Hi from RI

[mainframer]

Hey folks, my name is Greg and I'm from Rhode Island, USA. After doing some lurking on this forum I recently bought the following items:

• Dubl' Duck Goldedge razor (from a consignment shop; last owner was a barber)
• badger hair brush (from same shop)
• leather and linen strop from West Coast Shaving
• Norton 1000/4000
• Norton 8000 (en route in the mail)
• shaving cake

My goal is to restore the razor myself. So far, I have used the 1k/4k stone to set the bevel. Now I am waiting for the 8k stone in the mail.

Does it sound like I am on the right track?
+Greg

[Razorfeld]

Yes and no. Frankly, unless you have an innate ability to hone a razor without any shaving or honing experience you are facing disappointment. Honing a razor is noting like honing a knife, apples and oranges, etc. Concentrate on understanding your facial hair growth, developing good lather, learning to strop without dulling your edge and simple edge maintenance. A Naniwa 12k should be first choice for edge maintenance. If your razor didn't come shave ready send it to a pro or local Mentor willing to hone it for you. That way, when you do, in many months from now, decide you want to learn how to hone your own you will have a bench mark to compare to. An investigate the threads that stress learning to get a good shave off of an 8k stone before going further.

As for a 'shaving cake' many local store will have Williams shaving soap puck. Can be easy or hard to get a good lather with. Local stores should also carry Van Der Hagen products. They give good lather. And there are literally hundreds of soaps/creams to way lay you on the path of good straight razor shaving.

Read the wikis, watch the videos and ask a lot of questions.

[tcrideshd]

+1 on what razor field said if you cannot shave well yet your going to never know if you've gotten your blade ready, First learn to shave and strop( the most important thing to learn!)
Then to refresh , then work on honing, but you need to know what a shave ready edge is first. Don't want you getting disappointed right out the gate , we want you to stick around and have fun here. Besides you can use that money on hones for another couple razors!! Tc

[Razorfeld]

+1 on what razor field said if you cannot shave well yet your going to never know if you've gotten your blade ready, First learn to shave and strop( the most important thing to learn!)
Then to refresh , then work on honing, but you need to know what a shave ready edge is first. Don't want you getting disappointed right out the gate , we want you to stick around and have fun here. Besides you can use that money on hones for another couple razors!! Tc

Thanks for agreeing. But I've been seeing misspellings of my forum name lately. Common occurrence, but they run in spates. I am Razorfeld (and ego centric enough to defend it).

[tcrideshd]

Yes I know, I,m so sorry. But it's this darn auto correct if I do t look up when it does it I get embarrassed all the time Razorfeld. Tc

[Razorfeld]

Yes I know, I,m so sorry. But it's this darn auto correct if I do t look up when it does it I get embarrassed all the time Razorfeld. Tc

What's that expression, can't always remember it, "Something or other happens." Oh, life happens, that must be it.

[mainframer]

Would it be unwise to use the stones I ordered for sharpening knives if I plan to use the stones for honing razors in later years?

[tcrideshd]

Not sure I don't hone but a razor edge is very fragile so sharpening knives might score the face , but you can always lap it clean again. Most knives don't need a 8 k stone but the 4 k should give a nice smooth edge ,, but I'm pretty sure most of these guys around wouldn't use their hones on anything besides a razor. Hope that's some help. Tc

[RezDog]

So far there has been some sound reasoning and advice. Welcome.

[mainframer]

I'm thinking of sending my razor to a man named Howard in Worcester. His site is The Perfect Edge | For all your sharpening/honing supplies