Thread: Greetings from Philadelphia

I forgot to add a couple of very helpful links. If you have not already done so, read these:

Beginner's guide to straight razor shaving - Straight Razor Place Wiki

First straight razor shave - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Plenty of great info there.

Thanks for the reply. I got my razor from classicshaving.com which I believe professionally hone their razors prior to shipping. I have read just about everything on this site plus many YouTube videos, and I have to say this place has been great for a newbie like me. I guess I will go to the pharmacy prior to shaving and pick up a styptic pencil.

One thing I did dot buy yet is a strop which I really need to. Any recommendations on a cheaper strop with some linen for me to start with. None here in the classifieds.

Two strops, intermediate between WhippedDog's "Poor Man's Strop Kit" (which I have and like) and really expensive stuff:

Home Page ("Big Daddy" and "Big Momma")

www.ruprazor.com ("Filly")

I haven't used either one, but they've gotten good write-ups here.

. Charles

Thanks for all of the help. Those two websites are great and the prices are so much better than what I have seen so far. What do you guys think about the following:

$33- Two strap leather Strop + Balsa strop with abrassives +Neatsfoot oil (Whippedog)
$40- 3" latigo leather strop BigDaddy (Starshaving)

Or do you think I should just wait and get a "best quality" or the "Richman's" ?

I was also looking at the 12K finishing stone and thought that might be a good idea for maintaining in betwen real hones.

The nice thing about the Whipped Dog strop kits is that they include a (small) balsa pasted strop.
With leather (or cloth + leather) and the pasted strop, you may not need a real honing for a year or so. [Larry won't guarantee a lifetime for an edge, neither will anyone else.]

I have used the Poor Man's Strop as a travel strop, and it worked nicely. It's small, but the leather is OK.

Either a barber hone, or a 12K finishing stone, will let you keep your razor sharp indefinitely. You'll have to develop the skill to use it, but for most razors that _start_ sharp, refreshing the edge isn't too hard.

. Charles