Most think it is awesome. A couple of colleagues at work are given straight razors a try, for various reasons. Not because they are really 'into it' like I am, but because they have skin irritation from their cartridgs, or because it's much cheaper.

What also happens is that people are now asking me to sharpen their kitchen knives, and a couple of people have also asked me to forge them a kitchen knife. The fact that I forge knives puts me way up on the manliness scale with most people. I'm a systems engineer, but everybody knows 'computer people'. Being a skilled engineer is not the big badge of distinction it once was. But the ability to fire a forge and shape metal on an anvil is rather unique among the people I know.