Not sure if I got everything now

Hi everyone,

First off, thanks for this amazing forum. I've learned so much already, but also due to the density of information, I feel slightly overwhelmed with regard to fitting purchases.

I recently obtained a T. R. Cadman & Sons of Sheffield "Bengal" razor, shave-ready. I also bought a (supposed) silvertip badger brush.

What I'm looking at now is getting:
1) A sharpening stone / kit
2) A honing strop / kit
3) Quality shaving creme
4) The rest?

For (1) I read that the Norton 4k/8k is a good way to go. I'm not sure if there are lower priced equally good alternatives, so I'd love to hear some about this subject;
For (2) I followed some advice from here on Whipped, but am not really sure whether the contents of the Poor Man's Strop kit are as extensive as the Rich Man's Strop kit. I don't mind spending a little more on this, but does it have everything I'll need?;
For (3) I still have some reading to do. As I live in the Netherlands, and expect to shave daily, I'll need to have a continuous supply of stuff that makes my skin happy.
So in the end, what do I need more, or is the shaving kit complete at the point I obtained a honing and sharpening kit, and some creme?

Thank you very much in advance for any input on these matters..!


Best regards,

Al

Your kit will be complete for a starter once you get a strop and some shave soap or shave cream.

The hone can wait for a little bit yet.

For the strop there are all sorts of ways you can go from very high end to very low end.

If looking to start for very little the poor man strop kit will do the job quiet well. Many people will by a lower end strop to learn on and then a couple years down the road by a better strop. I started with the poor man strop myself.

For shave soaps and shave creams I know in the US they had been fairly hard to find locally but it could be done you just need to do some leg work. Some guys around you may have some advise on where to start. However you will probably find a much better selection online.

As to the hone this typically comes later. It is highly recommended that you learn to shave first before trying to hone. Without k owing how to shave with a shave ready razor you really will never know if you are getting a shave ready edge from your own honing.

As to what hone to get there are plenty of options depending on what you want to do with your hones. The norton 4k/8k is a good do all stone as you can take a razor with no edge damage from dull to shave ready on it and you can use it to maintain an already shave ready edge. However if you only plan on maintaining an edge you probably get a barber hone from ebay or an antique store cheaper and use it to maintain your edge for an extremely long time. You could also put out a bit more money for a 12k hone like the naniwa and it functions similar to a barber hone just a bit slower. If you are going to restore blades that have edge damage you are going to need something in the 1k range, 4k range, and 8k range to get the best results.

Alrighty!

I ordered the rich man's strop kit, with an extra poor man's strop (so I can mess one up..!).

I'll look around for some good shaving creme in the Netherlands :)

Thanks for the input. I'll definitely look into honing equipment later on.