Thread: New Zealand Honemeister?

Hi Sam

Welcome to SRP from the capital city. Nice to have another Kiwi here. Hope you stick at it. It gets kind of addictive (as you may have already gathered). After being bearded for about 20 years I am still surprised how much I now look forward to shaving.

Here are two options for you...

1. House of Knives has a guy who sharpens straights. Got my Grandad's Bengall done by him. The Wellington store sent it to Auckland to be done. Cost about $12.
2. Scott Boness is in Auckland and a SRP member. He advertises on Trade Me too - honing and shave ready razors from time to time. About $15 for honing.

I have a razor done by each and to my inexperienced face they both seem to do a comparable job. I get as comfortable a shave with either razor.

If your face is not used to a blade then it will take a little while to settle in. As you've no doubt read, a good lather makes the world of difference.

Good luck as you embark on your journey.
There's lots of great advice here at SRP.

That's awesome, thanks for the advice, I'll follow up on those leads tomorrow...

Originally Posted by nzFuzzy

As you've no doubt read, a good lather makes the world of difference.

Well, I had a good long, hot shower first, and I've got some Omega shave cream, which I did my best to get to a lather, with a new Badger brush.
None of that seemed to make it any easier, so I'm putting it down to:

1. Poor technique - wrong angles and grip etc
2. Blunt razor
3. Skin not used to a blade

I'll keep trying, get the razor professionally sharpened, and get a hanging strop (I tried to go cheap and got a small paddle strop/hone 2 sided combo)

My recent interest in straight razor shaving has shown that there is a real hole in the New Zealand market, Auckland in particular in my case, for this type of thing.
Someone (oh if only I had the capital) needs to start up a tiny little brick and mortar boutique store (Blade and Badger? Straight Steel? SRNZ (Straight Razors of New Zealand)?) that specializes in old school shaving apparatus.
Quality straight razors, strops, water-stones, pastes, badger brushes, soaps, aftershaves, pre-shave oils, all the paraphernalia, plus a quality honing service... That would be heaven!

Someone please open that here in Auckland?

Actually, I'd probably spend all my money (what very little there is) there, so on second thoughts, DON'T open that here...

Originally Posted by samgab

Someone (oh if only I had the capital) needs to start up a tiny little brick and mortar boutique store (Blade and Badger? Straight Steel? SRNZ (Straight Razors of New Zealand)?) that specializes in old school shaving.
Quality straight razors, strops, water-stones, pastes, badger brushes, soaps, aftershaves, pre-shave oils, all the paraphernalia, plus a quality honing service... That would be heaven!

I've discussed this scenario with a barber and it's a lovely dream but sadly not a reality.

A barber shave today is a luxury; after all we can all shave at home. Prior to Gillette manufacturing the DE razor people visited the barber for a shave regularly. It was as basic as buying tobacco and barbers were shaving as a routine and it was a fairly quick process. Now a barber shave is a luxury item because that is what the customer expects (it's worth noting that Gillette's early marketing pushed the new ability to shave yourself at home). This means the barber has to take longer over the shave - hot towels, face massage, slow painstaking shave, hot towels etc. In the time that takes he could do X number of haircuts at $Y each. Therefore for the shave to be cost effective he has to charge at least X x Y, at which point the customer says "next time wear a mask and carry a gun you thieving £$@". I think MensWorks in Lorne Street promote their shaving as part of a wedding day package for the Groom and Best Man, that's where the market probably is.

Regarding all the paraphernalia associated with our hobby. Again a lovely dream but I don't think there is a big enough market. Thank God for the internet!

you could also check out Mens Biz in Australia
Found this guy here at SRP. Haven't ordered anything yet but he offers SRP Discounts for NZ & Oz. I'm sure I'll decide on something soon.

Originally Posted by samgab

My recent interest in straight razor shaving has shown that there is a real hole in the New Zealand market, Auckland in particular in my case, for this type of thing.
Someone (oh if only I had the capital) needs to start up a tiny little brick and mortar boutique store (Blade and Badger? Straight Steel? SRNZ (Straight Razors of New Zealand)?) that specializes in old school shaving apparatus.
Quality straight razors, strops, water-stones, pastes, badger brushes, soaps, aftershaves, pre-shave oils, all the paraphernalia, plus a quality honing service... That would be heaven!

Someone please open that here in Auckland?

Actually, I'd probably spend all my money (what very little there is) there, so on second thoughts, DON'T open that here...

Hi samgab, here in the US there is a chain of wet shaving supplies call "The Art of Shaving" or AOS as is referred in this forum. Its all high quality wet shaving products. The store has introduced more people to wet shaving than anything else. I went to buy some cream from my son for his birthday and a month later I order my first str8 razor after doing my research in this forum. So there is a market for high quality wet shaving in general. My younger son uses a Fusion Gillette with the AOS products, my oldest is using a DE and wants to try str8 razor and me, I stared right from electrics to str8.

I don't know how the banks work in New Zeland, but if you can convince them that there is a market, they would lend you money here in the states. I think Gillette owns AOS, however, don't know if they have franchises overseas.

So you're not so far off thinking like that. Good luck Double O

Hi,

I have nothing much to add to what others have said but I did enquire at the Mt Eden House of Knifes regarding getting a razor honed and was told by one of the floor staff that they have a razor honer working for them that is an expert of honing and visits Germany ones a year to brush up his razor and honing knowledge.

I was also told that other shops such as the Shaver Shop would also sent their customer razors to him as he was one of the only professional master razor honers in Auckland, or so I was told.

So possibly it is only the Mt Eden branch that has the professional honer and I would not recommend contemplating taking the razor to another branch.

I can’t confirm or deny any of the above it is just what sales assistants have told me.

The time I made the inquiry to get my razor honed he was out of the country for 6 weeks in Europe late last year and I never got around to taking my razor back there. However I manage to hone it up the best I could on my Belgian Coticule with the slurry stone, then Chromium Oxide on balsa and it shaves now, although I am no expert.

Also within walking distance of the Mt Eden Branch of the House of Knifes is Lapco Leather on 5 Akiraho Street and they have a retail outlet store where you can buy offcuts of various types of leather if you are contemplating making up a strop or cut up one being a beginner (as I did) you may be able to replace the leather depending on your strop hardware if you need to New Zealand Leather Supplies Supplier - Lapco for Leather, NZ

Ps, shaving with a straight, honing, stropping and everything else is like a jigsaw, one day all the pieces are finally going to come together.

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by samgab

My recent interest in straight razor shaving has shown that there is a real hole in the New Zealand market, Auckland in particular in my case, for this type of thing.
Someone (oh if only I had the capital) needs to start up a tiny little brick and mortar boutique store (Blade and Badger? Straight Steel? SRNZ (Straight Razors of New Zealand)?) that specializes in old school shaving apparatus.
Quality straight razors, strops, water-stones, pastes, badger brushes, soaps, aftershaves, pre-shave oils, all the paraphernalia, plus a quality honing service... That would be heaven!

Someone please open that here in Auckland?

Actually, I'd probably spend all my money (what very little there is) there, so on second thoughts, DON'T open that here...

Dunno what the usual terminology is for you blokes in Un Zud, but they're called cut-throats here in Oz (as a general rule anyway). Aside from that little whinge, I would like to see a cut-throat/DE and accessories, with onsite honing offered, type shop open up here too. At the moment it is what you can get from the internet or what limited and uneducated stuff and information you can get from the 'Shaver Shop' franchise. I don't recommend Shaver shop for much other than slightly over priced merchandise.


Mick

Originally Posted by planetocean

Hi,

I have nothing much to add to what others have said but I did enquire at the Mt Eden House of Knifes regarding getting a razor honed and was told by one of the floor staff that they have a razor honer working for them that is an expert of honing and visits Germany ones a year to brush up his razor and honing knowledge.

I was also told that other shops such as the Shaver Shop would also sent their customer razors to him as he was one of the only professional master razor honers in Auckland, or so I was told.

So possibly it is only the Mt Eden branch that has the professional honer and I would not recommend contemplating taking the razor to another branch.

I can’t confirm or deny any of the above it is just what sales assistants have told me.

That would fit in with what I was told in Wellington.
Because it is a branch store, Wellington will accept razors for honing (as it's a House of Knives service) but they send them up to the guy in Auckland.
At no extra cost