Thread: Technique or Razor Edge? The beginner's dilemma.

My first razor was a Gold Dollar 800 honed by Wet Shaving Place. I did not want to spend a lot on my first razor as I did not know if I was going to like shaving with a straight. WSP did a good job on the razor, so I knew what a shave ready razor looked like and felt like. I was quickly hooked on straights. Soon afterwards, I purchased some hones and a few dull GDs. I learned to hone them to the point they shaved as well as my first one.

It did not take long to move on to better razors, but the skills I developed in shaving with my first GD800 and the skills I learned in honing those first dull GDs have served me well.

My advice for newcomers is: purchase your first razor from someone who can professionally hone it, whether it is a Gold Dollar, vintage razor, or moderately priced starter razor from a well known manufacturer. If you get a poorly honed razor to start, you may give up on straights before you ever develop the techniques to shave with one.

( I made an account just to comment on this thread)
Straightrazor.com (and all other Luke wilson websites - The Grooming Network) cannot provide a shave ready blade. They simply don't posses the proper equipment or know how.
They used to advertise that they hone with a chef's choice sharpening tool which is a rotary sharpener for kitchen knives.

OP, I won't clog up your post with a one page long diatribe about how much I dislike this guy and all of his websites, but siffuce it to say my dad bought a $250 damascus letter opener from them as my first straight, and they don't take returns.

You can make some GD's shave worthy, but your best bet would be to get a properly honed straight from one of the members here, and use it as your reference point. Also, if a blade is truly shave ready, you should not strop it before use. The honemeister will do that for you, and it eliminates the chance of you rolling your edge and having poor results.
Good luck!

Wow, that's terrible. I won't even hone my pocket knives with one of those rotary tools.

Also, just FYI, The Grooming Network recently purchased Hart Steel... So I'm not sure where the future quality of that brand is going, but if the past of luke's websites is any indication, the quality won't exactly be improving..