I apparently have a lurking problem as I have been lurking on this (and other) forums for about 5 years. I received my first straight razor, a Dovo imitation tortoise shell 5/8, just over a year ago. I read and reread forum posts, watched and rewatched the Lynn Abrams DVD, and then carefully laid everything out on the bathroom counter. I bumped my hip hit against the bathroom counter and knocked my open razor onto the tiled floor. The impact made a perfect half-circle chip in the blade about an 1/8 inch from the rounded point. Crap!

It ended up being somewhat of a blessing. It turns out Lynn lives a a few hours away from me and I readily agreed to drive to his house for a lesson. He wouldn't accept any payment for his time, so I showed up with a few cigars as thanks. Wow! What a lesson. Over a four-hour afternoon, he repaired the chip which was fortunately at the point, and fixed a pin. This was followed by a lesson on honing. He had a Gold Dollar razor laying around which I then honed from bevel to stropping with another lesson on stropping. That is now my reference razor for sharpness. This was followed by his well-stocked bathroom where we discussed brushes, soap pucks and creams, scuttles, aftershaves, alum bars, and much more. He then pulled out a couple towels, told me to use whatever brush, soap, and aftershave that I wanted (and meant it) and left. I used the straight razor with chip twice, so it was technically my third shave with about 4 days of growth and I proceeded to cut myself on the second pass (hence, the Nicked in my name). I bled like a stuck pig all over one of his towels, but he was quite generous about it. We ended the afternoon with a tour of his extensive razor collection and what to look for in a razor. I left after four hours, drove to a nearby Panera Bread, and then typed out 3 pages of single-spaced notes while everything was fresh.

Reflecting on all of this a year later, I am still touched by Lynn's generosity and patience. That was quite an afternoon. I hope to likewise pass along whatever help I can in the SRP forums.