Thread: Need Advice

I just bought my first straight razor, along with the brush, soap, and Illinois linen/leather strop.

What process do I go through to get the razor shave ready? It is a Thiers-Issard 5/8 ful-hollow singing razor.

Do I hone it using the 4000 and 8000 grit stones, then a finer stone? When do I use a linen strop and do I need to treat it with anything?

I understand the shaving aspects. I just need to know what to do from the time I take it out of the box to the time I lather my face.

Test it with the Hanging Hair Test (HHT) first. Slowly bring a clean dry hair down on the edge of the razor with the root end hanging out. When the hair cuts cleanly all along the blade after the 8k stone you can move on to a finer stone and/or linen and leather stropping and shaving.

Use the Norton Combo sparingly as it's likely very close to shave ready if it came directly from the manufacturer. We alway recommend the Pyramid honing system where you switch back and forthe from the 4k side of the hone to the 8k side and write it like this ... 3/5 where "3" is three laps (back and forth) on the 4k side and "5" equals five laps on the 8k side. Always use extremely gentle pressue striving always for equality and evenness all along the edge. Since most TI's tend to have a slight smile (which is beneficial) you should use the 'X' honing motion being careful of the edge of the hoe or the Rolling Hone method to slowly and gradually transfer contact with the hone up the edge from heel to tip throughout the hoing stroke.

Start small with a refresher pyramid, doing 3/3, 1/3, 1/3 and then test with HHT. You might get lucky and this is all you'll have to do. If that doesn't do the trick move up to a small pyramid, 1/3, 3/3, 5/5, 3/5, 1/5, 1/3, 1/3 and HHT. The full pyramid if you need it is here. There's lots of good stuff to read there.

Once the hairs are popping you can go to the linen for between 10 and 20 laps to warm the edge and then the leather strop for 30-60 laps. Be careful and gentle with the stropping and draw an 'X' motion to cover the whole blade evenly.

X

If you either have some minimal honing experience or your positive you can do it follow X's advice. However if you have no experience or are not sure of your ability send the razor out to be honed by one of the pros here. I would hate to see you ruin a fine razor. You don't want to use it as a practice razor for honing. Get a beater off Eboy for that.

Since you have a nice new razor, you may want to send it to a pro for honing and pick up a cheapie from ebay to practice your honing on. This way you have a benchmark for keeness and you won't damage a relatively expensive razor. Just a thought.

Once its honed, you strop before each shave, 20-30 laps should do.

Jordan

Thanks for the advice guys.

Two more questions

1. Do I need to treat the linen and leather strops if they are new? I have some leather strop dressing, but what would I use to treat the linen

2. How often do I strop. I've been told to use the leather strop daily, but what about the linen?

Thanks for the help. I really do appreciate it.

1. No, but it's not a bad idea to help keep the leather soft and happy for a long life. I didn't treat my linen, but one of these days I'm gonna wash it.

2. I do 12 laps on the linen and then 50-60 laps on the leather before each shave. I also do about a dozen on some kind of leather (usually my brushed leather paddle) after the shave to clean the edge.

X

When hone a razor, I use a 4000/8000 grit, then do I use a finishing stone and then strop? What grit of finishing stone?

The finishing hone is a luxury as is the abrasive pasted paddle strop. You can have a perfectly good shave right off the Norton 8K.

Some of the available natural finishing hones are Belgian coticule, Thuringer, Escher, Chinese 12k.

Some of the manmade finishing hones are the Shapton pro series, some of the classic barber hones, any hone finer than 8K.

The least expensive and very effective method is to use a abrasive pasted paddle strop. Pasted with 0.5 micron chrome oxide or diamond paste.

Thanks a bunch

Originally Posted by xman

1. No, but it's not a bad idea to help keep the leather soft and happy for a long life. I didn't treat my linen, but one of these days I'm gonna wash it.
X

What do you use to treat the leather? Would Mink Oil or Neatsfoot Oil work? Or is something else recommended?