Thread: Newbie Questions

Hello and welcome to SRP!

A lot of your questions have quite subjective answers - perhaps the best answer to all of them is to do what works best for you. However, the best answer is not always the most useful one, so let me try to tackle a few of them for you in a more prescriptive manner:

1. There is no set figure on how many times you need to strop each side of the razor. However, I would think at least 20-30 laps (up and back) would be a good start;

2. Speed comes with time and practice. There is nothing wrong with going slowly until you get the feel for it. Many is the time that a new user ends up damaging both strop and razor edge by trying to run before they can walk. Practice good stropping technique and the speed will come. As a reference, we did a stropping speed experiment once, and found that really really slow stropping isn't much chop, but that a surprisingly slow rate still worked. I cannot remember the exact timings now, but perhaps one stroke (up or back, not both) per second sufficed.

3. When a razor needs honing is yet another subjective thing. It depends on things like your shaving technique, your stropping, your beard type, how often you shave, etc etc. So it is quite difficult to give a timing. However, without a doubt a razor needs to be rehoned once it starts to go dull. I realise that is not a particularly useful answer, but you can tell a razor is going dull when it starts to pull instead of cut, and you find yourself fighting with it to get through your beard. The problem when you are new is that most of the time even a well-honed razor feels like it is pulling due to various factors, such as inexperience and poor technique. It is one of those things, unfortunately - you need a well-honed edge, but you need experience to know what that is and when to rehone. Don't worry, it comes to all of us with time, but can be frustrating when beginning. But then, that is why we are here - to help along the way!

As for a stone, that is perhaps something best left for down the track a bit. I would strongly recommend minimising the learning curve slope as much as possible at this early stage. Focus on stropping and shaving technique first, and then add honing into the mix later. However, if you really want a recommendation for a stone, I would say, again, that at this early stage probably a touch-up stone would be the most appropriate for you - something like perhaps a Barber's hone or >10K, or perhaps a pasted strop may be easier initially.

4. I have no experience of the knife sharpening places you mention, but as a general rule the methods used to sharpen knives do not lend themselves well to honing razors. Therefore I would be very hesitant to send a razor to a knife sharpening establishment. There are many people here who will professionally hone a razor for you - take a look in the classifieds section of the forum under razor honing.

You've made a good first step with your questions here. I hope you find SRP an enjoyable and informative resource, and I sincerely hope that this time around, with our help and support, you successfully step into the world of straight razor shaving!

Good luck.

James.

Edit: There is a thread somewhere of abbreviations. A search should find it.