Thread: What second job have you taken to finance your razor obsession?

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 $.

Originally Posted by AndrewJM

Nice

How long did it take you to learn how to hone a razor? Any tips re the equipment to get?
Andrew

For restorations we have a whole subforum with all information you will need about how to

Custom Builts and Restorations

For the honing part check out the Honing subforum
Honing
and the hones subforum.
Hones