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Hey, as you can gather from the title, I have very limited financial resources, but I am new to straight razors, and I was wondering... What is a relatively good brand for a newbie like myself, and where can I find them online for relatively cheaply?
Thx in advance,
Playful
Hi! Wellcome! You can find some nice razors here in the Classifieds place! Nice razors with good prices! How much are thinking in spending for a first razor? Take a look to this one (reliable seller!!! like most of all SRP members:)): "Yankee Shaver No3", Wester Bros., New York. - Straight Razor Place Classifieds
Make a visit to this (razors to avoid: Brands of Straight Razors to avoid - Straight Razor Place Wiki
Welcome. Don't forget you'll need a strop, brush and soap too. There are a number of places on line that do reasonably priced starter kits. You might even find one in the classifieds, I don't know, sorry. Where are you, which continent if you don't want to give out more detail?
Well AlanII, I live in the USA, in california if that helps...
Classifieds are your best bet for a razor though a member here, Kenrup, has been spoken highly of for his starter sets. Don't know if he still does them. You can find his site here but if I remember rightly you have to send a mail if you want the sets. Hope this helps and good luck.
Hi and welcome.
You will find a lot of good info in the Wiki.
For example:
Frequently Asked Questions - Straight Razor Place Wiki
I would look in the classified for a quality razor. You'll find what is considered good in the Wiki.
Good Straight Razor Brands - Straight Razor Place Wiki
Since you have limited financial resources, have you considered to make your own strop?
:gl:
Actually Otto, I WAS planning on making my own strop... I do some leatherworking so I have access to leather, and I figured, you know, why not? Can't be too hard, right?
I think it might be fun to do too.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwiki/index.php/Making_a_(very)_home-made_strop
I guess it depends on how limited your resources are. You can get a good vintage razor for 20-30 dollars, but it will probably need honing. You can either spend about $20 plus shipping for someone to hone it for you or about $60 for a decent hone and do it yourself.
You can get a good strop for $20-30, or use a smooth leather belt.
A boar bristle brush can be had for a fairly low price and there are soaps available for $10 or less. You can use a large coffee mug to hold the soap. or just hold it in your hand.
All in, $50-70 should be doable.
i've only had one SR shave so far, so take my advice with a grain of salt. here's what worked for me
i got a razor for $25 (shipped). you best bet is to check the classifieds for a used/restored razor.
a few things to look for- shave ready (if you buy a new razor, and it says shave ready, be prepared to have it honed)
you can get brush + bowl + soap from walmart for $7
you can get a simple strop for $20: RupRazor - The Filly this is what i'm using.
common wisdom on the boards is that you buy a razor/strop that you're willing to part with until you learn the right technique. you will tear nick your strop, and you may ruin your razor, so buy entry level gear at first.
when you decide you're ready (you'll know, nobody can tell you) to move up, you're really only paying for a prettier razor, but a more expensive strop may be wider, or of better quality (don't quote me on that)
poke around on the wiki, but your best bet is to read the basics, and then dive in. if you have any questions, check the wiki, or old forum posts- chances are your question's already been asked
edit: I didn't want my brush to just be sitting around (i.e. i wanted it to hang from something) but didn't want to spend any money on a brush holder (and i hardly have time to shop for these things), so I took a wire hanger, and just bent it into a holder. the nice thing about this is that it's tall enough to put my bowl under, so any dripping from my brush lands in my bowl, and not my counter
It's also worthwhile to check the following links:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/gener...tml#post427521
and
http://straightrazorpalace.com/newbi...tml#post429734
They'll offer you the possiblity of winning almost everything you need.
Just a thought...
- Mark (S-4-C)
welcome to srp.
if you have experience with and access to leather you most certainly can make your own strop. i'm sure if you do some reading you'll be able to find out what type of leather works better for stropping.
i think people generally like the cheapest badger brush which is made by tweezerman. i'd get that over the cheapest boar brushes.
good soap is very nice, but the $1 williams would be adequate if you want really cheap.
Just wondering, but could I use Jewelers Rouse instead of strop paste?
What would you need strop paste for to begin with? A strop is just a piece of leather. You can use the palm of your hand, newspaper, leather belt, pretty much anything really.Quote:
Originally Posted by Playful
Point is you don't need pastes for regular/daily stropping. Touchups however...
Once again wondering... What is the difference between a leather strop and a canvas strop? Is there a real difference in finished product(edge)? If so, for a newbie, which would you recommend?
IMHO, the difference is the level of abrasiveness/harshness. And before you start going off to "hone" your razors with a canvas strop, the abrasive level is so small that its not even worth noting. If it exists at all. It could be in my head.Quote:
Originally Posted by Playful
That said, the way I like to look at it is the canvas/linen/cloth side is for "sculpting" the edge or coarse removal of corrosion. The leather side is for smoothing the edge to final...smoothness.
TBH, I am not entirely sure what the heck goes on at the microscopic level. I personally believe stropping removes the corrosion and realigns the edge (similar to a chef's knife steel). Thus, the linen would be for the hard labor, and the leather is for the finishing touches. Yeah, thats my position and I'm going to stick to it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leighton
i'm not an expert in the field, but iirc, stropping (on anything softer than metal) doesn't remove any particles, simple realigns
and canvas is for finer realignment...
i'm sure the answer is in the wiki (or should be). hopefully an expert will chime in and expose both of our ignorance soon enough!
If you look at the edge with say a 10x loop just before you strop it, you will notice scratches that start from the edge and go back to the end of the bevel. If you then take a look at that same area with a say 60x scope or a 100x scope from Radio Shack, or the Shack as its new name is about to become, those scratches look even deeper. So imagine being able to look at a cross section of the blade in more of a 3 dimensional view. You will soon notice peaks and valleys where those scratches are formed, and they come all the way down to the edge, so now you have high spots and low spots with a microscopically jagged edge.
Now we take that blade and strop it on the leather. What does it do? It actually takes those vertical peaks and starts to flatten them out, somewhat, to bring the jagged edge down to a more smoother junction. This is what sometimes causes micro chipping. Finally the cross section of the blade at the edge would show a more smoother junction of the peaks and valleys thus producing a smoother feel of the blade when you use it.
My 2 cents,
Ray
Probably more information than you wanted to know, but if you've got half an hour to kill and are really interested.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/gener...razor%27s+edge
http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...straights.html