Hello, my name is Marcos, and I own a straight razor.
Sadly, there is another Marcos registered, so I had to use my riding name as a nick.
I have been lurking for a long time, almost a year, so I ask some of the regulars for forgiveness in advance if I behave with inappropriate familiarity. My only defense is that I feel I know you somehow, and that leads my feeble mind to think that you must know me too. With an aim to correct this, and in a shameless attempt to endear myself to you is that I write this introduction, which at times should be read with the tongue firmly planted in cheek.
While not new to straight razor shaving, it has been a while. So long in fact, that my razor, which I put away carelessly years ago, came out of hibernation with rust spots. As short as I can manage to make it, here's my history with straight razor shaving...
A long time ago I learned to use one by shaving my grandfather, who was a dandy old timer who loved to be pampered. I still recall his seven day set, which he brought out of retirement just to teach me how to shave him, but sadly I don't recall the brand. Please bear in mind that this was a long, long time ago in a place far, far away. These, a strop and a brush were all his shaving gear and we used utility glycerin soap (depending on the day it was either Bao or Bulldog brand) that did double duty as general soap in his workshop sink. He made lather on his face, and so do I. At the time I didn't need to shave, and as a matter of fact, I didn't need to shave until I was well into my 20's. At least not regularly. From this days I carry the habit of using only my strong hand to shave myself.
I haven't used a straight razor for more than a decade, so I suspect whatever little skills I ever acquired are now gone. I do use a Burma mug and Williams soap that I buy at the local CVS every year or two; no aftershave and the last time I used a styptic pen was while shaving my grandfather having never owned one myself. I have two brushes, one a cheapo that I bought with the razor and the other a badger hair that my father in law gifted me.
A casual question by my kid's boyfriend reminded me of my old straight, and how much I enjoyed the shaving. This prompted me to dig the razor and strop, and discover that I had ruined both. Of course, I went and bought a whole bunch of crappy razors from eBay because I knew it'd be a breeze to fix them and hone them. Of this I was sure. Just in case, I did a few googles on restoration and found this place, where any surety I had of how easy it was going to be quickly vanished. The drive however, remains.
My old razor is a Hoffritz that I bought new at a mall in NY someplace, so is the (badly nicked) strop. I have also three that I bought on eBay, one that was broken and shortened, but can't complain for $3.50 and I may just learn to hone on that thing, then another two that are pretty sorry but seem rescuable... to someone who knows what they are doing. Bringing up the rear are two Gold Dollar that I bought before I read here that they are a crapshoot. They are razors, but they aren't very straight, and again they will need a knowledgeable hand to make them serviceable.
Mercifully I read enough before I spent money on honing stones.
My plan now is to make friends (for real) with some of you guys and soak up the knowledge. On the short term, after we are friends, I expect I will send my Hoffritz to a very popular guy here for a good cleaning and proper honing. After that I will learn to shave again.
Of course I have other hobbies and interests, in fact a lot of them, but I will leave that out for the sake of brevity and to save material for an eventual second post.
I'll take your questions now, which I will answer after I check out the newbie giveaways over there. I feel lucky tonight.
If you read all this and like to smoke cigars, PM me and I will send you a nice one. For real. You deserve it.
