Thread: Hello

Hello. From one old fart to another, welcome to SRP. After 53 years of wet shaving, I finally took up straight razor shaving three years ago. I wouldn't know what I would have done without the fine, knowledgeable gentlemen on this forum.

ok. baby steps. I've ordered a really cheap Chinese straight and a strap strop. Let's see how deep this rabbit hole goes.
I'm not expecting delivery before new year, so: See you on the other side, I hope you all have a fantastic whatever-you-celebrate.

Here's a list of users near london, the fastest and best way to learn razor honing is one on one help.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...astvisit&pp=50

Rob, you are a star. I thought I was going to have to look that up myself. Thanks

Probably not the best idea to start on a really cheap Chinese razor, most brands will never take an edge you can shave with.
The ones that can are mass produced and quite often have geometry issues which can make them very frustrating to learn on.

Originally Posted by mitnageek

But I will not, now, be offering to sharpen a random razor the week after next.

In my view, that's progress.

The only thing I would add, and you may not want to hear this, is that after you're good at straight shaving, which is required before learning to hone so you can feel how well it shaves, and after you've successfully learned to hone your personal razor(s), try to work on as many old/used/vintage razors as you can.

There are lots of razors of tolerable condition and quality to be found on eBay, antique malls, flea markets, etc. get as many as you can, as cheaply as you can, and get them all up to a smooth shaving edge. It may cost a couple hundred bucks to stock up on a few dozen but it'll be well worth your while. They don't even have to have scales intact, as long as the steel is in decent shape.

It will help you learn to deal with uneven wear on the spine, dealing with warped blades, chipped blades, smiling blades, frowning blades, getting back to good metal when a blade has some pitting in the bevel, full hollows versus wedges, etc...

Now doing all that isn't strictly necessary, but it'll certainly boost your learning curve. And to be perfectly honest, when you start honing razors for money there's a very good chance you'll have to deal with most, if not all of those things.

And on the upside, you could get your money back after restoring and reselling some of them.


Just my opinion, the more experienced fellows may disagree with this suggestion.

Hi and welcome..
I would say that there are no shortcuts .
Personally I think that there are different levels of honing that come with time and understanding.

I would change that 1 week into, "come back in 2 years sir and your razor will be ready"

You're at the rite place to learn...good luck.

Thanks. I expect you will be right Grazor but I'm an optimist Ken, that has a "common sense, sound advice's feel to it. There is no replacement for experience, never has been in my (ahem) experience. I've already shifted my timeframe to years on this ... And I'm happy with that. Oddly, there is a bunch of experience I'll have to unlearn (or overcome anyway). Sharpening and reshaping knives, scissors and tools is usually a much more physical experience. I'm expecting to destroy a few razors. Not happy about that but there it is.
Job, yes, I think that's where it's ended up but we shall see. I've already told the chap who reached out to me, after my first evening reading on here. In many ways I'm looking forward to this even more now.

Originally Posted by KenWeir

And on the upside, you could get your money back after restoring and reselling some of them.


Just my opinion, the more experienced fellows may disagree with this suggestion.

.

Yeah selling might be a little optimistic