Quote Originally Posted by joenasarino View Post
Oh I'm sure I can't be the oldest one, there are thousands of people on this website! And I don't know what light I could shed, straight shaving is just a daily routine, and the one I've grown up with. I've occasionally used disposables, but prefer my straight. I only had one razor for at least the first twenty years, and two hones, and one strop, never needed anything else really. I come on this website and people are collecting dozens or hundreds of razors, hones, strops, and know every which-way about all of them. I've cleaned up a couple in my day, maybe make some wood scales out of boredom, but it's so time consuming...all you can probably take from me is this: don't overcomplicate this stuff, it's simple, and nothing should take more than 20 minutes in my opinion. That's honing, shaving, etc. oh, and always strop.
Man, you're awesome by default. I don't see having just a few hones and one razor as anything lacking. I have the two Norton combination stones (220/1000, 4000/8000) and a Spyderco Ultra-Fine as a finisher, if the Norton 4,000 wasn't a bad one (all the way through, apparently) I wouldn't have bothered to replace it. Conceivably I'd only need a 4,000 equivalent, the 8,000 and the finisher to maintain a razor for life! If it ain't broke..

The most I've done with a "new" razor is clean it up with MAAS polish & stain/rust remover and hone the edge back to shaveworthiness. I appreciate the presence of people who are on both ends of the open-razor spectrum. For the poorer guys it's nice to have "old-timers" who have minimal equipment and accoutrements and offer the perspective of moderation. Maybe some of us get caught up in it and end up spending our money too freely! For instance, I bought a four dollar horse hair shaving brush and the whole knot fell out before I could even soak it, let alone test lather... blah! Just needed one more kind of mammal hair.. just one more... post apocalypse you'll probably find me cutting off various kinds of human hairs and trying to fashion post-apocalyptic cadavar shaving brushes.. just a fantasy, but don't be surprised if I'm one of the stragglers wandering into "Lynn City", the last bastion of well-groomed survivors! We'll need your guidance and minimalistic sensibilities...