Thread: greetings & a quick question

hallo to all

i just bought an old h.boker's straight razor.



i was just wondering - do i need a new stone and strap for sharpenig (it's rather expensive)



or maybe this will do



i am new at this so thanks for any sugestions

Starting out, you only need a strop. You are better off learning how to strop and shave and put of learning to hone for a while. This is because the only way to assess the quality of your honing is to shave with it and you cannot judge the quality of your tool before you know how to use your tool. For that reason, you hare better off starting with a razor sharpened by someone who knows what they are doing.

First, welcome to SRP, we are glad to see you. You are correct, hones can be quite expencive. Utopian speaks wisely, it is a great idea to have the razor honed by an experienced honer that has the needed equipment. The good news is, this is not so expensive. Check the classifieds for someone near you.

thank You kindly for so quick response

however i should learn how to do it myself
i doubt this razor is honed already
i will buy the new equipment and give it my best

later on i'll put some decent pictures of that edelweiss

by the way - the site and its content - superb

Yes, you SHOULD learn how to do it yourself, but without having a benchmark, you will not have a way to properly assess whether or not your honing is adequate. If you rebuild a clutch and transmission on a car and then try to learn how to drive a manual car for the first time, then if you have trouble driving it, is it your driving or your mechanical skills that are at fault? By eliminating one of the variables, it is easier to get started properly.