side if it ever needs a little extra help. Me, I go a dozen laps on the coarse side and 3 dozen laps on the fine side, after every shave. Guess what? I don't have to worry about re-honing my razors. But like they say YMMV. If you don't do it right it doesn't work right, and there are lots of ways to mess up the process. Too much pressure, or letting the razor's shoulder get up on the balsa, or the balsa warping, or lots of other things. But it works great for me and for many others.

My Dad has lots of stones of various grades and when I started honing I used them. Luckily my Dad knew a guy who was able to show me how to get a good edge from them, but it took a while because these stones are what are considered to be slow cutting. Later I got a chance to use a 12k Naniwa SuperStone to touch up and edge and wow... not any sharper, but fast. You can really feel the stone working. Hear it, almost smell it working. Just a few strokes makes a huge difference, and the translucent Arkansas stones take hundreds of laps. I really like that Naniwa and my own semi newbie recommendation so take it with a gram of salt, is when you want to start refreshing your edges and you want to use stones, have a look at the 12k grit Naniwa SS.

However, now I mostly use lapping film. For just a few razors and just occasional use, this stuff is great cause it is cheap, and it gives terrific edges with very little practice. Like with the balsa strop, there are a lot of ways to mess up, but if you are good at following instructions and asking advice, and you want a cheap entry fee into honing, it is worth looking at. I do a lot of messing around with cheap ebay razors and lately I have been trying to modify Gold Dollars and get results I can compare to the awesome one I got from my straight razor sensei, and the film has helped me a lot, even though my rotation razors like I said never need re-honing after the initial honing. Now if I honed more razors, I would probably get a whole set of Naniwa stones. They are just terrific even if they do cost more than Nortons. A pro would probably not want to be all the time buying lapping film. You cut a sheet up into 3 pieces and each piece will do approximate a dozen razors so it lasts pretty good for occasional use but somebody honing a dozen razors a day might think hmmmm the stones are cheaper and just as good, as long as I keep them lapped flat. My usage pattern makes film the better option.

Yeah if the more experienced members say stay away from the buffalo razor then I would. You want everything RIGHT when you start trying to shave. You don't want any hair in the soup. It will be hard enough to get your technique nailed down with good equipment. There are a lot of factors to juggle and lots of parameters to adjust and balance out without worrying if your razor is sharp. Now as for Art of Shaving, wow they are expensive. But they are a good place to go to actually see and hold the goods. Just remember the cute little chick trying to sell you stuff has not a clue because she doesn't shave with a straight razor. And hey, remember they got to pay their bills too, so in exchange for being able to go in and check stuff out, buy something, even if it is just some cream or soap. They serve a purpose so help them stay in business. Just think carefully before whipping out the credit card on big ticket items like some uber kewl razor or a brush made from baby albino alpacka muzzle whiskers set in wood from the Titanic's main bar. Check other sources first, cause Art of Shaving is usually waaaaaaay overpriced. I absolutely garuntee you any item that AoS has, the vendors on this forum will have a good laugh as they beat their price.

And that's another thing. Anybody can sell stuff. And the seller can get away with a lot of crap that will leave you with an attitude and leave them with your money. It is nice to know that there are some vendors who have to maintain their reputation. This forum (and that other one, I don't know if it is okay to mention the name here) are good places to find a seller for what you are looking for because they are part of a community and they need to maintain their standing in it. So you are more likely to get good goods, more likely to get good service, and if you do happen to get a lemon, more likely to get satisfaction from the vendor. Other than that, outside vendors who have lots of good reviews and happy customers on the forums are also good bets. If nobody has heard of a particular vendor here, be afraid. Be very afraid, to buy from that one.

Originally Posted by TaipeiJake

Maybe try SRD, Classic Edge (.ca or .com), The Superior Shave, or the classifieds here to find a good shave ready razor. Don't rush this part of the process, it is vital to your success

+1 and welcome.

+1 to everything TulaneBoy said.