Thread: Need some help picking my first straight razor!

Welcome to SRP!
since you already have the brush and stuff form aos... i would suggest you contacts a vendor like Straight Razor Design or Vintagebladesllc or classic shaving and select a dove and a strop from their site... then you would know for sure that you are getting a truly shave ready blade to start with. i would be wary of "free lifetime" anything.

the strop from rup razor will serve you well for years if you take care of it.
you really do not need a sharpening stone right away. when you are ready for that you will have to decide where you want to go in this hobby. check out GSSixgun's beginner tips.

enjoy,
jim

Thanks for the advice

I think I decided on the bamboo razor. I did more research and a lot of reading and I don't think the honing and stropping are worth buying the whole set. I do already have a brush set and I think it would end up cheaper to just buy the razor I really want and the Filly strop. Eventually I plan on buying a honing stone sometime after a few shaves so I can keep my razor sharp without sending it away. On a second note, I found a cheap straight razor I bought from a knife catalog a while ago and I was thinking of practicing my stropping (and maybe honing) with this. Its fairly dull and has a bit of rust forming on the spine. Would it be better just to practice with a butter knife tho to protect my strop from getting cut?

the razor looks similar to this (and I think it cost about as much): Straight Razor - The White Razor

I don't know how good this razor could be for $5, but would it be worth it to send it to get professionally restored? carlmaloschneider mentioned purchasing a second razor to compare sharpness, would this work for that?

Pmorris,

Personally, I wouldn't waste my money on that five buck wonder as a stropping practice razor. Just use a butter knife from your kitchen to develop your stropping technique.

That's the same razor I've been eyeing. You can get that Dovo from here and even pick out which scales you want:
Dovo 415875 Straight Razor