Thread: Putting together a cheap shaving kit

Hi all, I'm new and this is my first post, and I've been reading about straight razors for about a week, and have been on this site for a few days.

I almost bought a few straight razors from ebay, but luckily I didn't win the auction, or I would have found out that I got a razor that wasn't sharp enough and that is very difficult to sharpen.

I'm trying to put together the cheapest shaving kit possible, partly because I don't have much money and partly because I don't like having too much stuff. Part of why I want to get a straight razor is that I don't like disposables.

So, I figure instead of a leather strop I can strop on a piece of cardboard.

Stones are definitely out of my budget, but I have very little facial hair (only around the goatee area), and only need to shave once every three or four days, so I think I can get away with not honing for perhaps a year or two at a time, at which time I can send it away to be honed, or at least can worry about purchasing stones in the future.

For a brush I will be using an artist's paint brush, which I remember being so soft that I used to enjoy rubbing it on my face. It is made of good quality hog's hair. It looks like this http://www.cheapjoes.com/art-supplie...bby-rounds.asp

Soap and mug are easy to take care of.

Take covers it, so I figure all I really need is to buy a shave ready razor from a SRP member and I'm set to go.

Does anybody think that this is a really bad idea?

I like the brush idea. Let us know how it works out for you.

I'm not sure cardboard is going to work as well for you as a strop. Even a leather belt would be better. Nothing ca can compare to real leather for stropping, even a piece of scrap from Courage My Love or something like that in Kensington Market would get you further I think.

Sorry I don't have a cheap blade to offer you.

X

You can get a boars hair shaving brush for the price of those paintbrushes, right next to the $1 Williams soap at the grocery store or drugstore. For a few dollars more you can even get a really good boars hair brush from Target.

Cardboard works well for stropping after honing in order to polish the edge some more, but I don't think it would work very well for daily stropping. And it's gonna disentigrate with use so you'll have to keep replacing it, hardly optimal for a non-disposable lifestyle. I'd use the cardboard with chrome oxide paste for occasionally refreshing the edge, and use a leather strop for daily stropping duties.

I can really relate to you. Disposable refills were one of the reasons that I switched to straight as well. I hated spending 12 bucks on a 4 pack of something I knew I was going to be throwing away. I know what you mean about the buy in cost for all this stuff. Still I would encourage you to consider getting a strop as I feel that this would really help you in learning the whole art of this. Tony Miller has a beginners strop for $22.95 on his site, http://thewellshavedgentelman.com. There isn't any linen backing on it, but I don't think you are really worried about that anyway. With a few bucks extra for shipping you are looking at a pretty good deal. Tony's strops are held in high esteem around here, so you couldn't go wrong. Your going to spend 20 on a decent belt for stropping. And just to put my money where my mouth is, I would be willing to donate 10 bucks towards the over all cost of the strop. If your interested, then let me know and we can work it out.

Matt

P.S. I agree with Mparker. As a novice painter, I would recommend that you don't use that paintbrush. If it's of any worth, then your better off getting a boars hair shave brush from CVS or Walgreens or some place. Unless it is a really large brush, I don't think it will be very good to build a lather with. You could try it and see, but it would have to be a decent size brush to hold enough water to build the lather.

Thanks for the reply guys.

I'll rethink the cardboard, and perhaps get a leather strop. I'm going to try out that paintbrush though, since I haved owned it for many years, I don't paint much with it because it is so big, and it is designed to hold a lot of water to cover a lot of canvas quickly. It is actually about the same size as a shaving brush.

Kentriv, thanks for the offer, though I can't possibly accept. I'm not that low on money, I just don't want to get carried away with equipment, so I figure I buy at little as I can get away with.

Xman, I see you are in Canada. I will be looking through the classifieds. Let me know what you may have avaliable coming up, my price ceiling is about 50 dollars.

The cardboard is a good idea for blade refreshes, you can use either fine abrasive pastes smearedon the cardboard or lay a piece of newspaper on the cardboard and strop on that - the ink contains a very fine abrasive that will help keep the razor sharp. You could give the razor 10-15 laps on newsprint-on-cardboard once a week and this would really help extend the life of the edge.

Edit: Use hard cardboard like posterboard or the backboard from a manila notepad, not the corrugated cardboard - that's too compressible and will dull your razor.

Ok, I'll admit it. I've used the flat side of a bi-fold wallet to strop when traveling.

I don't know gentlemen, maybe this is the way to the twelve step program Just think of it all the cowhide that can be used for something else.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Ok, I'll admit it. I've used the flat side of a bi-fold wallet to strop when traveling.

That's usin' yer noodle.

X