Thread: New to this

Thanks to everyone so far. I do have a Strope, Badger hair Brush, soap w/cup, and a dull razor. Which I have it in an envelope to send out to Cudarunner.

Is there anything needs done to a brand new Strope?

I'll be checking out the library for the Getting Started stuff, till then.

Guess I will need to learn
How to Strope
How to Shave

Later on How to Hone

All that needs to be done to a (strope or strobe) is to turn it on and watch the effects/used to be pretty funny back in the day

If you meant to write (Strop) then that's a different matter.

It would help to know what you have for a strop. With that said, I believe that ALL leather strops benefit from hand rubbing and that is very simple to do. Just rub the strop with your hand until it's warm. You can continue if you like but that is once again one of those 'personal' choices.

Hang in there! It's a long strange trip but well worth the journey.

Plain old Leather Strop (sorry for the misspelling) The hanging kind.

Was reading to rub with oil or Shaving Cream, it is tough to sort through the bull and the real advice on the Internet.

Originally Posted by technoid

Plain old Leather Strop (sorry for the misspelling) The hanging kind.

Was reading to rub with oil or Shaving Cream, it is tough to sort through the bull and the real advice on the Internet.

No worries about the misspelling! We all have done it and as far as my 'comment' we all need to have a little fun sometimes

Yes it is tough to sort out through the bull and sound council/advice. I think that you might find some help in what Ivan currently has on the front page of SRP

Straight Razor Place - Beginners Tips: August 2014

I do hope this helps.

Again, hang in there

Hi and welcome aboard

Pretty much most of the advise you get here at SRP will not be the bull that is out there in internet land ,, these guys are here to help,, so if your strop is in good smooth shape just rub it with your palm , look in the beginners section or do a search , lots of info on strops , probably the most important tool to maintain you razors. Tc

Welcome! I've spent my life in computers, communications, and medical devices. I've already sharpened all sorts of tools. Razors are definitely different but good news you know that now.

Next item, be prepared for a very steep learning curve. Don't be shocked if it takes you several bouts of razor burn and three months to get good at this if you shave every day. I shortened the curve in the beginning with tons of SRP reading and keeping a very good shave diary.

Next step that will do you a world of good (once you have a shave ready razor): very carefully map out your beard's growth pattern, I mean as in sit down with a paper and pencil and make a map. Your beard's growth pattern is unique to you. It makes a big difference which direction you move the blade as you make multiple passes to remove your beard.

Lots of people recommend, start with just going 'with the grain' (WTG) on your cheeks only. That is good advice. Chins and necks can be difficult. The direction your whiskers grow can be surprising. Up and down your face, across your face, even in circular patterns. The patterns can change on different regions of your face. You will be very happy to understand your beard pattern.

Read about it on SRP! This site has fantastic information. Oh and yeah, there is LOTS more to learn to get good at this. After the map? Blade angle is most important and that varies too depending on if you are shaving WTG, across the grain (XTG), or against the grain (ATG).

Best to go WTG, XTG, and ATG in order (more than likely) to avoid razor burn and irritation... Oh but wait! Still lots more to learn! It is not ASIC design or OS kernel design; but I promise it will feel like it is for a few weeks.

You are going to want to take this slow...

Good luck and welcome to the sport!

Best,

Ed

Thanks for the words of encouragement, and the advice. It's appreciated. I tend to learn best with experience. Thus once I get my knife back, I'm jumping into this. Till then I am reading through the info section.

Welcome to the forum, you are getting some great advice, whilst you are waiting for your razor to come back i would recommend making practice lathers, straights seem to like fairly wet lather, you can also practice stroppng using your strop and a butterknife or similar. The key thigs are keeping the blade flat on the strop, maintaining just enough pressure to keep the blade on the strop, flipping on the spine, and flipping whilst changing direction, i know it sounds like a lot, but you should get it pretty quickly if you concentrate on what you are doing. Look up afdavis and jimbo's stropping videos they are pretty good.

Originally Posted by technoid

Thanks for the words of encouragement, and the advice. It's appreciated. I tend to learn best with experience. Thus once I get my knife back, I'm jumping into this. Till then I am reading through the info section.

And I'll mention it one more time...there is a beautiful, vintage Wade and Butcher straight razor in the SRP Classifieds now at a stellar low price, if you want a second razor, or third, or fifth, it's a great opportunity to get a nice blade...no surprise for other members here, but I'm shocked it's still there....