Thread: Sorta Newbe

Hello there cult of the (hopefully) steady hand!

I have been lurking about the forum for a few weeks now, and have finally decided to join in the fracas!

I have been shaving with a straight on and off for 3 years now. I didn’t have anybody to teach me, and only had an antique with a lousy edge that I kept as sharp as I could with my basic grasp of honing principles and technique.
Last year I went for my first pro barber shave (they are hard to find nowadays!) And was stunned by how much nicer it was than what I was used to. Recently, I learned the wisdom of the axiom..."Two people you don’t trust...An Old Doctor, and a Young Barber"
Yes, the old pro retired, and the young guy I found got distracted and sliced right into my nose! It’s healed really well, and you can hardly tell I was damaged, but that just made me determined that I would have to do my own shaving from now on.

I look forward to jumping in feet first in talking and discussing all the fine points (I know, old, ancient even, joke) of shaving and razors.

See you on the boards,

Steve (Magpie)

What razor and what hone are you using?

Originally Posted by Magpie

"Two people you don’t trust...An Old Doctor, and a Young Barber"

Welcome mate. Sorry to hear about the barber cutting you. I hope you get safer shaves yourself, but be forewarned that you might want to re-evaluate your technique - you might have used too much pressure/speed when scraping with a not ubersharp razor. As you probably know, there's people here that provide honing on professional level and you might consider employing their services to get a scarysharp edge.

However, the Ben Franklin apparently was "young doctor, old barber" IIRC

Originally Posted by ursus

However, the Ben Franklin apparently was "young doctor, old barber" IIRC

I dont care who Ben intended, I am scared of anybody whose hands shake when he works, and is too convinced they know best!

I cant recall the name of my first razor. It had an engraving of Shakespear on it along with a quote from his play "Loves Labors Lost"
"As keen as this razors edge invisible" I will get a picture of it when I am back home this week. Right now I'm shaving with a Henkels Stainless and a Henkels Platinum. My original hones were nothing more than an Arkansas and a home made strop of plain leather. =)

It took me forever to get pictures, but here they are at last if anybody is still looking. =)


I've had this blade for over 15 years.
The back of the blade has a bit of a corrosion line, and the front has water staining. the scales are cracking, but still holding together. It will be a restore project soon. Just cant decide if I want to epoxy the scales to keep them original, or rescale to something fancier or pretty.

welcome.magpie.From another newb.Cheers Don.