Thread: Hi Everyone from the bloke with the new razor!!

Hi Guys,
Got a Straight razor and strop for my birthday, who says an old dog can't learn new tricks. Had my first go with it today, just cheeks and neck, bottled out of doing my chin and around my lips.
Did not cut myself too bad, but wished I had found this site earlier, lol maybe a few hours before I started with the razor. I have read through some of the threads and am a bit confused whether i should have sent the razor away for honing first! Its a Dovo, as is the strop. I have a WMF Whetstone 360/1000 too. And I thought it was just a case of having a shave.......how wrong was I.

Welcome Bert

I'm still waiting for my first blade, but am happily gathering bits around the edges. Watch out for AD's or Aquisition Disorders, they are very common and spreading like wild fire around these parts.

Enjoy your stay and have fun.

After reading some of the threads it looks like my whetstone needs to be kept in the kitchen and away from my razor..... I must admit I thought 1000 was a fine grade. And my razor does not seem as sharp as it should be! I expected to be able to shave with it as soon as I got it out of the box.

Welcome Bert,
I am still a newbie but I am starting to get good shaves. I started with a new DOVO and it was almost shave ready out of the box. I just stropped it and managed to cut some whiskers but it was not smooth. I have a Norton 4000/8000 combo stone and a Chinese 12000 polishing stone. You should not need to take a new blade or one in good condition down below the 4000 grit. I have started to hone and I am developing decent technique, enough to hone a non shave ready Double arrow razor and get a decent shave. You should get a copy of Lynn Abrams video, you can pick that up from him directly here or at a number of the retail links on this site. Again, I am still a newbie but this advise comes straight from a lot of the senior members and it has been working for me so far. I have not yet, but sending your razor to be honed is a good Idea, I'm just the kind of person who wants to do it myself.

Good luck and have fun with it!!

Hi Bert,

Welcome to SRP.

New razors don't come shave-ready out of the box. They need honing first. A new razor is far too sharp already for a 1000 grit hone. You better get it honed by a honemeister before you use it. Eventually you may want to learn how to hone yoursef, in which case you'll need some finer hones. Grit size 8000 is the least you need for shave readiness. A Norton 4/8K combo is what most members start off with. Eventually you will want to try different hones as well, and that's called Hone Acquisition Disorder.

Welcome aboard!

+1 on the sending your blade to a honemeister, regardless of your level of experience with honing. You owe it to yourself to feel what a good sharp razor feels like.

You sound like you're interested in learning to hone, so I'd suggest you have a look at this thread. The videos are actually immensely helpful in understanding your razor even if you're not going to be honing your own.

Thanks for the advice guys, the best bit is that my wife read the replies and told me to send my razor to a honing specialist and then to get a proper honing stone. I will look for the Norton.

Now my next question is who is the best honemeister in the UK and the best and cheapest place to get a Norton in the UK.


Mmmm I think I will be visiting some car boot sales to see if I can find some cheap razors to practice on... Ohhh I see how catching this razor stuff is....

Welcome to SRP! Sounds like you have all of the advise you need for now so I will not repeat any of the above.
Enjoy the journey!!!

Evil Bert,

Welcome.

I have had razors honed by two guys in the UK.
One is Steve from Introduction to razors and the other is Poona. Both are members on this forum and both provided excellent speedy service.

Regarding the Nortons. Do a search on Google and you will find several places in the UK sell them. Alternatively look at buying them from the US where the good exchange rate works in your favour. Just be aware that items bought from the US may be subject to import duties and taxes which will be collected by Royal Mail. I have bought three items recently from the US and had to pay duty on one of them. The other two came through without me having to pay anything extra.

Dovo make excellent razors, so once honed it will provide a top class shave.

Hail Fellow & Welcome to SRP!

+1 to Smalleyboy. Steve at Invisible Edge is a delight to deal with & I recommend him wholeheartedly. I warn you though, it can lead to Bad RAD, if you bookmark him...

There is going to be a get together in Brum in September, where Steve is meant to be doing a honing demo. The thread is here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...-together.html hope you can make it

Good to see another Brit here. Have fun

Spike