Hello,
I'm new to this hole thing not only to straight razors but also new to posting on a forum so let me tell you about myself and what led me here. i have been collecting knives for a while but straight razors were the farthest thing from my mind. i hone all my knives my self and been able to put a nice edge on them. i always test them by shaving my arm then one day just for kicks i tried to shave my face and it did take some hair off but man was it rough. So like every time i am looking to learn something new i hit up Google to find a way to get my knife sharper and that led me to SRP. Now I have been checking out the site for a few weeks now and I'm hooked. I started out just looking for a few tips on knife sharping now I've been doing nothing but reading about and looking up straight razors.
I have tried to shave with one once. About 2 weeks ago a friend of mine told me his grandfather gave him his old kit (a razor, strop, bowl & brush). After a bit of convincing i got him to brake it out. his grandfather had told him it was ready to shave with so I dipped it in some barbasol (his wife is a hair dresser) i didn't have any soap for the brush so i just used some canned shaving cream and went for it. The shave went pretty good for a first time (doesn't hurt that i keep a goatee) it tugged a bit but I'm sure my stropping technic left something to be desired and the razor probably could have been honed but now i was off and running. I tried to buy the kit from him but he wanted to hold on to it so now i need a razor.
Back to SRP i went and i started to check out what brands to get i almost bought some $18.00 razor and strop kit from eBay but you guys set me straight. I think I have settled on a kit from DOVO but it is going to take a few weeks to get my wife to loosen the purse strings a bit so I can drop $150.00 on something I don't really need so until then i have been just keeping my eye out for a deal.
I found a vintage J R Torrey and picked it up for less then $15.00 and it came with an original box. I did some research i like the history that i found so even if its not worth making a shaver out of it, anything that is 50-70 years old or pos older is just plain cool. The scales are in great shape the blade has no chips or cracks in it the finish was a bit dull but 5 min with some polishing compound and its got a mirror shine. Its sharp but not razor sharp and i don't own any stone higher than 1500 grit so now i have to decide if it is worth sending out to be honed or just put it on the shelf for display.
Now comes all of the questions. What should I look for when deciding on weather or not to restore a blade. If this blade is restorable should I try to learn on it or should I wait till i get the DOVO. Can i buy a cheep cowhide $20.00 strop to practice with or will it do more harm than good and last but not least. I would like to try honing my own razors I have my eye on a kit from norton I saw Lynn use on an eBay video but for my first time should i send it out to be done by a pro.
I thank everyone in advance for your advise and comments and look forward to reading the post's