Thread: Just starting out ..oops bought a cheapie razor from ebay

Hi everyone

As the title says I am a newbie to straight razor shaving.
I was so annoyed at the poor shave given by disposable razors, i decided to look at other avenues of a good close shave.
For a short time I toyed with the idea of a good electric razor ... and decided it was not so good as it turns out.
So I then loooked at the cut throat razor, with that mix of fear (this could really louse up your day if you get it wrong) and excitement of doing something really good for myself, getting that close shave I wanted.
So I did some research on the net and found you tube videos to be quite helpful.

In particular I watched Geofatboys videos on you tube to get the idea of what top do.

It all seems like a doable thing with the right level of patience and persistence.

Then I made a not so good razor purchase on ebay. It's brand name is Kreigar, looks to have a half hollow grind (my best guess) round point stainless steel blade.

Yes I bought a $20 cheapie to start out with ... that was a bad idea.

I had lots of trouble with initial honing of the razor on my old carborundum hone, so bought a new chinese water hone - 2 sided 1000/4000 grits. This was a little better, but still not really doing the job. Only some of the growth was coming off easily.

I even borrowed a Lansky sharpening system to see if that would do the trick - some improvement again but it seems the angles were all wrong. Yes I did reset the bevel as best I could with it, talk about make some major mistakes.

Anyway its time to move on to my next chapter of straight razor shaving.

So here I am willing and eager to learn to do it properly and certainly buy a better quality razor than I have now.

I will be looking around the forums and learning from the members who have done it all before.

Bye for now.

Welcome to SRP, for your next razor try to get a Shave Ready straight either from one of the vendors or the classifieds. Trying to hone a razor while trying to learn to shave with one seems like trying to climb Everest to me. So much going on and no experience to use as a base line to trouble shoot.

Hell for me Stropping and shaving is a challenge. Every tug/pull or bad shave I am trying to figure out is it my stropping, my strop or bad technique. If I had to add bevel setting and honing to the mix of possible issues I might as well give up now.

There are options for shave ready razors for not a ton more than what your ebay purchase was, it does not have to be a significant investment.

Hello and welcome to SRP.
It looks like you are already doing some research and you've found your way here, so its not all bad news. Read the wiki and threads on this site and you will get all the advice you need. One piece from me DO get a shave ready razor, or get the one you have properly honed, as this hobby has quite some learning curve and with a dull blade it aint going to be nice (or even possible) Any questions - just ask, its good to have you on board.

I have just checked the wiki and that kreigar is on our "razors to avoid" list. Probably best to keep solely for honing / stropping practice.

Great to receive positive replies from the members.

I think I will use the Kreigar for practice and buy a "shave ready" razor.
Out of 6 attempts so far the Kreigar has bitten me twice and failed to do more than a few passes before it starts grabbing, even then not all the growth is coming off.

Time to do plenty of reading up and practicing the skills.
I think I am going to like this forum a lot.

Will check the seller ads on here and see what is available.

Cheers for now

I'm a newbie also and didn't know where to get stuff. The SRP classifieds are a good. Whatever you buy you want one that is shave ready unless you've honed a sr before and know how to prepare it for shaving.

I couldn't find anything on SRP at the time I was looking, so I recently got a Poor Man's strop and razor from Larry at whippeddog.com. The razor comes shave ready and you get a leather strop and piece of balsa wood loaded with compound, green on one side and red on the other, for $48. He also provides good instructions.

Hang in there and don't get cut.

Welcome on board. SRP is the best information resource for those, who shave with straight razor. Here you will find answers for all questions, which you may have.

Welcome to SRP!

The classifieds, Striaght Razor Designs, Whippeddog, and the vendors here like Classic Shave, etc. are all good places to go for shaving gear. Whipped Dog, and the Classifieds would be on the budget conscious end of the spectrum, while the other vendors will have greater variety and bells and whistles.

Kriegar blades aren't hard enough to hold a shaving edge from what I've read. As a result you can hone them like crazy and not get far. It wouldn't be a bad thing to learn honing and stropping on. If you can hone one to do one perfect pass then you can probably hone a good razor to shave for a lifetime. Likewise if you can strop a Kriegar and still get a pass or two out of it you're probably not doing a bad job stropping. I certainly wouldn't rely on one to shave me though. It's kind of like using my son's toy wooden hammer to drive a nail. It MIGHT get the job done, but it'll take a lot more work and effort and possibly destroy the thing in the process.

Peace,

Some good info again guys, thank you for the input

gllh17 from one newbie to another - thanks for the encouragement mate
I have managed a couple of shaves with that Kreigar, but not smooth enough at all
I had to finish with my disposable razor .. not the ideal I know, but ok for now
Will certainly stay around and learn the craft of straight razor shaves.

BigJim Thanks for your input especially on the classifieds
I have managed to hone my razor to a near perfect pass ,
but still not taking the growth off cleanly, some was left behind
Definitely checking classisfieds to see what is available.

Off to check classifieds and ask more questions

Cheers for now