Thread: hey dere

Recently i've gotten intrigued by the idea of using a straight razor because cheap disposables just don't do it for me, and expensive ones are just that, expensive. Once had a girlfriend who worked for gillette and she handed me a package of razors, some were pre-production prototypes, and that lasted me five years. Once they, and her, were gone, i was on my own in the drug aisle at the supermarket. I've used a brush and soap for years and have a keen interest in edged tools, being an amateur woodworker, so this seems like the next step.
I've been lurking here a bit, reading about honing and stropping and getting confused by all the terminology, and i've got to say, you guys are WAY more finicky than most woodworkers i know with the waterstones and all.
I bought an old Wade and Butcher blade yesterday for 8 bucks and honed it on an india stone, finished it on a white arkansas stone, stropped and got a nice edge. All the waterstones are fine, but if i'm stumped in the workshop with a setup or such, i try to figure out how they did it in the old days, and i doubt waterstones were around in abundance in say, 1915.
I read a lot of the cautions about buying crap on ebay, but couldn't resist a Red Star 917 from Solingen Germany for short money. I can't afford 125 bucks plus for a new Dovo, so we'll so how this works out. Hope to learn a lot here to make my morning shave a reflective and contemplative experience.

Welcome to SRP.
I did my razor honing on Arkansas stones in the 80's, wouldn't do it now unless I had a lot of time to spare but it works. I'm sure coticules & eschers were around in 1915. One of those may be worth a try sometime if you like keeping it traditional.

Hello and welcome to SRP. It will become clear very soon the importance of a well honed edge once you start dragging it across 1 of the most sensitive parts of your body. Water hones have been around as long as rocks themselves(they are rocks). Read up in the wiki and try the edge evaluation tests before you commit to using you razor, it is not impossible to do but honing a razor is harder to do well than shaving with them. Take your time and take advantage of all the info put here by the experts (not me). Good luck and enjoy.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Welcome to SRP.
I did my razor honing on Arkansas stones in the 80's, wouldn't do it now unless I had a lot of time to spare but it works. I'm sure coticules & eschers were around in 1915. One of those may be worth a try sometime if you like keeping it traditional.

it's not that i want to keep it traditional. I just don't want to go off on a tangent buying stones to find which ones are The Best. i'd like to keep that part of this simple. i'm fairly good with sharpening chisels and planes, but apparently the apparatus is different for straight razors. i could root around here and find way more suggestions than i can deal with. i think it would be best if someone just told me...go buy A, B, and C,.....
i've tried shaving the left side of my face from sideburn to jawbone two days now, and today branched out to the right, non-dominant hand side.
Result...freeking saber scar.

If we tell you to buy A,B & C stones, you will get some varying opinions here. You really need to assess what you want/need. You say you got a good edge with your 2 stones , so how can that be improved ? Do you need speed ? , a smoother finish or would you prefer a whole new system ?
The shaving technique will come with practice but go slow so you get nicks & not saber cuts

yeah i got an edge, but whether an experienced shaver would call it an edge is iffy. it shaves my arm, and i tried the HHT, but that didn't work well. there's a ton of info here. i'm going to keep reading.

how about starting with a norton 4000/8000?