Shaving in Arizona

Hi folks; first post here so far.

Name's Dave and I asked for a straight razor for Christmas this last year because I thought it'd be cool to give "real" shaving a shot.

The "gear" I'm using;
- razor I have - Item 68022 - Straight Razor Stainless Steel - The Art of Shaving
- glycerine shaving soap with a badger hair brush
- Col Ichabod Conk wet stone on Amazon before reading the reviews (go ahead and berate me)
- real nice strop, both linen and leather (2 sided)

Believe it or not, I've gotten the blade sharp enough to get a semi-decent shave on my cheeks and neck but the lips/chin area is completely not working. I understand the biggest part would be my lame Col Conk hone (from all the reading online now) but was curious if there's anybody in Arizona who does honing? Or if there's a decent 4000/8000 hone I could get without shelling out nearly $100 for it?
I love the feeling of the straight razor shaving, and I can imagine it will only improve with a sharper razor. Glad to be here and thanks for taking the time to read my lil post.

Hi Dave
I can sympathise with you regarding the chin area of your face .I too am a newbie to straight razors (6 Wks)and still have trouble with the chin.I live in england not america so cannot tell u about local outlets in arizona but i think you are right about your choice of hone.I have had great success with a Naniwa water stone 10000 grit which can be bought on the web for around £50($75 approx).These hones are the full width of the razor blade so are much easier to use by the novice honer.I have also bought a jewellers eyepiece which gives a 10x closeup view of the razors edge.these are very cheap to buy on the web$7 or $10)and give you great feedback on honing progress.
There are cheaper hones out there but you only get what you pay for !!
You could also check out stropping technique on SRP.(wiki).
There must be professional honers locally but why pay for this service when you could (and should?) learn yourself.
hope this helps

I know I'm going to get some flack for this but had a few questions that I'm having a tough time finding answers too throughout the forums and wikis

I've been trying to hone my razor (see above post for the exact one) with the Naniwa 10000 stone and although I can feel it's sharp, it's still not sharp "enough". Is it absolutely vital that I buy an in-between grit? I have that Ichabod Conk stone which I've read is horrible for honing razors so I haven't been using it; only been using the Naniwa.

Another thing that may sound weird is that I thought I had a nice edge to the razor the other day but as soon as I stropped it, it seemed to "dull" the edge. That make any sense?

I'm using my razor and can get my cheeks and neck still but my lip/chin area is still being done with a disposable :rant:

EDIT TO ADD; I've probably had 100+ strokes on my Naniwa now so I'm not sure if I need ANOTHER 100 or what

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Proraso Man

What part of AZ do you live in?

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I'm down in Sierra Vista, about 70 miles SE of Tucson

Welcome to SRP, crzydjm!

You might try the member services page of SRP for a honemeister. Many of the guys can hone and get the razor back to you in a week or so. Monday I sent two razors to Max for honing, and he already has them in the mail back to me this morning.

I'm pretty new to straight shaving myself, but have been getting good shaves as I get more experience and learn my face. My lower lip & moustache area are the hardest for me. A sharp razor and taut skin seem to make the difference though.

It's not much, but I hope it helps a bit.

Cheers,

Larry