Thread: Hi from Florida

I live in Lake Placid near Sebring.

Hi all,
I live in Melbourne , Fl

Don't worry about honing yet just learn how to strop and shave , too many things on you plate and you spend too much time getting good with the razor , after you learn the stropping and how to shave you won't need to hone but rarely. Buy something from the classifieds here and it will be shave ready if sold that way. Then hook up with a mentor or send it out when it needs work , saves you a lot of money in the beginning, I've been shaving with a straight for 2 1/2 years every day , I still don't hone and I,m doing fine just send them out and what do you knife they come back with as good an edge as you want and it last for months.
It all depends what your doing , shaving or restoring? Tc

Forgot to mention that lee sells a very good shaving cdthat you might want to invest in.
Good luck.

I think I am going to take tcrideshd's advice. I am trying to get the cart before the horse. Think I will buy one of these razors and a strop and see if an old geezer like me can shave with a straight razor. Terry

Welcome aboard Terry. You will never know unless you at least try it. You will find that using a straight razor give a much better, closer & smoother shave when honed & stropped correctly. Like Tc said, you don't need to learn to hone right away, just send it out to a pro & also buying from the classifieds here is a great idea because many selling razors will indeed be shave ready rather than ones on eBay. No member here is going to chance getting a bad reputation by selling a straight razor that is supposed to be shave ready & not be. Give it a go & try it. You won't go back. Your main tool you will need is a strop, then a good brush, soap & mug. You can practice stropping using a dull knife or butter knife to avoid cutting a strop & dulling a straight razor blade. A little practice & you will be amazed at what you learn.
The first time I used a straight razor, it was like the difference between dialup & high speed internet. You never go back to dialup. Oh & there's nothing wrong with using a double edge razor either because they still sell blades for them plus there are many brands out there to try & you can buy sample packs to try different brands out. I will use a DE when I don't have time to use a straight razor. Great to have you here.
Good luck my friend.

Welcome! Its never too late to get started, and dont let the choices get to you!

And as mentioned, dont let the honing options get to you either... Just get two razors, get them both professionally honed, and then you will always have one ready to use when you have to send one of the razors out again for honing.

Heck, when I started out, I even had a couple of sellers send razors I bought directly to honers!

Ya your not really an old geezer here in this forum, big majority of guys here been around to watch howdy doody on tv, Good for you on taking the advise, it's free and most of the time it's good, like I mentioned the classifieds right now have some very inexpensive, yet good razors to start out with. Welcome. Tc

welcome and enyoy of this forum