Thread: Tutor

If I got good enough with the straight and it turned out to be faster I would surely consider it as my primary shaver. The only reason I might still save it for luxury shaves is that it'll preserve the blade between honings (although once i'm good at that I'm sure i'll enjoy the honing and wait impatiently to dull my blade to hone it ). I'm really excited to start learning to shave with a straight, hopefully I'll get the chance soon.

I also hate to miss a day of shaving. Since I'm new, I'm hoping to improve enough with both types of razors so that I can get a bbs shave every day. Not quite there yet.

Honing is more important if you're restoring ebay specials (and if you hang around here a while you'll get that itch), and maybe for bringing a new razor up to snuff. For maintaining your daily shaver a paddle strop or barbers hone does the job with little fuss. Most shavers around here seem to refresh their blade every week to a few months, depending on a variety of factors. If you use the same blade every day it only requires a few laps on a pasted strop or barbers hone once a week to bring it back up to snuff. Total elapsed time of 1-2 minutes, not much longer than it takes to replace and dispose of the blade in a DE.

Don't forget to look at the "critical info for newbies" post too. there's good info there . Plus you can make due with a belt or homemade strop until you can afford a new one. If interested you can pm me on how to.

Very good observations on time tradeoffs. In any case you have to wait for the lather to do its work and the stropping helps kill that time. I started using a DE recently and it gives me decent shaves, but not as good as a straight. Shaving straight is also a more rewarding experience. I also switched to 2 passes, but I learned how to get as smooth in 2 passes as I did with 3 passes. All in all, I get great shaves in under 10 minutes now.
You also made a great point on touchup honing. It doesn't take very long and if you have a bunch of blades in your rotation, you only have to hone like once a month or two and save time per blade as you're doing them wholesale.

Listen to Glen! His info on making your own strop is great. You can also get some real nice pieces from Tony Miller and they won't break the bank.

If you want to do the Skype with video for a honing session or just to chat feel free to call anytime.

Guys,

You have all been super helfpul. I might take you up on the offer for the skype chat once I get started.

Hopefully I'll have a razor soon then I'll start digesting the guides and I'll probably have some questions. As far as making a strop, that might actually be fun. Are the paddle strops available from Tony combo strops and hones? If so, I might consider investing in one of those right off.

Thanks,

John

Tony has great paddle strops. He is very helpful PM him and he will set you right up.
I am very happy with the one I got from him.