Thread: Cheap practice razor

+1 on holli's post.

Someone commented on this not too long ago. For stropping, just about any razor will work, but to practice honing don't use a cheap razor that won't hold an edge. You'll spend a lot of time honing and not getting anywhere, and you won't know if it's the razor or you.

The poster said the experience can be extremely frustrating for a newbie. You hone and hone and can't figure out what you are doing wrong.

I suggest you do a little antique store shopping. I routinely find old British and German razors very reasonable priced, reasonable meaning 6 to 15 dollars. Maybe with some cosmetic issues but overall good serviceable razors. Snoop around a few shops, there seems to be about at least 1 in every town. And don't forget to always ask the dealer if he can do a little better on the price, I have never seen one that would not take at least 10% off.

Then you can practice and shave on a real McCoy.
Don't worry about ruining it. It's steel. With practice you'll
correct any mistakes and get it right.

Regards,
Marc

Welcome to SRP. A + 1 on avoiding junk razors. Whether antique stores, flea markets, or ebay look for full hollow ground blades that are even and full with little or no hone wear and intact scales. If you're going to get into honing your own this 1961 barber manual excerpt here is excellent and the stropping section in the last couple of pages has some great suggestions for starting off correctly.