Thread: 6th Minnesota new guy this month!

This afternoon we had the 6^th new guy to straight razors come over to my home this April.
His SRP name is Bonstrosity ( Joel) and he has been using a DE for some time now.


This is Joel









Two other straight razor friends stopped over to meet the new guy and to help me out, Rod Bell ( Rodb) and Richard Penny (Geezer). Here is a group pic...






Joel brought along his Jubilee razor and what appears to be a Double Arrow plus another old small wedge type razor. The decision was made to hone the first 2 but not the 3^rd razor. The strop had seen better days. The surface had some kind of gunk on it toward the lower 1/3 so I took it down to the belt sander and used a well worn 220 grit to renew the surface. It worked very well. Then I had Joel apply some Neatsfoot oil to the strop. Now the strop is fully functional again. This strop was from RupRazor and it is a good one. It just had not been properly maintained.


Rod and Richard then helped Joel with his stropping technique and answered a bunch of questions for him while I honed both of his razors. The Jubilee razor needed to go back to the Chosera 1K and the Double Arrow started on the Norton 4K. Both were finished on the Norton 8K but then I also took the razors to a Apart barber hone , then back to the Norton 8K then finished on a blue/grey Thuringen.
( I think it was in that order (?))


Here are a couple of pics....







I made Joel a ChrOx pasted paddle strop and this time Richard suggested that we apply the ChrOx by mixing it in with some lather and then brushing it on the leather and rubbing it in. It worked very well!
Thanks Bart!





We discussed a lot about hones and honing, shaving technique and we may have overloaded Joel!


For a last touch I broke out a package I had received this week from Africa. More on that later....






If any of you guys in Minnesota want some help with straight razor related stuff please feel free to come on over. Just send me a PM or email and we can set up a day/time.

I have to say Thanks a bunch! to Rod and Richard. They really helped both me & Joel today.


Today was a pretty good day.

You are truly a gentleman! I hope this helps out Joel in his journey!

It was a very fun afternoon as always, thanks Randy!! And thanks Richard (Geezer) for the loupe and the CrOx lather tip, that is a really cool way of doing that and it should make it a much more uniform coating of CrOx.

I need to add that Joel purchased the razors and strop used from someone else. He is not the one who messed up the strop.

I can not thank these guys enough. I had a great time and learned a lot. I look forward to future gatherings.

Originally Posted by Bonstrosity

I can not thank these guys enough. I had a great time and learned a lot. I look forward to future gatherings.

The most important thing is that you now have a group of guys you can go to as questions and problems arise. Just have that resource at the ready is invaluable. Return the favor anytime you can or pay it forward.

Looks like you're getting ready for some Zulu action too!! Very nice!