Thread: no need for all these very expensive stones heres a cheap one.

Originally Posted by mdarnton

The Bass Pro Redhead appears to be an 800 grit long ceramic rod with a handle, similar to the thing used to keep kitchen knives in order.

Well, if that is the thing the op posts about, I guess I will keep my stones just in case

Too bad I didn't check...an 800-grit edge might be a wonderful exfoliator. Still, what I said in my previous post still applies...

Last year I bought a 1900's Boker sight unseen from an antiques dealer who says she purchased it from an elderly woman she knew. The woman told her it was her father's who shaved with it everyday until he died.
To my surprise when it arrived, it looked almost new! and almost shave ready. When I wrote back to tell them how pleased I was, they said that the father had only used a Strop to maintain it. The woman still had her father's Strop but wasn't ready it sell it.
If true, it seems a possibility to only use leather to keep a great edge!

Yes, I've only Stropped it the few times that I've used it. Beautiful razor.

There are differences that you are very much Glossing over here...

Maintenance of a Shave Ready edge requires very little, and can be done with almost anything that you can comfortably shave with... I maintained 2 razors for over 20 years using only a Arkansas and an Illinois strop..

On the other side of the coin we have had many people prove that you can shave a 1k bevel set also..


So what you Need and what you Want become very different things..

If all I need to do is remove hair from my face I can do that cheaply and easily any day of the week using a Straight Razor and a simple easy cheap method of maintenance (did it for well over 20 years)... Personally for myself and for many others here, we don't want to just remove hair from our face any longer.. We want the next level of luxury, we want to actually enjoy our shaves..

Not one person here has ever said you NEED all these stones to maintain a shaving razor, but once this changes from an everyday mundane chore, to a hobby that you look forward to each day, then you will probably WANT many different options...

Although, sometimes you will get to the point where you find that you have the ideal set up for you. at that point keep it and stop worrying about other items. i kept my razors just fine with an old coticule combo and barber's hone for nearly 30 years they worked great on my razors and produce some of my best edges. they however are not the easiest or fastest stones to use i you want to get a flee-bay razor back into shaving condition.... that is what i have shaptons for.

mainly for me this is a shaving method with a little hobby thrown in. some people want more hobby or just want to have experienced other things.

enjoy,
jim

I have all the stones that I would want. Norton 4/8, BBW/Coti Le Dressante, and the Purple Welsh. I don't use the first two much, but they are nice to have when I need them. The purple is the workhorse as it is my maintenance stone. Keeps that edge nice and smooth. the others are for getting razors to that point.

Yes I have a few stones but they each have their purpose.

Originally Posted by seacaptainchris

try 1 for yourself and see $20 is better than $80 IN MY BOOK ANY DAY.

If we all read "your book", SRP wouldn't exist (nor would any other shaving-as-a-hobby forum), and I daresay straight razor shaving would have remained largely a lost art.

Not that there's anything wrong with your book. It would still get you what you want, but you'd likely be reading it alone, in the proverbial dark.

Being firmly in the 'hobby'/'I want to ENJOY' my shaves camp, I still love the threads that make a hobby accessable to someone w/out alot of money. For whatever reason, that seems important to me. Ceramics do really well, and when combined w/ low-cost abrasives, they do very well indeed.
Although seeing all the bling in SOTD if fine, the one time I'd reliably look at it was when there was a post from a very well liked and sadly departed member named Bluegill. His gear wasn't fancy, but beautifully maintained. Almost always used a soap made by his sister. But his posts just dripped with the joy that eludes alot of members that have fortunes in their gear. I miss Bluegill and can't forget the joy he brought with his humble kit.

I think we've hit on something that falls into the "art is subjective" category. I started out using my knife sharpening spyderco ceramics which got me a pretty decent edge. I honestly could have just kept fudging things with those if I wanted to, but then I tried a Norton 4000/8000 and the edge was much better and shaved a bit closer. I then got a thuringian natural stone to finish on and that makes the edges even more delightful to use.

For me straight razor shaving is meditation at the most and my equivalent of golf at the least. Some people spend a fortune on golfing equipment and almost never use it. I spend a small fortune on shaving items and use them daily.

It's also great though that while my expensive razors make me happy other people can easily get by on entry level items which in all honesty work just fine. If you're looking to shave on the cheap and enjoy a new hobby and art form you can do that with straight razor shaving. That's how I started out initially after all.

"Aye Laddie,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
it seems Captain Chris has taken her hard to starboard and put the wind to our backs,,,,,,,,"


I don't know where it is written that you need to shave at all.
Why buy a car or take a bus to work; wake up early & walk to work.

but then again, MMDV (My Milage Does Vary)

To enter SRP & start dictating what is "nonsense",,,really is nonsense.