Thread: Hello from East Texas

I am new to straight razors to the extent of owning no straight razor gear what so ever. Have a nice collection of vintage and modern DE shaving tools and have always swore I would never touch a straight. And yet here I am. I am clueless and malleable on this straight razor subject. Do your best work gentlemen on schooling me as I go down this rabbit hole.

Hello. Welcome to Straight Razor Place!

A good place to start out is the Helpful Links box on the left of the SRP homepage. Here's the first link
Beginner's guide to straight razor shaving - Shave Library

Welcome. Start with the library. Ask questions. Do your research before buying a razor and all needed supplies. Shop Straight Razor Design or the Buy-Sell-Trade section. All reliable people.

read everything here you can, try to take the advise given by senior members, don't go hog wild buying until you can comfortable shave and strop, then branch out. Above all have patience, you won't get it down in the first few shaves, maybe be after a hundred or so. Honing can wait, and ask a lot of questions. Buy your razor from a reliable source that hones them or a vintage from our site from a senior member( shave ready) is very important. There you go easy peasy. Tc

Almost forgot find you a mentor in your area, heck it would be worth the drive up to Scott Goodmans in southeast Oklahoma, you won't find a better Man to learn from,
Dona member search we have guys close to you in Tyler. Tc

Hello and welcome to SRP.
I would also add watch our founder Lynn Abrams learn to shave video and as many other straight razor shaving videos as you can stand.
You will have to figure out if you are comfortable shaving using both hands.
Practice strokes that you think might work for you using a butter knife.
Shave slow and easy with a very light touch.
Most important...Stay In Your Comfort Zone! If something doesn't feel right, put the razor down and make a decision to continue with the shave or not.
This takes quite a bit of time and a lot of patience and practice, but is Well Worth the Effort.
In no time you'll be shaving like an old pro.
Good luck on your shaving journey and enjoy the forum.

Pete <:-}

I initially thought of buying a Dovo or Boker off of Amazon, and thought wait a minute. I spend a good deal of time searching for vintage safety razors out in the wild and see a few SR's from time to time. Most seem better suited to being letter openers than razors due to the degraded state of the blades.
That being said...I was thinking about trying to find a decent one in the wild and buying honing gear and strop and see if I could not bring it back to life. With the mindset that the sweat equity invested might keep me motivated to stick with it and learn a necessary skill required in owning a straight. Not to mention if I destroy the blade in the process I wont be out a great deal.

Not knowing diddly about what constitutes a good vintage from a bad or the first thing about honing and such it may be a poor course of action but I am ready for an adventure

Won't be much of an adventure unless all you want is something to look at, until you have shaved with a shave ready razor you won't know where your edge is. Then review points 1 and 2 from my post earlier. Good luck Tc

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Won't be much of an adventure unless all you want is something to look at, until you have shaved with a shave ready razor you won't know where your edge is. Then review points 1 and 2 from my post earlier. Good luck Tc

Yes I suppose I would be putting the cart before the horse. I know that if I come to regard a straight in the same light that I do my safety razors I will want to do more than just shave with and admire them. I am in the process now of trying to learn how to replate and revamp my lesser examples of safety razors.

Do yourself a huge favor.

Find a razor that you like from a reputable source that is absolutely shave ready
Or...
Find a razor in nice shape and send it to a known honemeister for honing/restoration.

Trying to learn to hone on your first razor is putting the cart before the horse.

Learn to shave first.

Pete <:-}

Welcome. I came from a similar DE background 4 months ago.

I would watch the buy-sell-trade forum and get a modest, but sharpened razor to start. Or post a want to buy ad and let the guys know your a beginner. Get a Whipped Dog poor mans strop set - which you will ruin.

Then while you learn to shave and strop, start watching the auctions and reading here.

Its a very interesting hobby. It starts much slower than DEs.