Newb from Missouri

First post from a carbon steel aficionado. My adventures in sharp edges on all manner of tools has led me to this place. A straight razor capable of a fine shave must be the ultimate in a fine edged instrument.

While my initial interest was to see if I could hone a straight razor sharp enough to shave with, it has readily become apparent that such a razor also gives a superior shave. I must admit that initially I was a bit skeptical, assuming if one did as much prep work and used the same lathers, etc., one could accomplish the same thing with a Mach X safety. I've proven to myself that is not true. Try as I might, I still notice the stubble. With the straight, no such thing. I've seen enough to know this is going to be a journey, but one that is worth the effort.

Having worked with wood tools and forged, carbon steel knives (can shave hair with most of them), I already have several stones, including a Norton 4000/8000 combo water stone. Once upon a time, a tool purchase off Ebay arrived with a smooth cream colored stone that did nothing as near as I could tell. I now suspect it is a very fine honing stone, as honing a razor on it feels like it is riding on glass. Too much fun!

I followed the sage advice found here and ordered a wet shave combo, adding a paddle strop. (As an aside, I've ordered a lot of stuff over the years from a lot of sources and would put the service from Straight Razor Designs up against any of them. Impressive.)

My final frontier in sharp has swerved into the world of fine hones and strops. To date, I've not gone that far with my other tools, but I'm going there now. My initial questions will be towards honing and stropping to draw out and polish that final edge.

BTW, when the Dovo razor arrived, the first place it went was onto a microscope to see what a sharp edge looked like. Missing were the scratches and micro fine nicks in the edge of the antique store razors I had tried to hone. Just a straight line and smooth metal. Good to have a benchmark to shoot for.

Enough for now. Thanks in advance to all for the great resource that is this website.

Welcome to SRP!
Sounds like you are well off to a great start into this hobby.
A well honed razor is where it's at, and you made a good choice getting your benchmark from SRD.
So it starts, your quest for the perfect shave :)
Have fun!

You have the good fortune to live in a state with some of the best resources for all things related to straight razors. If you are willing to reveal your location, even approximately, then odds are good that there is someone nearby with whom you can meet up to get more hands on experience.

I'm in Columbia, but I travel around a bit. No rush, but eventually would like to find a way to get from the 8000X water stone to shave ready. I have nothing in the 12,000X plus range. Not sure if I can set up the backside of the paddle strop for that (or the linen side of the new belt strop), or if another super fine honing stone is in my future. I've watched Lynn's DVD. Lots of good stuff in that.

But ultimately, shaving is the end game. With a new Dovo, I probably need to start with that and work backwards. If a hands on session with a shaving coach "cuts" down on the learning curve, I'm all for it!