New member from Albuquerque

[garand555]

I received an antique straight razor for my birthday last month. According to the antique shop, it was made circa 1860, but it was in really good shape. It says:

"GREAT FORGE STEEL CO. SOLINGEN GERMANY" on one side of the shank, and the other side says "Admiration TRADE MARK."

It also has some very nice brass work on the scales. It even came with the original box, which had the original price on it: $2.50! Of course, back then, IIRC, gold was right around $20/oz and today it is around $1300, so that actually would actually make sense. It has a little patina on the blade, and the only restoration that it really needed was a new edge. I have a plethora of knife sharpening tools, and all I needed was either a really fine wood working hone or a barber's hone, which I managed to track down in town for $25.

I put what I thought was a good edge on it, and shaved a few times with it before I realized that there were a few areas on the blade that weren't quite up to snuff, so I hit it again with my various stones, and man oh man, what a difference.

I also happen to have extra course facial hair. Barbers who use shavettes hate me when I ask for a shave, because one shave for me takes 3 blades. Yes, I have to strop the thing a lot, but now that I have a really good edge on it, that seems fairly minimal compared to actually sharpening it. I'm also getting much faster and cutting myself a lot less. Not that it matters that much, because the only reason I notice that I cut myself is that I see the blood. LOL.

[eddy79]

Hi and welcome. Congrats on the success so far. Might be a good idea to have a pro honing to make sure that you are getting a truly shave ready razor as it sounds like you haven't got a benchmark to compare to yet. Any questions feel free to ask

[garand555]

Hi and welcome. Congrats on the success so far. Might be a good idea to have a pro honing to make sure that you are getting a truly shave ready razor as it sounds like you haven't got a benchmark to compare to yet. Any questions feel free to ask

I one of those guys who has to jump into something to learn it. I made my mistakes, learned from them, and the razor goes through hair very nicely now.

[Walterbowens]

Hi, and welcome to SRP.

[Bordee]

Welcome to SRP,

Always nice to see New Mexicans on this forum (I grew up in Albuquerque).

[DamnStraight]

ABQ in the SRP! Welcome! Sounds like you're off to a great start in such an enjoyable art/hobby. I didn't dare (have the guts) to jump in as you did. So congrats on your success thus far!