Thread: new guy intro and a question about the art of shaving strop paste.

hey now, im brand new on here but ive been lurking for a few days. ive read a lot of the wiki on here and ive done a lot of researching straight razors(atleast the dovo ones) and what all im going to need to make this all happen. so far i just ordered up the razor and strop kit from SRD, "dovo best quality, 5/8", with a 3" black latigo strop", and i picked up the wally world special shave brush kit(boars hair brush, shaving cup, and soap) for $9 because i didnt want to invest too much more than $150 for something that i might not even like/get the hang of/enjoy, in which my wife says i better like it . i have a question though, i know that eventually i will need to get some stropping paste, and i have a "the art of shaving" store nearby(towson town center mall, MD). on their websiter they have a theirs issard stropping paste for $10...what im asking is, is this stuff any good and is it worth $10, or is there better for my money. lets face it, TAOS, sells the same razor i got for $100, not shave ready, opposed to $70 at SRD.com, shave ready from a master honemiester...TAOS can keep their logo off my blade for $30 cheaper....are they selling a $5 product with a $10 price tag? thanks

I would say you got enough to get you going . Razor (real shave ready), strop, soap, brush, encouraging wife. Once you get going you can decide what you want/need from there.

I am betting you will like the shave almost as much as your wife. Welcome to SRP and nice to meet ya :<0).

hot damn, that was fast and encouraging, lol. i enjoy things like a straight razor, no body i know uses them, so its interesting to me. i like to be a little different than everyone else, so i probably will enjoy shaving, and the first few accidental cuts i get(they'll be battle wounds from vietnam), thanks for the response

I would do some research on the pastes before you buy. Different people like different pastes and there are different grits for different things. For simply maintaining a razor a lot of people go with Chromium Oxide or diamond paste. Others go with jewelers compound or the Dovo pastes. You shouldn't need to paste for a long while anyway if you strop correctly without rolling your edge. SRD sells a bunch of different pastes. I have the Dovo black red and green and also Chromium Oxide. I like the chromium oxide the best. A lot of people never use paste at all. Sounds like you have a good setup to get started. You have everything you need, the rest from here is lagniappe.

Here is a very interesting and informative thread by Gssixgun that I really liked

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...xperiment.html

Oh yea, you may want to get a styptic pencil or swabs from the drug store. I found swabs for like a buck at my local grocery store. They come in handy for those battle scars.

Styptic pencil, check...bought one like a year ago. Thanks for link

You won't need paste at all if you don't want to use them. Since the razor will be shave ready, you will need to learn the strop so you don't roll the edge. Be careful when you start stropping, go slow, take notice of the tension on the strop and make sure the blade is flat. If you are careful, you won't need to have the edge "refreshed" for sometime. I only use Chromium oxide or .25 diamond spray to get one or two more shaves from an edge when I am too lazy to hone.
You should post where you are from as well. This would allow folks who are so inclined and live close to help you out a bit.