Thread: Howdy

Hey I'm Tony I'm 27 and I have been enjoying wet shaving for a while but have seriously gotten into straight razor shaving restoration and collection here recently. I'm disabled due to a car accident in 2009 and this is something I really enjoy and look forward to doing everyday. Its really good for taking my mind off of the chronic pain I suffer due to many breaks aand surgery in my back and neck.

Howdy, Tony. Welcome to SRP.

Welcome...hope this turns out to be a fun and soothing pastime for you.

Thanks for the warm welcome! Harold I have been enjoying it very much. I'm only 27 but the history of these old razors really gets my inner child imagination to come out. Just wondering who could have used it and how long ago blows my mind. I am constantly thinking about was this used in an old barber shop with the next guy waiting to get a tooth yanked out or just buy an average guy like me. I was a specialist in a long list of different types of metal and metal work before I got hurt so I enjoy sitting around bringing life back to something like this and I love doing it by hand. It has a huge amount of nostalgia for me just thinking about it all. Plus wet shaving is great for taking my mind off of the chronic pain I deal with.

Hi,Tony, and welcome to the SRP family. I think of the same thing with the vintage razors. When I started out I thought of just a couple of new production razors to shave with, BUT then I got just 1 vintage and I was hooked, so here on out it's going to be vintage all the way for me.

One day I really want to get a Charlie Lewis custom brand new. I think all the Lewis razors are beautiful. Not putting down Mastro Livi or any of the other customs I just really like the primitive look to the Lewis razors. Almost all I have seen have been behemoths and the way his Damascus steel is truly amazing. Walterb my first razor was an old Simmons Hardware Barbers Pet and that little razor had me hooked. It was in pretty good shape when I got it but I cleaned it up and got that mirror finish plus a little honing on an old arkansas stone that was my grandfather's and I have been using it daily for the most part. When I got the razor I had no idea if it was a good brand or not but frankly I didn't care because it was old and I knew it had been used. I don't know exactly how much it had been used because to me at the time I thought to myself it didn't look like it had been sharpened on much. My grandfather taught me how to sharpen my pocket knives when I was about 10 or 12 to the point where it would shave me so I could cut through tough squirrel and deer hide. I in no way think I am a master of sharpening but that was another big reason why the idea of wet shaving with a straight was so attractive to me. I was raised by my grandparents and although my grandfather was relatively young (born in 1943), I grew up on a farm and it always feels like I was born a few generations behind everyone else. My grandfather never used a straight razor but he did use an old Gillette safety razor on occasions where he wanted a very close presentable shave and I remember standing beside him when I was five or six with a plastic toy razor and just some Barbasol cream shaving with him. I could go on and on, which I have a tendency to do lol, about all the things that attracted me to wet shaving but the truth is there are only two major reasons. The memory of my grandfather and the nostalgia of what has gotten to be an almost lost art with some really really cool tools to use.

Hi and welcome. Sounds like you are just as hooked as the rest of us. There really is nothing quite like a vintage razor.

You sound like a prime candidate for a serious case of RAD.....
Welcome in Tony, this is one rabbit hole I enjoy exploring,
and although I now am self sufficient in this sport and am happy with the results I am far from done playing.
The vintage blades are what almost all of my stash consists of.
Welcome in and enjoy the journey!

Glad you're here Tony!!

Cronic pain sucks - I assume you are on a fine regiment oH drugs. Don't hone or use a belt sander when you are high man lol!! Sure at first you're all like wow.., the focus, then balm!! Your strop is cut in half, your rock is on the floor shattered, and your ear is bleeding lol!

I joke, but then... I don't lol!!

Anyway, glad you're here - see you in the trenches!

Welcome to the forum.

Roger