One year in -- thanks, SRP!
I'm putting this in the beginner forum because I figure (or rather, hope) that there will be others who start this endeavor with a Christmas gift. I'll try to keep it concise but be warned that it's still likely to be a lengthy post.
I got my first real shaving equipment a year ago after having told my wife several times previously that I thought it'd be cool to use a straight razor. Of course I never bothered to do anything myself because I'm lazy and, more importantly, was concerned about spending money on something that I was unsure about. I also thought that it was a bit dangerous.
I was quite surprised that anybody bought me shaving equipment. I opened the package and found a synthetic brush with some maca root shaving cream, both from The Body Shop. The other package had a nice looking Master USA razor. My parents asked about it and when I told them of my interest, my mother went and gave me her grandfather's razor (a Novelty Cutlery, Co.). When I got home after the holidays I tried to use them. Neither razor really cut anything so I figured I had to do some research, and registered here. I read that apparently I needed a strop, which I ordered from Amazon. It arrived and I stropped and stropped both razors, which didn't do anything but tire my arms.
Then I learned about razors to avoid (doh!) and honing. Now in retrospect my first thought is that I wish I had gotten all the right gear from the start, but honestly, I'm kinda happy I got the useless Master USA. Not for shaving, but it was my first whatever-you-want-to-call-it and forced me to learn quite a bit. You cannot start this process until you know what shave ready is. Off to the classifieds where I bought an inexpensive mini Robeson restored and honed by treydampier. Shaving with that was exponentially better than my previous attempts. Excited, I looked up Novelty Cutlery on SRP and while I didn't see that much info on the manufacturer specifically, I did read that old US blades were of good quality. I sent gssixgun a PM to see if he'd clean up and hone my heirloom blade and he obliged. I got it back about two weeks later and used it in rotation with the Robeson.
Then my parents sent me a package with an assortment of old razors and shaving gear. In a nutshell, this got me started on restoration. I used one for practicing on and the others I cleaned up without unpinning. Sent a few off to Utopian so that I'd have a few more razors to use. Fast forward quite a bit and I added a Tony Miller strop, various soaps and creams, and my honing set; a DMT to lap, Naniwa 1k, Norton 4k/8k, Naniwa 12k and some CrO on my Amazon strop. I used those various practice blades and eventually successfully honed a razor myself.
Along the way I've learned that the people here are just amazing. Even the ones I've bickered with in The Conversation forum! The wiki is invaluable and if you can't find anything, someone will help you out; just post it or hit up the chat room. Now I have about 30 usable blades and another 10 or so that I need to restore. I have restored an old brush, learned how to unpin, clean and peen properly, and recently made my first scales.
I just wanted to attempt to summarize my journey thus far and hope that many other people follow a similar path in the future. To everyone on SRP, I thank you. I hope you all have a wonderful new year and I'm looking forward to attending Razorcon 2010! :)
