Thread: Starting out.. Help please

Originally Posted by MattUk

Hello...

Well I have been DE shaving for 6/7 months.. moved through the Merkur HD/Vision and settled on the Slant with Feather blades (must have a tough old beard ).

So I have been reading threads on here and BnB and my interest has been tickled into wanting to try a straight.

But I admit I am in 2 minds.. on the one hand the Feathers Ac's with disposable blades (and ultra sharpness) appear a fine solution without have to worry about stropping/honing etc etc.

Only problem is the limited availability for me in the UK to keep stocking up on blades etc and the only place I have found to order the Teak handled Ac's is Classic shaving in the US.

Then theres the "real" straights with stropping and honing and further expense and much larger learning curve to get going.
(Again being in the Uk seems to limit me having easy access to the "gurus" who could hone my blade initially until I had learnt enough to do it myself).

Though the ideal solution would be to do both

So looking around ebay I came across a few auctions. I have found uk suppliers (and not bad prices) of the norton 4000/800 waterstone and the handy rubber holder to mount the stone to. But I was looking on the bay at getting a cheap blade/strop which I could practice with whilst I work on purchasing something nicer like a dovo etc.

I would like some advice as to whether these purchases would be ok (especially the strop as they seem to come in all shapes and sizes and price brackets)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=004

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/straight-razor...QQcmdZViewItem

Any other and all advice greatly recieved..

Thanks

Matt

Hi Matt, welcome to SRP.

Things aren't as dire as they might seem. Whilst I couldn't call myself a honing guru (and mean it) it's really quite feasible to send razors over to the USA for honing by folks like Lynn, Joe Chandler etc. We also have forum members Alex and Bruno who are based in Belgium (I think!) and hence are pretty local. I've done a bit of honing for people myself, but still have a bit of trouble with some razors some of the time - so prefer not to offer honing services at this time.

You've raised quite a few points, which I'll try to address.

Yes it's true there's a learning curve with straight razors, but it's not as bad as you might imagine. Most people are starting to manage acceptable passes/shaves after only a few days of trying. And the more you practice the better the shaves get.

I think it'd be sensible to pick either 'traditional' straights or 'disposable blade' straights and stick to just one type to start with, just to lessen the variables. If you're considering traditional straight razors then it's not really necessary to use 'disposable blade' straights as an interim step.

The razor and strop you linked on Ebay are actually quite decent products sold by one of the members of SRP in Poland. If you are on a budget then these would be good choices.

What might be a better choice though would be to buy a secondhand restored razor from an SRP member, we're a decent bunch of folks and nobody sells rubbish on this forum - we'd never get away with it if we tried! There are usually 1 or 2 advertised every day so you don't have to wait long for some to appear.

Strop-wise, if you can stretch to a little more the standard recommendation would be a Tony Miller strop. With the current £/$ exchange rate these are a steal for us Europeans.

Tony's strops are for sale here: http://shop.thewellshavedgentleman.com

My 3rd Tony Miller strop is on its way from Tony as we speak!

If you're after a Norton 4K/8K then Rutlands are quite good. You don't need a seperate holder for it as the lower half of the box the hone comes in has rubber feet, and doubles as a holder while honing. http://www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdDet.cgi/NCWS3

As a beginner though, I'd strongly recommend having your first razor honed by someone who really knows what they're doing, so at least you'll be starting with a sharp tool (which is essential), and more importantly you'll have a good benchmark for how sharp a razor should be when you start to hone your own.

If you decided to buy a brand new razor from somewhere like www.classicshaving.com, they have the option to have it honed by Lynn before you get it - at small extra cost. This is also a good way to get your first razor if you don't fancy a second hand one.

My biggest recommendation though is to buy Lynn Abrams' DVD, which covers 99% of what you'll need to know. It really is superb, and well worth the money. http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=7412

I'm sure others will be along soon with more advice and words of encouragement.

Cheers,

Iwan