Thread: Hello from Saskatchewan

I've been looking into starting with a straight razor for close to a year. Getting tired of buying blades all the time. Picked up 3 older razors last week at a flea market, looking at getting them cleaned up.
I'm well known in the knife community, but haven't sharpened a straight razor before and my first couple attempts haven't gotten a workable edge yet.

Does anyone have a suggestion on who to send the 2 with chips to to have them repaired, and is there a Canadian who can take care of honing until I get that technique down? I have a feeling I'll be sending them off a few times before I get it down and cross-border shipping gets pricy.

Any suggestions on what weight of leather works best? I have some 4-5oz cow sitting here, and veritas green compound.

I have ordered a Parker SRW & 120 blades (should be here this week), to allow me to get my shaving technique down without having to worry too much about my honing technique just yet. Have to pick up a brush and cup when it gets here.

First of all, welcome to SRP!

If you havent already, give the Wiki a read. Its full of useful information and will give you good guidance for shaving, honing, stropping and lather making, as well as answering the common FAQ's..!

Straight Razor Place Wiki

I'll try and answer as many of your questions as I can, and hopefully other members will chime in as well..!

Sharpening a knife is very different to sharpening a straight razor. Read the wiki and check the videos forum for tips and clips on honing.

It really is a totally different art, and if you are not getting good results it may be better to send one of your razors off to be honed by one of the honemeisters. That way you will have a truly shave ready edge on one razor that you can use as a benchmark for honing the others.

The first two razors look like they may need to be cut down to get rid of the chips. Those are a little too big to hone out, but an experienced restorer could cut the ends down to get rid of them.

Check the classifieds for member services to find someone who does restoration.

I'm not sure about the strop leather, but hopefully someone will be able to answer that question...!

Once you have a shave ready razor, you can start using that as well as your Parker. When you start using either, just take it slow, keep your pressure light and start with an easy bit of your face like one of your cheeks. Once you're comfortable doing one area you can expand to include other areas as your technique develops!

You'll find that this hobby is really great fun and there are lots of different elements to it..!

Welcome again, we're glad to have you with us!

Good luck!

I'm in contact with Butch over at Harner Knives right now about seeing when he can fit in time to clean up the tips on those 2 and get a decent edge on all 3 of em. If he can't any time soon, looks like dnjrboy or floppyshoes will get some work. Butch figures that rounding out the edge should be enough.

I may not be able to afford one of his custom peices yet, but the man does some beautiful work.

Figure that by the time I have the other 3 ready to go, I'll have had a few partial shaves with the Parker. Already looking at getting a few other blades for it from rasage poulin, see how much difference better blades makes (have a feeling the ones coming with it are low quality). With what I spend on disposable blades, I can afford to spend a few bucks on blades. Probably end up springing for a Dovo before making the call on this style. I go through an 8 pack of Schick Quatro blades every month, shaving every 3-4 days (I only get 1 good shave out of a cartridge), so even if the replacement blades only give me 1 full shave it's still only a couple bucks a month. Buying a Dovo would pay for itself quickly, once I make the cut-over to shaving fully with a straight.

Even buying a quality straight razor wouldn't take more than a year to pay for itself, but I'll need practice and experience before I spend that kind of coin.

Well, the Parker came today... guess I'm heading to walmart after supper to see what they have for supplies. I know of 2 other places here that have supplies, before putting an order in to rasage poulin (I know I'll be getting blades at a minimum from Scott).

Originally Posted by vampyrewolf

is there a Canadian who can take care of honing until I get that technique down? I have a feeling I'll be sending them off a few times before I get it down and cross-border shipping gets pricy..

My only canadian reference is Dan Gauthier ( here in Montreal ), he did a great job on my Wapi ( bought from Fendrihan.com ). Barring any other sources you might want to contact him ( if I am not mistaken he goes by the name Floppyshoes on this forum ). You're correct, cross-border shipping gets pricey real fast.

Good luck

Ken

dnjrboy in alberta, or floppyshoes out east will be getting some repeat business... looked at prices on a good 6k,8k, and 10k stones... I'd rather pay for someone else's stones for a little while still.

I'll be sending off these 3 to Lynn for the clean up and initial honing. Still not spending as much on these 3 as 1 low/mid range would cost me. I know from the knife side of things that some things are best left to experienced hands.

Picked up a Wilkinson brush and soap tonight, just have to grab a mug and give the parker a shot tonight. Hopefully this next pack of quatro blades is the end of paying for those. 3 straights and a disposable straight should keep me from having to buy cartridges for my face for a while once I have the technique down... even if I do have to send off a razor for honing every couple months.