Greetings from Adelaide, Australia.

Hi guys I am From Adelaide South Australia, I am extremely new to this and am looking to learn a lot, I just got my 1st Straight razor today but it’s far from shave ready. I am about to perches some honing stones I am looking at getting a 8000 and 12000 grit stone, I may look at a honing service to start so I get a good idea of how sharp it should be.

Any pointers and good places to buy for Australia or even Adelaide would be much appreciated, I will be going throw the forums in great detail I notice there are some Adelaide people here so if they can point me in the right direction that would be greatly appreciated as well :)

Hey Duckman

I havent been around much longer (as far as cut throat razors are concerned) but I am from Adelaide and have been looking around for gear as well. I would be only happy to help out with any specific requests if I can!
Enjoy.

Hi Duckman, welcome to the forums. Good to see another aussie in here, there seems to be quite a decent amount of us. A few of the more experienced guys suggest getting a cut throat professionally honed, so that you have a proper benchmark to measure against when you hone yours.

Well, depends on what you want to buy, but for grooming stuff like shave cream etc. Himage and Mensbiz have a great selection. From memory, they are located in Melbourne, so should only take 2 days for shipping to you. Amazon is a handy website, although not Australian. Check out the Aussie section of this forum for more stuff, plenty of info and helpful chaps there.

Men's Biz | Men's Skin Care and Shaving Products has paypal so i will shop there do you recommend any spastic brands from that site creams after shave and so on, i was planing on getting it professionally honed, Onimaru55 seems like the guy to see about it.

Is it any wonder that someone from the serial killer capital of Australia starts posting here?

Seriously welcome, strap in and enjoy the ride. Try getting in contact with carlmaloschneider (http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...schneider.html) who is the only other member I am aware of from that end of Oz. Well him and Mav 13 :)

As for purchasing stones:
1) It is cheaper to send out you razors unless you acquire a lot of them
2) You get more satisfaction from shaving with a blade you honed yourself.

What you will need:
a) A good strop. The kangaroo hide strops that some of the Aussie members sell are completely awesome
b) A good brush. There are good reasons why people pay $100+ for silvertip badger brushes, but to start with a good boar bristle or serviceable badger brush are good for starting out with.
c) Good soap/cream. Lathering up is probably the single most important skill. Long story short is that you want to wash away any oil in the whiskers to make them brittle and easy to cut down.
4) Ask questions. This is a good community where people want to share their knowledge. There may be differences of opinion as there is no 'one best way' to shave, hone or strop.
5) Lose your fear. Confidence and a firm hand are the best remedies to cutting yourself or doing something stupid.

Sam from Shave Shack is a member so have a look at his stuff.

Paul

I seem to recall the people I bought my Nortons and Shaptons from hail from down South Australia way - Lie Nielsen Toolworks.

Welcome to SRP :)

James.

Welcome to SRP, Duckman.
Good to see Carl has some mates down there now...hehehe
I would suggest that you get together with some of the guys down there, if you can, 'cause seeing and doing is better than reading for learning a tactile skill such as shaving.
I would suggest that you consider looking in the classifieds section of the forum for professional honing services in Australia, too.
I know a couple, however, I'm not sure whether to mention names in open forum - maybe any mods could let me know.
Hang on and enjoy the ride

Welcome to SRP Duckman. There are some threads in the Downunder forum that may be useful for you:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/down-...-buy-hone.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/down-...australia.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/gener...-supplies.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/down-...-supplies.html

And don't forget sometimes buying stuff O/S is cheaper. I actually bought my Shapton 12k on eBay. Always check freight costs but often item costs are cheaper than in Oz.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Havachat45

I would suggest that you consider looking in the classifieds section of the forum for professional honing services in Australia, too.
I know a couple, however, I'm not sure whether to mention names in open forum - maybe any mods could let me know.

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Good question Geoff. After consulting with some senior mods it appears there is no hard'n'fast rule about dropping a name or 2 but it would be considered gentlemanly to offer more than one option as you already suggested. And of course whenever in doubt, PM's might keep you out of trouble. :)

Hi Duckman! Yes, we're very rare us South Australian Straight shavers. I'm from Mount Torrens (near Birdwood, no one ever knows where Mount Torrens is so I always have to say 'near Birdwood'). I've been at this now since June this year. I bought my hones from Straight Razor Designs. I bought a Norton 4/8 and a Shapton 16k. I got a cheap lapping stone and a cleaning stone from Carbatec down town. I find I can keep the edge on my razors (I've got four I use; I had six but gave one to my son and am doing one up (slowly)) using mainly the Shapton 16k. I've also got a Mühle R 89 that I use on Saturdays.

As far as gear goes, I've found The Shaver shop stocks some strops (not bad ones at TTP), Proraso cream, some other creams and soaps, and will get stuff in for you if you ask. However, you really need to go further afield. I've found Mens Biz good (2 day postage) but for really unique stuff you need to go to classicshaving.com.

If you are looking for creams, don't even bother asking around town. I spent a good deal of a day walking up and down Rundle mall asking in all the department stores. One (DJ's) had one cream for 80 bucks and no-one else even knew what I was talking about!

Anyway, good to see someone else here from South Australia, at this rate we could have a get together soon, it might be getting up to about 5 active (ish) members. I post here pretty much everyday, normally around 5:30 ish. Normally I post a SOTD maybe three times a week. I spend WAY too much time here, really...