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Hey everybody,
I am Manuel from Monterrey, Mexico (northeast, pretty close to Texas). I am just starting out with an Thiers Issard razor my wife got me for my birthday from Art of Shaving. I found SRP looking for instructional videos and it looks like a fantastic place to learn and grow into this new hobby.
As a side-note, I read the piece on "Shave ready" razors not actually being shave ready. Does anybody know if this is the case of Art of Shaving razors?
Thanks a ton!
Welcome to SRP!
No the TI razors from AoS are not shave ready. Send it out to be professionally honed. There are lists of honers in the classifieds on this site.
In the mean time, you can practice stropping with a butter knife. You did get a strop too, didn't you? If not, get one, you strop every time you shave.
Make sure you read over the beginner's guide in the library, it will answer a lot of your questions.
And ask questions if you have them - we are here to help answer them.
Most importantly enjoy the experience.
Hola, Manuel! Bienvenido a SRP.
Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of information and friendly, knowledgable people here.
Yes, unfortunately it does, it is not shave ready, unless you paid for honing.
Some stores will send them out for honing, if you request & pay for it, some refer the buyer to honers, some don’t sell honed razors, they are franchises. I hone for some AOS stores in Southern California.
PM me and I will hone it for you, for postage, if you cannot find anyone locally.
Thanks Cris, it is a relief to learn that the rough shaving experience I've had this week wasn't 100% on me but rather a dull razor. I will look for someone who can hone in Monterrey as sending it out to the US is quite complicated. Mexican post is not very reliable.Quote:
Originally Posted by criswilson10
I did get a good strop and will definitely spend some time practicing in the meantime. I am doing quite a bit of reading on SRP Wiki, the forums as well as in other sites and learning a ton, but there is no learning like experiential learning! =)
Thanks again!
Gracias Leatherstockiings!
Thank you very much for the offer Euclid440! As I mentioned to criswilson10, Mexican post is very unreliable and I don't want them to lose my razor... =) I will first try to find someone who might be able to hone it for me in Monterrey and, if not, I'll take you up on the offer. The lady who sold it to my wife told her it was shave ready. No mention of honing except as a maintenance service for later.Quote:
Originally Posted by Euclid440
Thanks again!
Hi and welcome. Be careful when looking locally for honing and make sure they are razor honers and not knife sharpeners or you may get back a damaged razor that still won't shave. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask.
Thanks eddy, do you have any tips on how to know whether they are razor honers and not knife sharpeners? Are there any significant differences in the whetstones they use or something like that?Quote:
Originally Posted by eddy79
Welcome to the forum Manuel. Good luck getting your razor honed. You have a quality razor in a TI. Be careful not to ruin it straight away.
Yes, do make sure that it is hand honed on stones, by someone that hones razors, not a knife shop that is going to put it on a belt sander or grinder.
Most knife shops feel there is no difference in sharpening a knife and a razor, but there is, and machines will remove a lot of metal from your new razor. You may have better luck asking an old barber where to get it honed.
I will certainly do my best! :rofl2:Quote:
Originally Posted by wayne394
Agree. I think it is going to be hard to find. I'll get back to you soon....Quote:
Originally Posted by Euclid440
Old barbers are your best bet, they may even hone it for yours.
Don’t know what it is like in Mexico but here in the US barbers can not use old Straight Razors (have to use disposable) and often you can pick up nice rare, old gear from them, Razors, stones and strops.
At the least they will know where to get it honed correctly.
Hi Manuel & welcome to SRP. Sorry I’m late to the welcome party. I had computer issues yesterday so it took a lot of my time. Sadly their razors don't come shave ready but if you send it to a pro to be honed, you will then know the difference from a pro honed shave ready razor & just another you happen to get. It would be a great idea for you to get a 2nd straight for when you do send one out to be honed, you will always have one to shave with in the future. You might find the Beginners Guide in the Library section a good start & then go from there. You can practice on your strop with a butter knife to prevent from cutting up a good or new strop. Should that happen, you can always sand it out with sandpaper or glue it back down with super glue (CA) or rubber cement. You will find a lot of great information here plus many knowledgable members so if you have any questions, just ask & you will receive many replies. I'm in the Houston, TX area so we're just a few hundred miles apart. Oh, we'd like to see your T.I. when you get a chance.
Good luck my friend!
I doubt barbers in Mexico are regulated at all. They can probably use whatever equipment they wish to use and there is no way they need to be certified by anybody... haha...Quote:
Originally Posted by Euclid440
Thanks engine46! I need to find a way to justify the second razor to my wife... hahaha... But I do think I'll have to do that. Do you know which online stores sell truly shave ready razors other than SRD?Quote:
Originally Posted by engine46
P.S. I'll post a pic of the TI once I get back home
Manuel,Quote:
Originally Posted by manuelz
SRD is the best I know of but a place called whippeddog seems to have a good reputation for having shave ready straight razors. If you buy one from SRD, Lynn, the owner of this forum & an owner of SRD, hones & strops each new straight before it goes out to it's new home plus you get a free honing for when it needs it. Also if you look in the Classsifieds here, there are members who sell shave ready straights & you might even get a better shipping price but none of them would want to tarnish their reputation on here so if they say they are shave ready, they are.
As promised, here are a couple of pics of my TI:
Attachment 211596Attachment 211597
That's a nice looking T.I. Manuel.
That's a beautiful razor!
Bienvenido,
There is a lot of information here. If you can find a barber in Monterrey who will sharpen your razor that would be great. And if he can teach you to hone so much better. But for the best experience it's good you experience what a well honed razor feels like. If you cannot get it honed in Monterrey, I would suggest you get a razor from Whipped Dog Straights or the Classifieds. I have gotten superb razors from both around $45-$50 price range. Stropping is very important. The advice given on using a butter knife, is very useful as I dulled my first razor's edge with bad stropping. If it's impossible to find someone to hone your razor, you might need to learn to use the hones like I did. Estos son unos vídeos que a mí me ayudaron mucho.
Stropping
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Afilando una navaja con tan solo la piedra norton 4000/8000 (yo hice esto por dos años)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Básicos de afeitado para principiantes por Lynn Abrams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Hi Manuel
Here is another interesting link you might want to check out if you haven't seen it yet:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...icipation.html
Good luck my friend.
