Thread: Extended travel shaving kit

Originally Posted by joelkerr

I have an Exide barber hone, which is two sided and quite small. The fine side is pretty fine for a barber hone. I don't remember exactly, but I think it's around 4"x2", maybe smaller - great travel-sized hone.

I would be happy to lend it to you for your trip, as I never use it - I just keep it for the day that I take a similar length trip (it won't be anytime soon). I'd hate for you to have to go 4 months without an SR shave!

Thank you Joelkerr for the great offer! I'm always taken aback by the generosity of the members here. I'd be worried about breaking it or using it as a hammer to drive in my tent stakes while suffering an exhaustion induced delirium. We'll see how far I get with a CrOx crayon and the local gazettes.
Thank you again.

Dovo makes an excellent two sided linen leather travel strop, it is 1.75 in x 18 in I think, but rolls up into a 2 inch roll. Perfect for inside a sock or shoe. They sell as low as $40.


Pick up a 4x1/4 in Translucent slip, lap it, burnish one side and your good. Store in a cellphone case or small plastic box. Take a chunk of Chrome Ox in a plastic container, you can rub it on any clean piece of cardboard.


A small tub, (2.5in) of Cella in the red plastic case, with screw on lid, travels well and is good soap.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Dovo makes an excellent two sided linen leather travel strop, it is 1.75 in x 18 in I think, but rolls up into a 2 inch roll. Perfect for inside a sock or shoe. They sell as low as $40.


Pick up a 4x1/4 in Translucent slip, lap it, burnish one side and your good. Store in a cellphone case or small plastic box. Take a chunk of Chrome Ox in a plastic container, you can rub it on any clean piece of cardboard.


A small tub, (2.5in) of Cella in the red plastic case, with screw on lid, travels well and is good soap.

Excellent ideas Marty. For soap I've got a screw lid container (the only good thing about Kiehl's Lite Flite Shave cream was the reusable container) that contains my 'frankencream'. The travel strop makes sense for a lot of reasons. I'll order one. A quick look for translucent slip's have them about 20 bucks and as an Ark guy that appeals to me; I'll mull this over.
Thank you for the suggestions. Strop is on its way!

Originally Posted by Paulbuck

Thank you Joelkerr for the great offer! I'm always taken aback by the generosity of the members here. I'd be worried about breaking it or using it as a hammer to drive in my tent stakes while suffering an exhaustion induced delirium. We'll see how far I get with a CrOx crayon and the local gazettes.
Thank you again.

Well, one of the best things about barber hones is that they're quite cheap and plentiful. It really wouldn't be a big lost if the hone was broken or lost. For the same reason, it might be impractical for me to lend it to you, because for the price of shipping you could probably just buy your own. But the offer still stands if you change your mind.

In the past when I made long rides on my Harley, I've taken a DE and extra blades but I too want to take a straight. I picked up a Pike Barber hone and I've been playing with it a bit. It gives a nice edge probably somewhere between a 5-8K. However I also have a small coti that's only about 6" long, 1 3/8" wide and 9/16" high. It weighs 9.5 oz and my Pike is 5 1/4" long 2 1/16" wide and 1/2" high and it weighs 7 oz.

I touched up a razor without tape (it was originally honed with one layer of 3M 700 electrical tape) and got a really nice shave off of my Norton 8k. I plan on seeing how the coti works being held like a barber hone here in a day or two on that 8K edge.

Then I'll have a good comparison to which to take along.

I've flown with both a DE or a Straight in my check in baggage and never had a problem--but I do worry about sticky fingers once my bag is out of my sight

I hope you find all you need before your journey--enjoy it

I travel for significant periods of time too and have run into this issue myself. There are some pretty handy travel brushes; the one I use is a collapsible aluminum one where the knot fits into the handle, basically like this , only with a 20mm Maggard synthetic in it.

There are some good suggestions here about possible hones for you to bring, but for a 4 month trip (or even a year trip, for that matter) a hone really shouldn't be necessary, just a strop. If nothing else you could also just get by with a strop that has one side pasted. A small paddle or loom strop is great for travel, and I've also used a synthetic strop that I got off ebay that is sort of like a Naugahyde. While it isn't pretty or great, it works and travels fantastically.

It'll be cool to see what gear you end up deciding to go with.

I favor a stick of Arko for travel plus a brush that wouldn't kill you if it were lost.
A good number of us have several strops; I have 16 so I also take a strop and a Swaty barber hone.

One thing not brought up here is a mirror.

Are you going to have a nice one on your handle bars?

When I am packing light this has been my hands down travel set. https://www.manufactum.at/merkur-rei...172501&a=68881

Originally Posted by Theoman

When I am packing light this has been my hands down travel set. https://www.manufactum.at/merkur-rei...172501&a=68881

That is a handsome kit! Mine will be a bit cruder I'm afraid.

Originally Posted by 32t

One thing not brought up here is a mirror.

Are you going to have a nice one on your handle bars?

I do not have a mirror on the handlebars and am going back and forth about having one of those little ones off the helmet. I probably need one; snapping a quick peek over the shoulder on narrow roads can be dangerous but I do it.
For shaving I wasn't planning on taking a mirror and just relying on hotel bathrooms and the occasional campground polished metal they have for mirrors sometimes. Realistically, I'll probably not shave more than two or three times a week on a trip like this; I'm ok with sporting heavy scrub; feels all the better when given a proper shave.
Thanks for the suggestions!