Another newbie with newbie questions (long winded)

I'm new. Last time I shaved with a straight razor was about 50 years ago at my grandfathers home. Now that I have nothing better to do, I was planing to see if I could still do it without having to go to the hospital. I have not found a razor yet. I have bid on a few on eBay, but I always get over bid in the last few seconds.

I hate to admit it, but about ¾ of why I want to do this is the joy I get from sharpening. I have a series of Japanese water stores from 1000 to 12,000 (with Nagura stone). I pride my self on how sharp my tools, plane irons, and knifes are. I have some Artisan and Dojo Blue steel knifes that I feel are some of the sharpest knifes you will ever find. But I want to make the “sharpest sharp” I can possibly make. I figure I'll make a balsa strop, and buy a good felt and leather strop. I've watched most of the how to vids and read most of the posts on honeing and stropping

To start, I THINK I'll get one of the “Big Boy” strops off eBay and order a STRAIGHT RAZOR DESIGNS custom strop. I see these are available in a number of different leathers, and I can find no information on the different leathers and why I should select one over the other. Suggestions are welcome.

This is all leading up to a question. I'm getting the cheaper strop to practice on so I don't mess up the good one. I know these cheapy razors that are sold on eBay are junk, BUT I was wondering if they would be worth getting to practice my honing and stropping so I don't ruin a good razor. So does anyone have experience if one of these cheapys can take an edge if correctly sharpened?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Craig

A cheap razor can not take an edge. But an inexpensive vintage blade is not a cheap blade. Look for a good quality vintage blade and you'll be fine. You gotta study up though on what you buy.

There is some difference here between cheap and inexpensive.

Welcome to SRP! If I were you I would stay away from ebay until you are sure of what you are looking for. I think the best advice I could give you would be to do business with our members in the classifieds or the vendors who sponsor the site. Everyone here has a reputation to protect, not so with the vendors on ebay, most of whom do not even know what they are selling. You are going to fit right in here, welcome!

Hello Nun2Sharp, I have found this place to talk to you guys and hopefully being an old newbie someone will have pity on me and feel the urge to help a computer challenged individual out with his problems. Like I said before, I found this place to type, communicate and try to participate, but can not manage the same in the live time chat room. Can anyone tell me the process to get into the chat room on Tuesdays and Sundays at the appointed time to talk in real-time with other members regarding straights, their maintenance and care as well as use. I have a lot of questions that I would like to ask some of the more experienced members if I can figure out how to get to the appropriate place. Do you have to add webchat to your computer to have the message box to type in or what??? Anyone with any information that would be forthcoming would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for any help folks. Sonny082

Do be careful in sharpening. Like you I have a waterstone set and keep my knives and tools scary sharp but straight razors are kind of different in that the evenness of pressure must be so uniform. I learned this after I ruined a $120 Dovo by creating a frowning blade. The wiki has lots of good advice on honing and stropping as well.

This may sound stupid, but the reason I was thinking of starting on a POS razor was that I didn't want to screw up a classic razor. Sorta like I'll work on my '03 Mustang, but I would never think of doing my shade tree work on something like a '53 'Vette.

That said, I guess that the $40 razors in the classified aren't exactly limited classics. So I will feel bad if I screw one up, but its not like I'm taking one of only 50 made out. Once I have learned to properly hone and strop, I plan to buy a couple of Dovo razors from Vintage Blades to actually learn how to shave. The way my Grandfather thought me is way different from what I see in the Vids.

So with that settled, I'd love some suggestions on strop leather

I think a vintage razor is definately the way to go. I would not bother getting a POS razor as you put it. I learned to hone without ruining a razor; just was very careful while learning, and I certainly did not have the honing background that you possess. You are more likely to ruin the strop than the razor. If you round out the razor edge you should be able to hone it up again with some practice. And this way you can test the smoothness and figure out how good your stropping technique is progressing.

In terms of strop leather, I started out with a Dovo strop in Russian leather. I liked it because it doesn't have a huge amount of draw, just enough to give decent feedback. Now I have an English bridle from SRD and love it. I have not tried the Buffalo leather from SRD, but I have heard that this has a very heavy draw, so it may not be the best choice to learn on. I would try and pick something more middle of the roadish.

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Originally Posted by Sonny082

Hello Nun2Sharp, I have found this place to talk to you guys and hopefully being an old newbie someone will have pity on me and feel the urge to help a computer challenged individual out with his problems. Like I said before, I found this place to type, communicate and try to participate, but can not manage the same in the live time chat room. Can anyone tell me the process to get into the chat room on Tuesdays and Sundays at the appointed time to talk in real-time with other members regarding straights, their maintenance and care as well as use. I have a lot of questions that I would like to ask some of the more experienced members if I can figure out how to get to the appropriate place. Do you have to add webchat to your computer to have the message box to type in or what??? Anyone with any information that would be forthcoming would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for any help folks. Sonny082

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Hey there Sonny have you tried the Chat link


Chat


If this doesn't work you can download Pidgin and come in that direction

Pidgin, the universal chat client

We are IRC chat #SRP

Pidgin works fairly easy

Now if all that doesn't work, I have the answers hehehe

I will pm ya my number and talk to you on the phone and see if I can't get ya pointed right...

Hello and welcome to SRP :) As far as strop leather goes it's really all a matter of preferance and the amount of draw you want or like. Like someone before posted I started out with one of the Dovo strops and it worked very well. Now I have the SRD Red Latigo and really like the draw on it..from what I've heard it's more of a middle ground as far as draw. I hope this helps :)

+1 stay off ebay for now. My very first post here was about ebay and I got a lot of advice to avoid it till I know what to look out for. I stayed away and now I am glad I did. A better bet is to get a razor from another SRP member. Check the classifieds a lot and bargins show up. Another option is to get a razor here: Whipped Dog Straight Razor Sales
They are inexpensive but not cheap which is what you want.

As for screwing up a razor, I'll bet you'll be okay. Ask questions when you are unsure and chances are that someone on SRP will go out of their way to give you good advice. Good luck!

Since I'm very much a noob as well, I wouldn't put much stock in this 'advice', but here goes.

I too got in to this new hobby/obsession because I was interested in honing and sharpening. I've always liked keeping my knives as sharp as I could and that sort of thing interests me. So I've bought 3-4 junk ebay razors to practice before I try to hone my shaving razors. Sure I've probably wasted a bit of cash on bad razors but I put that cost in my entertainment/hobby budget.

The way I look at it it's what I pay for 'lessons'. When I decided to take up motorcycles, I took the rider courses. And god and my wife know I spend enough on accessories for that little hobby! Fly fishing, although I've been doing that my whole life, is the same way. It's just the cost of my hobbies.

So while the smart money stays away from the ebay and don't start off buying hones and all that; I still think it has been worth while to get some of that stuff and start practicing. I have learned several lessons that I would not have wanted to learn using my 'real' razors and have yet to do anything but strop them. Hopefully these lessons will serve me well once I do need to hone the razors I shave with.

It's like any other hobby: don't spend more than you can afford and don't expect to be good at up front. FWIW

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Originally Posted by cgswss

... order a STRAIGHT RAZOR DESIGNS custom strop. I see these are available in a number of different leathers, and I can find no information on the different leathers and why I should select one over the other.

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Craig,

Welcome to SRP! I see Glen has offered to talk to you by phone, so I know he'll definitely point you in the right direction. If you'd like to know more about the SRP strops, give them a call. You'll find that Don & Lynn are some of the nicest guys out there and will be glad to help you make a selection. I have a Premium I and a Premium IV English Bridle and love them both.

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Originally Posted by cgswss

So I will feel bad if I screw one up, but its not like I'm taking one of only 50 made out.

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I'd not worry too much about that. I bought a Roberson's Best at an antique store despite the fact that it that had been overhoned at the toe by its previous owner. Lynn cleaned it up & honed it for me last summer, and she's a sweet shaver. Glen changed out the scales on it a few weeks ago and honed it for me. See "Clothes Swap" http://straightrazorpalace.com/shave...tml#post737288 Is she the prettiest blade I own? Definitely not, but she takes a sweet edge (at least when Lynn and Glen hone her:)), and I always smile when she comes up in my rotation.

Greg

Nun2Sharp gave "the best advice I could give you would be to do business with our members in the classifieds or the vendors who sponsor the site." As to a strop, whatever you do practice with a butter knife. It take a lot of time to perfect that simple but essential skill. It sounds easy, but it is not so easy. And welcome but be aware, this can become addicting.:beer1: