Thread: What do I do now?

I just bought a Boker from SRD and sent another SR in for honing. I can see the advantage of learning to hone but where do I go from here? I have a two piece strop and have CrO on one side of the felt and nothing on the other side. I bought the strop from SRD and have practiced quite a bit with a butter-knife. I have been stropping the new razor and have not ruined it, as yet, so I assume I am on the right track!.

I realize I will soon have to start honing these razors but I am not quite sure which direction to go... Do I get the Norton 4/8 and start there or do I start with something in the 12k ballpark for touch ups until something more drastic is needed? Would a barber's hone be all I need? Is the Norton Flattening Stone all I need for lapping and flattening?

My goal is to have sharp razors that shave well and comfortably. I am not looking for uber-sharpness at this time.


Jim

You are stropping your new razor on leather right? stropping is king! if you are able to strop correctly then you should be able to maintain your razor for quite a while with the CrO on felt.

Honing to maintain your razors is what you want. That 4/8 will handle it all, there is so much available on this site for the 4/8. I would invest in the 4/8 when you can.

Originally Posted by Martin103

You are stropping your new razor on leather right? stropping is king! if you are able to strop correctly then you should be able to maintain your razor for quite a while with the CrO on felt.

Yes, I am using a leather strop. I do about 30 full passes on the clean felt and about 50 or so on leather. I have not used the CrO on the new razor yet and don't plan to until it gets to the point where it needs it.

Jim

Thomas. First - kudos for diving in.

Simple linen and leather is your tool for now. You can do it the hard way. I did. I tried to learn to shave and to hone at the same time. I survived, but when I first got a taste of a good edge, I thought I was in heaven. If I could do it again, I'd have gotten w/ another member to physically watch how good stropping is done. If possible, how a good shave is done, etc. I suffered through 7 mo. of crappy edges (my own), and it really held back my shaving skills, not to mentione enjoyment. I was able to get acceptable sharpness, but they were harsh. Those weren't my only mistakes either. If the cost of honing has you concerned, pm me. I'll gladly hone for just the actually costs of physically getting the razor back to you. You can fully learn the shave w/out having to worry about any costs for stones, honing, etc.

Before getting to wrapped up in the honing process, read the following posts by gssixgun. He conducted a several month experiment were he simply took a newly honed razor and simply shaved and kept touching up the razor when needed with diamond and cro-ox pasted strops. He quit after a couple of months because it looked like, following his procedures, that it would go on for a long, long time. Read it before you spend a lot of time and money on stones.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...xperiment.html