Thread: Need help

Hey everyone, I'm fairly new to straight razor shaving. I've been using a shavette for about 5 months. my wife bought me a legit razor for my birthday and it was advertised shave ready but it isn't. I have a strop and I have stopped the razor quite a bit but it isn't sharp enough. I know it needs to be honed but I have no clue where to even start honing it. I was wondering if anyone knew of someone who hones straight razors and I can send them my razor to hone. Thanks

Welcome to SRP. The members will be happy to provide advice and assistance.

We have a lot of expert honers on this forum. It will be easier for someone to help you if you show your geographic location as part of your avatar. Once you do that, I’m sure someone will offer you some help.

In the mean time, check out the stropping section in the library. Since you are new to straights, I strongly recommend you get your razor honed properly by someone who knows what they are doing. Then focus on stropping using good technique before attempting to hone your blade yourself. Proper stropping can keep a razor shave ready for a long time if it has been honed well in the first place.

What brand is your razor. There are a lot of razor shaped objects out there that look like legit razors, but are not made of good enough quality of steel to take or hold an edge.
As for the who hones question, the guy with likely the most experience is the US is Glen from Gemstar Razors. You can PM him here, his screen name is gssixgun. There are a ton of people around here that can put a fine edge on a razor. Some of them may be fairly close.

It is a Zertone razor with a wood handle

Zertone? This appears to be a razor shaped object that is shilled by fake Amazon reviews.

It was purchased off of Amazon with pretty good reviews

RSO my friend, good reviews can be done on eBay and Amazon by the seller himself, this is why we recommend not to buy your razors there, we have a BST with good members selling truly shave ready razors. See how long they have been around and look for post counts to see if they are active members, put that one on a wall and move on, it will always be a reminder

A reputable hone guy wouldn’t touch it

Yep. I second what TC said. Do as he suggested. Then find you a real razor. Knowing what your buying is the first step in buying a razor. So many RSO out on the web. Tell the wife thank you and keep it to keep her happy. Then find a real razor to learn with.

Haha I appreciate it yall. I already found someone up here selling a razor. probably gonna check it out

Welcome to the forum.
Definitely get a real razor. Then definitely have it honed by someone that knows how to hone a razor. As mentioned above, Glen would be a good choice.

You might want to put an introduction in the Beginner's Section so that someone local can help you out, and maybe lend you a razor.