Thread: Just starting out-need advice on my blade

I agree, take Euclid440 up on his offer. It is aways a good idea to take one up on an offer here. I'm willing to help anyone out near me plus Tom is also not too far away & I'm sure if asked, he would help any out in this area as well.

I'm sorry to be rudely coming back to this a bit late. I got hit with a deadline...I am truly impressed with what you guys have got going on here-not just the wealth of knowledge but the eagerness to help.

That was a frustrating start but this thread pretty much sealed the question for me. Nice one. I'm very happy to have joined this forum, and Euclid thanks so much for reaching out. I will pm you. BTW, I'm sure i could do worse on blade science than with someone who is a mentor on a shaving forum AND takes his username after the one of the greatest geometricians of all time

I'm also sad to see that it looks like your community lost an important member recently. My humble condolences to all of Neil's loved ones.

If nothing else you can use the $12 Chinese blade to practice your Stropping technique, you probably won't get much of a result from the process on the edge of the blade but you should get a good feel for pressure and proper Stropping action.
It is sometimes recommended to bulldog clip a strip of newspaper at one end and hang it by the clip then strop on the paper, if you pull the paper out of the clip your pressure is too great.
You can also practice either an X or wiper type stroke too which are both me beneficial than just going directly up and down a strop.

Oh and I got in trouble for balding patches of my arms too, especially when the hair is growing back and it is all prickly.

Also, just in case you have a 2" strop....................

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...row-strop.html

Since you are in the LA area, if you haven't already, check out Ross Cutlery downtown on Broadway (attached to the Bradbury Bld.) and West Coast Shaving in Chino near the 71 fwy.

Edit: Ross provides a razor sharpening service, but I'm not sure of their expertise. I was advising you check them out for their shaving products.

I would highly recommend a one on one with a local mentor, you will learn more in one hour than watching hundreds of hours on youtube. It's the best thing I ever did when I was learning