Hi, I'm a new member and I currently reside in Phoenix AZ.

I have historically travelled a lot for work, which meant disposable blades only. However my current client has me doing a lot of work from home, which affords me a bit of time for family - and maybe even using a real blade to shave, which has been of interest to me for a while.

I've been interested in straight blade shaving almost as a byproduct of my interest in woodworking. I have spent a lot of time and energy learning to sharpen hand tools to perform (reasonably) well, and it made me curious to see if I could do better than the ridiculously expensive plastic and itty bitty little blades that I use.

I know how to sharpen, though it's still a journey. I also know from experience that my old-school, old steel chisels (from Witherby, and to a lesser extent, vintage Stanley) get sharper than my (fairly) new Lie-Nielsens, and both completely trounce anything you can buy new from the junk dealerships know as Lowes and Home Depot. I expect that's probably the case with razors too.

But just like woodworking its mostly about the skill, and I have none. I'm hoping I can get help on finding a Witherby-equivalent razor and help using it here.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice!

Acacia