Thread: Sound advice for newbies

As I read post after post, I see several recipes for disaster...Newbies just starting to shave are also anxious to start honing their razors and also use paste...This is a potential disaster for several reasons... a new shaver needs to either send out their razors to be honed by an experienced honer or purchase a used shave ready razor from a reputable sell not one on ebay...With a properly honed razor, a new shaver will learn what a sharp razor should shave and feel like thus establishing a bar to compare other razors in the future...The hone should last 2-3 months during which time the new shaver can learn and improve his shaving and stroping techniques...Honing a razor correctly takes considerable practice and if one doesnt know what a shave ready razor feels like, you wont know if the razor you hone is really sharp...there is a big difference between shaving with a kinda sharp razor and a really sharp blade...With regard to paste, wait to become proficient at stroping your razor...If you strop a razor poorly a good restrop will most always bring the edge back to where it was before you screwed the pooch! A poor stroping with paste will almost certainly destroy the hone on the razor making it basically unshaveable...so masteryour stroping tech before going to paste...If you must buy a stone buy a norton 4000/8000 and a begium codicle to finish up the hone...Buy new stones not used if possible...this is a long term investment and why not start fresh with stones in perfect condition...finally there are many experienced shavers on this forum who will answer your questions ...I am also seeing some very new and inexperienced shavers chimeing in with their opinions and advice...while their intentions are honorable and they want to help, their opinions and advise may be flawed... you are better off getting advise from experienced shavers...patience...

I've brought this up as something to think about before and the more I think about it the more serious I'm starting to take it myself. Maybe we should be telling the novices out there that before starting to shave with a straight they should get themselves a practice razor and develop their honing skills and stropping skills. You all realize almost every post from beginners involves how to hone or strop or I just messed up my new Dovo. Sure you can send out the razor to be honed but every ten or so shaves then what? Are you going to keep sending it out.

Unorthodox advice? Maybe but just something to think about.

There can be no doubt that an inexperienced honer/stropper can ruin his edge very easily, but experience can come in many forms.

East Indian Tabla players study singing for years before they even touch the drum. This way they know when their actions are correct because they know what the sound should be.

I started honing and shaving at the same time. Seemed to work for me, but I also knew that I didn't want to mess with the honemeisters edge at first so I got myself an eBay Duck which actually became shaveable before the honemeister's arrived.

X

A properly honed razor will stay sharp with proper stroping for some 60-90 shaves if you dont believe me ask lynn...plenty of time to get comfortable with stroping and shaving...put a hone in a newbie's hand even with a practice razor and he will sooner than he should put the good razor on the hone...human nature!

I would like to chime in here as a newbie. I started off not knowing anything about straight razors and bought the cheapest thing I could find on ebay that was described as "new". Stupid! It was a pakistani razor that is now in my tool box to be used as a box cutter. Then I discovered this site, found out Paki razors are crap, and that new razors are seldom shave ready. I then bought another NOS razor from ebay, it was still not quite shave ready but it would cut hair, it just pulled when I got to the heavy parts of my beard. I tried to used a pasted dtrop to get it into shape but nothing worked. I was ready to give up straight razors completely. That is when I finally ordered a razor from Bill Ellis. It was kind of a last ditch effort for me to see if I could actually shave with a straight. Once I shaved with the shave ready razor from Bill it completely changed my attitude. Now that I know what a sharp razor feels and shaves like I want to continue using a straight. I have a pair of 4000 and 8000 grit hones that I can use on the other razor while I develop my technique using the shave ready razor. I guess what I am saying is the first thing I think a newbie should buy is a shave ready razor. Then you can see if you like straight razor shaving and determine if you want to invest in hones and other razors. Let's face it. Shaving with a straight is not for everybody and it is best to find out with a good razor than to start out with something that is going to disappoint no matter what.

Just my 2 cents

thx Jim I think you are a great example of my post...Im glad things are working out & you are starting to enjoy a new and better way of shaving...Im sure your hones will be fine...I would rather see you with a norton4/8 and a belgium cot but see how it goes...I would suggest buying a shave ready razor from either a vendor on this site or a member of forum instead of ebay for awhile if you desire another razor...razors on ebay usually arent shave ready and unless you are careful know the ques to ask the seller and look closely at pics you can get duped...

Well Jim I couldn`t aggree more
I went the other way before I found this forum and I recon that I`m probably a couple of hundred down and still need a few items
I wish I had found you guys earlier
Kind regards Peter

My advice in this case would be for a newbie to get a Shavette, and start learning honing and stroping right away, referencing to a DE blade sharpness. You have to learn that sometime. As for the lasting of the hone job, I have to touch up my razors every 7-10 shaves. That is far from 60-90 shaves, and I think it depends on the coarsness of the beard.

Nenad

I started learning to hone right away......it worked for me.

As usuall, I took the other route...I learned to hone before learning to shave. Bought an e-bay special (actually not a bad razor--a Silberstahl) and spent several evenings with it on my Arkansas stones. As you might imagine, it took awhile to bring a dull razor to shaving sharpness on an Arkansas Black. However, I did it and in the process learned how to hone, learned that shaving is indeed the best test for a sharp razor, learned that I needed a faster hone (not necessarily better)...quickly bought a Norton 4/8K, and later, to check my honing skills bought a Lynn honed razor.

Just another data point,
Ed