Thread: HOW DID SRP START? I want to know the history of it all!!

So.......

I got out of the Army in 1973 and my Grandpa takes me out for a straight razor shave. Being only 21, I had a full beard, but not as thick as today. The shave was soooooo coooooool. Way baby butt smooth and it lasted for two days. Needless to say, I bought an old Chicago Cutlery razor within a week.

I continued to shave with that razor on and off for the next 25 years and whenever it got dull, I would take it to a cutlery shop for sharpening. Sometimes it came back shavable and sometimes not.

In the late 80's, I made up my mind to only shave with a straight and I was determined to learn how to sharpen myself so I went to the internet for help. Over the course of a year I searched and at best was only able to find a question here and there like on Blade Forums. There really was virtually no information available and certainly no forum anywhere. I was able to hook up with a man named Don Walters out of AZ and he spent hours with me on the phone answering every pestering question I had and took an enormous amount of patience with me to teach me how to hone a razor. When he honed up the old Chicago Cutlery, I had a standard for life. Around this time, I also met John West who had been collecting straight razors for over 30 years. John was also very open and patient with me teaching me all about the history of straight razors and the manufacturers. At the time, he had over 3,000 razors.

Then in Nov, 2000 I decided I would start a forum on the internet dedicated to preserving the art of Straight Razor Shaving, Honing, Collecting and anything that had to do with a straight razor. I decided to call it The Straight Razor Place and it was the very first internet facility of any kind dedicated to straight razors. I even asked my kids to join so that we would have a few members to start. Ebay back then used to post email addresses and I went to the Straight Razor Section and invited all buyers and sellers with an email to join. I also started to find information here and there and added it to the forum. It grew slowly at first, but then really took off. We have always had mostly great members who have contributed and made this a community that I am very proud to associate with.

Well once I learned how to hone, I started sharpening hundreds of razors for people for free and giving away straight razors to people who couldn't afford them. I was buying a ton off ebay in those days as well as scouring the antique shops. I wanted to hone every possible razor every made and the quest continues and then some.......

The orginal SRP on yahoo was the first of it's kind and every other straight razor forum basically was born from it. Most of the information availble on the other forums came from what SRP accumulated. Many of the founders of the other forums also got their starts on SRP.

Now after honing somewhere around 12,000 razors and still learning as well as seeing all the information out there, other forums, the new members and lurkers growing every day, the custom razors available, women participating, the growing number of stores to service our needs and the absolute brilliance of many of the new members bring in restoration, handle making, honing, razor making, soap making and sharing this wonderful art, I can say "Mission Accomplished". Just the knowledge of soaps, cremes, aftershave balms and lotions, brushes, strops and all the accessories of our art is mind boggling. You folks rock!!!!!

I am very grateful and have always been to be a part of a population such as this. Our members show compassion and caring for all who enter our doors and for that I say thanks to you all. We have some of the best people I have ever met who hang out within our doors.

I am also a strong proponent of all the forums getting along. We have a common passion and it should be shared with goodness and not with hatred, jealousy or self display.

I hope to continue to learn from you for many years to come.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this answers your questions.

Have fun,

Lynn

It was spam, Pearl.

Thank you Lynn for sharing your personal history as well as how you founded SRP.
Your hard work and dedication has paid off for so many of us members as well as vendors, and lurkers.
A few of us have heard bits and pieces of how SRP started, a few more actually know, and were there at the beginning. but to get the full story, and history of SRP is nice.
I think it shows us how much trouble we were saved when we started using straight.

Thanks Lynn. The forum you created and the mammoth repository of straight razor information it holds truly does save each and every one of us years of time in becoming proficient at shaving and honing. I'm very thankful to be a member of this community.

Chris L

well that was exactly what I wanted to know, so thank you VERY much Lynn!!
I am very honoured you took the time to reply to this quiery, as I feel very satisfied now to have the knowledge on how and when this wonderful site got started!
Thanks so very much,
May you blessings come back five fold.

Pearl

Thankyou very much Lynn. It's good to be part of this wonderful place & all the knowledge & experience that has accumulated from your brave endeavour. All of us are in your debt.