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Hello all,
I am new to wet shaving and would appreciate any guidance y'all would have on vintage gear. Namely strops and stones. I have chosen a F.W Engels special for a razor.
All will be used for daily shaving. Tho I already feel the itch do to speek.
Thank you all for your time and knowledge.
Welcome. Good choice in razor depending on condition. Make sure you get it professionally honed. If you never honed a razor before don't learn on your only one. Get a cheap vintage or gold dollar to learn on and practice stropping with. Check library and ask questions.
Welcome from SE Washington State USA,
First and foremost, If you could expand your profile to show where in this wide world you are it would be helpful. There actually might be local held just down the road from you!
As far as your choice in a vintage blade goes; yes that should be a nice shaver. With that said YES IT DOES NEED PROFESSIONALLY HONED. Period!
You'll need a strop to maintain the edge, You'll also need a brush and some actual shaving soap as the canned goop doesn't work with straights.
While you haven't brought it up I will. Don't even consider trying to learn to hone until you have at least a year of straight razor shaving under your belt. You have far too much to learn in the meantime. AND HONING a Razor is Completely Different from SHARPENING a Knife! Trust me-Yes it is.
Check out the WIKI as it's full of information. With some research under your belt the questions you Will Be Asking will be informed questions.
Hang in there, it's a long strange trip but well worth the journey. :tu
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yes, good advice. i might add that finding a good vintage strop might be hard to do (i've never found one) but if you can find one that's not all cut up and cracked they can be brought back to life (there are some excellent how to's to be found on here). look for one that's 2 1/2 or wider will make learning easier. you can also make your own if you have access to some nice smooth leather.(again some nice tutorials to be found here)
Good luck and welcome!
Thank you bouschie. I have a cheap razor on order from eBay for that purpose. I will definitely dig through the library.
Thank you cudarunner. Updated info.
You are in a Very Good Area!!! There are many straight razor users in Denver and they hold quite a few get togethers. See here for the last one:Quote:
Originally Posted by BWH1980
http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...14-2017-a.html
Please PM some of the guys and see if you can get some help!! :tu
Thank you tintin will do.
Awesome cuda thank you. I obviously need to spend some hours/days roaming around in here.
Forgot to add, I have a perfecto badger brush, arko shave soap and a classic samurai shavette for a starter set to get in the routine and get the basics down.
Stropping, is where most new straight razor shavers have the most issues.
You will have to strop the razor each time, and if improperly stopped or the strop is not of good quality or damaged by dirt or neglect, can easily damage the edge.
It is not uncommon for a new shaver to damage a freshly honed razor by stropping with too much pressure or bad technique. A razor’s edge can be damaged and rendered useless, in one swipe.
Do yourself a favor, set yourself up for success, purchase a new, quality strop. The Illinois strops are good quality inexpensive strops, that have been many a shaver’s first strop. SRD beginner strops can be purchased for as little as $50 with replicable leather strops.
As said a local mentor will dramatically cut your learning curve.
My standard comment:
"Learning how to maintain and shave with a straight razor by yourself is like learning how to tune and play the piano with a correspondence coarse"
The Wiki and YouTube are a huge help, but a short session with a local mentor will take weeks (many weeks) off of your learning curve - not to mention lowering the frustration factor.
A very wise man once told me: "empower others to help you"
Welcome to the Forum and Smooth Shaving...
Thank you Euclid440. I spent a good 4hrs last night going through the beginners section, tons of information. I must say a human that know what they are doing sounds perfect.
Thank you MJC, love that phrase. It reminds me of so thing I was told a few years ago, " if I give you a book and show you a video on how to ride a bike, do you know how to ride a bike?" Yours is much more elegant of course.
I'm in complete agreement hands on with a knowledgeable person will be extremely beneficial.
