Thread: First Shave & met Bill Ellis

I picked up a straight at a local antique place a couple of weeks ago and was eager to use it. I'd read on the forums that it was a good idea to have the razor honed by a pro the first time as a reference. I looked around and found out Bill Ellis lived pretty close to me, so I got in contact with him.

Today, I went over to Bill's house and he honed, rescaled and cleaned up my razor for me free of charge. He went over the basics of honing, stropping, shaving and gave me some straights to practice on. Thanks Bill.

I went home and had to try the razor out. The razor is sharp, my technique is not, but I went nice and slow and got a decent shave with no mishaps.

Bob

I went to Bill to have a razor honed recently and had a similar experience. He was very gracious with his time and knowledge, it was very much appreciated. I live in visalia by the way

Lucky guys!

Originally Posted by sergiobruna

Lucky guys!

You're not all that far from him yourself!

This is what I love about this site! It is great to read such tales of fellowship. That is all, carry on gentlemen.

Originally Posted by JMS

You're not all that far from him yourself!

I agree, I would have driven much further for the experience.

Mejnoon I'm in Fresno, how long have you been using a straight and how's it progressing?

Bob

Way cool, that must have been a great experience. This is the
kind of hands-on instruction that most of us these days do not
have the privilege of receiving -- in the past, this was the _only_
way to learn (and surely the best).

I think it's so cool that you get to start out straight razor shaving
like that!

- Scott

Originally Posted by sebell

Way cool, that must have been a great experience. This is the
kind of hands-on instruction that most of us these days do not
have the privilege of receiving -- in the past, this was the _only_
way to learn (and surely the best).

I think it's so cool that you get to start out straight razor shaving
like that!

- Scott

+1 .........more characters so I can post


btw, someone needs to set the clock. I posted at @1:30am not 8:30pm

Bill Ellis is a pretty good guy. He is one of the guys responsible for the huge increase in razor restoration and handmade razors.

Originally Posted by bladewielder

I agree, I would have driven much further for the experience.

Mejnoon I'm in Fresno, how long have you been using a straight and how's it progressing?

Bob

About a month and a half, and its progressing quite well. I haven't so much as picked up a DE since that first week, and I'm getting closer/more comfortable shaves every time.

Oh and one thing Bill did that was extremely useful was show me how to strop...it probably seems easy and intuitive if you've done it for a while, but its hard to gauge exactly how much pressure to use, etc unless you see it in person. That really helped me.