Ready to try a straight shave.

Hello all,

I am new here. I have been wet shaving for a few months, and am ready to make the transition to a straight razor. I am planning to purchase a high quality, shave ready razor in the next couple weeks.

I am also determined to learn to hone myself. I purchased a vintage Torrey razor on Ebay. I plan to use the Torrey to learn how to hone only for now. I an a woodworker and have quite a few Norton waterstones up to 8000 grit. Looks like I will need to pick up a 12000 to completely hone.

I plan to learn with the professionally honed razor only. It will give me a benchmark for when my honing technique is up to par.

Anyway this is a great site. Looking forward to learning to my first straight shave.

Ron

Welcome Ron
Sounds like you have a plan
I would certainly wait until you have a shave ready bench mark before dabbling with the honing as it is definitely different to sharping knive and chisels etc
Enjoy the ride happy shaving

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Originally Posted by Substance

Welcome Ron
Sounds like you have a plan
I would certainly wait until you have a shave ready bench mark before dabbling with the honing as it is definitely different to sharping knive and chisels etc
Enjoy the ride happy shaving

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Hi Ron & welcome to SRP. You will find a wealth of knowledge on here. You mainly need to know how to strop right now if you don't know yet. Also don't practice honing with a shave ready razor. Wait until it won't shave smooth anymore. You may want to buy a second razor just in case you need to send one out to be professionally honed. Do you have a brush, a shaving mug & shaving soap? You will need those as well. If you plan on buying a new straight, buy one from Straight Razor Designs. Lynn, the owner & founder of this forum is also part owner of SRD & if you buy the straight razor kit with a strop, he will hone the razor to make sure it is shave ready, something that other vendors claim to do but don't. If you just buy a straight razor He might hone it as well but I know for sure when he sells the kits, he hones the razors. Lynn is a fantastic guy & will help you out if you have any questions but if you ask questions on here, there are many knowledgable members who will be more than happy to answer them for you so feel free to ask anything or comment on anything.
Good luck & have fun on here!

Welcome to SRP Ron. As engine46 pointed out this site has a wealth of information at your fingertips. Also, there is nothing like one-on-one meetings that can be the equivalent of months of reading the Library and the various threads.

Of great value is contacting a Mentor. We are available for any that have questions and are more than willing to meet and spend a few hours going over things. You are in luck as there are two Mentors in Oregon. pinklather in Scapoose and myself, in Forest Grove. If you are within easy driving of one us just send a PM to your choice and arrange a meeting.

Also you don't need a 12k stone, when it's time to start honing , if it isn't shave ready at the 8k level then it's not ready for a 12k ,, got to take slow steps , heck honing isn't even that important till you learn how to shave which takes time,, and I. The beginning it's easier to just send it out for honing, which is cheaper by far than a new hone, plus you have guys in your area that can help you. Taking the time to learn each step inorder will make this a great journey for you , and remember this stropping is probably the single most important factor in maintaining your edge and having a shave ready razor to put to your face, after you have the technique down to shave properly , your stropping will allow you to shave for a long time between honing. Good luck. Tc

If you have purchased a shave ready razor, it will not need to touch any stone for a while. When the time comes for a refresher to the edge, then all you need to have is a 12k Naniwa SuperStone. This should keep you going for a long, long time. Watch Lynn's video on how to refresh a razor. Enjoy the ride.

Welcome. As long as you don't roll or fold your edge while stropping you will be good for a little while. Poor technique is also hard on an edge as well as your skin. You likely will not need a higher grit hone for a while, you need to refine your 8k edge to shave ready before moving up, otherwise you will just be polishing a bad edge and they never shave any better. There is plenty of helpful information and helpful people here to assist.

WOW, thanks for the offers of help. I will make sure I take advantage of them. I have no intention of trying to shave with anything other that a shave ready razor, honed by a professional. I want to learn to hone my own because that's the kind of guy I am. I have no problem owning a user, and one to work on my skills with.

Went to the SRD website and looks like the razor/strop package is a great deal. I will also use one of the mentors. Both of the mentors in Oregon are within 30 minutes or so from me. I'm in Beaverton. Thanks again for all the offers for help. I am sure I will need them.

Welcome aboard Fabos! I, just about 20 shaves in with a straight and, like you, came from a DE. I've learned a heap from just doing it with shaving mad stropping. This site, particularly the library is a great resource.

I'm starting to tinker with honing some beaters, while keeping my shave-ready blade far away from my stones for now. It feels awesome to recover a century-old piece of steel to a shaver!

I think your plan is fine just the way you stated it. Most recommend not trying to learn honing and shaving at the same time, but the way you stated it they will be two separate activities. I don't see any problem with that. No big rush on the 12k though, there is a lot to learn before you will need it.

Ron, I like your openness to learning. Any contact now with one of us, before you get to using a straight, can only add to your success. Here's the deal. If you want to make the short hop to Forest Grove, unshaven, on just about any day of your choice (well into retirement and, while busy still, am flexible on availability), I will have you shave with one of my straights so you can judge for yourself if that is the route to take or to stick with a DE (big section of DE users on SRP). PM me with your decision.

I recently took the challenge from a many years ago post and took a razor, put a new edge on at on a 1k stone, stropped and shaved with it. DId the same with a 4k and an 8k. Started with a reasonable 1k shave and ended with a damn fine shave off the 8k. All the higher grits do is polish the edge. Good simile, since you are a carpenter (my son is a contractor) is a house without a good foundation will fail.

Hi and welcome. You will see it said here constantly that the bevel is everything. If the bevel ain't right everything thing after is a waste of time. It's a good idea to get a loupe for inspecting your progress when honing. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask.