First straight is on the way!

I'm pretty excited, i just ordered my first straight razor, it's this dovo- http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/st....html?s=G148BK hopefully that's an ok one to start with? i wasnt 100% sure what to look for and didnt want to shell out a ton of money just quite yet.

having read a couple of the other newbie threads it's seems like the "ready for use" razor wont be "ready for use" when it lands on my doorstep and ive yet to purchase a hone or strop becuase i had some basic questions about them (well not really the hone). so i guess the basic question is, if i purchase a strop like this- http://www.classicshaving.com/catalo...944/196036.htm and strop the brand new razor with say the dovo brand yellow paste (says no sharpening qaulity) can i get my new razor sharp enough to shave with?

or should i treat the strop with the dovo red paste "particle size of 2-4 microns and will refresh a mildly dull edge"? if i did use the red paste would this make the strop unsafe for everyday use on the razor?

or i guess option 3 would be to hone my new razor a little in combination with one of the above ideas for the strop? what's my best option of these three to get my razor shave ready? did i make an ok choice in a starter razor?

any help is greatly appreciatted, thanks for taking the time to help

First, welcome to the wonderful world of the straight razor shave.

Yes, chances are that unless your razor was specifically purchased as shave ready, it won't be. And even then, it's not uncommon that the blade need at least a little touch up when it arrives.

A regular leather strop, with a dressing such as the DOVO one you mentioned, that is not actually a sharpening paste, will not sharpen a dull razor. It merely keeps the edge on the razor straight and keeps it keen longer.

Most new razors, though (at least, the ones I've had, and provided we aren't talking about an ebay butter knife of some kind) aren't /that/ far from being sharp. I've had some success using just a DOVO paddle strop with the red paste to make the razor sufficient to shave with. Others, though, will tell you that every new razor has to be honed. We often advise newbies that if they haven't bought a shave-ready razor, they should send the razor away to one of the people here who sharpens razors and have a superior edge put on it.

So, basically, if your razor is not sharp, no amount of stropping with a leather strop will make it sharp, unless you use an abrasive paste on the strop. In answer to your other question, if you do that, then no, you will not be able to use that strop for everyday use. You need at least one smooth leather strop that has no grit merely for daily maintainance.

One good suggestion is to get one of the box strops (a four-sided paddle strop) from Tony Miller, who is a regular here. (www.thewellshavedgentleman.com). Abrasive pastes can be put on three sides (he'll do this for you for, I believe, $5 a side), and then have one side in smooth leather for daily use. You need to make sure, though, that you wash the razor off thoroughly before switching sides, so you don't get grit contamination.

Alternatively, you could look a the DOVO paddle strop, say at www.classicshaving.com, which has a paste on one side and smooth leather on the other. That was my first strop, and I liked it quite a bit, though I did decide to get a hanging strop recently (I was frustrated with the amount of strokes I had to use on a paddle strop, which is obviously shorter). Either of these options, though, should save you from having to buy multiple hanging strops with various abrasive pastes.

Or, you could just buy an abrasive paste, and instead of putting it on a strop, use an old, wide belt of some sort. I don't know how well this would work, though, having never tried it. You'd then need either a real strop or another belt for your daily stropping.

Good luck with your new razor, though! It's a very exciting thing!

That 6/8 DOVO is one of my favorite shavers, I have two of them, black and white. In adition to that strop you will need a hone to sharpen your razor. Popular choice is Norton 4000/8000.

Nenad

great glad to hear i made an ok choice. the site i purchased the razor off has a cheap ($27) "jemico" leather only strop that i was thinking would make a good "abravise paste only" strop. the problem now is that they seem to only carry yellow dovo paste and then 2 other unidentified pastes, colored red and black (red- http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/st...il.html?s=J75R ) are these colors universal for their micron content? i have a strong feeling the answer is no so i emailed them to inquire but i figured it couldnt hurt to ask here in case someone has seen this stuff before.
thanks for the continued help guys, this place is great (help file section would have saved me hours had i found this site first!)

edit- they emailed me back and said they dont know the abrasive levels of those 2 pastes (shame) as with shiping costs on ordering just one item from them or even 2 strops it's not that great of a bargain becuase id have to get the hone off another site and pay shipping there... that is unless that Col. conk $17 razor hone is acceptable?? the grit is of that cheap hone is also not listed, is this thing to be avoided or is it an ok cheap alternative?

The Col. Conk hone is too abrasive. It's around 1200 grit if memory serves. It's really only useful for major work like ding removal. If you're going the hone route, the Norton 4000/8000 3" is sort of the flagship around here. I use abrasive pastes (boron carbide & chromium oxide) for edge maintenance, but they are more for polishing an existing good edge rather than creating a new one.

yeah i figured that thing wouldnt get the job done for a super sharp edge. despite my wanting to jump right into this as fast as possible it's becoming more obvious that perhaps sending it out to get it sharpened off the bat might be really smart as suggested. so i've gathered that lynn the honemeister would be a great guy to try and get of hold of for this (i can do that through classicshaving.com right) but is there anyone else that may be closer to me (southern CT, about an hour out of manhattan) to speed up the TTS (time to shave, :) )

thanks again

Welcome,

A wealth of information here. Hopefully your not confused. I would not recommend the Col Conk hone (although I don't believe it is 1200 grit). Perhaps just buying the abrasives from Classicshaving and putting them on an old belt or as I have done in a pinch on balsa wood would get you up and running. I would also consider a barber hone to begin with. Assuming you don't want to get a Norton just yet. One of Tony Millers prepasted strops would be a good economical choice as well. And have fun...I'll spend some time trying to understand your name....nomoremach3? Mmmmm, curious :-)

Yes, good razor...

Your going to find that an abrasive pasted paddle strop will have a much shorter learning curve than a hone will. It will also be very easy to use to maintain your razors sharpness. My vote is for the abrasive pasted paddle strop. 3 micron, 1 micron. 0.5 micron and maybe the 0.25 micron.

Hope this helps,:)

Good Luck!! be patient.if you realy want to get it you will. theres alot of help here..its great when you get it right, and it just gets better..