This Newbies Main Concern

I'm new to the art and it's not so much the shaving I am concerned about - it's the proper maintenance of the razor. I'm afraid of screwing up my nice, shiny new Dovo that has been hand honed. I'm afraid that a few improper strops will ruin the shaving edge. I haven't even looked into honing. :( After doing my research on this forum, would you guys recommend letting someone else take care of the honing, or should I try it myself? If I send the razor out for honing, it will obviously give me an excuse to purchase another razor. Neal

Most of us recommend at least one razor honed by a "Honemiester" as a reference point, but you have that already.... I actually do honing and I still think that if you're going to use a straight that you should at least learn how to hone enough to upkeep the edges.... Even if you don't get into Restoration you should be able to re-fresh that edge yourself....

What Glen said. You may also want to buy a fairly cheap blade to practice honing on. You can get one ebay, but don't buy something too junkie or you may end up with something that is very difficult to hone. Better yet, maybe put a want to buy post up in the classifieds.

I also suggest buying Lynn's DVD. It really helps to be able to see some of the stuff you read about here. Go slow on the stropping and you should be fine. Good luck!

Jordan

That's like the guy who buys his shiny new car and is afraid to take it out for fear of getting a ding in it or a stone chip. It goes with the territory. A little common sense will keep it looking and performing great but you have to expect that over time there will be wear. maybe some decoration will fade, maybe the polish will dull, maybe a minor chip, maybe a few spots on the blade (and you thought I was still talking about cars eh?). Some you can deal with and some you just have to expect to happen.

I would definitely get a cheapo razor to start with until you learn the ropes.

As long as you keep your strop taunt and just let the weight of the blade do the work, you should be fine. Just don't get the idea that applying pressure with the blade on the strop will get your blade done faster or better. That's when you will roll the edge and create a problem.
Dry your blade well after shaving.
Oil your blade if you are not going to be using it for a while.
By all means, buy Lynn's DVD. The information is invaluable and will be something that you go back to again and again for quite some time.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

That's like the guy who buys his shiny new car and is afraid to take it out for fear of getting a ding in it or a stone chip. It goes with the territory. A little common sense will keep it looking and performing great but you have to expect that over time there will be wear. maybe some decoration will fade, maybe the polish will dull, maybe a minor chip, maybe a few spots on the blade (and you thought I was still talking about cars eh?). Some you can deal with and some you just have to expect to happen.

I would definitely get a cheapo razor to start with until you learn the ropes.

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Thanks to you and others for the advice. I'm aware that I will be dealing with a learning curve in both razor usage and maintenance. I also understand about the inevitable wear, spots, etc. I will look into the DVD and try to pick up an old razor in need of a little TLC to work on honing. Neal

If you're like some of us here, you _will_ screw up your nice shiny Dovo, but will
easily acquire another honemeister honed reference point and gradually develop
your honing and stropping skills to the point where you can successfully main-
tain a razor.

Regards,

- Scott