Thread: Thinking about buying a straigth but..

Well, there are no honing services enywhere in my country. Believe it or not, classic shaving is unknown to pretty much everyone here and noone uses a brush (well, noone I know... besides my father and brother and that's because of me haha)
Shaving, around here, is all about speed and number of blades.

Anyways, I think I'll buy a straigth from a member of this forum somewhere in the near future (I tried a long time ago but my debit card was not accepted by paypal, this time I'll try a new credit card) The thing is, I'm afraid the maintenance cost could be too high.

I've seen the founder of SRP (Lynn) offers honing services at a reasonable price although living on another country could duplicate the cost but enough with the QQ, my question is:

If I use the straigth one or two days a week (the other days I shave with my MerkurHD ) and it is properly stroped before every shave, how often would it be need to be honed? 1 month, 3 months, 6 months?

I don't mind spending money on the honing services, specially if they're offered by one of the most famous members of the comunity n__n but I don't think I can do it too often

BTW, for those wondering, I live in Honduras :P

welcome to srp

the idea is that you should be able to maintain you razor sharp yourself. that's much easier than getting it there in the first place. of course if the edge is damaged it will need to go back to the coarse hones and it's a big job again.
there are many factors on how often the edge needs a touch up, but initially perhaps every 2-3 months, and as you get better at shaving and stropping you could probably go for a 6 months or a year.

Ah ok that's interesting n___n
Thanx for the welcome btw

Would you suggest me to buy a straigth razor and a sharpening stone? I've seen the members here also sell sharpening stones which is cool! n____n

Originally Posted by Compa

Would you suggest me to buy a straigth razor and a sharpening stone? I've seen the members here also sell sharpening stones which is cool! n____n

well, yes, but the most important part is that the edge start really good and then you have to resist the temptation to put it to the hone for the first 6-8 weeks.
it's probably best to buy a hone from somebody who has used it and can assure you it's a good hone for touchups. there are plenty of possibilities that will work and there are many that won't.

Originally Posted by gugi

the idea is that you should be able to maintain you razor sharp yourself. that's much easier than getting it there in the first place.

+1. The idea is self-sufficiency, so other than buying a shave-ready razor (either from the classifieds here or from one of our trusted vendors) all you really need is a good strop and some kind of touchup hone or pastes. Touchups are actually very easy to perform and should not be intimidating at all. Just a few licks and you're good to go again. Unless, of course, you end up damaging your blade somehow.

you will save LOT of money when you get your straight razor...when compared to DE/SE blades..one of the reasons why I changed after 2 years..also alot less nick's n cuts..straight razors for me..are the BEST there is!

good luck!
pcdad

Get a properly honed razor and an ultra fine stone and/or a pasted paddle strop and you'll get quite some mileage out of it once you've learned the technique. Some practice razors are a good consideration. Add a fine stone (4,000 grit) and you could very well go for many years without having to send it out.

X

time between honing or touchup varies quite a bit
Lets say 1-3 months when you start (being aggressive on the blade and not yet the best stropping)
After that you may make 3-12 months just stropping
You may also consider getting something for touchup at that point, i wont make any suggestions yet cause first you need to learn to shave and strop well

Should I get a cheap straigth to practice the honing and stroping?
I feel like a fish in the desert here .___. "I know there is water, but which way????"

So many questions! I apologize in advance if I ask something that has been answered many times in the past :P

Originally Posted by Compa

Should I get a cheap straigth to practice the honing and stroping?

You could, but a dull razor that is good for practicing stropping won't be a good honing practice. It would require a full arsenal of hones and good skills to make sharp. May be make a mock razor out of a piece of cardboard, or use a butter knife.
Or get a really cheap razor, so that it doesn't affect much the good razor budget.