Recently Got a Straight Razor! Tips on Cheap Honing and Sharpening?

The main problem is, even if you go down the route of buying hones you won't know if you have it shave ready or not.

Understanding what the edge of a truly shave ready razor feels like is impossible to describe and it is something you really have to feel for yourself.

Even if is the only blade you ever get honed by someone else it will be worth every penny (cent). You get to know what a shave ready edge feels like and you can have a go at shaving knowing that if it doesn't work out then its not due to the razor :)

Put out a request for mentors in your area. They are honing savvy and will, usually for no charge, get your razor to shave ready and give you a healthy one-on-one instruction session on proper straight razor shaving. The mentors are there to help any one looking for help, especially cash strapped college students. You need to first concentrate on learning proper straight razor usage, map your face, build good lather and proper and effective stropping. Down the road, when time and money permit (a year at least) think about learning the exasperating but satisfying skill of honing your own.

Honing by someone who knows what they're doing and are available on here assures it will be done by a professional who knows what they're doing. $25 or so plus roundtrip postage. It's the cheapest way to get a razor so you can shave. There are no shortcuts. Buying homes and learning is expensive and a relatively long road. As others have said, start with a DE. You can get a decent quality Parker or similar and a sample of blades for $30. Go for it until you have more disposable income.

And on second thought, if you decide you want to go the DE route PM me. I have a no name DE and several packages of blades to give you to get you away from the cartridges and on the road to better shaving.

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Originally Posted by poorcollegekid

Thanks for your comment!

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Your welcome,,,,,,,,,,,,

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Originally Posted by eddy79

Hi and welcome. Sounds like you might be better off with a de for the moment and re evaluate when you have all the information that you need to start with a straight properly.

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Send the razor out to be professionally honed. I don't think your post mentioned if you own a strop...you will need one to use before every shave, except for the first one. The first shave, after you get your professionally honed razor back, I recommend you NOT strop it, as you may dull it from inexperience. Also, as already mentioned you may want to try DE shaving. The learning curve is much less steep.

The base setup for hones will run you about $140. Sending it out to be honed will be around $30.
So you can send it out to be honed four times and it would still be cheaper than buying hones.
Since you don't even know if you like straight shaving yet, I would save the money and send it out to be pro honed.