Thread: Greetings from not so sunny Phoenix, AZ

Welcome and here is a link to the http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...na-meet-4.html thread

Hi and welcome. If you can meet up with Bordee im sure that would see you well off to a good start. Good luck

Hello, and welcome to SRP !! Thank you for your service!!!

Originally Posted by Bordee

Welcome Gary to SRP,

It's always great to see more Arizonans on this forum. I live out in North Central Phoenix myself.

I've got a decent collection of razors all the way from smallish 3/8 all the way to 8/8 large blades. I'd be happy to show these different razors and you could get a sense of their size and feel. PM me if you are interested. I've got some shave ready razors sitting around as well that I would be willing to sell you at cost.

I went to TAoS and tried a few for heft and feel. I may go back and purchase some of their soaps, but not a razor.

From what I gathered the I decided to purchase a razor/strop set from SRD. I ordered the Ralf Aust 5/8 w/ 3" strops & a bowl and soap. I may take you up on your offer to purchase one or 2 from you as I am sure I will want at the minimum 1 backup razor. I will also head up to The Razor Emporium sometime soon to check out their wares.

Thanks for the welcome all , looking forward to learning more from the vast knowledge gathered here.

Gary \m/

Congratulations on your first straights!

The postman can't come soon enough for you now

I know..... haha.
I told the wife there will be some rearranging done in the bathroom though. Why should she get all the room? Though I will store my razor (soon to be razors I hope) and brushes on the dresser just outside of the bathroom.

Almost forgot to mention , I did purchase a brush from pixelfixed in the classifieds here. I saw the handle and almost gasped I thought it looked so nice. So had to make it mine.

I actually couldn't wait. The wife and I went to "The Razor Emporium" and I bought a couple of their sraights. One shaves really nice, the other is ok, but in need of some work. I think I will make it my practice blade for honing. I just need to find a few good stones to use.

There is a whole honing and hones section.

You should have a good browse of that area and look at the stones people use.

You don't seem shy of spending a few bob, and you have locals who are wanting to meet up and help you. So the best advice is arrange a meeting. Take your new razors and get them to show you the stones they use.

Most people aim for owning a progression of stones. And depending on how they hone that progression can be very different from the next person. The basic stone arrangement looks like this.

Bevel setter. Usually a 1K synthetic hone. There are very few natural hones that can bevel set. They do exist most people are happy with a synthetic here. All of the stone makers produce a 1K hone that will work.

Polish stones. Usually 2-4 hones ranging from 3-8K. All of the big stone companies make these. There are naturals that work here like coticules, Belgian blues, Slates.

Finishing stone. Usually 10-12K. Some people add extra stones after this point to improve smoothness. A 10-12K edge should be a very shave able edge. Equally there are lots of naturals that work here.


You can do most of the work on a combination stone if you get the right stone. A Naniwa 3/8 superstone, or norton 4/8 can both do a lot of work. Your 1K stone can be pretty much anything with the correct grit but it's nice to have it match the stone your going onto next so a naniwa 1K or norton 1K would be ideal.

The final polishing stone is more personal preference than anything. Most people can shave from an 8K edge if they use a pasted strop. Adding the 10-12K stone or another good finisher after the 8K edge will give you a superior edge.

Honing a razor is a time intensive hobby to learn, and the initial outlay can be pretty high. Also expect failure and damage to the razors. I recommend you pick up some razor shaped objects from ebay. Namely a few gold dollar razors to learn to hone with. They will let you learn your technique without ruining anything of value.

Whatever you decide put a thread up in the hones section before you buy. People here will appraise your choices and tell you if there are better alternatives.

Gary,

Congrats on your first acquisitions. The 5/8 Ralf Aust should be a really nice shaver. It will come professionally honed, so you will give you a great idea of what a truly "shave ready" razor feels like.

Could you post some pics of the other razors you picked up? Are they all new, or some of them used and need some restoration work?

I completely agree with Iceni's comment above regarding honing. From my own personal experience, I would say that honing is a very enjoyable component of straight razor shaving, but it has a learning curve and can be frustrating at times. Expect some failures, especially if you are dealing with Ebay specials. Further expect some failures if you try your hand at honing old full wedges with even spines.

In my workshop, I have two Norton combination stones (2 sided): 220/1000 and 4000/8000. I also use a Norton 220 lapping plate (that came with the two combo stones) to flatten any of the stones as needed. I believe as a beginner, this set is an effective and economical way to go.

Down the road you may want to add other items if you decide you want to continue on with honing. You might consider then upgrading your Norton 1000 to something better. When attempting to sharped dull razors, 95% of the battle is won and lost at the 1000 level, so getting a higher end 1000 can later save you some time. You might also consider adding a 12k or a natural finisher. The forums are full of discussions on 1k stones and 12k/Natural finishers. I personally own and use a Chinese Water Stone (sometimes called a C-Nat, or CPHIG, on these forums). I like my Chinese stone, but there are others who don't like them.

Finally, if we meet up, I would be happy to give a honing lesson as well.

i put the photos on facebook, but i suppose i would have to use a photo site to link on here.