Thread: Some Rookie Advice, If You Don't Mind

give me a call wens morning between 10-12 afternoon golf...Phone conversation will speed up your learning curve ...I ll be glad to help...charlie 317 7522000

I actually had to wait for them to send'em to the CDN distributor and then pick'em up in person. Therefore I'm not sure about the shipping time. As I said, this is just to get you started. Even though I will get a decet razor and a norton hone, I'm glad I got started with the low budget gear. Since I can use 2" slow-cutting Jap-stones to get a pakistani blade shave-ready, I know I could do a lot better with a decent blade and a 3" Norton stone.

You guys are awesome! Knowledge at every corner, and a fine group of supportive gents to boot.

Thanks for the link on the Norton Jim, that looks like a hell of a deal to me.

Charlie, that's damn fine of you to offer. I'll probably be working the phones at work during those hours..maybe we can reschedule at a time that works better. Appreciate the offer!

FiReSTaRT--Sounds like you're getting some good results for the equipment you've got, I agree. Good job--I hope I pick things up that quick!

It wasn't THAT quick.. I gave up on it for a couple of months and just picked it up again a bit over a week ago. And even then, it was a total drama involving a knucklehead buddy, a bench grinder, a rough oilstone, explicit language, threats of violence and bloodshed. It still surprises me that the razor can shave as well as it does after the whole ordeal lol.

I just hope that "cheap ebay" razor you got wasn't pakistani . I see the thread has already taken a turn on that dime so you're semi-aware of the problems.

I have a few pakistanis that I keep for goofing around with. I tried shaving with one for kicks and I just had to pull my skin all kinds of ways to get it to even cut.

The simplest way to get started is to send it to a senior member here. You can get it sharpened through classicshaving.com. Lynn Abrams, the board founder does all the sharpening for them. Or you can send it straight to Lynn with something to cover the costs. If it's clean enough, a simple sharpening should suffice.

I have a cattaraugus that he sharpened back last sept I believe and I still haven't had to worry about touching it up. Good thing too because I've only recently arrived at a decent sharpening skill.

The pakistani razors (I have 4 of them atm) are really junk. Inferior metal and all that. They've been discussed here till it's horse mush but the popular consensus is that the metal flakes and breaks before it gets to the truly honed edge, so you'll never get a truly sharpened paki razor.

Oh, just so you know, the "Rockwell-solingen" brand are just paki razors bought by a guy who migrated to germany. He buys them from pakistan and then prints his logo stuff on them in Germany and sells them as german razors so beware.

Glen F

Had I known what I know now, I would have just restored an old piece instead of buying one of those. I'm actually looking into that on top of getting a good new Dovo or TI. However we're talking about a person on a tight budget, who already made some purchases. If he can hone the Pakistani to shave well, it will be a good learning experience and good enough to get him started until he scrapes up enough cash for a decent blade.
I am an unemployed guy with a huge student loan. Fortunately I lined up a couple of good temp jobs for april-july and hopefully they'll result in a perm position, but a month ago, my financial future was very bleak and uncertain. Therefore i can emphatise with VA.

If Classic Shaving is out of stock on Nortons this is another good source. I have purchased from them and have always received excellent service:

http://www.thebestthings.com/newtool...aterstones.htm

You can get some razors sharp off the 8K Norton, then a plain leather hanging strop with Fromm dressing. I have found though that a 12K or 15K Shapton Professional or a fine barber hone before the strop makes it perfect when honing, stropping, and shaving skills are mastered. Hope this helps. Throw the Packi blade away (or make a letter opener) but save the scales for practice in removing/repinning some old eBay razor with a good blade.
Monte

Hey guys, thanks for all the info.

Classic Shaving actually did have the Norton--I was looking at the 2" that was sold out, the 3" is in stock.

Put in my order today. Any experiences with shipping from this site? Just wondering what I should expect...

It'll be interesting screwing around with my POS Pakistani razor. I'm going to use it to try to learn technique, then I'll move onto a better quality razor.

I don't want to mess around with a nicer one, just yet...but I am shopping..

Let the waiting begin! I'll have to check in once I get the stone and get cracking on my Pakistani masterpiece of a razor. Ought to be interesting.

I'm glad they were out of stock. If you're already spending money on a Norton, the one you wanna get is the 3" one. You can do a good honing job with a 2" but it takes a bit more work. 3" is just easier. Another thing that you may wanna do is get an antique one that's in a good shape. You can get some really nice ones for $10-15. That's what I'm doing as we speak (already won the auction) but get one of the more experienced ebay hunters to help you find the right ones. I was fortunate to have had Nenad help me and there are other guys who know a lot who would be willing to give you the heads up if they come across something interesting. It won't look as nice as a new razor but chances are the blade will be as good (once you give it a good honing) and you also get your honing practice time.

Originally Posted by VirtualAsylum

Hey guys, thanks for all the info.

Classic Shaving actually did have the Norton--I was looking at the 2" that was sold out, the 3" is in stock.

Put in my order today. Any experiences with shipping from this site? Just wondering what I should expect...

ClassicShaving is a first class operation all the way. I've bought stuff from there several times, and will continue to do so. Excellent customer service, great advice, and my order was shipped promptly.