Thread: New member and new to straight razors

Hey everybody. I found this great site and decided to join and hopefully be able to learn the art of using straight razors with all that it implies. I hope that beyond learning I will also be able to make some friends who share this common life style if I can express it as such.

I am really a novice with all this, but have been interested in straight razors for a couple of years; however it's been on my mind for longer than this. For the last year I have been practicing with a Dovo Shavette, and requested a straight razor and accessories for last Xmas, which I got (joy). Even if I asked for a brand new Dovo Solinger razor to start me up, my wife, getting genuinely interested in all this, decided that I would be happier with an antique Bengalle wedge razor because she thought it would fit my beard type better. Neither of us realized at first how much more difficult it would be to hone this razor properly. I have been trying since Xmas to achieve this feat.

For now my accessories consist of a Norton 4000/8000 waterstone, an Illinois Razor Strop 827 (Leather and canvas), strop dressing, badger brush and some excellent shaving soap (lathe?). Not much but a start. I just ordered a Norton Prep stone to try to hone using sully (is that the right term?) since I have been honing for ever and some way to make it faster will be welcome. I also ordered some Chromium Oxyde bar and another compound to improve the strop. I am learning techniques off the internet and progress slowly. I am planning on getting a hollow razor to see the difference but all this is expensive and I have to take my time, and learn.

Last night I had my first, quite uncomfortable shave with my Wedge razor. It felt like victory nonetheless. Hopefully, I will soon get a much better shave.

So this is my story for now. Please be patient with the novice I am, and I will try to keep my questions the least stupid possible.

See you guys on the forum.

First of all Welcome to SRP. I think you should have your razor out to be honed by one of the honemiesters here, just so you can feel how sharp it needs to be that will make it easier in future to judge.
As far as the shave, prep and practice is everything. Stick with it and you'll be fine.

Happy shaving

First off..hello and welcome to SRP. Agreed that you should send that razor out to be honed by someone who knows razors...its hard enough starting out not knowing let alone starting off trying to learn on a wedge. Sounds like you've got a good setup going so far but maybe keep the pastes away from your everyday strop...get a second strop to put the paste on since you wont need to use it every shave.

Welcome to SRP. +1 on the advice already given regarding sending you razor out to be honed. I know as a new member sending your newly acquired razor to someone you don't know to be honed may seem uncomfortable, but trust us when we say, the honemiesters know what they are doing. Check the classifieds for member services and I am sure you'll find some helpful member who can hone your razor. Best of luck and keep us posted.


P.S. If your wife is already onboard with your new hobby then godspeed my goodman. Let the acquisition disorders begin!

Thanks for your welcoming replies, and for the advice on the honing. This is something I have already started to consider and I will probably do just that.

Now, it seems that I have created a brand new problem for myself with the same very wedge razor. I don't know how stupid my misadventure really is, or if it is something novices do regularly, but here is what happened:

I watched a few videos on learning to hone (no surprise there), and one particularly caught my attention because the instructor shows the viewer a beautiful and shinny blade, then goes on to explain that it is a razor that he restored from it's former bad shape and that he cleaned the blade and polished himself, removing all stains and dark spots that were all over the blade.

This got me thinking, since my blade could use such a cleaning. Of course, he didn't explain how he cleaned his blade and I had to come up with my own plan...

My Dremmel came to mind. Not only is it powerful and fast, but I got several accessories for cleaning and polishing steel/chrome and some nice jewel cleaning rouge. I never used it before but it can't be too difficult right? And then I thought of testing it on something else but what the hell, let's just make that blade shine.

At first, it really did a good job and I saw a substantial amount of grime and stains fade away. But some of it was more resistant so I checked my accessory booklet, and found that I had a few thick discs that are used to do a rough first cleaning. Exactly what the doctor ordered, so I put it on my Dremmel and went back to work. That's when disaster stroked.

It did a rough cleaning all right, and left some nasty marks on the blade. Very shinny marks. I decided I needed to increase the Dremmel speed and it would buff the marks out. It kinda did, and I saw some encouraging shine on the blade. But I could not make it an even shade and I still was making wide scratches. I worked on it for a while, made a mess of that side of the blade, and somehow managed the screw the blade edge with the screw holding the disc to my Dremmel. I really messed things up.

Now it seems my only recourse is to get dry/wet sandpaper and refinish the blade by hand. I ordered 7 different grits: 320, 600, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, and 2500. I will have to sand that blade, from coarse to fine grit, and hope I can salvage it. Then I will send the razor to a pro to get it honed. Do you guys think it can be salvaged that way?