Thread: >Insert newbie sounding topic name!<

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Draekalovich, it would be good, very, very good if you would list where in 'Murrica you are located. That would allow us to see who might be closest to you and willing to sit down with you and go over the necessities and procedures of getting going in this craft. We have a goodly number of Mentors and Senior Members that are always up for a sit down mentoring session. Believe me, it can cut a bunch of time off the learning curve. Many Mentors and Members are also happy to mentor via eMail if necessary.

Glad that you being critical, at this point, in doubting of the validity of some suggestions.

Pennsylvania; I added it to my location after RezDog pointed that bit out Or at least made it plain to me that location in this regard is kind of important.

Here is a member in PA. Not sure if he is near you: avatar1999 (SC PA, Chambersburg area) (Hagerstown, MD area). Wouldn't hurt to send him a PM at any rate and see if he can be of assistance either, or both, in person or by eMail.

Good luck.

Thank you!

For 50 dollars you can find a shave ready good quality and good condition vintage razor in theclassifieds here. Buying in good condition means it won't have geometry or hone wear issues that will make it easier to maintain. Whipped dog has a good reputation for shave ready razors but you won't know what you get and it will likely have hone wear and or geometry issues. For a 100ish SRD and a Ralf Aust razor would be hard to beat.

If you let us know your budget we can help maybe more. I have used SRD before as has many members and the package deals that they do are hard to beat for price and quality.

Originally Posted by Draekalovich

@SwampRat: I'll consider it! What did you do for a brush and strop to start with though?

For $95 I bought the sight-unseen shave-ready razor, poor man's strop kit, and a pure badger brush. Delivered.
The brush was better than expected. It has never shed. I went back and bought a larger super later with good results.

Well, to tell you where I'm at/been looking at, the first one (s) i was looking at was a gold dollar, or the "Damascus steel heirloom quality" Kit. Then i did some research and found them less then shave ready

What do you guys think of this Kit?

https://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/5...ll-hollow.html

There are over a dozen, super nice razors in the classified, under $150. About 8, are under 100.

There is a very nice Henkels 473, satin finished, worked spine, shave ready, that would be a corner stone of any rotation.

You don't need to go overseas to get a good beginner's kit. Look at SRD for starter's gear.

The forum classifieds, Straight Razor Designs and Whipped dog are all very good places to get a shave ready razor. Stay away from the Ebay Chinese razors as they almost all need honing to be usable.

If possible try and find someone local on the forum, most of us like helping new users and might even have some razors to sell and the one on one help will be invaluable

Whatever you decide, I would strongly recommend a professionally honed razor from a reputable site. It doesn't matter if you get a 40 or a 400 dollar blade; if it's not sharp it will not do what's its supposed to do.