Thread: Looking to buy my first Straight Razor!

Thank you Braz

Originally Posted by Nicolas0103

How is whipped Dogs' poor man strop in comparison to the Illinois? I was thinking of getting the poor mans to start off since I will probably cut it up

I have the Whipped Dog poor man's strop kit. It's a nice durable piece of leather that makes a loop on one end that I put around a door knob. It's taken the cuts pretty well and remained usable. The nice thing is in the kit you also get leather conditioner and a pasted balsa strop--great for cleaning up the edge a little as you're learning technique. The Illinois strop also looks like a decent price for something to learn on.

A few alternatives:

Baum.Be is cheaper at Straight Razor Designs than at Amazon.

Illinois strops or the SRD starter strop are nicer options. They cost a little more but also are less likely to make you want to upgrade.

Balsa strops create fairly harsh edges and you easily can make your own pasted strop with the inside of a cereal box and an SRD CroOx crayon.

Originally Posted by Utopian

A few alternatives:

Baum.Be is cheaper at Straight Razor Designs than at Amazon.

Illinois strops or the SRD starter strop are nicer options. They cost a little more but also are less likely to make you want to upgrade.

Balsa strops create fairly harsh edges and you easily can make your own pasted strop with the inside of a cereal box and an SRD CroOx crayon.

1 teeny correction - I think the SRD Crayons are no more. Those were Mastro Livi CrOx crayons if you want to get the same thing but the shipping is out of this world. $30 shipping to get a $12 crayon.

On the bright side, the SRD CrOx spray is quite good. And will probably work in the same fashion, you just have to wait overnight for it to set up before stropping on it.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Nicolas0103

How is the Van Der Hagen set? is it a good place to start out? This is the one I found on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Van-Hagen-Men...agen+shave+set

They sell that at our Wal Mart by the way. Might be worth a look to see if you can find something similar local. Might at least save you a little time waiting on shipping.

Hello,
the advice is the same on both sides of the ocean: better a SR from classified ads on this kind of forum, wich is "user" shave ready, than a new one with a factory "shave ready" edge.
BTW, beginning with a shavette is like beginning to learn riding a bicycle with a tricycle : it's not the same!