Thread: New on SRP + Problem at first shave.

Welcome Alex. Even a barber's hone will put an edge on your razor, and depending on the individual razor it may not actually take so long.
Manfred is a great seller, but the fact is that most razors are not sharp enough for shaving out-of-the-box from the maker.
I have made an old Kropp razor shave ready by using a barber's hone as I don't yet own a 4000/8000 waterstone. You can pick up a barber's hone for $10 to $20 on ebay, or you may find one in an antique store. A strop will not sharpen the razor, it will realign the edge of an already sharp razor in preparation for shaving.
There are some good instructional videos and threads to help with learning honing and stropping on this forum. If you don't hone and strop correctly, it will create problems with the edge. Many suggest sending the razor to a honemaster to avoid problems with learning honing technique and so you know what a sharp blade feels like during the shave.
After you have a sharp razor, actual shaving technique can be learned, but straight razor shaving is a steep learning curve and takes time.

OK...
>I have read some posts here in the Noob-forum.
May sound a bit arrogant but:

Whats the big deal with honing and stropping?

I can't say anything about honing, but with stropping:

-tight hold the strop
-little to no pressure on the blade
-right direction + turn over the back of the blade

Thats simply "doing it right" its not an art like playing yoyo or seducing women
It's more like driving a car.
Of course you can mess a razor up but you can as well kill yourself while driving.

And about honing:
I dont see ANY possible problems which could happen.

-You get a perfect angle because the blade lies on the stone.


where is the "artistic" part, which would require mastery?

I just can't figure it out.

Thanks for those great answers.

Alex from Germany

Originally Posted by GangZda

OK...
>I have read some posts here in the Noob-forum.
May sound a bit arrogant but:

Whats the big deal with honing and stropping?

I can't say anything about honing, but with stropping:

-tight hold the strop
-little to no pressure on the blade
-right direction + turn over the back of the blade

Thats simply "doing it right" its not an art like playing yoyo or seducing women
It's more like driving a car.
Of course you can mess a razor up but you can as well kill yourself while driving.

And about honing:
I dont see ANY possible problems which could happen.

-You get a perfect angle because the blade lies on the stone.


where is the "artistic" part, which would require mastery?

I just can't figure it out.

Thanks for those great answers.

Alex from Germany

Yes it all seems very simple doesn't it. Like learning to fly an airplane. You push on the yoke to go down and pull up to go up and turn and push the rudder pedals to turn. Of course when you try your first landing its not so simple. The same with straight shaving. It all seems deceptively simple but when you do it its another matter. Most people when they start wind up dulling their razor because the strop isn't held taught or they use too much pressure or don't hold the razor straight or lift it while stropping. And as to honing I won't even begin to tell you all the things that can go wrong.

No, this isn't rocket science but it does take skill and time to do it all right and guys like Lynn who are true honemeisters have a true skill which is more like an art that few will ever attain.

Unless you have a true gift with this stuff you will learn like the rest of us did.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Yes it all seems very simple doesn't it. Like learning to fly an airplane. You push on the yoke to go down and pull up to go up and turn and push the rudder pedals to turn. Of course when you try your first landing its not so simple. The same with straight shaving.

+1 to that! That's why its said that flying is the Second greatest thrill known to man, and Landing is the first.

Originally Posted by GangZda

Do I REALLY have to send it away?
I mean, couldn't I strop the razor about 100 Times on the cotton-like thing and about 20 times on the leather side?

doesn't it have a "honing-effect"?

I really have no time and money to send it across the world, but thanks for this idea. (If nothing else will help I'll do that)

Maybe I couild somehow fix the problem myself.

Ideas?

thanks in advance

Alex from Germany

I'm also relatively new but I can assure you that sending your razor out to be honed is your best option. Save yourself the time, pain and frustration of trying to resolve this otherwise.

You'll have a truly shave-ready razor which will give you a baseline for future shaves. After receiving the razor back and using it once, you'll know exactly how the straight should feel.