Thread: Intro

Wanted to say hello to everyone. I've been talking for a few months about trying a straight razor, and my wife recently purchased one for me from The Art of Shaving. It's a Thiers-Issard 5/8" Carbon Steel. After much research on sites like this and getting over a surprising abount of trepidation once I actually saw just how sharp the blade is, I'm about a half dozen shaves into this new world.

I still haven't tackled shaving my chin with it, and still pull out the M3 for that. It hasn't been as comfortable a shave as I'd hoped, but for now I'm chalking that up to poor technique and am hoping I improve. I know that my stropping could use some work. The folks at Art of Shaving told me the razor was "ready to use" but could use a good stropping, now I'm wondering if I should not go ahead and have the razor honed anyway.

I'll end by saying thank you to all the members here who seem very helpful and have compiled a good bit of knowledge and experience here on this site and through some usefull videos as well.

Mark

Welcome, Mark!
your wife may regret the monster she released though.

Sometimes, particularly with TIs all they need new is a good stropping. Usually though they need a honing before you can get a decent shave from them.
After you get the blade honed you will find that your chin will be easier to conquer.

Most of all enjoy!

Welcome to the SRP Mark!

I have to second the recommendation to send your razor out to one of us for honing. Go to the Hones forum and just ask who would be willing to do this for you. I would offer but I am booked up right now.

Browse thru the forums and ask any questions that you may have. There are a great bunch of guys here and they all like to help a new guy.

If you've been getting shaves from a razor which has not been honed by a member here, chances are you're still not aware of what straight razor sharp really means. Quite frankly, I'm surprised you've made any progress with it all. I also concur that you should get that razor honed for a close comfortable shave. The chin should seem like child's play then.

X

Mark,

The people at AOS are just salesmen and have never given me accurant information. They told me you might have to hone a razor evry two years. Right..... Hey they might be right if you used it once a week. Send it to one of the honemeisters and I bet you will see a difference.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm off to get this one honed. I may need to try and get an affordable razor to practice honing myself, but for know I'm content to let an experienced user do it.

Originally Posted by mholt

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm off to get this one honed. I may need to try and get an affordable razor to practice honing myself, but for know I'm content to let an experienced user do it.

If you are thinking for practice, grab a Wapi like everyone here seems to do. I just would practice on the ones I already owned. If it was bad, i would just stop using it and fix it up.