Thread: Just wanted to say hi!

Hey everyone! My name is Dylan and I live in Iowa. I have always been in love with all types of knives and have collected many over the years. Recently I decided to make the jump from my electric razor (Gross I know) to a straight razor! At first I was not sure if I would like it and I didn't want to spend much money so I ended up getting a Parker Shavette and Preium Shave Kit off of amazon for like $30. After I found that it was actually rather easy and it was something I enjoyed I was done with my "cheap" stuff.

I just recently got a Dovo 5/8 full hollow, tweezer brush, col conk soap and a couple other items to be used with my shave! I am not sure if a introduction is the best place to post this but I was woundering if I have been stropping correctly. I have a normal strop that has been treated with yellow dovo conditioning paste and another that has the dovo red paste. I use the yellow strop every day before I shave and then the red strop after about 5 shaves. Is this correct? Also I do not have a strop with dovo green paste on it. Is that something I should invest in? I just want to make sure I am getting the best results with my blade!

Also I do not have and water stones for my honing. I have seen a lot about these Norton double sided stones. Is this a good option? I have also read that you only hone about every 6 months, is this correct also?


Haha, sorry I went so off topic on this intro! Hopefully this wasn't the wrong area to post it all!

Thanks!
Dylan

Hi Dylan, welcome!

The Norton 4/8 combo is a great choice to start with, esp with a new razor. I have found recently that I need a 1k hone, but you'll only need one of those if you have an old razor you're restoring. I also bought a Shapton 16k when I got the Norton. I use the Shapton about every month or so, just 10 - 20 passes. But you can use JUST the Norton 4/8 (see here). One thing I like about the Shapton is its ease of use; it doesn't need to be soaked. I don't use any paste on my strop at all. Some people do, but many don't. I believe you really don't need to use paste all the time, in fact it may not actually be desirable (others will set me right if that point is wrong). If I were you I'd get another strop (linen/leather) and strop 30/70 (30 linen/70 leather) before the shave after lathering your face, and 10/10 after the shave, and leave the pasted strops for use maybe each week or fortnight.

I don't think asking questions in the intro area is a bad idea at all; it gives us something to talk to you about! If we get right in to discussing strops, etc, you may find one of the mods moves your post. I find that they're really nice and actually tell you where they've moved it to :-)

You'll find the guys on this site and the 'wiki' (now called the 'library') will answer all the questions about SR shaving that you could ever ask...

Welcome to the fun.

Dovos are nice shavers. Your pasted strops will no doubt do fine, but for your daily stropping, you'll need a plain, unpasted strop. The abrasive pastes are quite effective, but a side effect is to impart convexity to the edge. The bevel forms an arc, rather than a straight angle. After so many uses, you'll have to have stones to return the bevel to a flat surface. As Carlos mentioned, the Norton 4/8k is excellent - a bread and butter daily workhorse. 'Reliable and effective.

+1 on carloschneider and pinklather's advice about pasted strops. You don't need to use a pasted strop everyday.

The pasted strops can be used to refresh the edge of your Dovo every month or two.

Get an unpasted strop and as carl says, stropping 30 on the fabric and 70 on the leather ought to work just fine for daily use.

From what I read online it says the yellow paste is more of a strop conditioning paste and just keeps the leather from drying out. So would that be considered a plain strop since it doesn't have any abrasive qualities to it?

Originally Posted by pinklather

... As Carlos mentioned, the Norton 4/8k is excellent - a bread and butter daily workhorse. 'Reliable and effective.

It's Carl, just Carl, though I'll answer to Carlos as a nickname :-)
I also like Malo, Schneids, Ice, Schnids, Bomber and Sarge... :-)