Thread: Greetings & Salutations!

I find your DE cation to be a little amusing because of my own story. I have been shaving with a straight for some time but had my first DE shave this week because frankly they scare the bejeebers out of me.

If you buy an old straight from the classifieds or whipped dog, it will be honed properly. Good benchmark. New ones not always shave ready, ubuy from straight razor designs and they will be though. Enjoy the learning curve, I'm still moving along it too.

Hi and welcome. Check out whipped dog and Larry should be able to help you out with a good vintage razor pro honed, a learners strop and brush pretty cheaply. Will be disinfected as well so no need to worry there. That will let your good wife buy you a good straight and strop once your over the learning curve and done with nicking the strop. Buying a bit at a time keeps the wife happy as the price is lower and in the end you can get away with spending more. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask

Welcome to SRP! +1 on what engine said.

A mild word of warning. Don't get ahead of yourself on wanting hone your own razors. The learning curve on using a straight is complex (and easy at the same time) and your attention should be on that till you are more than comfortable shaving with your straight. At that point, should you want to hone, your best bet is to find a Mentor or Senior Member near you that can give/show you the basic techniques for honing from bevel to shave ready. Sharpening knives and honing a razor is as different as the sun and the moon, apples and oranges.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

A mild word of warning. Don't get ahead of yourself on wanting hone your own razors. The learning curve on using a straight is complex (and easy at the same time) and your attention should be on that till you are more than comfortable shaving with your straight. At that point, should you want to hone, your best bet is to find a Mentor or Senior Member near you that can give/show you the basic techniques for honing from bevel to shave ready. Sharpening knives and honing a razor is as different as the sun and the moon, apples and oranges.

The practice run I did with my wifes Fromm hair shaver went about as well as the cartridges I use right now. No goo, just hot water so I could feel and see possible major mistakes in technique immediately. I did have to forgo against the grain in the goatee area. That was going to turn out bloody with her dull feathering straight razor-shaped object with disposable blade.

I'm meticulous by nature, which results in caution when dealing whith learning how to play with razors against the skin. I love precision, and holding a SR to your throat has a way of encouraging precision .

The good news about honing is that im not an experienced sharpener of knives. No good habits, but no bad habits either in that respect . I came across a thread last night where a couple of fellers waxing philosophical about bevels, 4k, 8k, loupes, and stria. Gonna bookmark that one.

Good that you have not really sharpened knives. But I must reiterate, don't rush to learning to hone just yet. The shave mastering is enough to keep you involved for awhile. Learning to re-freshen an edge is the baby step toward honing from bevel to shave ready. When you get to the need to re-freshen all you will need is a barbers hone or a 12k synthetic stone. I shaved for over 10 months before I stepped into the work of honing secure in my shaving skills so as to not worry about technique when I started learning the hones. And let assure you, I am generally the impatient, throw it to the wind type of person but went with caution because I didn't want to spend much more money on having others do the work for me.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I find your DE cation to be a little amusing because of my own story. I have been shaving with a straight for some time but had my first DE shave this week because frankly they scare the bejeebers out of me.

I'll paint a picture for you . The side profile of a DE, loosely resembling the shape of the scoop on a backhoe, takes a nice round scoop out of that nice juicy vein on your throat like a drunk backhoe operator scooping a water main or sewage pipe.

Did that help?

Hi Crawler
I think the starter razor you were looking for is here:

Dovo "Best Value" 5/8 - Straight Razor Place Library

It is listed in the Library & it IS a nice good razor.

Hello,and welcome!!