new guy says HI

Hi everyone !

My eyes fell on a straight razor for the first time a few months ago. This "new" method of shaving interested me. Since I've been growing a beard for the past 4 years and I'm slowly starting to miss my smooth face, I decided that this is a perfect opportunity to learn something new.

I bought a few cheap straights off ebay (gold dollar 200) as well as some stones (5000, 8000 & 12000 chinese) and thought I'd be good to go. I stumbled upon this forum (which is great by the way, there are so many pationate & nice people here) and read that I need to set a bevel before honing. Since I sharpen all my tools with the crazy sharp method (plate glass & sandpaper), I thought I'd give that a try on one of the razors. I realized that a good 1/4 inch of the heel was not getting ground by the sandpaper, so I covered the whole thing in black marker and "honed" on the sandpaper. I found the problem, the bevel was being set in the shoulder instead of the blade.... Took the Dremel out for emergency surgery and started again.

SUCCESS !! the whole blade was sitting flat on the "hone". The blade looked like absolute hell from the botched surgery, but at least now the horribly ugly ground up shoulder matched the horrible scales of the gold dollar.

I flattened the stones and tried to hone as best I could from what I read on this forum. I took the blade to my friend who stropped it, (he's also a beginner, he stroped only twice before) and decided I was set for my first test shave.

I tried a trim at my jaw line, since I'm still not quite mentally ready to get rid of the full beard yet. I wanted to try only 1 or 2 strokes, just to see if it I would get rid of the hair on my neck as well as I did on my arms from test-honing. I was expecting pulling, scraping and maybe a nick, but I was so excited that I just didn't care.

To my BIG surprise, it wasn't that bad !! No pulling, no nicks after my 2 test strokes, just a bit of a scraping feeling. I decided I wanted more, so I continued. Same thing, it scraped a bit, but it was cutting the hair easier than I was expecting. I stopped after the first 2 clumbsy feeling strokes when using my left hand (I'm right handed...). The shave wasn't very close, there was some redness and I felt stubble much more than with my regular disposable, but I wasn't expecting much considering it was my first try using a straight razor, and I was testing the results of my first ever honing.

Anyways, I'm extremely encouraged by the results of this experience & I DEFINITELY want to continue on this quest. I'm sure I'll get some interesting results relatively soon considering how generous people are on this forum with regards to helping new guys out.

So that's the beginning of my story, and can't wait to let you know how things will be going in the near future.

Regards,
Glenn

Welcome to SRP Glenn. Interesting first honing and shaving experience. SRP founder Lynn Abrams has some suggestions for beginning shavers in the SRP beginner's guide linked below in my sig line. Also see the honing section of the SRP Wiki for how to deal with a blade such as you've described without having to resort to the Dremel. Keep us posted on your progress and ask any questions as they come up. Smooth shaving. :tu

Welcome to SRP . Sounds like you dived in the deep end. Good choice practising on inexpensive razors. :)

Welcome to SRP, Glenn! Thanks for sharing your experience. I
hope you stick and around and let us know how you progress,
and whether or not you decide to take off the full beard :)

- Scott