Has anyone ended up with a simpler system over time?

I'm curious if any of the more experienced honers and users of straight razors here have found over time that a simple system works OK most of the time?

And cheaper as well.

Have any of you ended up with an inexpensive straight razor and either film or one stone and a strop and ended up with a reasonable shave?

I'm guessing "yes" but perhaps not? Obviously members here are "into" shaving so there will be more posts regarding better razors and more hones.

I guess another way to ask the question would be...if you suddenly lost the allure of straight razor shaving but still needed to shave everyday what would you still need?

Once you get a good edge on a razor and once stropping isn't quite doing it could you just go with a few strokes on a "barbers hone" and continue shaving?

Is it necessary to have Norton 4000k/8000k stones for an acceptable shave?

It seems to me (newbie) that the main issue is that new razors don't come ready to shave. If they did it seems to me that keeping them sharp maybe isn't so involved.

Hopefully someone can get the gist of some of the issues I'm wondering about and will have some comments.

I guess I'm also thinking that in the "old days" people seemed to be able to shave without as much "gear".

You could maintain with a barber's hone. AFDavis11 does so.

You can also use a Coticule. If you have patience, there's no reason you can't set a bevel, it just takes forever. But it can sharpen, polish, and finish. That's about as simple as you're going to get!

Personally, I'd keep the Norton 4/8 if i had to get rid of all my other stones. It's the workhorse.

It can be as simple as a strop, a brush, and a swaty. But because we have access to a large variety of honing media, we often go overboard. Does that help?

In the old days, the cutlers could put a decent edge on a barbers razor, and then the barber kept them going with a razor hone of his choice. So the same thing can be done today. Have one of the guys in member services hone your razor, then keep it going with a swaty. I don't think you'll find it necessary to have it resharpened more than once per year. 20 bucks once per year, is dramatically cheaper than Mach3 heads. And the shaves are better too. :)

Also, just for perspective: If you buy the 4/8, and only hone your one razor, once per year or every 6 months, that 4/8 will last your lifetime. Divide the cost by how many more years you plan to live, and it's not that big of an expenditure. Hope that helps a little. You have a lot of questions, and I don't think I answered them all. I'd suggest spending some time with the search function in the top right corner of your screen. There's years of open source information there. :)

But to re-iterate: I think most of us can agree that we have way more gear than we need, and that it's totally possible to use a straight razor successfully and happily with less than half of what most of us choose to use. Making this a hobby opens the door to a whole new world of "stuff" we all wanna try for ourselves. While just using a SR doesn't really involve nearly so much gear.

When everyone used straights, the common attitude was probably that shaving was a necessary task to get done with minimal effort and expense.

From a perspective of vintage gear still around from the era when everyone who shaved used straights:
Hanging strop or unpasted paddle strop for everyday stropping,
Barber's hone for normal edge maintenance,
paddle or 4 sided strop with pastes for touchups,
One could add a stone such as a Norton 4K/8K for edge reset which could also substitute for the barber's hone.

One could experiment inexpensively with pasted paddle strops and micro films.

As I recall from the time when barbers were still using real straights for haircut lineups, hanging strops and barber's hones with lather from the hot lather machine were used in the shop. I never observed any paddle strops in a barber shop. One or several hanging strops were on each chair. Some of the strops could have been pasted. Barbers would usually give their straights a dip in barbicide and a stropping before each customer lineup. I do not know whether additional gear was used by the barbers for maintaining their straights when closed for business. One could assume that the minimum gear that barbers used to get by with their straights most days would be sufficient for home use.

I have only been straight shaving for about 9 months. So far, I am doing OK with a Tony Miller hanging strop and home made pasted bench strops (CrOx, 3 um, 1 um. 0.5 um diamond pastes) for touchups. I also have an 8K Norton for more aggressive edge maintenance. I also have 1K and 6K King water stones that I acquired originally for sharpening kitchen knives and tools.

The hanging or unpasted paddle strop for daily stropping and the pasted strop for touchups are indispensible for me. I could send my razor out two or three times per year for a rehoning but there is no getting around learning to strop for daily edge maintenance. One must keep a shave ready edge to effectively use a straight razor.

I think that using and maintaining a straight razor has always been somewhat of a challenge for the ordinary person, hence the former popularity of shaves at barbershops before safety razors with disposable blades made shaving easier and more convenient in the home. Fortunately, we now have SRP for learning and the internet for supplies which were unavailable resources before the disposable razor era.

HTH

Learn to use a straight and strop. Send the razor out every 3-6 months for a hone/touch up. There are enough people who professionally hone for under $30 that there is no need to worry about that part yourself. Honestly, if you are not into it why bother learning to hone? Averaging less than 10 bucks a month on honing costs aint gonna break your bank.

James.

I am into learning to hone. I would just like to do it without a Norton 4k/8k if possible :)

I have some micro lapping film. That should eliminate sending it out for honing once I can get the initial bevel set.

Chase down some threads by an ex-member called WildTim. I seem to recall he advocated using lapping film and wet/dry paper and the like as his sole method of honing.

Good luck!

James.

I did find one article that he wrote. He seemed to like the system but think that the adhesive film that he was using was somewhat of a pain (the adhesive that is).

The kind of film I'm using doesn't use adhesive so it's easy to put on and take off as it's only held on my water (and works well).

I still haven't gotten my razor sharp enough yet but that's a learning curve on my part I'm sure.

Well yes - a stone is just a self-contained abrasive unit as it were. Particularly if it is a synthetic, I see no reason why you couldn't replace one with abrasive film on a flat surface. However, you will perhaps want to investigate the abrasive qualities of the particulates at higher grits - for example many people prefer a CrOx 0.5 micron edge to a diamond spray 0.25 micron edge due to the geometric structure of the CrOx when compared to the diamond.

But it sounds like you just want a 4/8K alternative?

James.

The main reason I'd go with a shave ready razor and a norton 4-& stone is that you have an acceptable standard that you can judge all others that you might buy by.
If you have questions, they are easier to ask saying' I find on the norton 4-8 that...' People relate to a know standard. I have a shave ready Dovo done by .... People will understand and your answers will be more complete and to the point.