Thread: Future Christian Barber

Originally Posted by Mach7

Thanks for all the kind posts.

I actually had a chance to talk to my Grandfather today. As usual he wasn't in a good mood. But he did express wonder that there was a modern following dedicated to the straight razor. I told him of a resurgence in the art. But he said "Ill believe it when I see it".

Of course he is 92 years old. And he learned his craft as an apprentice to his brother. But his brother never operated his own shop, but was a barber in another mans shop.

Anyway my Grandfather told me that one must gain skill in honing. He said he learned this skill under his brother. And that one must develop a certain "touch" with the finger on a honed blade to determine if it is truly sharp.

I would have asked him about actual shaving, but a guy in the personal care home rudely interrupted my conversation with my Grandfather and further upset him. In order to avoid a argument with the rude guy I had to be diplomatic and calm my Grandfather. But that event ended the conversation.

Anyway Mid State, Pa is in Central Pennsylvania. You have heard of Mid State Bank? This was the area that they served. More of a region than a city. Close to Penn State University though.

Sorry to hear your Grandfather is so grumpy,but if he's around rude guy all the time maybe I could see why ? Maybe you could bring in your laptop if you have one and show him the SRP website to convince him that we do indeed exist ? Good Luck and God Bless.

OOps Hensley beat me to it !

Originally Posted by Mach7

Thanks for all the kind posts.

Anyway Mid State, Pa is in Central Pennsylvania. You have heard of Mid State Bank? This was the area that they served. More of a region than a city. Close to Penn State University though.

I've been to Bald Eagle state forest to hike a 30 mile section of the Mid State trail over Seven mountains. And of course I've been to Penn State, I'm probably a little over two hours from there. Pretty neat that you have your Grandfather to ask question about straight razor shaving!

Actually I purchased what I thought was a straight razor a few days ago. This would be my first straight razor. But it turns out, after reading reviews, that the item I bought is simply a pocket knife meant to look like a straight razor. The reviews list it as dull and unfit to shave with. But I might send it to someone here just to see if they can make it work. Anyone think they can actually sharpen it?

What I bought was this Ridge Runner Straight Razor, HA! Guess I got gypped. It looked really cool though.

But I only want to use this really dull "straight razor" to safely get the feel of with, across, and against the grain shaving, even if this thing doesn't actually shave, until I can afford a better genuine straight razor. If anyone can locate a brand new straight razor that has a yellow and blue handle in colored mother of pearl that is what I want.

And thanks for the advice. I actually brought an Ipad with me when I spoke to my Grandfather. And I did video the interview all the way up to the confrontation with the rude guy. Eventually I'll post it.

My Grandfathers shop is long gone though. Although there are many photos. When I have the opportunity I may locate them and archive them.

What I plan to do soon, though, is buy the DVD that the site administer Lynn made. Someone said I can post photos of my bike here. Where can I do that?

As far as the bike goes, look in the "Finer things in life" thread

You would probably not get much knowledge practicing with that. Keep it as a pocketknife. Its weight and shape are nothing like a real str8. Practicing with a dull razor is not a roite I would choose either. Just get a nice restored vintage and some good instruction, a decent strop, and take your time.

Hey id like to run an idea by you guys. I was in another thread here getting advice from other guys concerning what turned out to be a bad idea for a safety device for razors. In the course of our conversation I spoke of a custom build I would like to see come to fruition.

I will paste that post below:



Ok Ok maybe you are all right. This is why I asked an expert opinion,as a novice, knowing nothing about straight razors. And I honestly believe I received expert advice on the very notion of magnetic rings. I will hitherto forsake the idea of a magnetic ring system to prevent straight razor drops.

But instead I will focus on custom designs and ideas for straight razor builds. Not that I am capable of doing them myself. But as a potential request for a build.

One thing that I noticed was that I cannot seem to find a straight razor with a blue white and red barber shop pole themed scales.

So here is what I had in mind. Bear with me.

A straight razor with the red, white and blue striping in mother of pearl. And the blade would be one of the goldtone or one having genuine gold accents on the spine. On the blade itself it would have a barbers pole in black ink, and also gold and simply say:

Charlie's
"Golden Barber"

The other one would be called the "Silver Barber" and it would have the same striping on the scales except the scales would be wood instead of mother of pearl. And of course no gold tone. Same ink barbers pole on the blade.

Anybody have CAD that could draw this idea up?

Charlie's was the name of my Grandfathers barber shop.

A lot of talented people here o SRP I'm sure someone will PM you. A custom blade can or should I say is expensive, if you want someone to make new "handles" scales for your razors I'm sure someone can do make them.
One person comes o mind, Mark or aka mycarver you may want to contact him.

Sounds pretty neat. As was stated, being a one of kind won't make it cheap, but I'm not sure how much it would actually be. I have seen people put up some pretty neat custom scales, but don't recall any custom etching off the top of my head. Maybe someone else will chime in soon.