Thread: beginner questions

I'm new to straight shaving and have been looking at razors and am thinking about getting a used shave ready straight razor. I found one I like from bobsrazors.com and was wondering if anyone knows if he sells good shave ready straight razors. I am also looking at getting the poor man's strop kit and the Norton stone set from whippeddog.com as I have seen a lot of good things written about him going through these forums. Just wondering if these a are good choices or not as I don't have any experience.

I have dealt with Whippeddog and have no complaints, great customer serviice. I do know that some have posted about the Norton's that are cut in half being hard to use because of their size. I purchased full size Norton's from another site.

you should be good, but if I were you I'd definitely skip on the cut-up nortons, and would buy a strop with leather and fabric components.

Yeah. Larry @ whippeddog is good people. No worries there. Haven't heard of the other site myself though.

Hi, Im a beginner too, and have ordered a sight unseen razor, plus poor mans strop and brush from Larry. Although it hasn't arrived yet, his communication has been great, seems like a really nice guy. Once I ordered, was only a day or two (he was waiting for the brush to arrive), I received an email with shipping advice and tracking link. Being sent by USPS, it may be another week or two until the pack arrives. YOu may have bought already by then, but when it arrives I'll update this thread with my thoughts.

Boy those sight unseen I hear are UGLY but they are sharp and shave ready and great to learn on. Post a pic when you get it

Yes, I have heard they are ugly, which is why I believe they will suit a beginner well. If I drop it, or screw it up when I learn to hone, I will be glad it was on a cheapie rather than an expensive one. Once I feel comfortable with shaving I will use a better and more attractive razor, and pass on the sight unseen razor to another person.

Ive also got a nice robert williams razor on order, so that will be great to shave with once Ive mastered the basics.

All my razor older ones. Go find your own in antique stores or flea markets. Then you know what you have and not hoping the one you get is nice. You can clean it up to your standards and then get it honed by one of the member services or yourself. This takes the guesswork out of what you will get.

Good luck

I want to echo the positive things said about WhippedDog. I ordered the Poor Mans Strop kit and was also pleased. It came with what appears to be a strop made of decent leather, very smooth, and a nice thickness. Larry is a great guy to deal with.

Sometimes I wish people would read the question being asked and answer that instead of simply posting whatever they feel like talking about at the moment...

Originally Posted by SS502MC

All my razor older ones. Go find your own in antique stores or flea markets. Then you know what you have and not hoping the one you get is nice. You can clean it up to your standards and then get it honed by one of the member services or yourself. This takes the guesswork out of what you will get.

Good luck

Not a good idea. Beginners generally are very poor judges of what is a reasonably good razor and what is junk that is not worth fixing, not to even talk about the amount of work that it takes. The shortest and cheapest way to success is to make use of the expertise of those who have many years and hundreds/thousands of razors of experience.