Hi from West Sussex

Hi all,

After looking at straight razors on and off fora year or so, I finally bought one on a whim as it looked a good price for the starter pack.

I got the MenRock Starter Kit and its a nice looking kit with alot of free extras thrown in. Unfortunately as a newb I didn't do my research and the razor is not only shave ready...I now notice the blades edge is not straight.

Not being put off I bought 2 natural welsh slate honing stones and managed to get a passable edge on it that I can use on the cheeks and sideburns.

But this isn't the experience I want but it did show me how much I enjoyed it...the pre-shave prep, the stropping and the manliness*it exudes.

So to get a good shave requires a good razor, pre honed which meant another chance to ogle them on the web :)

Finally settled for the Dovo Bismarck from Dovorazors... (great customer service btw) and now waiting by the letter box for it to arrive!

See you around I guess.

Chadders.

Welcome, I have the 2 coarser Welsh slates, and can get a decent refresh on a shave ready razor from them, so I guess the question is, does your new razor come shave ready. Not the factory edge, which as I understand probably won't be, but one that has been hand honed by someone with experience?
That being said welcome to the forum :)
Please feel free to ask of us what you need to know :)
All the best ed.

Hi and welcome. Bummer start but one many of us make. Then we find this site and it all runs smoother after that thanks to all the great info. At least you'll have a practice razor for honing, stropping etc they are always handy. Good luck for the coming shave just remember that a shave ready razor doesn't use pressure to cut whiskers just wipe the lather off and let the blade do the work.

Thanks ed and eddy (wheres edd?... old school cartoon reference!)

The razor is from dovorazors and does state it is honed by them before shipping so luckily I won't need to touch it. Glad I have the cheapo razor as you said, I read through a few articles on here used it to give my honing skills a boost.

Ed, I have the dragons tongue slate and lyn mellynlyn one too.

Do you think these are any good... I'm. A bit dubious to use them on my new razor since it cost a heck of alot more than my original £10 razor (the one I didnt mind messing up since it was already messed up).

Eddy... thats what im hoping for. A hliding shave that makes me want super fast stubble growth.

Yeah two ed's from Perth who are both ed H's and were born a year apart, who'd of thought.
I like the slates, but you will be warned that naturals are unpredictable. I sent them to os (hones razors for a job) to try, I don't think he liked them that much, but havachat uses and likes them, he does also have the finer one too mind.
I recently sent a razor that had been touched up with the slates to an experienced shaver friend from this site who seemed to be impressed with what I bad done, he said he could feel that they had been on the nani I have and the slates.
I like what they can do, but I have no comparison except professionaly honed edges, and a razor that wasn't freshly honed.
Have you tried them on your razor, and have you considered the finer one? Due to postage they are fairly cheap in the UK.
Did you ask about lapping? I bought an atoma lapping plate, it is.good, but again j have no comparison to benchmark it, I was told by a few senior members that they are worth the extra.

Funnily enough I watched a youtube video about lapping moments before reading this and had decided to do it on my 2 naturals before I do any more honing. They have done a good job on the cheap menrock razor but I won't risk my new bismarck on them yet until I am happy they won't do more harm than good.

The lyn mellynlyn is supposed to be equivalent to 12-15k while the drahons tongue is 8-10k so think these are fine enough for now, although I do want to pick up some coarser ones of maybe 1k and 4k to help create bevels and such on practice ebay razors.

The bismsrck from the invisible edge / dovorazors arrived today, pre honed and good to go. So ive planned a chillout afternoon of man time in the bathroom To go through a long pre shave prep and time to get used to the feel of the new blade. We all deserve man time right...

Hope that shave goes well. The slates are a natural and hard so will take longer and be a bit harder to get all out of them than synthetics. That said enough people use them to know you can get a good edge off them. From memory there is actually a thread on those particular hones so a search might yield some helpful insight and hints. Pretty sure there lapped but to low grit and its recommended to take them to a higher grit. As said do a search they discussed them reasonably in depth. A 1k and 4k stone will help when the RAD kicks in. Expect it soon. Generally followed by HAD.

Chadders,

Welcome and hello from Hastings :)

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

A quick hello from the Netherlands.

I'm 30 yo and interested in straight edge shaving a few years now. I recently bought a gold monkey razor (I know not the finest on the market) and stumbled upon this place in hope to hone my skills and getting the thing shave ready :) if you have any questions, feel free to ask.