Thread: First Stop, will this be any good??

basically, i have just found out my gf has got me a razor for my birthday on sat, she got it from her local barbers and informs me it has been hand honed, so should be very sharp.

I wanted to buy everything in one go, but i guess this is going to make me do it bit by bit.

Can I get away with just a strop like this for the first month or so?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-STRA...QQcmdZViewItem

Im so busy atm I cant read up on everything and not got the time to shop around too.

is there anything else i should try and pick up straight away??

thanks for your time

charlie

Yes you can "get away with" just a strop for a month or so provided you don't bang your razor on the sink or faucet or more likely mis-strop and blunt the edge. If you do do any of the above you will need to hone the razor back to sharpness with a stone.

As for that particular strop....I wouldn't waste my money on it. It is short narrow and from the makers of worthless junk razors that should be avoided like the plague.


There are several good vendors on this board to get high quality strops from, of which I believe Tony at The Well-Shaved Gentleman makes the best.

http://www.thewellshavedgentleman.com

there is also a good maker of strops right there in the UK at this address

http://www.rjoutram.com/

Tim, as Colleen doesn't make strops (for now ) I changed the link and the store name in your post to Tony's contact info

Duh Thats what I get for going from her thread to this one, soap on the brain.

Thanks for the edit.

I would strongly advise against buying that particular strop. When I first started straight shaving, I bought a strop like that out of ignorance (I had not discovered straightrazorplace.com yet) and I ended up putting it in a junk drawer. Invest in a nice strop and you won't regret it. Either go to classicshaving.com or contact Tony Miller.

The only advice I would give you right now is to really find the time to read all the help files here. I can guarantee you if you don't read them now you will later when you start to encounter all sorts of problems and find you've wasted money on this and that or aren't getting the quality of shave you expect.

When you decide to shave with a straight you've bought yourself a ticket and that ticket will demand much from you.

Originally Posted by sneaky

basically, i have just found out my gf has got me a razor for my birthday on sat, she got it from her local barbers and informs me it has been hand honed, so should be very sharp.

I wanted to buy everything in one go, but i guess this is going to make me do it bit by bit.

Can I get away with just a strop like this for the first month or so?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-STRA...QQcmdZViewItem

Im so busy atm I cant read up on everything and not got the time to shop around too.

is there anything else i should try and pick up straight away??

thanks for your time

charlie

Charlie,

Save yourself the money and disappointment. I got suckered into one of these and to say it was sh1t would be an understatement. This point is only hammered home further when you get a decent strop!

I have a soft leather belt that worked better than this piece of crap. The face was almost patent it was so shiny so the razor glided along happily and sod all happened. No drag no nothing.

I ended up using the back for paste experiments before binning it!

Simon

Charlie,

I would also recommend Tony Miller's strops. They are terriffic.