Magpie: There is a term being used in the above posts that may be a bit confusing, that is: "shave ready."

Most straight razors available for sale are not sharp enough to be used for shaving, that is they are not "shave ready." This is especially true for brand new, store bought razors. There are plenty of horror stories of guys who either purchased or recieved a new razor, attempted to shave with it and only succeded in getting a wicked case of razor burn and being permanently turned off from straight shaving.

To be made "shave ready," a straight razor must be sharpened on a very fine grit sharpening stone known as a hone. It is then further made shave ready using a strip of leather known as a "strop."

To make (and keep) a straight razor shave ready sharp is an art form all unto itself. Your boyfriend may or may not be willing to go through all of this-but hopefully he will be!

With regards to acquiring a shave ready razor you may wish to do the following:

1. Purchase a shave ready razor from the classifieds on this site. Look for razors that are described as shave ready-they will be clearly described as such if they are shave ready.

2. Purchase a razor from some other place, tell your boyfriend that it is not shave ready and that the razor needs to be sharpened before use-he will be very impressed with your knowledge Then have the razor sharpened using the sharpening service available on this site. That will give your boyfriend a clear baseline understanding of what a truely sharp razor should be. If he decides he wants to sharpen his razor he will know what to strive for. If you go with this option, you will still need to acquire a strop.

DO NOT bring the razor to a knife shop in the mall and have them sharpen the razor. The tools and methods used to sharpen kitchen knives is completely different from sharpening a straight razor. These people will only ruin your razor. Go to someone who specifically sharpens straight razors. Or use the service here. I have not used this service, but I have heard only rave reviews about their skills.

I hope some of this helps. There is a lot to learn but it is a skill that is well worth learning.

~Robert