Thread: Beginners Tips: December 2011

Merry Christmas to you to Glenn, and to all the rest of you fine gentlemen! Fantastic posts as always.

Great post thanks for the tips. its much appreciated that so many people here take so much time to help so much.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Stropping:
Learn to strop, no really all the stuff you read on here about honing is so un-important until you learn to strop correctly..

A great bunch of tips this month! I would encourage every beginner to take gssixgun's stropping recommendation especially to heart. Careful stropping is really what turns a straight razor from a thin sharp knife to an excellent shaving tool. It can stretch the time between honings from weeks to months (or years).

Originally Posted by Lynn

The main cause of rust on new folks razors is from getting the scales wet. The best way to avoid this is to not get the scales wet at all. Rinse only the blade under water when shaving or wipe the lather and whisker off on a dry towel.

Have fun

I've found that angling the blade with the scales up and running the water down the blade away from the scales helps keep them dry.

I started drying the blade THOROUGHLY, running a towel between the scales and then hitting the pivot with WD40 before putting it away since it's a water repellant....hoping that works out


Ps, Gs speaks wisdom about NO Pressure, I kept getting razor burn and realized I was without realizing it increasing pressure when I encountered hard to get smooth areas, lighter pressure *(AKA no pressure) and shorter strokes seems to help me here

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Seriously guys, Carbon steel razors rust in minutes, not hours, not days, but minutes.. also the new ones, and freshly buffed ones rust faster...

You are combining water, soap, and skin, you have to either keep it dry or learn to dry it after the shave..

Sooooo so true. I'd recommend if you take a long time to shave, don't have the blade wet for all that time. A simple routine of regularly wiping the blade with tissue etc during the shave will save blades from rust.
"Carbon steel razors rust in minutes"