Thread: Good place to shop for Straight razor sets?

I'm looking to get in to straight razor shaving.

Where's a good place to get the full set? A straight razor(decent quality, shave ready preferably), strop, hone, etc. Everything I'll need to shave with a straight razor.

I've been DE shaving for a while, so I have a brush and plenty of soap.

If someone could point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by Capt America

I'm looking to get in to straight razor shaving.

Where's a good place to get the full set? A straight razor(decent quality, shave ready preferably), strop, hone, etc. Everything I'll need to shave with a straight razor.

I've been DE shaving for a while, so I have a brush and plenty of soap.

If someone could point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated.

Hi,

Everything you need can be found here:
http://shop.thewellshavedgentleman.com/splashPage.hg

Tony at www.thewellshavedgentleman.com will have dovo razors and strops and www.classicshaving.com will have strops, razors and hones.

Lots of the guys here can sell you a high quality, shave ready vintage razor and you can pick up strops and hones separately. You won't need a hone for a while if you get a shave ready razor and a good strop. Tony will pre paste one side (or more) of his strops for a reasonable fee.

I highly recommend getting Lynn or one of the other honemeisters to get your razor "shave ready" sharp and then get Lynn's DVD to see how to strop, hone and shave. Welcome and have fun.

Mike

Just so I have this right- honing is making a dull blade sharp, while a strop is used for pre-shave sharpening?

And if I buy from www.thewellshavedgentleman.com, they will come shave ready, right? Or after I buy one of the razors from there, will I still need to have Lynn/other honemeister to prep it?

Originally Posted by Capt America

Just so I have this right- honing is making a dull blade sharp, while a strop is used for pre-shave sharpening?

Yeah, pretty much. Stropping the razor makes sure the blade is aligned before you shave, and is done every time you shave. Honing is less frequently done, and serves to sharpen a blade that has dulled over time.

And if I buy from www.thewellshavedgentleman.com, they will come shave ready, right? Or after I buy one of the razors from there, will I still need to have Lynn/other honemeister to prep it?

Yes. Tony sells all his razors pre-honed and ready to rock. I've never shaved with one of his blades, but I get the impression he knows his stuff. He's certainly very well respected in these parts

Yes, honing makesthe razor sharp. Stropping which you need to do before each shave alings the ede sot that the shave is comfortable, properly done, stropping also extends the time between honing.

If i remember correctly Tony's (the wellshaved gentleman) sells his started sets prehoned and ready for use. if i am wrong he will turn up here soon and correct me.

You will be very well served by Tony's products. I like his strops so much i have purchased 4 of them.

Any pros/cons between the paddle strop and hanging strop?


Hey thanks for the help guys.

the hanging strop is the tool of choice for daily stropping before each shave and the paddle strop is more generally used for use with pastes which are used to refresh the edge when it becomes dull instead of doing a full honing. if you look at Tony's site he offers some hybrid paddle strops which have a finishing side meant to be used pasteless for daily stropping. not a dedicated finishing strop but not a dedicated paste strop, it maximizes the amount of tools at your disposal in the beginning.

i just went all out and got one of Tony's hanging and paddle strops with plans on buying more eventually. i don' have the experience to recommend what you should get. Email Tony, he will be able to make recommendations.

pros of a hanging strop:
-it's a fundamental tool, everyone should have one, and have a good one!
-provides a nice long stropping motion
-you get a linen stropping surface (if that concerns you...soon enough you'll be able to buy a linen only strop from Tony)
cons:
-no pastes, you gotta buy a separate paddle (probably actually better since then you can get a dedicated paddle strop to have a few different grit pastes)

pros of a paddle strop (pasted side/finishing side)
-you get a finishing side for daily stropping
-youge a pasted side for touch ups
cons:
-finishing surface may be less than ideal as you don't control the taughtness of the leather
-short stropping motion means more passes
-you only have one pasted side (which may or may not be all you need)

pros of paddle strop(pasted/pasted)
-maximum variety in pastes
cons:
no finishing surface, gotta buy a separate hanging strop

there are also 4 sided paddle strops but the pros and cons basically follow the above (and you're working with a narrower surface which may make it harder to have even contact and/or pressure on your bade)

Originally Posted by Capt America

Just so I have this right- honing is making a dull blade sharp, while a strop is used for pre-shave sharpening?

And if I buy from www.thewellshavedgentleman.com, they will come shave ready, right? Or after I buy one of the razors from there, will I still need to have Lynn/other honemeister to prep it?

That is correct. The razor will come shave ready if you purchase from Tony at thewellshavedgentleman.com.