Thread: Greetings from the East End of London UK

Hi all,
A little about me, my name is John I'm 55 years young, I started my working life as a carpenter / joiner which gradually gave way to guitar repair / building which is what I pretty much do full time now.
I have always had a keen interest in maintaining the sharpest edge on my tools, and as part of my ongoing mission to learn all I can on the subject I thought I would try the razor community and so here I am.
What I did not realise is what a can of worms I would open up for myself, the idea of shaving with a straight razor had not really appealed much until my daily visits here, the more I saw the more I was reminded of the times when as a boy my grandfather would take me to an old fashioned barber shop to have my monthly haircut, after which I would watch in wonder ( and some fright I might add), as the barber shaved the old boy with a straight back.
I have been fed up with the cost and inconvenience of the multiple blade disposable razors for some time, so I made up my mind to take the plunge, I bought a shavette six weeks ago and it took me about two weeks of daily shaving to get used to it, so I decided to take the next step. As a direct result of the information I have gleaned from this site, I made some ( hopefully informed) selections of old razors on e bay to bid on, and was successful in winning a Gong for £5.50, the blade is in A1 condition, I honestly don't think it has ever been near a hone, no rust and no scratches whatsoever, the scales are ever so slightly warped but I intend to replace them with Ebony anyway.
I have a huge stock of Ebony, Rosewood, Walnut, and other exotic timber offcuts that are too small for anything other than pen blanks or razor scales, so no guessing what my new hobby is going to be then!
I would like to give a big thanks to all the members on here that have made my entry into the world of 'retro' shaving a painless one!

ATB


John

osdset,

Welcome and hello from Hastings

Congratulations on your Gong razor; I have two (2) and they shave very nicely

We have a number of members in London, and we have the UK Razorcon on the Saturday, 16-July-2011 at the Durel Arms in Fulham.

Have fun & Good shaving !

Best regards

Russ

Welcome to the forum from edinburgh! My grandfather was a carpenter, I love wood as a material.

Well done on ebay at such an early stage, now that you've posted here, please go browse around the classifieds for guaranteed great stuff at good prices.


Cheers

Simon

And welcome. Another craftsman is always handy. Making guitars is not what I would think was easy.

Welcome from a fellow Brit!

Please do come along to the razorcon as Russ says, it's looking to be a great day!

It's funny how this hobby sneaks up on you, when I started all I wanted was 2 blades, a strop and a barber hone.... Famous last words!

Welcome aboard from a fellow East Londoner.


Bring that Gong of yours down to the RazorCon and get it honed up and shave ready