Thread: My journey is about to begin...

Greetings,

I have been traditional wetshaving for about two months now with DE razors (rather successfully) and have been following this site since my beginnings as well. But now I have found that...I can't resist the allure of the straight razor any longer. I have done alot of research on this site and have come to a basic starter set to begin my journey. I was hoping some of the members could look over my decisions, give some critiques, and answer some questions, please. I decided on the following items from SRD:

• Dovo Imitation Tortoise Shell 6/8" Straight Razor & Strop Set - mine will include the Straight Razor Designs 3" Red Latigo Strop and Webbed Fabric (2 sides correct? leather and fabric?)
• Camellia Oil, Pure Japanese - Blade Protection
• Sheps 100% Pure Neatsfoot Oil Strop Conditioner - 8oz
• Chromium Oxide Paste .5 micron

I know that I will need honing stones eventually, but I will have to wait about a month to purchase that. I figured I would go with the Norton 4K/8K.

Most of my concern is on the strop and the use of a paste. I have read somewhere that (in general) you should strop daily before and after the shave on the leather side, then strop once a week with a pasted webbed side. Is this correct? Did I choose the right paste for this?

Also, do I need the strop conditioner? How often do I use it? Do I apply some before the first strop? I am assuming I do and that it is used on the leather side.

A little about myself...I am a middle school science teacher (Physical Science) and live in Pinellas County, Florida. I decided to take up traditional wetshaving as a way to improve myself (release the inner gentleman) and slow life down a bit! I also enjoy traditional archery and various historical/science/mythological studies amongst other distractions.

I want to thank SRP and everyone for all of the good advice I have gotten up til now. This is a great site with a very knowledgable community!

Thanks for your time, effort and insight,
Sean

Welcome to the SRP!

Thanks for doing some research and your choice of equipment is very good.

Strop & paste..... The paste is to be applied to a separate paddle strop, not the hanging strop. You will use the abrasive pasted paddle strop only when the razor starts to pull and then only for 10-20 roundtrip laps. I suggest you purchase a 2 sided paddle strop and have a 1.0 micron diamond paste on one side and 0.5 micron chrome oxide on the other side..

The plain leather hanging strop is to be used just before each shave. I perform 50-60 roundtrip laps on the leather and occasionally10-20 laps on the linen side first if I feel the razor can benefit from it. The linen is used first and then the leather.

The hones can wait for awhile. If I were starting again I would buy the single grit Norton 4000 3" wide and then a Shapton Glass 8000 grit. I feel the Shapton Glass 8000 is better than the current Norton 8000.

Sheps Neatsfoot oil... I would ask SRD if they have applied any of the oil. If not then I would apply a coat to both sides and edges of the strop just to make sure . From then on it is really a matter of judgement. If it starts to feel dry then apply a bit of oil.

Hope this helps,

I'm always glad to see when new members have "done their homework" (sorry, lame teacher joke) and made good purchases. It is my understanding that the latigo strops do not need any sort of treatment initially and that if you do treat the strop later it should be done very lightly. That is, be careful to not overdo it. In my opinion, it's better to oil a strop from the back side rather than the stropping surface. By doing so, you are adding conditioning oil to the strop without risk of over-coating the surface.

grim,

That neatsfoot oil will last you a long, long time. To condition the strop, rub a bit of the oil in your palm and then onto the strop. You don't want to make the strop oily, merely not dry. This strop conditioning is an infrequent thing, as Randy notes it's when the strop gets dry and that takes a while as your razor doesn't absorb a lot of oil as it's rubbed up and down the surface of the leather.

The CrOx can be rubbed into a hanging strop and used for refreshing an edge, but its effect over time will be to convex the bevel of the razor. This may not be totally couterproductive in keeping the edge shaveable, but eventually you'll need to touch up the edge on a hone and this convex "bevel" will require a lot more work to return it to a planar surface and its ultimate sharpness. Again as Randy said, just don't annoint the smooth side of the new SPR hanging strop with the CrOx if you choose to experiment. It's not something you need to use on a daily basis and once pasted, the surface is committed.

I applaud your choice of the DOVO 6/8 faux turtle: it is among my favorite razors.

Welcome and have fun,

Thanks everyone,

I haven't actually put my order in yet. I was waiting for feedback, so I still can adjust my decision if necessary.

Bruce and Utopian - I will check with SRD to see if they condition the strops before shipping so that I know. Thanks for the info!

Randy - I looked real quick to find 2 sided strops online. It seems that most are about the same price as The Well Shaved Gentleman's 4 surface paddle strop for combo use. It has 3 sides for pastes and one side latigo for daily stropping. Would this be good to purchase alone (and purchase the razor separate), or should I have a hanging strop too? And...if I do get the set, should my razor last about a month, so I can get the paddle and pastes then, and last at least another before purchasing the stones?

Sorry, I know I am asking alot of questions.

Thanks again!
Sean

Thanks again!

You will never go wrong with anything from the Well-shaved Gentleman. Mr. Miller builds quality products. The 4-sided paddle strop will be a bit more versatile- there is the daily stropping on one side, but then as the razor gets dull you can touch it up on one of the other sides.

I have one of his latigo hanging strops and it's fantastic. I already have a barber's hone, so I didn't really need the pasted strop.

A lot of this comes down to personal preference.
J.

Originally Posted by grimlad

Thanks everyone,

I haven't actually put my order in yet. I was waiting for feedback, so I still can adjust my decision if necessary.

Bruce and Utopian - I will check with SRD to see if they condition the strops before shipping so that I know. Thanks for the info!

Randy - I looked real quick to find 2 sided strops online. It seems that most are about the same price as The Well Shaved Gentleman's 4 surface paddle strop for combo use. It has 3 sides for pastes and one side latigo for daily stropping. Would this be good to purchase alone (and purchase the razor separate), or should I have a hanging strop too? And...if I do get the set, should my razor last about a month, so I can get the paddle and pastes then, and last at least another before purchasing the stones?

Sorry, I know I am asking alot of questions.

Thanks again!
Sean

Thanks again!

I would not use the 4 sided strop because of the risk of cross contamination of abrasive grits. Personally, I use separate paddles for each grit and keep them individually covered between each use. You can easily make your own paddle strops. Just glue some vegatable tanned leather to a flat piece of wood/thick plexiglass/corian or instead of leather you can use balsa wood which is available at craft stores.

You really do need a unpasted leather hanging strop. They simply work the best for daily use.

Your razor should last for at least on month before needing the pasted paddle strops and 3 months before needing a touch up on a hone.

The biggest risk you will run is improper stropping that results in a rolled edge.

Hope this helps,

Then I will look into getting one of Mr. Miller's strops once I become more experienced with my stropping technique, so I don't ruin it learning. I will just keep with my starter set so that I have that hanging strop to begin with.

Makes alot of sense about the cross contamination of pastes. I wouldn't have thought about that until it was too late. That is where experience and the fortune of having this forum to learn from pays off for a new guy. I will definitely look into making my own paddle strops if it is that easy. That sounds great!

Thanks!

Grimlad,

I have the Dovo Special Tortoise 5/8 carbon steel razor and the 3" latigo strop. I bought it from the same place and this was my first razor.

Here is the deal:

Great straight, but it dulls quickly because the steel is soft. The benefit of the soft steel is that it is forgiving, thus not cutting you as much. Regular stropping on the canvass/leather strop couldn't achieve the sharp edge I wanted after 3 shaves. So I bought a Tony Miller 4 sided strop with pastes on three sides .50/1.0/3.0. To get my edge back into shape, I gave it 20 passes on the 1.0 and 10 on the .50 along with my usual leather stropping and that did the trick.

After that I just do some preshave stropping and more after shave stropping on the canvass leather. Every two shaves, I add in 15 passes on the .50 micron paste along with the usual canvass/leather stropping and this keep the blade continuously sharp. I have six months with this razor and my results have been consistent.

I have yet to buy a honing stone because I don't need one for a long time. This 4 sided strop keeps all my straights sharp and it is considered a key purchase for me.

I do have a best pure badger brush and it is awesome! So that or better will take care of you.

Welcome to straight shaving!

Pabster

Sounds like you're off to a good start! Welcome!