Thread: Complete Newbie is lost

I don't think anyone is trying to make this more than what it is, but to be honest, being brand new and shaving with an expertly honed razor is difficulty enough for most. Learning how to strop, shave, and hone all at once isn't impossible, but is it really preferable? Learning how to shave was so much easier for me after I got mine honed by a honemeister.

As for your hone, the 4k/8k Norton works. Depending on how your skin reacts, you may want some sort of finishing stone or a pasted strop to take it beyond 8k. I highly suggest getting your razor honed by a pro so that you know what to shoot for when you hone it yourself. It's not that you aren't capable of honing your razor, but to have a benchmark can be invaluable. SRP member Jimbo could likely point you in the right direction for some Australian honing resources.

Don't worry about your questions. We all asked them at some point, which is why searching can be handy. Let us know how everything goes!

Originally Posted by fccexpert

Buy a 4000/8000 Norton waterstone and use this to hone your razor until it feels about as sharp as a new DE blade.

With all due respect, and judging from my very limited personal experience, I would beg to differ. A finishing stone will increase the quality of the shave. In addition to a Norton 4k and 8k, I have a Belgian yellow (blue combo, very pretty, very expensive, yadda yadda), and an Escher (for which many thanks to gugi), and both do just that.

Maybe I am paranoid, but I think I am not. Your mileage may vary.

Originally Posted by fccexpert

At the risk of offending some on the forum, I am going to have to jump in here and try and bring some sanity. Over the past several months, I have become increasingly concerned with tendency to make the use and care of straight razors some type of esoteric art. This is simply not the case and is my opinion counter productive to the stated goal of this forum, which is to encourage growth of straight razor shaving.

In truth, straight razor shaving, honing, stroping etc. are nothing more than skills that can be learned by anyone with average, or even below average manual dexterity.

Very true, it just takes patience and practice.

Originally Posted by fccexpert

Really, consider the fact that back in my father's day, almost everyone who did not want to go about with a full beard used a straight razor, including honing and stropping. For the most part they were average men, and they managed quite well without the needing to learn at the foot of a master. If they had any training at all it was from their father, but for most, they were simply given a razor with some brief instruction and sent on their way.

I fail to see why anything more is necessary today. Certainly we are not less capable than these earlier generations, and the information available here and on other sites greatly exceeds the information usually passed on from father to son in the past.

Not quite so true. In the Ol'en days when every man shaved with a straight they all did learn at the feet of a master, their father's. That and if you wanted a razor sharpened you could just ks your barber and he would whip it off while you read the evening news.

Frankly I think a lot of men are far less mechanically capable today. Just look at the proliferation of the instant oil change place. The "average guy" today can't change his own oil.

Originally Posted by fccexpert

If you want to know what a truely sharp blade feels like, use a new DE blade as a reference. It is unlikely that any straight razor, no matter how expertly honed, will be sharper than this. But, in truth the only real test is to shave with the blade. If it is sharp enough, there will be no pulling.

Your right no honemeister ever gets a blade as sharp as a DE but a DE is a bad comparison. No DE shave I've ever had can match the feel of a real straight on your face (even when used in a shavette device). I want the OP to have that great experience with a expertly honed blade before he discovers the frustrations of trying to get steel finely edged enough to do the job. Once you have had a real straight shave, as you know, you will never want to substitute the lessor experiences again. THis really helps get through the times when you just aren't getting that blade to cooperate.

Excellent thread!

Thanks Guybrush, for asking the questions. I have learned a lot just by reading this thread. And I have already read everything in the Wiki as well as lurking on the site for a while now. I still haven't shaved with a straight yet, just anxiously waiting the arrival of a "demo" strop from Damon so I can strop the razor that was so generously PIF'd to me from "professorchaos" at B&B. Should be any day now.

Welcome to SRP and to Straight Razor shaving Guybrush.

It seems like you have the best of advice already but I would just like to say...... your username is BRILLIANT.

Monkey Island rocks my world.