Thread: Newbie help!!

Hi, I'm totally new to straight razor shaving and am still using my cheap shavette as practice, and feel confident I can progress onto a straight, I'm on an extremely tight budget and cannot afford a new razor or one good enough to shave with yet so I have bought a job lot off eBay for very little money.. The scales are in acceptable nick and the blades themselves were a little rusty but have come up ok with hours (around 20 for all three!!!) of rubbing down with different grades of wet and dry. They need honing but theirs no way I can afford to buy a stone, I was wondering if it is possible to hone them with 2000, 2500 wet and dry folded around a block and use that as a 'stone'. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm dying to get into proper straight razor shaving with a proper straight but my budget is very limited. P.s, I'm in the uk so there isn't a Walmart or tool shed store here!!

I'd check out the Member services in the Classified section actually. Average seems to be somewhere around $20 US + shipping to have an expert hone your blade for you. Compared to the price of a stone that's almost free. I'm not 100% confident that if you are new you will even know exactly what to look for to be truely Shave Ready.
I'm not trying to be insulting, I'm new myself and know for a FACT that I didn't really know what to look for.

Well you might be able to set a bevel with a little work using the W&D grits that you mention, but you won't be in the realm of shaving. You'll need to go for a minimum of 8000 grit for a (just) comfortable shave. I would recommend contacting some of the members in the UK to see if they may be able to assist you in getting your razors shave ready.

Short answer to your question is "No"!

What brands of razors are the three that you think are goers?

Can you post photo's of them?

Do you have all the other basic equipment for cut-throat shaving? i.e Strop, Brush, Soap/Cream.

There may have been better ways to get yourself set-up for roughly the same money. Razors of quality can be had for very little in our very own classifieds on this site. Starter kits can be had for very little money from sites like whippeddog.com


Mick

The edge will make the shave. Putting a good edge on a blade is a skill that needs to be developed and practiced. I'm just starting. Without a good edge, a razor will burn, tug and nick. A sharp edge will be very smooth and comfortable. Once you know sharp edge, you can begin to recreate that kind of shave by putting that kind of edge on on your razor. Until you know you have a good, sharp edge, you won't really know what shaving with a straight razor is about.
Spend the money to get it done. If you maintain it properly, you won't have to send it out to be done in 6 months to a year.

Thanks for all the advice, think il bite the bullet and send it to be honed. I could end up doing more worse than good. Another quick question, is there any difference in the abrasive properties of using say for example 600 dry and 600 wet. I.e, using the same type and grade of paper either wet or dry. Is it a little harsher wet? Or dry? Or are they the same???

To answer mickr's question, I have a strop, paste, brush, soap, etc. and the three razors are : Joseph rogers and sons, which is the one with the black scales, John heiffor, which has white scales and a Weyer shulze, which has black scales and a white tang. I have absolutley no information about the razors and I don't know what type they are so any info would be a great help!!!

manchester , i'm in nottingham , just two hours away , if you need any help i'll be more than happy to help out, just give a pm or you can call me on my mobile.

gary

Well thats that sorted. Good on ya Gary.


Mick

Lapping film can be bought from cousinsuk and workshopheaven fairly cheaply and is a great way to start honing your razors once you know what your looking for in 'shave ready'