Thread: Hello SRP, this is Matt from Germany

Originally Posted by matt84

Thanks Bob,

I will definitely go through the forums library to educate myself. I also watched a couple of how-to videos before I gave it a try.

Good point on the stropping and the lather. I will try to hone the razors myself at some point, I already have some stones for knive sharpening. But I will start with cheap razors and also will send my Dovo to someone who's good at honing to have a reference and a feeling for how a decent edge should shave.

Thanks for taking a moment to give some valuable advices. Not discouraging at all, if I wanted it easy, I would have taken a different route for sure. We'll see how it's working out after another 97 shaves.

Do a lot of research on honing straight razors and ask questions here on the forum. Do not think that sharpening a knife is the same as honing a straight razor. Approach honing a straight razor as an entirely new subject. Generally the hones for straight razors begin at a grit level where most knives finish at.

Bob

Matt, you might want to contact Peter. He is in Germany although I'm not sure exactly where. He is a member here. His screen name is hatzicho and he is very knowledgeable about grinding and honing in particular he is the go to guy about historic Thuringian stones and also about razor grinding in Germany.

Here is a thread of his with a link to a website of his.

https://sharprazorpalace.com/vendors...ml#post1938894

I think he might be of help to you at least as a place to get your razors honed.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

This is where they live, most of them at least.
Attachment 340712
My current rotation lives in a barber's box on the counter next to the sink.
Attachment 340713
Also, there are razors in various stages of restoration in different places around my workshop.
But even though that sounds like a lot there are guys here who have several times as many as I do.

Also, be forewarned, you will nick the first strop. I don't think I know anyone who hasn't nicked their first one. That's why it's best to get a good inexpensive one. That way you have one that will do the job but will not draw tears if it gets a cut or two. That warning especially goes for heirlooms. We get lots of new members who have received razors or other shaving paraphernalia from a father, uncle, grandfather and even great-grandfather and they want to restore it. Most of us here will encourage them to put it away until they are proficient and even then have it restored by someone who really knows what they are doing. It would be a crying shame to lose great granddad's razor because in your zeal to restore it you damaged it

Seems like a neat place to live for so many razors. Didn't know there is a thing called a barber's box, but now that I know, I think I want one. :-)
Oh nice, you got a workshop and restore them yourself? Sounds like fun to me.

Yes, me, I will definitely knick the strop. I ordered a strop on ebay: 3" Duke City Buffalo Straight Razor Strop Black + Dual Linen
Not too expensive and looks quite nice.

Thanks for the warning about the heirlooms, I will limit all my experiments to the gold dollars first.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Welcome, Matt.
The guys are steering you right so go with what has been said and
BUY MORE RAZORS.
When you have to start a Spreadsheet to keep track of them then you are a newbie. Until then...

Thank you Gasman!

Already ordered some...

Cheers

Originally Posted by coachschaller

Willkomen,
Guten rasieren

Vielen Dank, dir auch einen schönen, scharfen Shave!

Originally Posted by STF

I cut my first strop up pretty good but as long as it's not cut in half, they can usually be repaired.

I'm still using that first strop today. It's an English Bridal leather and it's been repaired a few times. It's not the prettiest but it still works well.

@CrescentCityRazors is our resident Gold Dollar expert. Most of the guys will probably warn you off Gold Dollars. Their not great but I got one shortly after I first started learning to hone my own razors to practice on, I have it in my rotation at the moment and it shaves well.

CrescentCityRazors has a foolproof method to hone those GD without expensive stones because you do know those GD's won't be shave ready when they arrive eh and I doubt you want to send cheap Chinese razors that only cost a couple of Marks out for honing. That's assuming you can find someone willing to hone a Gold Dollar, a lot won't.

You have a couple of GD's coming, that's OK but you really should go to our B/S/T (Buy/Sell/Trade) section and get a cheap vintage razor there, you can be sure it will absolutely be shave ready if the seller say's it is and it won't cost an arm a leg.

My guess is that you will be very suprised the first time you shave with an actual shave ready razor.

Yeah, those gold dollars will be guinea pigs. If one survives my honing and actually takes a good edge it qualifies for some rescaling- or laser-experiments.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to buy in the B/S/T section as a newbie, have to check that.

I already ordered a "Fully restored HAMBURG OSBOURNE & GARRET " from a gentleman on ebay who really seems to know what he's doing.

Next big thing on my wishlist would be a vintage japanese SR. There are some that look so freaking good to me, it's crazy. Seems hard to find one in a good condition tho.

Originally Posted by JP5

Welcome to the forum! Nice to see new members from other countries. Looks like you've already gotten good advice.

Merkur 23C was my first safety razor. Unfortunately the plating is coming off now. :/

Thanks JP5! I think the Merkur will be kept around for when I'm in a hurry.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Matt, you might want to contact Peter. He is in Germany although I'm not sure exactly where. He is a member here. His screen name is hatzicho and he is very knowledgeable about grinding and honing in particular he is the go to guy about historic Thuringian stones and also about razor grinding in Germany.

Here is a thread of his with a link to a website of his.

https://sharprazorpalace.com/vendors...ml#post1938894

I think he might be of help to you at least as a place to get your razors honed.

Thanks for the info, I just checked his website, good stuff! I think I might have read some posts from him as I was reading through forums, researching all kinds of hones.

Originally Posted by BobH

Do a lot of research on honing straight razors and ask questions here on the forum. Do not think that sharpening a knife is the same as honing a straight razor. Approach honing a straight razor as an entirely new subject. Generally the hones for straight razors begin at a grit level where most knives finish at.

Bob

Thanks Bob, I've already done a lot of research and will do more. At least it's easier to hold the angle with a razor ;-)

Originally Posted by matt84

I ordered a strop on ebay: 3" Duke City Buffalo Straight Razor Strop Black + Dual Linen
Not too expensive and looks quite nice.

Duke City!

Thats Micheal Slater, he's a mate of mine in New Mexico.
I have several razors from him, he knows his stuff and his razors are shave ready for sure, he can be trusted.
I actually have one of his black buffalo strops too, except he made mine 2 1/2" for me. Their fast, he said they settle down to a medium draw but i use mine for 100 laps daily. I've had it a while and it's still fast which I like.

Hi Matt,
welcome to SRP! Have only read through - so you might have mentioned that but - which area in Germany are you from?
If there are any questions concerning razors or hones, beside posting here and get best information also don't hesitate to contact me. I live near Frankfurt. So if you are near, there might be a chance for a visit to discuss things in personal, get a honing or have a look how striaght razors are ground.
Enjoy you stay here, you can't find better infos on all things related to straights than at SRP!

Best regards Peter

Originally Posted by STF

Duke City!

Thats Micheal Slater, he's a mate of mine in New Mexico.
I have several razors from him, he knows his stuff and his razors are shave ready for sure, he can be trusted.
I actually have one of his black buffalo strops too, except he made mine 2 1/2" for me. Their fast, he said they settle down to a medium draw but i use mine for 100 laps daily. I've had it a while and it's still fast which I like.

Hey, thanks for the info, cool thing that you know that guy. So it seems like I purchased a decent strop, I'm quite happy to read that you like yours. Mine just has to arrive here and I have to learn how to use it.

Originally Posted by hatzicho

Hi Matt,
welcome to SRP! Have only read through - so you might have mentioned that but - which area in Germany are you from?
If there are any questions concerning razors or hones, beside posting here and get best information also don't hesitate to contact me. I live near Frankfurt. So if you are near, there might be a chance for a visit to discuss things in personal, get a honing or have a look how striaght razors are ground.
Enjoy you stay here, you can't find better infos on all things related to straights than at SRP!

Best regards Peter

Hi Peter,

thanks for stopping by and for the welcome. Your reputation precedes you.

I live near Stuttgart, not too far. Maybe I could really pay you a visit sometime. Would be awesome to see some of that equipment, the cool stuff you show on your homepage! Thanks a lot for the offer, really appreciated! Echt super nett!

Beste Grüße

Welcome to the forum Matt.

Thanks Charlie, nice to meet you.

Hi and welcome aboard.