Beginners Tips: June 2012 (5 Year Retrospect)

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Well my friends yesterday was 5 years on SRP for me, and here either today, or tomorrow will be 15,000 posts..

So a little retrospect I thought was in order..


I started using a straight razor 31 years ago this month, I was taught how to use one, and how to maintain one from my Barber, David in Denver Colorado when I grew my very first beard at the age of 22.. David explained that in order to keep nice straight lines and to keep a beard groomed correctly you need a straight edge... I loved it as I could actually shave more than twice a week and not get angry skin from it.. I managed to keep two razors shaving for the next 20+ years with an Illinois strop and a very very fine Arkansas stone. About the time we moved to Idaho in 2002 was when I dropped and destroyed my last straight, so for the next few years I tried everything you can imagine to keep neat, clean, and groomed.. My skin rebelled and I threw in the towel with all the BS gizmos, told the wife thats it I am going back to a Straight Razor.. I marched myself out to the shop and up into the loft and dug through the storage boxes until I found my old strop and my old stone..
This was about Dec 2006 - Jan 2007, so armed and dangerous, I started with Google :) I found a few razors on e-bay, my first purchase was a Wostenholm Pipe, after that I wasted money on a Fillarmonica #10 :(
I fixed up the Pipe and got it shaving and really enjoyed the process, so next I found a 22 razor lot on e-bay and snatched it up, the wife raised an eyebrow at that one, as she knew how I could get from the Gun "Hobby"..
This was somewhere around April or May of 2007 and I decided that I might need a different stone, so I started searching on Google, I found "The Perfect Edge" and after a informative hour long conversation with Howard I ordered a Norton 4/8...
So armed with a new Norton, and a ton of gunsmithing smarts I proceed to carefully take some of my 22 razor lot apart, and being the anal retentive person, I am I had my calipers and my trusty notebook, and measured, checked, and learned, why those smart fellas back in the past did things the way they did..
Tearing things down and re-building them was something I always enjoyed doing and was pretty good at and after all, razors were steel and so were guns :) I knew how to polish, and I knew how to take my time, so maybe 3 razors into this endeavor I joined SRP on June 17th and started posting.

I learned a bit about honing I did not know, Thanks to Lynn and others like him, I already knew how to maintain my razors, I knew what an X-stroke was, and to hone lightly, but learning to set a bevel was a whole new experience..
IIRC when I joined SRP we had maybe 2800 members, it was a rather tight knit community and so amazingly helpful.. I started hanging out in the old chat room with Jared/Nickelking (RIP brother) and Byron Todd, Doc, Syslight, Hoglahoo and Gugi, we would sit in that old cave and BS for hours...
Sunday night chats started back up, and I got to know Lynn through there, and finally met him and most of the Chat Crazies at the first 2008 NC meetup.. By that time I was hooked and well into honing and restoring...
Over the last 5 years I have never stopped learning, and questioning everything about this hobby, there is always a mystery to solve or chase, it never seems to end.. I think that is what I really love about it, there is always a new challenge, so when you hear the senior members say "This is a journey and not a destination" take that to heart...
Many come here to learn the knowledge to shave, and maintain their razors and move on, others of us have made this into a hobby that we cherish and continue the tradition of helping people get started using a straight razor that is SRP..

In closing this I will go back to a saying that I used to welcome newbies to the forum with

"Welcome aboard the Straight Razor train, may yer ride be long and smooth"


g

Thank You Glen for your tireless dedication and help for all us newbs. Your honing videos are so very helpful and your patience with the same questions never seems to end. So Thank You sir!

Very well said Glen.

Your experience mirrors the rest of us who have been at this for a time to one extent or another.

I remember the day Glen arrived here. The forum had been quiet that day. A little too quiet, if you know what I mean. We were all just sitting around trying to out exclamation mark each other. Mark Avery was winning (as he always did, think that guy had two fingers permanently grafted to shift-1 !!!!!!!!!!), and we were looking for a distraction. Then in walks Glen. You could have heard an apostrophe drop as he unleashed post after post.

And things really haven't changed since then. I'm always amazed at how he keeps coming up with new ideas to be honest - I can only assume there's a lot of time to think during those 10 months of the year he is snow-bound in that god-forsaken place he calls home :D

Cheers Glen - here's to many more 5 years'es! :tu

James.

There are few we can be so grateful to for your incredible generosity in sharing what you know. Many Thanks, Glen.

You're roughly 53 years old and you have 15,000 posts on an internet bulletin board dedicated to razors - and you call me a geek! :rofl2:
Congrats on 5 years and 15,000!

Thanks for all you do for the razor community!



Here's to the next 5/15! :beer2:

I would like to thank you for all you have taught me, Glen, via your videos and your dedication to the education of us newbies.
May all your shaves be smooth ones.

Glen you have been so helpful to others, myself included! I learned so much from the Norton exercise you ran at the beginning of this year. Your encouragement to think out of the box is a gift to all of us. Thank you, thank you!!!

I would like to think that I will still be using a straight after 31 years - however, given that I 'm 40 years older than when you started, that may be a challenge.

Congratulations on your incredible output. You also appear to have an incredible memory since your can pinpoint your start date to a month and year - or did you make a note of it?

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Originally Posted by UKRob

You also appear to have an incredible memory since your can pinpoint your start date to a month and year - or did you make a note of it?

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I have a good memory, but there was a part of that story I left out, that involved a pretty hot young lady and my Birthday (also this month) that makes it much easier to remember :p

Congratulations on 5 years at SRP, Glen!

Thanks for all the help with honing instruction and razor restorations, especially that bad-assed Tiger Thistle you honored with this post! Thanks for finding me a fine specimen of a bellied hollow. Amazing what you can find on the Bay when you know what you are looking for, and I love me some N.Y. steel now thanks to you.

Again, thanks for everything, Glen. You rock, sir! :rock:

Hi Glen.
You are a credit to all that love the straight. I wish you many, many, many more smooth shaves. Very Best, John

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I love reading on here as people progress along this path we have all have chosen, that at 3 months they think they have it, and at 6 months they know they didn't...
Each time you tackle a new razor on the hones, it teaches you something, then as you take that razor to your face, you learn again, there really is no end to this journey...

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says it all. Or as my piano teacher said on my first lesson 'with a million things to learn, we best get started'

congrats Glen, Your advice and videos have been invaluable to my learning the str8 razor, happy 5 year anniversary!

regards Alex

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

In closing this I will go back to a saying that I used to welcome newbies to the forum with

"Welcome aboard the Straight Razor train, may yer ride be long and smooth"

g

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Glen I can remember that greeting when I signed up in 2008. :) Thanx for everything since that first day. I owe you some school fees :D

My first major questions were answered by this guy, and you could say that he is a wealth of information and knowledge. You would be right, but he's way more than that. He has helped more people than I know with questions that are asked over and over again. I recently asked him a question about a razor I had, and he gave me some advice and showed me where someone else had a similar problem and helped me to solve it. Fortunately, all that it took to resolve my issue was asking Glen. Thanks for the tips, the honing guidance, and all the rest! Congratulations on the 5/15000... Sounds like we're talking about a car. But on top of that, thanks for being willing to share your knowledge with the folks here, I appreciate it more than you know.

Plus, I wouldn't have 20 shave ready razors to rotate if it wasn't for you.

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Originally Posted by justalex

says it all. Or as my piano teacher said on my first lesson 'with a million things to learn, we best get started'

congrats Glen, Your advice and videos have been invaluable to my learning the str8 razor, happy 5 year anniversary!

regards Alex

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I knew my piano teacher wasn't the only person that said that!!

"AT THIS POINT IN TIME" :rofl2:
I would like to thank you for your continued guidance through this hobby of straight razor shaving, honing, information and love of the shave. Because of you I now have fifteen shave ready razors and l am looking for more. Let's all raise our glass to Glen and wish him many more years of leadership. :beer2:

Great post. 31 years! Wow!

:beer1:

Here's to you and all your experience, help, videos and posts! You're a real Gem to this forum Glen.

Congrats Glen and thanks for all your contributions! I gotta catch up on the new developments during my absence and your posts/vids seem to be on top of them, so you'll be my first stop. I'll probably bug you on some gunsmithing-fu (and I'm sure some oldtimers will freak at this comment as I was somewhere between an anti and a Fudd last time I was active on the forum ;) )

Congrats on your 5 year mark Glen,
and 15,000 posts in that time is just incredible
Like all the other members I extend my thanks for your valuable contributions here
Your videos are some of the easiest to follow and very informative
I especially enjoy the little hints and tips you give on whatever subject you cover
I wish you every success in the future.