Thread: advice for a beginner please...

Welcome to SRP. I would suggest the upgrade because the strop is wider. The razor will come shave ready so wait on the hone until you've had more experience and know if you will stick with it (it isnt for everybody) and what it is you want to do with a hone.

IMO the daily strop should remain unpasted. An additional paddle strop, balsa hone or felt hanger is good for paste or spray but I would suggest waiting on that too.

Here is the SRP Wiki with the beginner's guide and Lynn's suggestions for your first straight razor shave.

I agree 100% with Jimmy, Do not paste your main strop. You'll use that each and everytime you shave. Pastes sharpen, and eventually "roll" or dull your edge.
Down the road, You can buy a paddle strop or a cheaper strop for pasting...
Black or Red latigo is quite nice, so is SRD's Premium leather. Your new. Many new guys cut their first strop. You might want to practice your technique on an old leather belt.
Also, don't worry about the hone just yet. You should be good to go for some time.
You've made some excellent choices so far. Congrats and welcome to the forum.
If we can be of help, Just drop us a pm.

Rich

Welcome to SRP!

Thats a great set up you're getting there and I wouldnt change anything about it. Its not worth spending loads on your first strop, as you're almost guaranteed to nick it while you're learning...! Once you know what you're doing, go and sink the cash into a strop with all the bells and whistles.

As Jimmy says, dont worry about the hones now until you know you're hooked and want to spend the money! You dont need one at the start as your razor should be shave ready and wont need to go to a hone a good few months, barring any accidents...!

Dont paste your daily strop. What I've now done is got my new strop totally clean, and then I'm pasting my old one. I have chalk paste on the linen side and I've just ordered some chromium oxide from SRD for the leather side. I also have a denim flatbed hone with 0.5 diamond spray on it.

If you want a pasted strop you can make one from some balsa wood for a minimal outlay. Theres a tuitorial in the wiki that Jimmy has linked to above.

Welcome and good luck!

The information provided by the previous posts is great advice.

If you're getting your razor & strop set from SRD it will already be peofessionally honed. You can shave with it right out of the box, although some folks will want to give it a stropping before doing so.

IMO getting a second strop for pastes at this point is a waste of money. You will need to learn propper stropping technique on both the unpasted linen and leather of your daily strop before moving on to abrasive pastes which--as the previous posts note-- should be applied to a second strop that is used less frequently to maintain the edge of your srt8 razor before it needs to be re-honed. If you have the patience, you may even be able to find a cheap strop for your pastes at a local flea market, antique store or ebay. But that is an acquistion that I would personally hold off on until some months down the road.

I may be wrong, but I think that newbies frequently over-strop their str8 razors using abrasive pastes in an atempt to get an edge that will result in a bbs shave the very first time(s) they use their razor. IMHO the use of pastes on str8 razor blades so soon after purchasing a razor may do more harm than good.

Just my two cents. Happy shaving and congrats on your potential purchase of a first-rate str8 razor. That Dovo Bismark 6/8' that you have your sights set on is a real eye-pleaser and from what I have read at SRP a sweet razor.

awesome! thanks guys!

All good advise above and SRD is a great place to get your gear. I always used a 2 1/2" wide strop until Lynn turned me onto a 3' Bridal. As noted above, you probably will be nicking your first strop. If it were me I would stay with the lesser strop until you get some mileage on the first one and them get what you really want after researching them. I have two SRD hanging strops (one is CarrieM's) and an SRD Paddle strop. All are quality products. I use the Bridal the most since I received it and I haven't used the paddle yet, it is just so nice! I may use it this weekend though.