...and if it's not shave ready?

hey everybody.
i've been investigating for about a month now and will be dropping the money to start straight razor shaving soon. i've read up and of course found the recommendation to purchase a shave ready razor. however, i'm trying to jump into it full speed and have been wondering about getting one... not shave ready? just to have as a pet project. i haven't been able to really figure out the difference.

so, my questions are these.

1. is getting a razor purchased not shave ready to fighting trim reasonable or is it never going to quite get the same quality as a shave ready?

and

2. is the difference between the two basically that a great majority of the sharpening and honing, etc has been completed prior to purchase with a shave ready?

much thanks for the help!

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...and if its not shave ready?

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It puts the lotion on the skin

Not getting a shave ready razor is askign for failure.

You will not know if you are the problem or the razor. The razor will probably be blamed.

The problem will probably be a little of both.

Right now you do not know what shave ready should feel like, so how are you going to be able to hone a razor to shave ready?

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Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Not getting a shave ready razor is askign for failure.

You will not know if you are the problem or the razor. The razor will probably be blamed.

The problem will probably be a little of both.

Right now you do not know what shave ready should feel like, so how are you going to be able to hone a razor to shave ready?

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What he said..... Get a shave ready razor and you cut a lot of the learning curve down. As an anology, How can you be expected to learn to drive in a car that doesnt run.

sorry! wasn't very clear there.

i'll be buying a shave ready either way. i'm not so over-confident that i'll be starting from scratch altogether. i'm just seeing if buying a second that is not as a side project is really at all worth undertaking.

My first razor wasn't shave ready. I bought the blade. I bought the hones. I worked from there.

Please don't do it that way!!!!

As my edges got better, so did my shaving. You just can't learn the technique's properly without a shave ready blade.

I feel now that i can get a blade shave ready. I thought i could back then too, but with hindsight, & improved honing skills, I know I was wrong. I wonder how I'll feel about the edges i produce now in a year?

If you are, by chance, in the UK, I'll hone your blade for you. If not, really consider buying it ready, or sending it off.

thanks ben. that animates what i was hoping wasn't the case, ha ha. looks like i'll just hold off until i've a bit of experience and then dive in. thanks everybody!

if you want another project sure, get one along with the necessary hones.
but you should look at it as a completely unrelated project as it'll likely take you some time before you can get it to shave comfortably.

Hi johnythree,

I'm working along the same line of reasoning as you...I'd like to know how to do it all! But everything I've read here (as a complete newbie myself) suggests that you and I should really focus on our stropping technique. So that's what I'm going for with a shave-ready razor that I bought from a member here.

Then when I've got a pretty good handle on stropping, and I can maintain a razor that is honed by someone with experience, I'll probably get a second shave-ready razor and MAYBE think about honing the first one. Until then, I'm counting my blessings that I live in Ohio and shipping to (and from) Lynn for honing will not be that expensive. :)

Good luck!
--nick

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Originally Posted by gugi

if you want another project sure, get one along with the necessary hones.
but you should look at it as a completely unrelated project as it'll likely take you some time before you can get it to shave comfortably.

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This is my thinking as well. Trying to learn to hone and shave off of your work simultaneously seems to be asking for a lot, and it could very easily lead to frustration and possibly giving up entirely.