Thread: Newbie here, have a few questions

Alrighty so I recently purchased a new razor and strop from Tony. I am very new to the world of straight razor shaving but I have been reading as much as I can. First off I noticed people talk about "the video" on these forums, does this refer to lynn's video he made? I would like to purchase this DVD but I can't find where to buy it lol. Secondly "lapping" appears to be the method of flattening your hone. I purchased a norton 4000/8000 water stone and I want to lap it the day I get it, but I am somewhat unclear on the method. Something to do with sandpaper, glass (or tile), and a figure eight pattern. I take it you wet the sandpaper and stick it onto the glass or tile, then wet the stone and run it in figure eights over the sandpaper. Please tell me if this is correct or not. I searched for "lapping" but I had overwhelming results that didn't give a thorough explanation.

Oh and lastly how much "paste" should I apply to a strop?

Welcome aboard Kenny. Lynn's DVD is really a great resource and I found it informative even after I became a pretty advanced users. I could probably borrow it again, watch it and learn a few new tricks lol. I'm surprised I couldn't find it on Lynn's site, but here's one place that carries it: http://www.classicshaving.com/catalo...51/3712226.htm
To lap, you need a flat surface. Either glass, flattened marble or granite (I use granite). Spread some water over it, run water over both sides of a sheet of 1000 grit wet/dry sand paper, slap it onto the tile. While you were doing that, your Norton, with 3x5 grids pencil-drawn on both sides, was enjoying its 15min soak in the water. Take the Norton out of the water, run it over the sand-paper in a figure-8 pattern starting with the 8k surface and doing the 4k last. Once all the pencil-marks disappear, your hone should be flat. During your first lapping, also round off the edges.
I'll let someone else chime in with the paste answer because so far I've only had experience with a mix of abrasive powder and strop dressing and my "paste" was more like a liquid lol.

Hey thanks for the response! So do I draw with pencil before I soak it?

Also the "paste" Tony gave me is actually a liquid also, I order a yellow paste from the internet. Do I just run this "dressing" on the strop?

Tony gave you strop dressing. That's what I use to mix with the abrasive powder I got from Keith at HA. Tony's strops come ready to use and don't need an initial application of dressing. There are three occasions when you should use it:
1) When you feel your strop is losing its draw and suppleness (almost never if you rub it with the palm of your hand before each stropping)
2) You are mixing it with an abrasive that you will be putting on a paddle strop or a bench strop/hone (once in a blue moon)
3) When you nick your strop and polish out the nick, you first apply some dressing on the polished area, let it soak in and then you dress the whole strop to make the surface look uniform (very often in the beginning, almost never once you get the hang of it).

As for drawing the grid, I learned to recognize the flatness of the hone by the feel I get when I move it over the sand-paper so I stopped bothering with it. However, I don't see it making a difference either way whether you pencil the grid before or after. If one way doesn't work you know what not to do next time

Thanks again for the information and feedback, but why would rubbing the strop with the palm of your hand keep it's draw? Just rub all over? Lol sorry for these newb questions.

Hey we're in Newbies Corner and I'm obviously staying in tonight, so it's all good There are 2 reasons for rubbing the leather with your palm:
1) To warm up the leather before you take the razor to it.
2) Natural oils from your skin condition the leather.
I just rub the stropping surface but on those rare occasions when I condition the strop, I apply the dressing all over.