New Straight on its Way!

Hey all,

So I purchased a straight online from The Art of Shaving. The straight was brand new out of the box. I was so excited because it is my first straight razor. Well before I did anything with the straight I checked a lot of YouTube videos, and then I found this site. I was flowing with information and was ready for my first shave. Well it was a horrible experience. The blade felt extremely sharp, but was just a pain to use.
I am very mechanically inclined and use my hands every day, so I have great dexterity. Well after doing some more research I find that most blades straight from the factory could use a professional honing. I am going to contact SRD to see if I can have them hone it for me.
Well my excitement did not go away. So I followed the advice of a senior member and just ordered a new blade from SRD. I ordered the Ralf Aust with Rosewood scalesnot 5/8. It looks like a beautiful tool and I can't wait to receive and use it. Especially since all SRD straights are honed before shipping. I will definitely let you know how it turns out. With some photos of that beautiful rosewood!

Vincent the Newbie

Well done on reading. Will be truly sharp. Get the other one honed too. It's a food idea to keep one as a measure of truly sharp while probably messing up the edge on the other. Took me a while to learn good stropping technique and I messed up a few good edges.

I also purchased a Ralf Aust from SRD Rosewood it is beautiful and shaves sweet enjoy, I'm looking to purchase another Ralf Aust from SRD, can't wait to hear how your shave goes.
REMEMBER TAKE YOUR TIME, BE PATIENT AND YOU WILL ENJOY YOUR SHAVES.

Welcome to SRP!

The blades from Art of Shaving are not honed to shave ready, but it probably is a Thiers or a Dovo with a factory edge. They are good razors, they just need to be honed.

I just got my Ralf Aust 5/8 from SRD a few weeks ago and man was that edge nice. Had such a great shave that morning, Lynn does an awesome job.

I think a lot of folks could learn from your experience in several ways. First, your time spent reading gave you a lot of good information. That's always a good idea before spending hard earned $$$$. Second, "shave ready" isn't always! Most new "from the factory" razors usually (99% of the time) aren't. Professional honing from someone reputable in the straight razor community is a sure bet!

Welcome to the enjoyment! My first modern SR was an Aust and they shave well!

Yep and if they are like they was when I started a new razor came with a coupon for one free redone, which you will need after some of your early stropping sessions. Good luck. Tc

The good thing about having 2 razors you will find out soon enough . Hope not but most do. Once you get to shaving with a straight nothing else works. So if you make a mistake and damage it or mess up on the strop , you won't want to shave until you get it back from repair or re hone. :<0)

By the way.... You will need to strop it. They no longer strop them after they hone them. FYI
Great shaves, brother of blades. [emoji6]

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Originally Posted by outback

By the way.... You will need to strop it. They no longer strop them after they hone them. FYI
Great shaves, brother of blades. [emoji6]

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Outback, I can't find it but I am almost positive Lynn said you could still get a comfortable shave from it. He just spoke about this a couple days ago. i certainly don't want to put words in his mouth but I would hate to see him ruin the edge before he put it to his face. Maybe Lynn can chime in for us.

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Originally Posted by Redcane

Outback, I can't find it but I am almost positive Lynn said you could still get a comfortable shave from it. He just spoke about this a couple days ago. i certainly don't want to put words in his mouth but I would hate to see him ruin the edge before he put it to his face. Maybe Lynn can chime in for us.

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If Lynn honed it, you probably can.
But I know he said they dont strop anymore. Used too, but not anymore

If you read the first page of THIS thread, you will get the answer. I think it is post 7 in which Lynn explains the reason for the change in SRD's instructions that now suggest that the blade be wiped off and then stropped.

In my opinion it was due to too many people not following instructions and insisting on testing their razors without having any idea how to actually accomplish such a test.

Here's a reminder for beginners: The Hanging Hair Test is meaningless in the hands of beginners and no blade with oil on it will cut a hanging hair.

Yep.. Thats where I got my info on the question

The Aust is a great choice, you will be thrilled with it! Welcome to the forum:)

While you are waiting for your blades, do some stropping practice with a butter knife or other dull razor shaped object. You will develop some muscle memory without cutting your strop

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Originally Posted by Phil129

I just got my Ralf Aust 5/8 from SRD a few weeks ago and man was that edge nice. Had such a great shave that morning, Lynn does an awesome job.

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You are really making me anxious! I have the same Ralf Aust blade on order and will be driving to SRD/Imperial Shaving to pick it up, along with an English Bridle strop, this coming Saturday. And this post is also making me wish today was Saturday! :)

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Originally Posted by rodb

While you are waiting for your blades, do some stropping practice with a butter knife or other dull razor shaped object. You will develop some muscle memory without cutting your strop

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I've been using my shavette, both empty and loaded, across an old leather belt for stropping practice. I think that will be a big benefit to me when it comes time to strop for real.

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Originally Posted by Utopian

If you read the first page of THIS thread, you will get the answer. I think it is post 7 in which Lynn explains the reason for the change in SRD's instructions that now suggest that the blade be wiped off and then stropped.

In my opinion it was due to too many people not following instructions and insisting on testing their razors without having any idea how to actually accomplish such a test.

Here's a reminder for beginners: The Hanging Hair Test is meaningless in the hands of beginners and no blade with oil on it will cut a hanging hair.

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If you don't mind, which test, in your opinion, is appropriate for beginners?

kind regards,

Sure! That's easy. For someone who does not hone yet, who simply is starting out with a razor honed by somone else, the best test is absolutely no test but the shave test.

Testing is a way to assess the honing, and whoever did the honing already did his assessment. ALL you need to do with the razor is to shave with it.

After all, if you are new to straight razors, you don't know what you are doing anyway, so don't go beyond the shave test. If the shave goes badly, reconsider your technique and try again. If it still doesn't work, consider your stropping. Only then should you consider the honing to be at fault. Ideally you would test your shaving and stropping with a second razor as the odds of both being badly honed are pretty low if you got them from two different places.

Really it comes down to getting your razor from a trusted source.

There really is only on test for a blade that counts and that is the shave test. Even with a perfectly fine edge beginners can have a bad shave because of their lack of shaving technique. Been there done that but they had no T-Shirts.

Any test you would use may or may not indicate how shave ready a blade is because as a beginner you have not learned to read what the test is telling you or not. Eventually you get enough experience to be able read what a test says, more or less.

Bob

Very true, everything else is just a well educated guess. I've had a few that pass my tests but fail the shave test, so back to the stones.

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Originally Posted by BobH

There really is only on test for a blade that counts and that is the shave test. Even with a perfectly fine edge beginners can have a bad shave because of their lack of shaving technique.

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