Thread: Straight razor shaving take two

Anything with a factory edge is pretty much guaranteed NOT to be shave ready. I had a TI that had a pretty close to shave ready edge, and had a good shave with it, but it needed a proper bevel set and proper honing.

Unless I get a razor from a known seller who has the same standards around shave ready that I do, I send it right out to be honed. I like refreshing my own blades, but for now, I prefer to have a razor done by a pro the first time around.

So my advice is that, if you aren't 100% sure that it is shave ready, send it out to be honed by a pro. With the Classified Member Services on this website, you should be able to find someone reliable, if not just buying the razor from SRD first and knowing that it will be delivered to you shave ready with a follow up honing for free.

Got the news today that the edge was a bit messed up but succeeded in setting a new bevel. Will be a superb shaver!
Now I just hope that it survives the trip from Australia to Cebu and when it gets here I won't mess up the edge again.

@guitstik, I'll take your advice and start to practice with a butter knife on my strop.

Any ideas of when I should start to look at getting my own honing equipment? From the wiki and forum I have gathered I will at least need a finishing stone or barbers hone to keep it sharp.

You probably didn't mess the edge up in the first place unless you stropped it wrong. Many razors are said to be shave ready but really aren't. If buying a razor, it is best to have it honed & stropped to make sure it is sharp.
You will "at least" need a finishing stone but if you are going to do the honing procedure, just my opinion, I would get a 1k for setting the bevel & something like the Norton 4k/8k. Then to polish it in really good if you can afford it, get you a 10k, 12k, 16k or a Belgian Coticule. It depends what you can afford. You'll be glad you did then strop it & you'll be good to go.

Originally Posted by iancebu

Got the news today that the edge was a bit messed up but succeeded in setting a new bevel. Will be a superb shaver!
Now I just hope that it survives the trip from Australia to Cebu and when it gets here I won't mess up the edge again.

@guitstik, I'll take your advice and start to practice with a butter knife on my strop.

Any ideas of when I should start to look at getting my own honing equipment? From the wiki and forum I have gathered I will at least need a finishing stone or barbers hone to keep it sharp.

There are two things that can ruin a razor, incorrect stropping, incorrect honing and faucets. Okay, three things, incorrect stropping, incorrect honing, faucets and dropping it. Four, four things that can ruin a razor, incorrect stropping, incorrect honing, faucets, being dropped and rust. This list can go on and on... Learn how to strop the razor correctly before moving on to honing one. Usually I would suggest that someone new to SR shaving go slow in fact that is pretty much my mantra, slow and finding a mentor in your area but that may be a difficult task for you considering your location. There still may be someone close to you that can help but with the experience that you had with the barbershop guys I say fat chance. Watch all the YouTube videos that you can find, I suggest all the ones by Glen and Lynn as they should be your benchmark for honing professionals. I could tell you to get a whole lot of stones but I won't as that won't help you. What I use and what others use will generally differ considerably but I use a Norton 800 for bevel setting and then move on to the Norton 4k/8k stone but only after it will shave arm hair off of the 800. After the 4k/8k I move to the Chosera 12k and that is pretty much it for stones, those three should be sufficient for all your needs. After getting proficient with those then you could start looking for new stones to add to the collection that you will undoubtedly start building when the HAD kicks in. As with everything tho, go slow

Originally Posted by guitstik

There are two things that can ruin a razor, incorrect stropping, incorrect honing and faucets. Okay, three things, incorrect stropping, incorrect honing, faucets and dropping it. Four, four things that can ruin a razor, incorrect stropping, incorrect honing, faucets, being dropped and rust. This list can go on and on... Learn how to strop the razor correctly before moving on to honing one. Usually I would suggest that someone new to SR shaving go slow in fact that is pretty much my mantra, slow and finding a mentor in your area but that may be a difficult task for you considering your location. There still may be someone close to you that can help but with the experience that you had with the barbershop guys I say fat chance. Watch all the YouTube videos that you can find, I suggest all the ones by Glen and Lynn as they should be your benchmark for honing professionals. I could tell you to get a whole lot of stones but I won't as that won't help you. What I use and what others use will generally differ considerably but I use a Norton 800 for bevel setting and then move on to the Norton 4k/8k stone but only after it will shave arm hair off of the 800. After the 4k/8k I move to the Chosera 12k and that is pretty much it for stones, those three should be sufficient for all your needs. After getting proficient with those then you could start looking for new stones to add to the collection that you will undoubtedly start building when the HAD kicks in. As with everything tho, go slow

I agree. Learn to strop first, then move to learning to hone. An 800 grit would be one very good bevel setter & faster, I was only going by the way I learned but there have been times where I wish I had an 800 grit. I have both a 1k& a 2k for bevel setting. I see nothing wrong with an 800 grit because once you move to a 4k, it will smooth it out more, then the 8k & 12k & so on but learn to strop first.

iancebu, considering your location and no local mentor available I would suggest you start an email correspondence with one of the Australian mentors. They are all accomplished shavers with enough experience between them that all your questions and needs can be answered closer to your home. They should have possible contacts for supplies and materials in that area of the world that might not be known to the rest of SRP.

Keep at it. And if you continue to have irritation after shaving try a cold water lather and a cold water rinse after and use something like Nivea After Shave Balm for Sensitive Skin.