Hi to all,
I am starting to realise how addictive straight razors are... it must be so easy to keep buying beautiful razor after razor...
What second jobs did you take to support this hobby?
I can imagine the costs running pretty high.
Andrew
Hi to all,
I am starting to realise how addictive straight razors are... it must be so easy to keep buying beautiful razor after razor...
What second jobs did you take to support this hobby?
I can imagine the costs running pretty high.
Andrew
I'm honing and cleaning razors then I sold 'em on our forum :)
I'm also honing and cleaning for others.
Nice :)
How long did it take you to learn how to hone a razor? Any tips re the equipment to get?
Andrew
Im honing and cleaning Razors too, but mostly i trade them for Razors i want, i dont really need a second job for my hobby cause i can wait and work with my hands, so i can buy and restore also the rusted beauties other users wouldnt buy. I like Razors that show their age, theire more often achievable as bargains than the high`n`Shine Razors.
Learning how to restore took me about a year, looking at others working, testing their restored razors.
The trick about honing is to get good hones and to be patient.
I used first sand-paper but I'm now working faster with a knife (removing most of the rust), then a dremel (polishing). For the hones I would suggest a low grit (+ - 400) for removing the cracks, a synthetic 2000/5000, then the Dragon Tongue (and why not the two others slates of highter grit). :)
A good leather is also really important.
Id love to get a vintage razor and either restore it myself or have it restored (I imagine Im a year or more off attempting myself). How do you know what is a good buy / blade? Id be worried about spending good $ and finding I bought something that couldn't be restored to shave quality, unless I was buying a restored blade from a reputable seller. I saw some on SRD that were beautiful, but unsure if they are suitable for a beginner. I think I need to keep an eye on classifieds and see what comes up.
For stones etc, what is a realistic price to get the gear needed? I have seen kits for 100ish, and others over 1000.
Thats a good Question how to know wich Blade is in a restorable Condition or could be good buy. When i look for Blades to restore i first look for a good price, then i look for the Condition (as is said i dont need or want high`n`shine razors). If theres Rust i look if i can polish it and if the edge isnt rusted too much, this is very important to provide cracks, its no deal when you buy a good blade that can be easily polished but the rust worked so hard on the edge that it cracks or cant be sharpened easily. Nicks can be honed but cracks are mostly a death sentence.
Second i look for the scales, they dont need to look perfect, especially when youre a beginner, but they have to be intact, dirt can be cleaned but glueing cracks can be tricky and wont work in every case.
Quality is a big word, i wouldnt look for so called quality razors when you begin restoring or shaving with a straight, even a gold dollar can be a good shaver, also some other straights without a big reputation.
If youre looking for a good beginners Razor, take a look at the classified section and ask the sellers, there are no users that can give you better infos than those who shaved with the razors theirself and know how theire honed.
Thanks. I have just emailed Larry at Whipped dog, and ordered a sight-unseen razor and the poor mans strop, to practice my stropping etc, and will be the blade I eventually use to try honing for the first time. I have also ordered a ralph aust razor kit from SRD, for my starter shaver. Once I learn how to strop the sight-unseen razor I will move to the Ralph Aust, and then to which ever fancy blade I end up purchasing.
Purely as a beginner for honing, what should I buy at a minimum? Any recommendations for the cheapest / yet still performing honing kit?
Thats a good Choice to do so, i learned stroping also on an old strop and began with an old Razor :-)
An Aust is also a good choice for the frist (and further) Steps!
Honing is also a bit subjective, Combinations the honer Honer likes, the other Honer hates, i can only tell from what i like and am assured. My Setup begins with a Naniwa Super Stone 800 (a good hone with a good size for almost a reasonable price), than a Coticule (a well slurried Coticule can replace the 3000/4000 Step) and a Thuringian (a Dragons Tongue maybe can do the same job and is same cheap, you can get a Muller Thuringian or a Dragons Tongue for very low prices, it mustnt be a Escher for the Beginning). In Germany such a Setup would be 140€, about 220 Australian $.
For restorations we have a whole subforum with all information you will need about how toQuote:
Originally Posted by AndrewJM
Custom Builts and Restorations
For the honing part check out the Honing subforum
Honing
and the hones subforum.
Hones
To begin with you will most likely do no more than refresh, or touch up the edge when it gets a little off. All you need for this is something around 12k. Though people used to and still do use a barber hone for this, they are around 8k.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewJM
Naniwa stones are popular but slightly more expensive than nortons or kings.
If you want a natural then I will step aside and let someone else advise, though you will probably be advised to steer clear of naturals as a starting hone as they are less predictable and therefore it is bard to give advice on their exact use, whereas a known synthetic will perform exactly the same as any other identical stone.
I tried to nut out this myself a while back, and a common progression would be 1k, 3 or 5k, 8k, 12k.
I have decided on a 1k chosera after some cajoling com a certain member here, a3k and 8k naniwa, and I already have a 10 and 12k naniwa, in hindsight the 10k was a bit of a mistake as it is kind of redundant.
I also have some.Welsh slates which are quite good too, in fact Geoff uses them on occasion so maybe he could show you when you go over.
In answer to your original question I am a fifo electrician, and my second job is working for myself on day of each of my r&r's in my own electrical business.
thank you. Im going to take up the kind offer of other forum members for a demo once Ive got the gear.
Thanks Ed, appreciated as always. Andrew
p.s. Ed, who coined the phrase you quote re bread and water? I like it.
To be honest I don't know, I saw it on a mug I think when I went back to the uk last month. I liked it too, it seemed kind of comforting.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewJM
I think its great. I have 2 favourite sayings... 1) It's nice to be important, but more important to be nice ; and 2) There are 3 kinds of people in this world, those who can count and those who can't.
What you need is dependant on what you are doing. If you are touching up as Ed said the naniwa 12k is great or a crox strop then the naniwa. If you are doing restores or ebay buys a 600, 1, 5, 8, 12k would be more in order. These grits are approx and going to be dependant on the system you buy and how much you want to spend. I like to buy high end razors that have seen better days and clean them up to like new again and get great bargins this way it just takes time to get them really looking good again but have $200 blades I paid 30-40 for so for me is worth it and I like to do it. I was meant to be selling some to make cash but none seem to be leaving. Damn RAD.
I have gotten a second job so i could have extra money coming in so that i could get a straight razor but whenever i have extra money one of my five kids needs somthing. Lol life .
So for now i am de shaving untill i get the cash or a act of god happens.
Its a security job at jackson insurance
started off with honing and restoration, brushmaking, pen turning. but lately don't get into the shop much. coached volleyball, referee volleyball, custom paracord craft works.
a little bit of a lot, a lot of a little.
darren
I had to start another hobby to help pay for this hobby. Wife would get P.O when stuff would show up at the door. Now when stuff shows up, not a peep.
I take the curmudgeon approach to any hobby and by that I mean it is none existent on my scale of priorities to get a second job to support a hobby. I would get a second job to support a family.
If you are looking at a complete set up for honing something along the lines of what ED suggested would do fine IMHO. If you just wanted to do touch up something like a 12K Naniwa would do and would also have been included in a complete honing kit anyway.
Bob
I should say that I don't work for myself to buy shaving stuff, I do it because I enjoy the work I do.
photography. afew headshots here an there
The second job would be putting a little extra effort into "pleasing" the wife..... luckily this is quite enjoyable to me too :)