Thread: Bare Bones Minimum

I have been straight shaving for years... For years I used nothing but an arkansas and Enders hone. I found this site and bought a razor that was pro honed and found out what i was missing all these years... That is why I now use better stone.. I didn't know, what i did't know about a good shave.

I basically get by with an old two sided barbers' hone. I have a bunch of other hones, but the old bugger gets the job done just fine. It's a funny thing, I was thinking, how much better a shave could I ever possibly want? I just can't imagine getting a better one off a $1000 hone - if such a thing even exists. When I learned to shave with the straight, the gentleman tht taught me, he shaved with one razor (it had belonged to his grandfather and he was my parent's age), had one barber's hone and had one leather strop. I don't think he's even heard of chrox or any of the other things routinely discussed here. Someties we forget what it is exactly we are trying to accomplish here, and how, if we aren't careful, we can over-think it.

I am not a SR expert but I figure I would just throw my cents in haha. My opinion is that "back in the day" those barbers werent spending the hundreds of dollars on product NOT because they wouldnt want/need it as much as it just didnt cost that much back then(again I am not even sure if they had XXXXX grit stones back then just saying) The way the dollar has gone to the crapper what we call a $100 blade they prolly spent $10 on? Maybe less? Things were "cheaper" back then, but not really since most people weren't making as "much" money as we are. Back then people would work for $20-40 a day and be pretty comfortable, where as today getting $20 a day would force you to get food stamps or other aid.

All that is said to add to what everyone else is saying. One doesn't always need that extra bit of tech, its more of a kicks and giggles/hair splitting(pun intended) kinda deal haha. "Do I NEED that $5000 camera?" ... "Nah but some of those new upgrades would get me another half a stop of light so I wouldnt have to steady my hands as much..." Thats my... few hundred cents

Originally Posted by stevenbrandt

I am not a SR expert but I figure I would just throw my cents in haha. My opinion is that "back in the day" those barbers werent spending the hundreds of dollars on product NOT because they wouldnt want/need it as much as it just didnt cost that much back then(again I am not even sure if they had XXXXX grit stones back then just saying) The way the dollar has gone to the crapper what we call a $100 blade they prolly spent $10 on? Maybe less? Things were "cheaper" back then, but not really since most people weren't making as "much" money as we are. Back then people would work for $20-40 a day and be pretty comfortable, where as today getting $20 a day would force you to get food stamps or other aid.

All that is said to add to what everyone else is saying. One doesn't always need that extra bit of tech, its more of a kicks and giggles/hair splitting(pun intended) kinda deal haha. "Do I NEED that $5000 camera?" ... "Nah but some of those new upgrades would get me another half a stop of light so I wouldnt have to steady my hands as much..." Thats my... few hundred cents

well as we all know from our old razor boxes most of were sold for $4 or less most of mine say $2.50 or $3 and i have an old "shilling razor" it is a 7/8 chunk of old Sheffield. back when razors were popular they were just tools not collectors items.

that said i have shaptons, coticules, dmt plates, barbers hones and thuringens. most common used hone: 6x2 combination coticule. it stays on the sink.

Something to consider about "back in the day" when a razor cost three bucks. In some cases that was a day's pay. A pocket knife with a lot more parts to fit and finish cost fifty cents. The cutlers that ground razors were the highest paid of the cutlery profession. A razor was a tool to be used and it was an investment as well.

My great grandfather, carried a straight razor, a small hone, a little mirror, a tin cup, and brush in his saddle bag. He used the saddle cinch for a strop. Every picture I's seen of him he was clean shaven. I wish I had his shaving gear but it was lost in a house fire a long time before I was born. The reason I know this is that my grandfather relayed that information to me many years back before his death. Those guys may not have gotten the super shaves from razors we are getting today, but they made do with what they had.

BTW, I watched a NOS Northfield single blade jack with ebony handles and the original paper wrapping sell for over four hundred on ebay a few months back. That knife probably sold for twenty five cents when it was new.

I've maintained and set bevels out of necessity on barber's hones as that is all I own at the moment. I intend to buy a set of Naniwa stones simply because they get work done SO much faster and easier. I like fooling with these things and hope to buy, restore, and sell a few here and there to help fund my madness.