What do I need to maintain a straight?

[kenno]

Hi,

I have no clue as to what I need? My dad used to use straights and I never took much notice as a kid but I do remember him running the blade across a belt of some sort.

Do I just need a strop or do you need paste, hone, stone or anything else to maintain a straight and keep it sharp?

Thanks,

Kenno.

[Malacoda]

Well, if you don't mind sending it out to a honemeister for a good honing 2-3 times a year (~$15-30), all you need is a decent strop - for use before each shave - and either second strop with some diamond paste... a balsa strop with some CrOx on it... or a barber's/finishing hone for touch-ups every 6-12 weeks (when the razor feels like it's starting to pull a little you touch it up on the pasted strop. When the pasted strop no longer enough to bring it back to 'sharp', you send it out for a good honing.)...

Or, if you don't want to send it out, you could invest in, and learn to use, a coticule - which is enough to do pretty much anything EXCEPT put a whole new bevel on a very dull or nicked blade that needs a whole new edge put on it (you'd need about a 1000 to 2000 grit stone to use before the coticule in that case). Of course, the same thing can be accomplished with a Norton, Naniwa or other hone set - it would just require multiple hones instead of one coticule.

[Stubear]

All you need at the start is a strop for use before (and after if you want) the shave.

As people progress they sometimes purchase or make a second strop for use with pastes, or they get a barbers hone from eBay. Some people get bitten by the honing bug and end up with a load of hones, in which case they might use them.

An easy way to go would be to pick up a barber hone on eBay for touch ups. You can get them for around $25, and just do half a dozen strokes on it once the razor starts to pull.

Straights are definately the way to go though, and my skin has never been better!

[jankrix]

All you need at the start is a strop for use before (and after if you want) the shave.

As people progress they sometimes purchase or make a second strop for use with pastes, or they get a barbers hone from eBay. Some people get bitten by the honing bug and end up with a load of hones, in which case they might use them.

An easy way to go would be to pick up a barber hone on eBay for touch ups. You can get them for around $25, and just do half a dozen strokes on it once the razor starts to pull.

Straights are definately the way to go though, and my skin has never been better!

so...pasted strop and barber hone is just the same?

[BHChieftain]

so...pasted strop and barber hone is just the same?

Here's a quick outline on what's going on wrt maintenance:

Strop: used before every shave to condition the blade. It cleans the edge and aligns the serrations. If you shave without stropping, you generally end up with razor burn.

After about 10-20-30 shaves (difference depends on the razor and your beard, etc), the edge needs to be touched up. You'll know this because even after stropping you'll feel the razor start to pull when you shave. There are several ways to touch up a razor:


1) A second strop with paste on it. There are different pastes to use, you can find that info in the wiki.

2) Barber's hone. Nobody makes these new anymore, need to find them on ebay.

3) Finishing hone like a belgian coticule (yellow one, using water only). Wiki has a good section on how to use the coticule. It acts different depending on if you use water (finishing mode), or with a slurry (honing mode). There are a bunch of other finishing hones you can use besides the coticule. You can go to the "hones" section on this site and ask what to look for for a finishing hone.

Then, once or twice a year you need to rehone the razor when touching up the razor does not work any more. You can either buy another hone or two to do this (or if you are lucky and have a good coticule, you can use that with slurry), or send it to a honemeister on this site who will hone it for you for a nominal charge.

Why does stropping/ touching up stop working? Eventually the geometry of the bevel of the razor's edge will get out of wack from use (curves too much) and needs to be restablished.


Hope that helps,
-Chief

[jankrix]

Here's a quick outline on what's going on wrt maintenance:

Strop: used before every shave to condition the blade. It cleans the edge and aligns the serrations. If you shave without stropping, you generally end up with razor burn.

After about 10-20-30 shaves (difference depends on the razor and your beard, etc), the edge needs to be touched up. You'll know this because even after stropping you'll feel the razor start to pull when you shave. There are several ways to touch up a razor:


1) A second strop with paste on it. There are different pastes to use, you can find that info in the wiki.

2) Barber's hone. Nobody makes these new anymore, need to find them on ebay.

3) Finishing hone like a belgian coticule (yellow one, using water only). Wiki has a good section on how to use the coticule. It acts different depending on if you use water (finishing mode), or with a slurry (honing mode). There are a bunch of other finishing hones you can use besides the coticule. You can go to the "hones" section on this site and ask what to look for for a finishing hone.

Then, once or twice a year you need to rehone the razor when touching up the razor does not work any more. You can either buy another hone or two to do this (or if you are lucky and have a good coticule, you can use that with slurry), or send it to a honemeister on this site who will hone it for you for a nominal charge.

Why does stropping/ touching up stop working? Eventually the geometry of the bevel of the razor's edge will get out of wack from use (curves too much) and needs to be restablished.


Hope that helps,
-Chief

hmmm things are getting clear now, especially the last part about the bevel thanks mate!

[Jasongreat]

Check the Wiki, there is everything you could ever want to know about what it takes to get started.

Just a strop could get you by for quite a while and you could send the razor off to be re-honed when needed, or you could add a barber hone to the strop, and you would have to send it off less, you could also use a paste on the back of your strop to replace the barber hone, or you could buy all the hones you need and learn to sharpen razors for yourself. And there are many many other mixtures of ways to get there, it all really depends on you, and what you want to do. Straight shaving is very individually based from the razors, to the strops, to the creams and soaps, brushes, and on and on, which is why most of us have aquisition disorders.

Welcome aboard.

[kenno]

thanks gents,

dunno if i want to take the plunge just yet as it seems a bit of maintanance. i was hopping it would be just stropping and maybe every 3-5 years or so some extra kind of sharpening.

i'm always looking for something that will be better for the skin (why i de shave with soap) and was hoping straights are the way to go.

[JimmyHAD]

thanks gents,

dunno if i want to take the plunge just yet as it seems a bit of maintanance. i was hopping it would be just stropping and maybe every 3-5 years or so some extra kind of sharpening.

i'm always looking for something that will be better for the skin (why i de shave with soap) and was hoping straights are the way to go.

Welcome to SRP. Straights are the way to go. There is a bit more to it than popping a cartridge into a handle or placing a blade into a DE but once you get past the learning curve it is easy and you'll get the best shaves of your life. If you don't get hung up on buying more razors one or two will last you the rest of your life. A strop and a barber hone can pretty much maintain a shave ready razor from now on. Like Jasongreat said, if you haven't checked out the SRP Wiki beginner's guide here take a few minutes and give it a read.

[kenno]

Welcome to SRP. Straights are the way to go. There is a bit more to it than popping a cartridge into a handle or placing a blade into a DE but once you get past the learning curve it is easy and you'll get the best shaves of your life. If you don't get hung up on buying more razors one or two will last you the rest of your life. A strop and a barber hone can pretty much maintain a shave ready razor from now on. Like Jasongreat said, if you haven't checked out the SRP Wiki beginner's guide here take a few minutes and give it a read.

thanks guys, the wiki has some good info,
ty kenno