Thread: Hello all, it's an honor

Hello good people,
I'm in the middle of restoring a 1909 wood-canvas canoe (no idea what I'm doing really..., but...), and somehow this awoke in me an interest in straight razor shaving. I know, it doesn't make much sense, per se, but still, it did. I was quite surprised, when I went online to find a whole world dedicated to the subject, not the least was straight razor place (thank you all for many helpful threads).

I'm not new to knife sharpening, it has always given me great satisfaction. Getting my kitchen knives and my camp knives shaving sharp has never been hard but to make it 'comfortable shaving sharp' is a different story...
I just received razor no. 3 and it blows away no.1 and no.2, it is the first razor I've been able to put a proper shaving edge on. It is a Wade and Butcher razor just like my first one but unlike no.1 it has quite a bit of blade left to be sharpened. No.2 is a Wester Bros razor witch seemed in decent condition and had a nice bolstered handle but it had a weird wobble in th spine causing the edge, instead of going "in" at the toe to go out at the "toe". Not ideal when shaving.

Anyway, I'm really loving it thus far and don't see myself going back to disposable razors anytime soon.
For now I do have one question with razor no.2 I got this 'Travellers Strop', a great little gadget but the one I got is a bit worn. A search on the internet hasn't brought me much. has anyone seen these before, are they still being sold, where to look, etc.

Thank you all, great site, great 'hobby' ==> 'lifestyle'!!

Jacob V.

p.s. I never thought about growing a mustache but I might have to if I don't get my technique down...

Wow, quick responses, thanks.

Joed; My original honing set is a set of King stones 800, 1200 and 6000, I expanded this for shaving with a 10000 grid stone. It seem that the jump from 1200 to 6000 it a bit steep so I might get a 3k or 4K stone in the future.
Would there be a significant difference i result between 6-10k and 4-8k beside the obvious?

Jimmy; reading the links as you read this...

Thanks,

6k to 10k should be fine. Be careful not to create a wire edge by over honing. Back honing or circles will break the wire edge off then ~ 10 normal edge leading strokes to refine edge. Don't go my strokes but rather the condition of the edge. On the 10k just do normal edge leading strokes till the edge is cutting smooth. Check my post to this thread, #12 http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...me-help-2.html

Hi Jacob & Welcome.
You seem a handy guy restoring the canoe. You mighty like to make your own paddle strop.
Building an inexpensive paddle strop quickly - Straight Razor Place Wiki