Thread: Honing a new razor

Hi,
I'm completely new to straight razors and I just bought myself a new Ninja Solingen razor and a cowhide leather strop with a smooth side and a napped side. The problem is that it is sharp enough to remove body hair but not sharp enough for my beard. I'm pretty sure I'm doing the stropping right after watching videos on youtube but stropping doesn't seem to be making a difference, so I think I might need something more abrasive, but I'm not sure whether I need a pasted strop or a stone, or what grade of paste or stone to go for. Also, if I'm using a pasted strop, do I use it on the strop I have or do I need another one, and do I paste the smooth side or the napped side?

Welcome to SRP. I'd trcommend getting some linen to paste for stropping. Was your razor honed before it was sent to you? Where are you located? Lots of forum members are willing to hone up a blade for members.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm in Northern Ireland. I got it on amazon and it didn't say if it was honed or not, just that it was not too sharp for "safety reasons" and would need to be stropped. I've been reading in other posts posts about sending to 'hone masters' and I might like to try that just to fell what a sharp razor feels like first, but I don't know of one nearby or how to find one, I tried googling it but maybe I'm using the wrong search terms.

Ahh NI I'm in the UK I defaulted to USA mode

The store you want is the invisible edge.

Introduction to razors

The guy that runs it is called Steve, Give him a ring about getting your razor honed. He also sells the cheap Dovo razors and all of his razors come shave ready. Just make sure what you order is in stock, as razor stocks do not get replenished instantly and we just had Christmas

under 100 This links to the cheap dovo's

He's based in Malvern on the UK mainland. I'm not aware of any NI based shops/services they'll be up to you to find.


The other guy you might want to try is Niel Miller. http://www.strop-shop.co.uk/

Both of them have what you want, And I know both are active on many forums. ~I have only dealt with IE tho so I'm biased.

For the price of all those hones you could get 5 or 6 nice shave ready razors. I am not familiar with the brand but it does sound like one I got when I first started. It gave me an idea of what using a straight would be like and now I have too many :<0) Lesson 1. Shave ready is the key word when buying a straight. If you get it and it's not....send it back.

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I might just return it and invest in a better razor. Would you guys agree that I have been mis-sold this product; they said "PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO SAFETY REASONS, THESE ARE NOT TOO SHARP AND WOULD NEED A BIT OF STROPPING BEFORE USE"? Well I stropped it and it didn't do any good! And they said "Ninja Bone Straight Cut Throat Razor Germany produce the finest Straight Razors around, using a unique "hardening" heat treatment enables Ninja to achieve the highest degree of hardness, elasticity and resistance to wear in their Razors" but according to you guys this is not true, right? In any case, I'm pretty sure that you can return almost anything you buy off the internet for any reason so long as it is still in good condition and is returned within a certain time.

Amazon and Ebay are full of these razors and some online stores also sell similar razors said to be good razors and they are cheap. Unfortunately you get what you pay for and you tend to get a letter opener and if you do manage to get it sharp it doesn't hold and edge anyway. Have a search for beginner razors in the search up top and you will come up with plenty of info on different razors and where to purchase. There is a razors to avoid list in the wiki also which might be an idea to check out. Make sure your first razor is shave ready though as you don't know what shave ready is and getting it shave ready sets a benchmark for you and it's likely you don't have the skill yet to achieve a proper honing yourself. Good luck. Ed

Great advise, I now wish I'd come here before I bought my first razor! So I've looked through the Wiki and I now realise that I've fallen for a loophole in the law in that a manufacturer can buy a substandard blade from another country and then put a handle on it in Solingen and then claim that it was made in Solingen! I only thought I'd done my research and mistakenly thought that Solingen was a mark of quality

However I still have a couple of questions:
(a) am I correct in thinking that all Dovo razors are of the same quality and that the only difference in the more expensive ones is the level of decoration and the type of handle/scale material? and,
(b) I'm thinking of buying from Dovo Razors UK, part of the main Home website. Can I be assured that these razors come properly 'shave ready'?

Dovo use the same metal for most of the razor range, They do have some exotic blades, but the metal in the £66 and the £120 is the same.

Dovo uk check all the blades. And they hone it before they send it out. It's part of their service. I got a Dovo Bismarck for Christmas and it didn't even need stropping. In order for them to do the honing to get them shave ready they have to peel the seal off the box. They have a statement on the dovo page about it. The razor you receive will scare you it will be that sharp.

NB - BOX SEALS: all razors supplied in the blue metal boxes are factory sealed when they reach us. In order to ensure they are shave-ready, we peel the seals to check them and re-attach them when this is done. If you would like a NEW seal (maybe the razor is a present) just drop us a line, thanks!

If you have any doubts just call him. The number is on the site in the contacts section.

Email - steve@theinvisibleedge.co.uk

Telephone - (mobile) 07850 103316 (from UK)

+44 7850 103316 (From outside UK)

He doesn't have the £66 blades in stock atm, But the Dovo 6/8 best quality with blonde scales at £71.38 would be a great razor.

If your looking for other supplies here a list of where I got some bits.

Savers chemist, Erasmic shaving brush (boar) £3.99 It works, it's cheap. Erasmic shaving stick £0.50. Cheap and it shaves. It's slower to lather and very hard, but it you grate it into a soap dish then you can lather on top on the soap and it's very cheap. I got 2 sticks months ago and I use it about once a week. The ted baker is miles ahead in terms of performance see below.

Boots chemist, MenU shaving brush (boar) £9.99 nicer than the erasmic, longer bristles, better looking handle. Comes with a tiny amount of shaving cream that wile not been brilliant isn't that bad. And it comes with a cheap brush stand. http://www.boots.com/en/men-u-Pure-B...g-Brush_13827/

Ted baker 02 shaving creme, Boots again. This stuff is pretty good. 3 squirts in a bowl will give plenty of lather. It smells nice, and has menthol in it. £8 a bottle but it's a big bottle and lasts a long time. The best easy to get soap I've used off the highstreet. http://www.boots.com/en/Ted-Baker-Te...150ml_1281799/


Taylor of bond street shaving creme. You might not be able to get it locally, but have a look in your specialist tobacconists. One here stocks it. Lathers like a volcano, lots of smell variants, And you get a good smooth shave off it. I can't use it every shave because it irritates my skin (lanolin) so I use it when I'm doing something special. The Eaton one is very nice.

Marks and Spencer had a shaving scuttle and brush set over Christmas for £12.99 The brush was synthetic and went in the bin, but the scuttle was pretty nice.

Anything more exotic your looking online. I'm still searching for somewhere that stocks proraso soaps I may end up ordering some online this month. It gets very good feedback on the forums and it's well priced.
If you have a boots locally that would be the first place I would visit. If they have the 3 for 2 offer on the brush and ted baker soap mean you can get a decent aftershave splash or moisturizer as well for no extra cost.

"Ninja Solingen" made me (image added for educational purposes only)

I had to look it up. Appears that Amazon isn't selling those any more. The "Ninja Solingen-Cut Throat Razor Shaver/Finest Wood Collections Around The World". And that's a good thing. The description is full of catch words and phrases and nonsense that most seasoned shavers would have found suspicious at the least. Consider that "RSO" (razor shaped object) to be a token to your education of SR shaving.

How about you locate someone in your area who uses a SR? (Search the intros here, maybe you have neighbors already SR shaving) Maybe talk to an old barber. Old people have wisdom they generally dispense free for the asking. Old barbers even have old equipment if you are lucky. Speaking of old people, glad you found us. Best of luck getting some real steel.

As a craftsman, I started with old junk and made it work.

I loves me some English steel. (Sheffield Ninja! ) Cheers.