I want a Lynn honed razor. Opinions?

Hi guys and ladies,

So, as some of you know, I'm in no position to buy a new razor just yet, and besides, my skill level doesn't justify me getting one yet anyway.

But, I'm hoping in the new year, at tax time, I will get enough of a tax refund that I can buy myself a razor from SRD, and hopefully have it honed by Lynn himself. ( no offense meant to anyone else who may hone there)

I'm thinking, I'll get about 240 Cdn back, and who knows what that will mean in US dollars by then, but I thought I'd try to put away a few dollars until next year, and go for one of those package deals with a brush and strop, as well as the DVD Lynn produced (can't wait to see that!).

I am particularly attracted to the tortoise coloured scales. Real tortoise is not my concern, as it's the shave that really matters to me, but I do like that colouring on the scales, so I was hoping you guys could help me figure out which one I should save up for? There's so many choices and it's a bit overwhelming, so your thoughts may help me narrow it down. I'd then find a way to print off the picture of the set I covet and tape it to my bathroom mirror as motivation. I figure with shipping and adding the option of a 3" wide strop, as well as getting the DVD and another 4.50 for the sweet patchouli option, it will add up to around 300, give or take a few.

I'm not sure if I will just choose the badger brush offered, or the silvertip upgrade. I like the idea of having the brush in a tortoise shell colour, but if I am not mistaken that is only offered on the vintage site, but not SRD? Not sure, I could be wrong, but they say there, that the blades are honed by Lynn as well? Am I mistaken?

I really want to know what it's like to shave with a Lynn honed razor, and I feel by the new year, my skill level should improve enough that I could really enjoy it and get a real feel for it; I'm getting better all the time. Not completely BBS, but a few areas are definitely BBS all thanks to this site, I might add. I also want to know what a razor honed by Lynn looks like under a microscope, so I plan on buying a cheap microscope off Ebay down the road, because I too, want to learn how to hone. And hopefully make a little spare change for the busy Bay st types (Wall st in the US) who want a shave ready razor, but don't have the time nor desire to learn how to hone one themselves. I loved sharpening knives, so I'll probably love sharpening razors, once I get some stones.

So my only items I'm not sure about for the shave set, are the badger brush options and the razor. I'm not convinced I need a silvertip, but what do I really know? I'm a newb. But, I seem to be doing okay with my cheap synthetic for now. I am more concerned about choosing the right razor. I'm not a very hairy guy and I have pretty sensitive skin, if that helps any? And I don't really want a long blade, as I tend to use, in most areas, the first half of the blade (mostly because I have to avoid ingrown bumps), only using the heel and the whole blade for the throat area.

Which razor do you think I should save up for? As always, your astute advice is always appreciated. Thanks gentlemen......and ladies.

Btw, did I mention, I love this site? Well, if not, I'm mentioning it now! And if I could, I'd buy you all a round. :beer1: I never thought, I'd be so into shaving!

Hi

I would go for a 6/8 with round point. BTW the second razor I bought myself (before I found SRP) is a 6/8 TI that Lynn honed way back when...

Good luck.

Its nice to have something like that in the pipeline to look forward to!

In terms of brushes, I dont have a silvertip. I have a best badger one and I have found it excellent. Personally if it were a choice between spending the money on the razor or on the brush, I'd spend it on the razor because thats going to affect your shave much more! And if you have a synthetic thats working for you then that should be fine.

For the razor, theres loads of choice for the money. I have a couple of DOVO's, a Black Star and a Bismarck and they are both fantastic. DOVO do a 6/8" with imitation tortoise shell that you can get from SRD. Or theres the Boker Edelweisse? I've read some great comments about them.

Anyone else have any good recommendations?

Whatever you get, post some pics and let us know how she shaves!

Here's a starter kit from Vintage blades, has a tortoise Dovo razor, and a matching tortoise handle brush. Comes also with strop, mug, soap. I bought my starter set here and the razor was honed by Lynn to boot.

VintageBladesLLC::...

-Chief

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Originally Posted by BHChieftain

Here's a starter kit from Vintage blades, has a tortoise Dovo razor, and a matching tortoise handle brush. Comes also with strop, mug, soap. I bought my starter set here and the razor was honed by Lynn to boot.

Vintage*Blades*LLC*::...

-Chief

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That was the set I was leaning towards. Soooooo purdy!

With the DVD, the 3 inch wide strop, and the badger brush upgrade to silvertip, it's 279.98 plus whatever the shipping is to Canada. Without the silvertip, it's 35 dollars less. Do you think it's worth it to upgrade the brush, or should I just stick with the option given, which is a pure badger brush? I don't know the difference because I've never used an animal hair brush. I really really like the colouring of the handle on those brushes! They don't carry the sweet patchouli on that site, so I was thinking of choosing a soap that is included, like the Bay Rum or Lime. I suppose I can find a patchouli soap elsewhere. Oh, but that blade. How gorgeous is that? And a matching brush, to boot! I wonder if Lynn hones them all or if I have to make a request. I have sent them an email to find out that, and what shipping would be to Canada.

I think we have a winner! Now, if only I could fast forward to tax refund time! :D

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Originally Posted by Stubear

Its nice to have something like that in the pipeline to look forward to!

In terms of brushes, I dont have a silvertip. I have a best badger one and I have found it excellent. Personally if it were a choice between spending the money on the razor or on the brush, I'd spend it on the razor because thats going to affect your shave much more! And if you have a synthetic thats working for you then that should be fine.

For the razor, theres loads of choice for the money. I have a couple of DOVO's, a Black Star and a Bismarck and they are both fantastic. DOVO do a 6/8" with imitation tortoise shell that you can get from SRD. Or theres the Boker Edelweisse? I've read some great comments about them.

Anyone else have any good recommendations?

Whatever you get, post some pics and let us know how she shaves!

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So many choices, eh Stubear? Enough to make your head spin. And I like the Bokers too. I always seem to, see a blade I like in antique shop, and find myself saying, 'oooooh, what kind is that?' And invariably, it's a Boker!
Thanks for the suggestions.

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Originally Posted by Otto

Hi

I would go for a 6/8 with round point. BTW the second razor I bought myself (before I found SRP) is a 6/8 TI that Lynn honed way back when...

Good luck.

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Nice set Otto. I like the handle on that brush. I think the TIs are way out of my budget range for now, but maybe down the road. The long long winding road. I've found myself drawn to those blades too.

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Originally Posted by New2CutThroats

I really want to know what it's like to shave with a Lynn honed razor, and I feel by the new year, my skill level should improve enough that I could really enjoy it and get a real feel for it; I'm getting better all the time. Not completely BBS, but a few areas are definitely BBS all thanks to this site, I might add. I also want to know what a razor honed by Lynn looks like under a microscope, so I plan on buying a cheap microscope off Ebay down the road, because I too, want to learn how to hone. And hopefully make a little spare change for the busy Bay st types (Wall st in the US) who want a shave ready razor, but don't have the time nor desire to learn how to hone one themselves. I loved sharpening knives, so I'll probably love sharpening razors, once I get some stones.

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It's actually pretty hard to describe exactly what a properly honed razor should feel like. Of course, it should cut effortlessly, shave without any pulling or irritation, etc... The thing is, one of the reasons you get a Lynn honed razor is so that you will have a benchmark or a reference point to evaluate other razors. By that I mean that since you know that the razor is properly honed you can rule out a substandard edge as a possible cause if you are having problems. As long as you don't trash the edge it should shave you perfectly, if it doesn't you probably have other issues. For that reason alone a Honemeister edge can be your best ally as you work your way up the learning curve. Setting economics aside, now is the right time for a properly honed razor.

If you want to learn to hone you should have something to compare your work with. Again, get one of Lynn's razors and you will have something to aim for as you learn to hone. BTW, if you want to provide honing services for others you should know that most of the credible guys have honed a bunch (I mean a LOT) before hanging out their shingle. I think Lynn honed about a thousand before he "went pro". Now, the guy is a honing machine.

You sound like me. I love to sharpen knives, and have been using these two old Norton Oil Stones, 11.5x2.5 for years now. You can shave with my knives, that's how I got into this...Anyway. SRD and Lynn is great. You can't go wrong with them. IMHO. They have the best prices on Dovo razors. Lynn is the becnch mark for sharpness with a lot of guys. You'll be happy with a Dovo Tortoise scale razor it sounds. Save up and get yourself a Mastro Livi Razor. I love mine. Also, You may eventually get a silver tip badger. They are top of the line, and if you don't get one now, you may buy one later....

Rich

A well honed razor just mows down hair. Picture standing a bunch of unsharpened pencils up on end on a table, and then swiping your hand across the table. The pencils just fall.

Different grinds will effect how it feels even though the razor can be equally as sharp, but a truly sharp razor will allow you to work more on your technique.

I caught RAD (razor aquisition disorder) a little over a year and a half ago. It sounds like it has a good hold on you too!:) Of my collection of ~25 razors, I find the Bokers and the Henckels to be the most user friendly and the easiest to hone to a "shave ready" edge. Not that I am a honemeister but I can tell the difference between blades that are uncomfortable and ones that "wipe" the hair from your face. I don't like DOVO only because I got one with a warped blade and I heard that was not an isolated complaint.

Only one other thing, check out www.shavingshop.com as well, they have some Bokers on sale right now.

Have fun with it.

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Originally Posted by Bill S

It's actually pretty hard to describe exactly what a properly honed razor should feel like. Of course, it should cut effortlessly, shave without any pulling or irritation, etc... The thing is, one of the reasons you get a Lynn honed razor is so that you will have a benchmark or a reference point to evaluate other razors. By that I mean that since you know that the razor is properly honed you can rule out a substandard edge as a possible cause if you are having problems. As long as you don't trash the edge it should shave you perfectly, if it doesn't you probably have other issues. For that reason alone a Honemeister edge can be your best ally as you work your way up the learning curve. Setting economics aside, now is the right time for a properly honed razor.

If you want to learn to hone you should have something to compare your work with. Again, get one of Lynn's razors and you will have something to aim for as you learn to hone. BTW, if you want to provide honing services for others you should know that most of the credible guys have honed a bunch (I mean a LOT) before hanging out their shingle. I think Lynn honed about a thousand before he "went pro". Now, the guy is a honing machine.

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That's exactly my thinking on that, and yeah, I don't see myself offering those services for quite awhile. Although, I do tend to pick things up quite quickly. I'm a pretty good study.

Regardless of whether I will actually be able to afford that set when the time comes around, I still will want a Lynn honed razor. My feeling was that if I could get the best, then I know what to aspire to; and "going pro" will be a long way off.

LOL @ "honing machine"

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Originally Posted by straightcrazy

I caught RAD (razor aquisition disorder) a little over a year and a half ago. It sounds like it has a good hold on you too!:) Of my collection of ~25 razors, I find the Bokers and the Henckels to be the most user friendly and the easiest to hone to a "shave ready" edge. Not that I am a honemeister but I can tell the difference between blades that are uncomfortable and ones that "wipe" the hair from your face. I don't like DOVO only because I got one with a warped blade and I heard that was not an isolated complaint.

Only one other thing, check out www.shavingshop.com as well, they have some Bokers on sale right now.

Have fun with it.

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Yeah, Bokers are sweet looking blades. But I've only seen ones that are way off the shave ready mark (antiques that are rusty), and need to be honed. And since I don't have that equipment yet, I haven't bothered to buy any. I have my eye on one, a King Cutter, but I'm hoping I can talk the vendor down a bit. It has pearl on the tang. But it needs some cleaning up and some honing and he wants way too much for it right now. Well, for me, it's a bit much. Especially since it needs work. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks he wants too much for it, because he's hasn't sold it yet, and I've been looking at it since late July, just before I signed up here. I really like that razor. I can tell it would clean up well. And the edge, while certainly not shave ready, looks to be evenly honed.

Lynn offers honning for $20 Honing By Lynn, Founder of SRP - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

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Originally Posted by straightcrazy

I caught RAD (razor aquisition disorder) a little over a year and a half ago. It sounds like it has a good hold on you too!:) Of my collection of ~25 razors, I find the Bokers and the Henckels to be the most user friendly and the easiest to hone to a "shave ready" edge. Not that I am a honemeister but I can tell the difference between blades that are uncomfortable and ones that "wipe" the hair from your face. I don't like DOVO only because I got one with a warped blade and I heard that was not an isolated complaint.

Only one other thing, check out www.shavingshop.com as well, they have some Bokers on sale right now.

Have fun with it.

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Thanks. You obviously picked a good name for yourself. :) I only have one razor that I can shave with at the moment, and the other is a Swedish razor, whose name is long, and I can't spell at the moment, but is in the good brands section of this website. I can't wait to get that one shave ready. I've already sanded off the grunge and she's nice and shiny. She just needs to be honed. I know she already cuts hair, because I can take hair off my thigh with it; I have a big silly bald patch there. And, it looks like whoever honed it before, did it pretty evenly.

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Originally Posted by gugi

Lynn offers honning for $20 Honing By Lynn, Founder of SRP - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

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I've considered that option too, but I'm trying to figure out if it's better for me to put the money I would spend on the honing and the postage to the states, towards the 4k/8k norton, and then when I get the refund in the new year, get that package from SRD or Vintage (looks like it will be Vintage, as long as it's honed by Lynn).

I know 20 bucks (plus postage) doesn't sound like much, but things ARE that tight for me, and I figure with that package, you essentially get a free honing, plus I think a certificate for another? Not sure if that's true for Vintage, or if that's just offered with SRD. In the meantime, after all the videos I've watched, I am hoping to get the 4k/8k norton combo in about 6 weeks, to try out honing my Swedish blade.

Trying to get the best bang for my very limited bucks. If I end up not being able to get the 4k/8k norton, then I will most likely just send the blade out to Lynn. It would be nice to have a second razor to shave with, so I can extend the shave life of the bade honed by Ben.

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Originally Posted by zib

You sound like me. I love to sharpen knives, and have been using these two old Norton Oil Stones, 11.5x2.5 for years now. You can shave with my knives, that's how I got into this...Anyway. SRD and Lynn is great. You can't go wrong with them. IMHO. They have the best prices on Dovo razors. Lynn is the becnch mark for sharpness with a lot of guys. You'll be happy with a Dovo Tortoise scale razor it sounds. Save up and get yourself a Mastro Livi Razor. I love mine. Also, You may eventually get a silver tip badger. They are top of the line, and if you don't get one now, you may buy one later....

Rich

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As gorgeous as those Maestro Livi razors are, there's no way a guy in my position should even be thinking of those blades. Besides, if I were ever in that position, I would probably look to Max or Alex for a custom, because I really admire the work they do. Maybe after ten or so years of shaving, and hopefully a better financial situation, I could look at a Livi, but yeah, I'm so broke, I shouldn't even be looking at them right now. They are beauties though, I agree. But I'd rather first support the fine work of members here.
Like the set I want, with the strop it comes with, I would still want to get a Tony Miller artisan one day. Those are true works of art. And I always like the idea of buying straight from the designer themselves. Cheers to small businesses. :beer1:


And yeah, I love knives of all kinds. I'm a pretty good cook too, and appreciate a good chef's knife.

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Originally Posted by New2CutThroats

I know 20 bucks (plus postage) doesn't sound like much, but things ARE that tight for me, and I figure with that package, you essentially get a free honing, plus I think a certificate for another? Not sure if that's true for Vintage, or if that's just offered with SRD.

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That is true of SRD. I don't think anyone else offers the 2nd honing free. If you have any flea markets or antique stores around your area you may sometimes fine decent vintage razors at affordable prices.

You can then send them to Lynn for tuning up and you've got something to shave with. The older Solingen blades are usually as good as it gets. The old American companies and the Sheffields are good too.

If you're going to get the Norton 4/8 buying cheap older blades is the best way to learn IME.

Well, I won't be able to get that set from Vintage after all, because they don't ship to Canada. Just checked my email.

*heavy sigh*

Hope that's not true of SRD?

Send an email to Don, I am pretty sure they do. There is a sale 10% off on all of the Dovos right now.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Send an email to Don, I am pretty sure they do. There is a sale 10% off on all of the Dovos right now.

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Thanks. I've sent off an email. As for the sale, I hope they have one in late February, early March, because I won't be able to purchase a set until tax refund time. I just wanted to pick a set now, so that I know how much I'll need to save to top up the tax refund and order the set in the new year.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I am going to wait to hear back from SRD to see if they ship to Canada, before I get my heart set on another shaver/strop/brush set.

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Originally Posted by New2CutThroats

...
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I am going to wait to hear back from SRD to see if they ship to Canada, before I get my heart set on another shaver/strop/brush set.

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Of course, you could always cultivate a new friend in Detroit, Syracuse, Burlington, or wherever and visit them, or have them send it to you as a birthday gift....

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Originally Posted by New2CutThroats

Without the silvertip, it's 35 dollars less. Do you think it's worth it to upgrade the brush, or should I just stick with the option given, which is a pure badger brush? I don't know the difference because I've never used an animal hair brush.

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Hi,
I use the pure badger brush, not the silvertip, so while I can't comment on the difference, I can say the pure badger brush is a really nice brush... I'm real happy with it.

-Chief

You can't go wrong at all purchasing a Lynn (or Don) honed razor from SRD plus with a 2nd honing free you are in some cases better off buying a lower price razor from them the a used razor. I got a new Boker Edelweiss from them for only $139 if you deduct the price of the 2 honings that come with it then figure the razor was only $99 and it came with an incredible edge very sharp but at the same time smooth, making that 100 razor shave like a more expensive razor.

As far as brushes go, I have a 28mm silvertip from Vulfix, and a 18 or so mm travel size from Crabtree & Evelyn (I'm pretty sure it was made by Vulfix) in pure badger.

Personally, I love the feel of the big silvertip, but it wastes a LOT of soap, and doesn't actually make lather particularly well/ efficiently with soaps. Most days I find myself reaching for the smaller, stiffer brush to whip up a good lather and really work it in to the beard.

That said, it really is personal preferance... maybe there is someone/someplace you can visit to feel the hair of each? The best I can describe the difference is that the silvertip is like the finest hairs in an artist-grade paintbrush, while the pure badger is more like a horsehair paintbrush kind of feel...

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Originally Posted by fritz

Of course, you could always cultivate a new friend in Detroit, Syracuse, Burlington, or wherever and visit them, or have them send it to you as a birthday gift....

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lol. I'd have to "cultivate" pretty quickly, since the b-day is next month. Also coincides with 5 years off the cigarettes.

And the way things are for many of us these days, it's a good day if we can afford to enjoy a decent meal out together to celebrate. Unemployment rate is getting close to 10 percent overall here. Can't last forever, just white knuckle it for awhile longer.

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Originally Posted by BKratchmer

As far as brushes go, I have a 28mm silvertip from Vulfix, and a 18 or so mm travel size from Crabtree & Evelyn (I'm pretty sure it was made by Vulfix) in pure badger.

Personally, I love the feel of the big silvertip, but it wastes a LOT of soap, and doesn't actually make lather particularly well/ efficiently with soaps. Most days I find myself reaching for the smaller, stiffer brush to whip up a good lather and really work it in to the beard.

That said, it really is personal preferance... maybe there is someone/someplace you can visit to feel the hair of each? The best I can describe the difference is that the silvertip is like the finest hairs in an artist-grade paintbrush, while the pure badger is more like a horsehair paintbrush kind of feel...

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Thanks, that's really helpful. It's hard to find a place in this city that stocks brushes, other than the cheap drugstore kind. So, it's a bit difficult to find. There has to be someplace here; we have tons of barber shops here, so there must be someplace that has 'em. Maybe the beauty supply, but yeah, so far, I have no idea what a badger brush even feels like, though your description helps.