Thread: Newbie question

There will be a more adept computer guy shortly I,m sure , but you do a member search by secific location, but the most help will come if you put your location in your profile, then any one in your area can look you up and come to your aid. Alberta us kinda of a big search, so hopefully it,ll work up for you, most guys on here will give you all the help you need.

So search for members in your town, if no hits try farther out, good luck. Tc

So, that is very common. Improper stropping can ruin an edge, in one stroke. Fortunately, it can usually easily be fixed, sometimes just with proper stropping.

But, first look at the edge before you do anything that, can cause more damage. You can get good magnification for as little as 2 bucks, a 60x lighted loupe or the Carson Micro Max 200, a 60-100X hand held scope 10-15 are what many of us use. There are many threads on magnification, do a quick search for them

To refresh an edge a finishing stone, barbers hone or sometimes a pasted strop can easily bring back an edge.

But finding a mentor to show you how to refresh it and more importantly how to strop is key in teaching you how to maintain your razor.

Go to the Home Page, look for Community, second line below Classifieds and SRP Goods). Scroll down to Member List, then to the Search Box, right side of page, below the search alphabet.

Type in your city, and look for the closest city to you, also as said update your profile with your location.

I will second the recommendation of getting something to show you what's going on at the bevel. That alone will save you more time and frustration than you can imagine at this point in your journey.

If the bevel is not 100% set, your shave will suffer.

Portland did a nice job honing my razor. Being new if you get the technique of stropping down you will be set for a few months or longer. If you eventually will hone razors a Naniwa 12k is a good reliable finisher that can refresh your edge if it is not too far gone.

If you will only have the one or two razors send them out when they are not shaving well. You will save yourself the rabbit hole if honing stones and it will cost you a fraction of what many other would be honers have spent. Portland uses tape on the spine so you will want to tape the spine for refreshing the edge.

Originally Posted by jelajemi

As long as your straight razor don't pull your facial hair when shaving, you do not need to refresh it. Meanwhile you can star looking for a Swaty hone. They are not expensive and they are very ease to use: two or three passes on each side of the blade and it'll be ready for months again.

How does a Swaty compare with a Naniwa 12k for this purpose?

The Naniwa is better. The Swaty is cheaper.

The Naniwa is made of very fine grit while the Swaty is made of coarse grit that has been burnished to a smooth, "fine," yet still relatively aggressive surface; but you can get a nice shave-able edge off the Swaty.

Either will get the job done. If you just want a maintenance hone, a Swaty will work well for the rest of your life. The Naniwa will give you a better edge and it will also work great as a maintenance hone, it just costs more.

Hard to say a grit equivalent, if you look at the stria pattern of most Barber Hones, the pattern is very random. Most can bring back an edge, but folks have always said they are in the 6-8k range, some swear, some are finer and those hones, command crazy, 1k+ prices or close to.

There are several Sway’s and many imitations so YMMV.

There is a great thread on Barber Hones on Razor and Stone, that Modine has been posting reviews of Barber Hones, for years, it is a great thread and should be required reading, if you are thinking about buying a Barber Hone.

I doubt any are 12K, but a barber hone and a Chrome Oxide stop, can keep you shaving…

There are excellent barber hones in the $20-40 price range, and they can be even cheaper if found at flea markets and antique stores. The reality is that many of them work very well for creating and maintaining a very serviceable shaving edge. Please don't get hung up on the grit ratings comparisons of barber hones, as they are as irrelevant as grit ratings for natural hones. Though Modine's assessments were done in a methodical manner, they were all done with barber hones that had been altered. For that reason, they may not give you a true sense of the edge that you can achieve with a particular barber hone.

If you plan to eventually hone, Naniwa 12k to refresh for now filling in lower grits as needed.

If your in this sport to shave, send it out or get a barber hone.

I'll take the edge of the 12 k over a barber hone but you can keep a razor going quite comfortably with a Swaty or similar.

I don't plan on getting into honing at this point, at least not until I maybe decide to start collecting vintage blades, my plan for now is to get maybe 1 more razor so I can have a shave ready one while the other is away getting honed so all I want to do is learn to keep them refreshed between hones