Thread: I have a problem...

So, this is my first post on SRP- I've been a member for about a week and a half now.

A couple/few weeks ago, I picked up a set of Chosera stones and started sharpening my knives. When that was done, I moved onto my friends' knives. The pleasure of being able to FINALLY create a magnificent edge naturally led to shaving. It starts with your butcher knife on your arm and it doesn't take long to progress to your butcher knife on your face- which is just a bad idea.

I decided I needed to get a straight razor and try it for real.

It's been a week. I've received four straight razors in the mail and there are many more on their way. I'm not rich- only one of the blades I've purchased was new(er). A Dovo Pearlex 6/8 (haven't received it yet). The rest have been a little of this and a little of that; but all old and in need of some amount of repair.

And this leads me to the problem. I don't have all of the equipment that I need. My first shave took place yesterday with an old Geneva that had a rusty and pitted blade that I sanded, polished and honed with a 1k3k5k Chosera and stropped on the back of a crappy leather belt. I was bleeding from like 20 places (see picture) by the time that shave was complete- and it wasn't a great shave the blade was just not sharp enough. I did another minor restore to a Wade and Butcher last night (from about 8:00pm to 3:00am this morning)- I honed the crap out of the blade and stropped on the back of the belt a few hundred times to polish it. It didn't pass the hanging hair test, but it was close. So, I attacked my scalp. I've shaved my head for many years but this is the first time I've dragged a straight razor across my head, pulled the razor down to see hair tightly stacked together like you're looking at the ends of black toothbrush bristles. Very cool.

So, thanks to the list of "what's a good razor" here on SRP, I've found myself spending countless hours searching for pretty much every brand and type of razor I can find. Dubl Duck- don't have one! Gotta find one. Henckels? Nope. THERE'S ONE! Wedge? Need one of those too! I have literally gone from zero to ten blades over the course of five days. Every day there is another blade or two in my mailbox and I don't even have a strop, shaving cream, brush, etc. yet!

I ask you, am I unique in this irrational obsession? I mean, I know there are probably lots of you out there who have many, many blades; but do you purchase with reckless abandon? And quite honestly, I don't even know if I like straight razor shaving yet. I've only done it to my face once and I cut the shit out of myself and when I shaved my head, the blade was so dull after about 3/4 complete that I had to finish with a mach 3 because it just pulled so bad I couldn't tell if I was cutting my hair or my scalp.

I don't know. I'm about to drop another $265 on a Chosera 10k and another $100 on a fine strop which puts me at about $700 into a hobby that I thought I could get nicely into for $200- and I don't really have the extra scratch to be dumping on this. I'm really quite frugal most of the time but this, I just don't seem to have any self control. I guess, maybe, I'm looking for all of you other straight razor freaks to tell me that this is completely normal behavior and maybe, hopefully, I'll have my fill (soon) and be able to be a little more reasonable about what I decide to purchase, keep or sell. Then again, I've seen a few pictures on here of guys with 300 silver-tip brushes.

I think I'm screwed. But I won't be stubbly! Gotta go. (sigh) I have an auction ending soon.