Hello from Sydney -- Orstraya
Hi - My name is Andrew and I am from Sydney in Australia.
Just joined the forum and looking forward to meeting other people down the straight razor rabbit hole.
I started wet shaving a few months back after shaving off my beard which I had had for a few years. The beard had to go and I dug out my box of shaving gear which consisted of a few vintage DE razors, my trusty old Mach 3 cart, Grandad's old cut throat, my old brush that I had bought back in the 80's plus a can of gel. The beard went but wasn't fussed with the cart and the gel. Before I knew it I had half a dozen soaps, a couple of brushes and a sample pack of DE blades and was merrily wet shaving away.
Grandad's old cutthroat was there and I got it out and had a look. It was still shiny with just one corrosion spot. The temptation was there, should I get it restored and have a go or what. By this time, I was quite familiar with a couple of wet shaving forums, a couple of Facebook groups and had seen a whole pile of YouTube videos, so a straight was the next logical step.
I found someone to hone it and sent it away. It wasn't really shave ready when it came back, and the first go was a disappointment - couldn't even move it on my face. I thought I might have damaged it stropping, but looking back, I don't think it was anywhere near shave ready to begin with. Next step was to buy a "shave ready" Gold Dollar from Fleabay. I didn't expect much but it was still better than Grandad's (a Bengall Imperial BTW). A few decent stroppings later the Gold Dollar was almost shaving but not quite. It needs some honing too.
I have since bought a couple of stones and am going to learn how to get the Gold Dollar shave ready. I know it seems strange to have to learn to hone before learning to shave, but I don't really have any other option. There isn't really anywhere in Australia that I can get a razor honed sharp enough to shave with. Pretty sad state of affairs I know, but that's how it is.
Looking forward to all the resources that this forum has to offer and to meet like minded people.
cheers
Andrew