Thread: Oops

I'm an absolute beginner and bought my first straight razor on a whim this week--a new 5/8" rudolf stehlo from a reputable local knife dealer. The dealer assured me it was shave ready, but, after poking around on here, I suspect his standards are different than most of yours. I performed some shave ready tests I found on the site and think my blade clearly needs some work.

Thoughts on where I should go from here? Should I send it off to be honed? If so, where? Or should I just buy a used shave ready razor from the forums, learn to shave with it, and hone my new razor when I'm ready to start honing?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Tom

I'd say try shaving with it first to determine whether or not it is indeed shave ready or not.

If the shave test fails, look up the classifieds for honing services.

I tried shaving the sides of my face and got a bad shave. However, I have no idea what I'm doing, so I don't know how much is the razors fault and how much is my fault. I suspect it is a good bit of each.

Send it to a honer. Most I know will assess the blade at no charge. So, if in fact it were shave ready they'd ship it back and you're out shipping. Better to know though. Can you call where you got it from and ask what they did to get it shave ready? If they mention certain stones they used, chances are it is. If they said it came shave ready from the maker, it is not.

Try this link
First straight razor shave - Straight Razor Place Wiki
also a lot more reading here:
Straight Razor Place Wiki:Books/Beginners Guide - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Originally Posted by mainaman

If the shave test fails, look up the classifieds for honing services.

Thanks. Just checked. Maybe I'll just send it off to Mr. Abrams.

+1 on doing a shave test. Stop it up an go for it. If it isn't shave ready I recommend sending it to any of our fine "honemeisters" listed on the member services section of the classifieds.

If you are so new to straight shaving (I may suspect) that you may not tell by shaving if it is shave ready or not, send it off, have them hone it and then you will know for SURE. Certainty on any given topic gives a newcomer a starting point, a basis if you will to determine clearly: "is it my shaving technique or my razor that is at fault?"

Perhaps more members will chime in on this.....

Boy, these guys are so good, I hesitate on determining proper grammar and in the mean time my response is already dated and obsolete!

Originally Posted by rickboone

Send it to a honer. Most I know will assess the blade at no charge. So, if in fact it were shave ready they'd ship it back and you're out shipping. Better to know though. Can you call where you got it from and ask what they did to get it shave ready? If they mention certain stones they used, chances are it is. If they said it came shave ready from the maker, it is not.

Good stuff. Thanks. The seller said he gave it a "look over" to make sure it was in good shape. I don't think he physically did anything to the blade out of the box though. He said that he has shaved with a straight razor in the past and doesn't think the shave is any closer, which gave he a hint that he hasn't shaved what what you folks consider a shave ready razor.