Thread: New to Straight Razors.

Hi everyone.
First of all thanks everyone for a great site and a great forum. Has helped me alot now when I'm finally venturing into the world of straight razor shaving.

I bought some pretty decent razors on a online auction site, a C.V.Heljestrand nr 2, another C.V.Heljestrand and a J.A.Hellberg. Nothing fancy but in good condition and after two days of light grinding and polishing they really shine again.

I also ordered all my shaving utilities from the US including a Norton 4000/8000 and a Chinese 12000 hone.

My question is that the razors are quite dull, not damaged in any way but you can't shave anything with them. I realized I should have bought a courser hone as well like Nortons 330/1000 if I need to build up the bevel again. Since I have already ordered the things I thought I needed I can't afford to order the last hone and I can't get it in Sweden. Atleast not for a reasonable price. I ordered the Norton "India" Course/Fine instead which was reasonable cheap.

Will that hone do for building up the bevel again or should I just throw it away and try to get a hold of a Norton 330/1000? Or can I use the fine side of the India for x strokes then move on to the 4000?

Best regards,
Magnus Halvarsson

(Sorry if I got some of the terminology wrong, as I said I am new to this world )

Welcome!

It sounds like you have dived into the hobby head first, which is great!

Depending on the condition of the bevel you can use the 4k side of the Norton to set the bevel. I've not heard of the India stone so I cant really advise you on it, but hopefully one of the other folks here can help you on that one.

The main thing to do is make sure you can shave arm hair at skin level after the bevel set. If you cant do that theres no point in moving on to a higher grit as you'll just end up with a shiny but dull edge.

If you want me to I can hone one of your razors for you to give you a benchmark to work against? Just drop me a PM if you are interested.

I'd also say check out the Wiki and other articles linked in my sig line as they will really help you, and read up in the Honing forums as well. If theres anything you cant find, just ask and you'll have an answer in no time!

Please post some pictures of your restored razors as well, we'd love to see them!

Good luck and keep us posted!

Do you have any razors that are shave ready from any of the known members in the forums? I wouldn't recommend trying to hone with your first razors and then shaving with them you may become frustrated. I would send out altleast one of them so when you get it back you can use the edge as a guide to what a good edge feels like to shave with. I also didn't see you mention anything about owning strops, which you will definitely need to use between every single shave, there's no way around that one.

If you want, you can PM me and I will definitely help you the best I can. If you want to even send me a razor to hone for you I will do it for free if you want to pay shipping costs both ways. Picture of the mentioned razors would help us too, Thanks!

I would also suggest getting the Norton 4/8K, it's great.

Hi again.

No, sadly I have no shave ready razor. I did buy the Norton 4k/8k and I also bought a strop when I ordered my shaving utilitys. Thanks for the advise, I will try to hone them myself first and reading up on different honing techniques.

I think I will try out the Norton 4000 first and if I can't set the bevel with that one within a reasonable amount of strokes I will try the fine side of the India stone. The Norton India will be good enough for my kitchen knives anyway so not a complete waste of money if it turns out to be to coarse.
If I can't get a good and sharp razor I will consider having it shipped to someone so I can get a feel of how it should be.

And by request here are two pictures of the razors. Not the best since I don't own a proper camera but at least its something.
They are from top to bottom: C.V.Heljestrand (Bone scales), J.A.Hellberg (Bone scales I think) and last the C.V.Heljestrand No:2 (Bakelite scales?)
I didn't have the equipment to remove the scales so I'm pretty pleased with the result I got.

Best regards,
Magnus

Congratulations on those fine Swedish razors! I believe two of them have ivory scales, based on appearance, the pins sans collars, and the Heljestrand history of putting ivory scales on high end razors. If there are no pores/pits on the ends of the scales, if they have grain and are thin, they are most likely ivory.

You will need a shave ready razor to compare your edges to and see what is truly shave ready. Without that you will have no idea what you are looking for when you hone your own edges.

Hi again.

My razor/shaving accessories should be arriving to me by the end of this week or early next week. I have also decided to send all my razors away to a guy here in Sweden who can get them shave ready for me so I know in the future how it should feel.

Thanks for all your help and hopefully I will be seeing a lot more of you all as I keep adventuring deeper and deeper into the world of straight razor shaving.

Best regards,
Magnus Halvarsson

Welcome to SRP. Sending them to a pro is definitely the way to go. Make sure he is a razor honer and not only a knife guy. Nothing wrong with knife guys but razors are a different animal and require a different skill set.

No, he is a razor honer.

He uses Naniwa Super stones and Escher accordingly: 1 000 (bevel setting) - 3 000 - 8 000 - 10 000 – 12 000 – Escher - Strop.
I know it's not a guarantee but at least he seems to know what he is doing.

I have an additional question.
All my razors have a straight tip. As a beginner should I start with a round tip to prevent cutting myself to badly?

Regards,
Magnus Halvarsson