Thread: First straight razor purchase...opinions please

Hello everyone. I just purchased my first straight razor today (ebay). I have read here that the brand is not bad. (Wester bros) I would like a few other eyes over it to see if I did ok. I am not yet to overly concerned about honing the blade for use. I have a relatively experienced touch when it comes to honing blades (not razors so a learning curve will take place). I plan on using a norton 4k/8k to a franz swaty barber hone (is that a proper stone to finish, i know it is for touch ups.. is it for finish as well?) to a leather strop. The leather strop is yet to be purchased. I was looking at getting a strop paddle to use some paste before i send it to straight leather (opinions on that thought as well please). Any opinions on finishing stones is appreciated. i have read alot on here, but any other words of advise is great. Don't hold back on the razor, or my ideas. I am here to learn. Thanks

Nice looking project there and with the matching box... Cool!

Here is a Thread that will give you plenty of information on using Norton 4/8:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...on-2012-a.html

The razor has very significant and uneven hone wear - look at the flattening along the spine (and the bevel as well). When it started the whole spine looked like it does at the shoulder, and should still look like that had it not been abused. They are great razors when they are in good condition, which unfortunately this one isn't.

So the previous owner had no idea how to hone a razor, thus it may be relatively easy to put a shaving edge on it, or it could be really hard if there are serious functionals flaws to be corrected.

You don't need more finishing stones. The norton 8000 is really good. You can try the swaty and see if you like that or the 8k better. Both the norton and the swaty are fast hones, so you should be careful.

so many things to train the eye to look for. Thanks for pointing it out, it didn't stand out to me before, now that you have said something it stands out significantly. A mistake not twice made. I see a lot of guys say they have "test razors" for stones and to practice honing... i guess a can join that group.