Thread: inset Two And A Half Men theme song here.

A good razor at reasonable prices can often be found in the classifieds here. I have two different thought trains on strops. Concept one is to buy a good strop that you can replace the leather on once you have finished nicking it up. Concept number two is buy a quality inexpensive strop like an Illinois and once you have killed that one, buy a nice one. The Illinois strops can be found new for very little money. I went with concept one and that has always seems the more sensible path to me. Either way it bring you to the gold standard in shaving since 1876.

Welcome Scratch!

Few of us are fortunate enough to have any heirloom shaving gear. The chances of your ruining it if you are just getting started is very high. Hitting the faucet with the razor the wrong way can ruin it. It is much easier than you would imagine to cut a strop in half, therefore, I agree with the others on learning on something else. I just saw your last post and see that you have agreed with this.

Also, I would advise that you have the razor professionally honed. Same with a restoration if it needs it. Same for the strop.

Unless you are a machinist or similar role, the chances of messing them up are too great.

I'm glad you are here and hope you'll be active on the forum.

Welcome to the forum.

Lots of great advice so far. I would just add that as it appears you live in Missouri, you are near some great honers and Straight Razor Designs, so you have a lot of options if you just reach out. A hands on honing and stropping session is worth a thousand YouTube videos!

You are really blessed to have an heirloom razor! I hope you'll pass it on to the next generation as well.

Hi and welcome. Any questions feel free to ask