Thread: New To Straight Razor Shaving

Hi Folks, Very nice friendly site here. I have recently got my first Razor from KnifeCenter.com's site. It is a Jemico Razor and Jemico Strop. I love the nice shave it performs. Now a question is do I strop it after the shave or let it rest? And where can I possibly learn how to hone if needed and where can I buy the Honing Stones you folks mention? Thanks for any info!
Also is the Jemico brand any good or just entry level??

I would suggest Classicshaving.com. Others will suggest other avenues. I think you can strop it after a shave but I prefer to focus on cleaning mine and getting it dry, then stropping before the next shave....usually as the cream soakes into my beard. I know you can strop after a shave but be careful not to mess up your strop with gunk from the shave. I also think it is a good habit to strop before a shave just to "make sure" its stropped before putting it to your face. I had a blade once I nicked without knowing it or noticing...I stropped it and it sliced the strop up good. Now had that been my face...wow.

I'm sorry, you can learn from studying the files section here and asking questions of these experts here, they are very helpful. But you must be patient and believe what they say, sometimes their advice doesn't have "immediate" results and sometimes because they can't see the problem your having it takes more time than hands on training. Just make sure when you ask a question you are very clear and detailed.

My advice on honing is to use a light pressure if the razor is not shaving well, use very light pressure if the razor is shaving, and no pressure if your just touching up. Try and maintain the exact angle repeatedly on each pass on the hone and keep the blade FLAT. Also, don't go crazy, hone some and check, hone some more, and check. Check, check, and check. Look through the files for a pyramid honing scheme, I think thats a good way for a beginner to start.

For the magic Norton try Classic Shaving. There is a seller of barber hones too, Tilly at www.redtrader99.com. The Norton is pricey but the hone of choice. Tilly's barber hones are far less money and do work well for me. I think she has a some on eBay now.
There are Belgian hones too, I apologize for not knowing the website and there are pasted strops with diamond abrasives which I also sell.
Plenty of options, loads of advice. Some differing opinions but all good.

Tony

Hello Techy and welcome!

Glad to hear that your razor is shaving you well. A lot of the new razors need a bit of touching up on a hone or abrasive pasted strop. Is the Jemico a good brand? Well, its shaving you nicely so there's your answer.

For honing stones use classicshaving.com, they are a forum member and a great resource.
The 3" wide Norton 4000/8000 combination hone is what you want. It cuts very fast, laps and cleans up easily, and is the correct size so it is the easiest to learn on. A lot of us here use that hone and base most of our recommendations on that hone. It has become the standard reference point that everything else is compared to and will probably last you a lifetime.

To learn how to hone first look in the archives under honing and pay attention to the diagrams.
My avatar also depicts the honing motion. There are some .avi's out there that you will find helpful.

When you post a question regarding honing make sure you tell us what hone you have and something about your razor. Brand new, was shaving but now needs help, Ebay special etc.
That allows us to zero in on your needs.

Have fun reading and watching the .avi's. There is also a very good video from John West,
rebel23@mis.net, approx $30, that will answer a lot of questions.

Have you joined the Yahoo Straightrazorplace forum yet? It is the parent of this site and very active with a lot of resources.

Hope this helps, 8)

Thank you so much for those tips. Really appreciated. That classicshaving.com site is nice to.

The most consistent stone out there is the Norton 3 inch 4K/8K combo. Once you learn how to hone on it, you can have some fun experimenting with the barber hones and the Belgiums. I don't recommend these up front as most people start buying ebay specials as their first razor or after their first new one to try to learn to hone and make it a prolonged process with some of the poor abused ebay razors and the barber hones. Let us know how you progress. Lynn

Just ordered a Norton 4000/8000 3" wetstone today from classicshaving.com.
Picked up a few decent old eBay specials that are in decent shape. Now I can try to get a bit of practice on them. Nice stone indeed. Comes with a carry case/holder for the stone. Maybe I can become a "HoneMeister" LOL
:P