Thread: Getting a bit overwhelmed...

Originally Posted by Maxi

I agree almost completely with the advice given by DLB. The only thing we may disagree on is the strop. My vote would be to purchase a nice strop first....not a Kanayama mind you, but you can't go wrong with something from SRD. Many of the members here use the Premium I or the Premium IV (with the webbed fabric as the second material).

The reason I recommend buying a good strop from SRD to begin with, is that their materials are replaceable. If you nick your leather all to bits, you can purchase the replacement leather, or a differnt leather, for approximately the same price as a "beginners" strop would have cost in the first place.

O. K., Maxi, I admit it. I bought a high quality 3" SRD Premium I hanging strop for my first strop and shortly thereafter bought a NIB SRD paddle strop from a B&B member. If you can afford it, go ahead with a real quality strop. I do think there are some good arguments here for going with a modular strop.

AND YES, I nicked the heck out of that first SRD hanging strop.


Happy Shaving!

Chicks dig scars, so your strop much be The ladies man.

So is it better to learn to strop on your face, or to become your strop's wingman?

Hey Socalkid, these guys have laid a great foundation on this thread so I won't reiterate that but I will say that you are on the right track and the feeling overwhelmed part, I think is normal. I just started the first of this year and was the same way. So many different methods and views on what's the best way to get things right. I've learned a lot on this forum. Stick with it and you will find what works best for you. Something I heard on another forum that I'm going to steal is "Remember the 6 P's: Prior Preparation Prevents P*ss Poor Performance." And if not, like aircoder said, chicks dig scars.

Hello,

Thanks for all the info guys! I was definitely over thinking it. Im going to go with a strop from SRD and also get a pasted strop. I like that SRD's strops are able to be rebuilt. Maybe in a few months Ill get a 10k or 12k stone and a 325 diamond, then a 4k/8k and last a 1k. I have a few paddle strops Ive made for knife sharpening, I like the paddle strops a lot so Im not sure if Im going with a paddle or hanging strop. Tomorrow at 3:15 my first razor comes in the mail!!!! I have all my sandpaper cut and laid out from 320 to 2k, a few wood sanding blocks, some baby oil (cutting oil), Dremel tool, a bunch of g10, ball-peen hammer, brass rod and washers and the radio on some country music. Should be fun:-)

Thanks for the help,

Chris

You have all the advice you need on strops and such already posted, so let me comment on the Overwhelmed part as I think are personalities are similar. With this hobby as much as reading and watching videos helps get the toes wet it is time and experience that make a huge difference. Getting that razor in your hand every night and making more and more passes.

Right now you have all this information and nothing to apply it to yet. I think that is where the overwhelmed part comes in. I am sure once you start making those daily shaves and stropping every night your brain can start processing all this new knowledge which will start to ease the confusion.

Remember that the point of all this is shaving, the restoring, honing, stropping are all just the fun parts of the journey