Thread: Starting out with a cheap straight

Originally Posted by boogyman19946

Hello all,

Firstly, I'm new to this forum so I'll take a brief time to introduce myself. My name is Kamil, and I will be 17 this January. I personally find liking in older things and methods as opposed to the modern stuff that's just produced so cheaply and uniformly nowadays it doesn't really carry any particular value anymore.

I liek that part.

Originally Posted by boogyman19946

To say the least, I'm the kind of person who would ask for a 50+ dollar fountain pen for his birthday rather than an Xbox 360 (which I don't have anyway because I think it's a waste of money and space).

I don't like that part. however, PS3 > XBox 360. IMHO.

Originally Posted by boogyman19946

Recently, I've been gifted a fairly cheap (and I mean cheap) straight razor from a friend who said it is fairly new; he bought the razor on ebay for maybe 10$ dollars about 1 or 2 weeks ago (supposedly it was new when he bought it). The razor is fairly dull and when put up to the light I can see the light reflect randomly all over the edge, although the edge is bowed so it's hard to say.

That gives me a cold shiver on my back.

Originally Posted by boogyman19946

The razor hasn't been used for anything, except for my idiot friend trying to cut his steel strings on the guitar >.>

OLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Originally Posted by boogyman19946

I thought that just maybe I can somehow resharpen the edge of the razor and make it reusable while still staying within a reasonable (for a 17 year old on allowance ^.^) cost. I've been looking around for hones and I find some for 10 bucks with grits of 120/240 or something like that which I believe are the ones used for restoring edges and whatnot. I am wondering, however, if it would be possible to actually use a higher grit hone like a 4000 maybe to do pretty much the same thing with a bit more time and saving myself having to buy so many hones.

I can't really take any pictures because I'm lacking a quality camera and all of them come out shady and unfocused. The razor says XL 1028 Stainless China; made by Tomahawk. It looks fairly nice and whatnot, so I'm actually somewhat interested in keeping it. Can anything be done about it? Please keep in mind how tight on money I am XD

Thanks for the help in advance!
Cheers!

Don't even bother with that razor, You might want to buy one off the forums. There are some really good ones with very acceptable prices, even for a 17 year old.

Or you might get really lucky, as I did, when I bought an excellent straight razor for ten bucks off a swiss auction site. A few strokes on the hone and voilà.

But if you like old, classic stuff and have objections against the (extremely unecological) disposable cartridge razors, then straight razor shaving might be something for you.

/EDIT: If the edge is bowed and the razor had been used for actually cutting guitar strings, then it's definitely ruined. Don't bother with a broken china razor. Hate to say this, it might make me sound a like a racist, which i am not, but true quality artisanry can only be found in western europe. when it comes to steel stuff, the japanese are probably just as skilled.