Thread: New member and new to Straight Razors

Hello. I have been watching this forum for a couple of months and decided to get my first straight. Being the headstrong and hands on person I am, I went ahead and ignored all the advice posted here and bought a 70 year old Boker King Cutter from EBAY, honed and stropped it myself and shaved my entire face with a drug store shave jel (still waiting for my brush and soap to arrive). I am pretty sure I got the sharpening right because the hair just flies off my face, but I am a little off on my technique, especially around my chin. I am not getting any tugging or scraping on my face and I get a close shave, but I do get alot of nicks from the tip of the razor and I am not exactly sure the of the angle I need. One thing I noticed is straight razor cuts stop bleeding faster than disposals (and I have blead a fair bit).

Well....

That's one way to start shaving!

Your WTG angle will probably be between 1 and 1.5 spine widths from your skin. Each razor is a tad different.

PM me if you need anything.

I figured I can start without over engineering it since my grandfather and father started with a straight without the benefit of a safety razor to back up on. I remember as a kid, the strop hanging in the bathroom and using the old mans' brush to paint some really creative watercolours, not to mention the trip to the doctor to get my sisters hand stitched up after playing a "lets get rid of all arm hair" game.

If the tip is nicking you it may be that you got the blade sharp but the blade is not sharp from heal to toe. Which means that the tip is still a little dull. making sure the razor is sharp the entire length of the bevel may correct your issue. Congrats on getting such a strong start and enjoy!

I think you may be right. The blade I bought is not perfectly straight, which i noticed while honing it. I contributed that to its age and previous use, however, being a newbe, my honing and stropping technique is bound to be way off, and I don't want to take off too much medal makeing it perfectly straight. It seem that I only cut myself on the right side of my face (with my right hand). I will work on getting the sharpening right by trial and error (and a little bleeding). Thank you for the advice.

pictures are nice. boker king cutters are nice too. nice job though on doing it yourself.