Thread: Truckin' on the road

Welcome Longhaultanker, your picture reminds me of the first Log truck I rolled.

Avoid the thumb pad test. Once you have honed and stropped your edge, it should be incredibly sharp and brushing your thumb pad across it can cause damage. Remember, the edge of that blade is microscopically thin and to an extremely fine point. Brushing your thumb across it will do the same as poor stropping, undoing all your efforts to get it sharp.

Originally Posted by wayne394

Avoid the thumb pad test. Once you have honed and stropped your edge, it should be incredibly sharp and brushing your thumb pad across it can cause damage. Remember, the edge of that blade is microscopically thin and to an extremely fine point. Brushing your thumb across it will do the same as poor stropping, undoing all your efforts to get it sharp.

Thanks for the advise, and thanks for not acussing me of grandchild abuse for letting them play with guns and sharp knives. As a truck driver on the road, I'm looking for what works. I don't have time for microscopes or electron analyzers. If steel edges are that delicate what would a tough whisker or a puff of breeze do to it?

Sorry to disagree with you but generally we don't advise buying $400 razors to learn to hone on, generally the advice is to get a decent vintage razor in the $40-60 range and start by refreshing on a high grit stone.
I am not saying there is anything wrong with the path you have chosen it is just the harder path.

Whipped Dog Straight Razor Shaving Equipment This is an excellent place for a beginner to pick up a good inexpensive razor to learn on and one of the places that we would send a noob for just such. We try not to be snobs around here but we just can't help it when it comes to GD RSO's because we have seen a lot of new shavers quit because of the poor quality and shavability.

Welcome to SRP. I'm also a driver, but my OTR days are behind me(miss it sometimes).

Welcome to the forum. I have to say I never have had a GD razor. They have a reputation for being unpredictable quality. I also learned to hone on pristine razors. As far as getting blades pro honed, I do that to. Not because it is needed in order for me to get a good shaving edge. I do it to feel the edges that others achieve. In the early times of my honing it also gave me a benchmark to shoot for. Happy shaving.

It seems to me, and this is just one man's opinion, some here need to take a remedial course on reading and comprehension. Forest Gump might say snobbery is as snobbery does. I may be rather new to straight razor shaving, but I'm certainly no greenhorn. I thought the ultimate test of sharpness was the shave itself. Isn't that correct? Suffice it to say, I get BBS shaves from all my razors now, including the Gold Dolliar. Some good, some better, some excellent. I'm sure experience will improve my skills and techniques. I can see why some youngsters might run away given certain gatekeepers. One sees Gold Dollar and goes into attack mode. I'm sure looking forward to my new Wacker 7/8 Old Sheffield w/ barber's notch coming this week.

Your Wacker will be a treat for sure. Have you considered any of the vintage blades? You have some very nice razors, and all are current productions, if you look to the vintage blades there are some different styles and different shaving experiences. I have an old Frederick Reynolds that I am quite fond of that is very different from your current rotation. Just a thought.

Hi, welcome.
I learnt to hone with expensive new razors. I say learnt but maybe 3 years in and I'm still learning, you never stop learning and improving.
It does take time but its time well spent
How much are Gold Dollar Razors anyway, surely not a dollar ?