Thread: Basic Questions for the new guy

Originally Posted by feltspanky

Welcome to SRP Scott: I hope your razor is truly shave ready when it arrives. Give it the thumb and fingernail test for starters.

Fingernail test on a shave ready blade makes it not shave ready. A new guy would not know what a thumb test *should* feel like.

Solitary - I don't see your location on your profile, but you might be able to post - asking if there are any experienced guy within striking distance that could spend a couple hours giving some help. It would rocket you ahead in your learning.

If your travels bring you near Portland, OR - give me a hollar. Watch technique, have your technique observed. You'll find it eliminates alot of confusion.

However you proceed - I hope it goes well & that you have some fun at it. If the edge is not up to par (and new guys are *HARD* on edges), give a holler. Postage and bubble envelope would be the only cost. You may find you have more fun than when you first took razor to face.

Thank you all for the great advice. I got a Star Customs from straightrazors.com. I can honestly tell you that I'm not expecting much from this blade. It was fairly cheap and I've noticed from browsing other websites that the good ones are a lot more expensive. I am not going to hone it because I need to work on other things such as stropping, lather making, brushing and shaving first. Hopefully by the time it gets very unsharp I will have a new one so I can practice honing on the cheaper one. Let me know you're thoughts on the brand. Anyone used one before? How would an inexperienced one conduct a sharpness test? Will stropping alone keep my edge sharp if it is a poorly made blade? Its full hollow carbon steel if that helps any

My condolences for your purchase. Sadly that company has earned its bad reputation. A quick search on this forum will show the issues.

Welcome to SRP

Jonathan

I am not familiar with Star Customs but the one I just viewed on the straightrazorrs.com website has the look of a Pakastani made, junk steel, pseudo razor. Based on what I saw on the vendors website I do not believe that the razor you bought will ever provide a proper shave. No amount of honing or stropping will fix poor quality steel. I hope you are not offended, but thought honesty was best. If you use the search function here to look up straightrazor.com you will see more of the same.

The good news is that there are many members of SRP in your area. I believe they even had a meetup recently. It would be very beneficial if you could have a local mentor show you the ropes, especially if you want to learn to hone. Also the library at SRP has articles covering the basics for guys just getting started.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...eginners_Guide

Scott welcome to SRP. The advice given in the last few posts is exactly correct. I took the same advice when I started and had very good shaves soon after starting, these guys know what they are talking about. I was able to get to a meet-up in my first week and I spent a day with Pinklather a week after that and the mentoring was awesome. Having one on one instruction will set you up for success in a hurry, I can't recommend it any more strenuously,do yourself a favor and reach out to a mentor in your area.
As far as razors are concerned this has been my experience after purchasing many razors in the last two months. Good user grade straights are available shave ready from many folks right here on the forums. If I were to do it over again I would purchase two good inexpensive razors and make sure to communicate to the sellers that these are your first razors. When I did this the guys selling them bent over backwards to give me good honest advice and recommendations on the razors they had for sale and I received very sharp razors to start with and I also was gifted a brush and soap samples. The generosity of the most of these guys is just awesome, so two razors a brush and strop, a little soap and some mentoring sounds like a recipe for success.
I hope you have as good a time as I have had in my shaving, please keep us informed of your progress and have fun.
All the best FrankC

Hi and welcome. Bad luck with your razor. Many have found there way here after starting out the same way. Good news is everything you need to get shaving is here. If you do run into problems the people here will be sure to help as much as possible. Good luck making a start.

Honestly I had a bad feeling about the razor because I found a quality website after I made the purchase, if I cannot get a good shave I will let you all know. If only I had not been so impulsive and purchased what I saw and did a bit of research first. I have learned my lesson. How does one go about buying a straight razor off a forum? You don't have to exchange credit card information do you because I am not down to do that. How does one find a mentor?

Originally Posted by S0LITARYS0LDIER

Honestly I had a bad feeling about the razor because I found a quality website after I made the purchase, if I cannot get a good shave I will let you all know. If only I had not been so impulsive and purchased what I saw and did a bit of research first. I have learned my lesson. How does one go about buying a straight razor off a forum? You don't have to exchange credit card information do you because I am not down to do that. How does one find a mentor?

Hi Scott,

Sorry to hear you started out with what is most likely an RSO. If it doesn't work for you, PM me your address and I'll send a shave-ready razor your way. It just bugs me the way some sites rip off people starting out on this straight shaving thing.

Anyway, good luck with it. If it works - GREAT! If not, we'll get you heading in the right direction one way or another.

There are lot of great vendors on here.....I spent about one hundred on my first razor from Straight Razor Designs and it absolutely arrived shave ready.