Thread: What's the real investment??

I see many request for a budget setup, along with some encouraging answers, but I'm wondering how realistic those answers are. Let's go through what a person really needs to get started, and to keep going

1) Sharp razor. This looks like the minimum price will be $30. That's close to a charitable donation, but it happens here with some regularity

2) Strop. A basic strop you run $30, and you don't get canvas. A 4-sided paddle with 3 pasted sides will run about $65. You do get something to nicely tweak out a razor, but you still don't have a hanging strop.

3) Something to tweak out the razor. The paddle strop will do nicely for this. I have a two-sided pasted paddle and a hanging strop, and that combo has been serving me nicely. I expect it will for some time to come. There's this "barber hone" thing that I've yet to figure out. People keep pointing to redtrader99, but I really can't figure out which hones would make nice finishing stones (If somebody knows, it would be lovely to post it!!). Assuming one of these stones is suitable, let's put it at about $20.

So, it's looking to me like complete newbies, minimum would be a $30 razor, a $30 hanging strop, and a $20 finishing stone for a total around $80. The next step up would be to add a nicer hanging strop with canvas instead of a basic strop, for about $30 more ($110), or to give up the strop and barbers hone and go for a 4 sided paddle instead, for about $95. This will work just fine, but I suspect that anyone who chooses this route will eventually want a hanging strop too, which will put you at about $125-$155, depending on the strop.

I'd say the bottomish line for a system that let's you do some edge finishing that includes a hanging strop with canvas, then, is about $110-$125. This setup should keep someone going for a year or more.

If you need to add a brush and soap, you can do that for about $15 for perfectly servicable boar brush and a good drugstore soap like Van der Hagen. After this, it looks like you can get into the honing biz for $70-$100 if so inclined.

Is this about right??

That's assuming that one has self control.

When I got interested into wet shaving I realized I've "invested" about $550.00 for double edge razors, scuttles, brushes, shaving creams, witchhazel, etc.

Now I have the str8 bug and I've got about $275.00 invested (3 razors, halfway decent linen/leather strop, Lynn's Shaving DVD, Bill's restoration CD and Ken's honing service).

Luckily some of the $$ I have spent on my DE stuff will easily let me slide into this horrible, horrible str8 obsession.

Help me...

Sounds about right. I went into it totally clueless, bought a Conk set with Dovo razor, hone and strop for about 130 bucks. Looking back that was a bit steep, but it's a decent strop and a good razor even if the hone isn't good for finishing.

It's possible to spend less. My whole kit is about $130, and I have a dozen razors and I hone. But I've worked hard to find deals on everything, and made a few compromises that trade time for money.

The ones I put together run $170 for an excelent razor that looks and shaves nice, a Tony Miller starter strop, a Rooney Pure Badger Brush from Vintage Blades, Soap from The Gentlemans Quarter, Soap and Aftershave from Mama Bear and a hone that is guaranteed for 3 months if you mess it up. You also get the support of myself and those very wonderful vendors.

When I got in I got a non shave ready Dovo that I thought was shave ready, a pure badger brush, a cheap brush stand, a Dovo Russian Leather strop, a tube of Tabac shave cream, and some Anthony Logistics for men anti razor burn aftershave balm(which is the worst stuff I have ever tried!!! How does putting marshmallow in a shave balm help my face????) and I cut the crap out of my face, rusted my razor, and had a and hate most of my old equipment. Guess how much i paid for just that much??? $280 shipped. Deals from me or from Vintage Blades for the new stuff is worth it cause you get something shave ready and the acoutraments that you will like later when you know what you are doing.

i went out as a newbie with the idea of buying everything once and buying it right, nice tony miller latigo and horshide strop, wacker razor, moss scuttle, silver tip brush right after the cvs boarshair, corticle stone and two sided pasted loom strop. since then ive bought some cheaper razors and they shave every bit as good as the wacker, could of bought a lesser stone, but i wont be looking for others. the one upgrade that i did make and what made the most improvement for me was the soap, going from mug to woolfat. i say splurge on one thing, the soap is one of the cheaper splurges

You could very easily get away with a $70 initial investment that will keep you going for quite some time, say 1-3 years. $40 shave ready Wapi, $30 for a hanging strop, one side pasted. But lets be honest. That is only going to work for about 2 months and then you are going to become obsessed just like all the rest of us. I think you need about $5,000. That should do it for a while. That is until we start an annual SRP Vegas convention. Then you're going to need about $5,000 every year.

Originally Posted by Shaun

You could very easily get away with a $70 initial investment that will keep you going for quite some time, say 1-3 years. $40 shave ready Wapi, $30 for a hanging strop, one side pasted. But lets be honest. That is only going to work for about 2 months and then you are going to become obsessed just like all the rest of us. I think you need about $5,000. That should do it for a while. That is until we start an annual SRP Vegas convention. Then you're going to need about $5,000 every year.

Tony warns newbies of of pasted hanging strops, though. The guy who knows how to use one without destroying an edge must already have some sort of strop. I'm trying to pin down a low-cost, easy to use setup that allows for a little bit of blade finishing, but still includes a hanging strop. I think a set like this is going to bring the newbie the furthest.

You are right, I didnt really think about it in much depth. I have not used a pasted strop at all, hanging or otherwise so I wouldnt know. Seems like a 2-4 sided paddle strop would be the best then. I'm right on the verge of getting my Dad hooked on str8's and thats what I was thinking about doing for him. 4 sided paddle strop 3 of them pasted ranging from 1-.25 and then the plain side for stropping. I figure if I give the initial hone that should keep him going in between times when Im home, about every 18 months or so.

how about:
- stropping on a paddle - is the size the issue?
- pasting balsa for touchup - that ought to be quite cheap
- make your own ghetto linen, from jeans