Thread: Arrgh My brains going to explode

Hey guys..

I have a budget of £200 pounds (340 USD) I've set for myself to do some upgrading

I have a bunch of razors, three of them are shaveable, the other four are awaiting honing, which I'm going to do myself.

I want to buy

Norton combi set: available in the uk 2 combi stones and lapping stone
12k chinese
New strop with linen component
jewellers loupe
CrO2 powder
repinning kit
new set of scales for my 7/8 as i'm not in love with the ones i have

This can be done for the budget I've set, mostly buying in and around the uk.

My problem is this. I've been looking at Illinois strops, hear good things about them, but I'm getting caught up in the concept of draw, in conjuntion with finishing honed razors. want to try to get smooth rather than sharp, but i'd take "cuts hair without tugging".

I work away a lot, and coming home can be variable and imprecise in terms of dates.. So do i go over budget and buy from one of the 2 guys in the uk making strops, and be able to control the delivery times a little better, or do i go with the cheap option and buy an iilinois from the states and hope that i make it home before it gets returned by the postal depot.. shipping from the US can be variable.

Also, I'm reading about fast draw finishing strops (english bridle), heavier draw latigo, etc etc.. this will basically be my only strop as i'm repurposing my other strop for pasting.

So.. do i go over budget and get the strop from the uk, and if so, which kind of leather? or do i stick with what i've told myself i should do and buy the illinois. The reason I'm going for the illinois over other US strops is because of the linen as opposed to wool felt or polypropylene component.

Well the only thing I'm not familiar with is how expensive the Chinese hone would be. Other than that I think your budget should accommodate a more expensive strop. Norton hones 4/8 is 80ish, 220/1 is 40ish and the truing stone is 28 I think. Pinning sets are 2.99 from classic shaving or a little more from the invisible edge. Making your own scales is fairly cheap, I got ebony and yellow heart from a local hobby store for under $30. A loupe set is under 10 and Chromium oxide is cheap as well. So with everything but the Chinese hone its around $200. That leaves $140 for a hone and a strop.

In any case, I think you can afford a more expensive strop, although I think Illinois strops have pretty good bang for their buck. if you decide to get the pinning sets from classic shaving, look at their American leather strops, they aren't much more expensive than an Illinois strop and I've heard good things about them. Plus I live in Canada and their international shipping is excellent in my experience.

are you talking in dollars or pounds here? what you're saying is right but the norton stones here are more like $136 USD

the set with combi stones and lapping stone is £136 ($231)
the loupe (decent one) could be £20 ($34)
the 12k is £18 ($30)
pinning kits £10 ($17) with a bunch of pins
the scales are optional and i have no tools anyway..

thats £184 excluding the strop ($312) so am already a little over budget with the iilinois strop added in

If i buy from the states, customs are going to add VAT onto everything and the shipping will be pricier so am just as well to buy most of the stuff frm the uk anyway as it will end up costing the same by the time it gets here, which will be quicker and more controllable than if i buy from the states.

Am willing to buy the strops in the states because the selection is much wider and cheaper for decent stuff

Nope, I'm giving prices in dollars. Im not sure where you're looking for Norton stones but I got mine from Lee Valley, a local woodworking and hobbist store and they were at the prices I gave you.

Ah cool, yep I'm looking int the uk where i live, the price i gave was for a beginners set that includes a 220/1000, 4000/8000 and lapping stone for the price i mentioned

cheers though!

Now what would be the VAT on some of these items if they were shipped from a local person in the USA to you in a box wrapped in birthday paper with a card wishing you a Happy Belated/Advanced Birthday?

sadly the pinning kits are out of stock with classic shaving right now..

lol I know you guys thinking I'm stressing right, but i have the misfortune to be involved in hobbies where the best stuff to be found is usually in the states. I play the guitar too, and have had a number of pedals and guitars shipped over. Add to this the fact that my rota with work is verrrryyy much ad hoc ( i once went 8 months working 3 weeks, 3 days off 2 weeks 5 days off etc) everytime i bring something from the states it turns into a major logistical operation.

With something like a strop, thats not going to go thru the letter box, and i tend to find the post office make you come get it anyway because there's usually VAT etc to be paid above a certain threshold. If it doesn't get picked up within 2 weeks say, it gets sent back. This is why i want to buy from the uk, but strops are limited here and i just don't want to spend level of money on a handmade strop yet.

I like the american made (mountain mike) strops, but am veering toward the illinois because the fabric component is linen, whereas i believe the mountain mike and SRD strops are poly web.

this is my dilema, buy a US strop and take the chance of it pond skipping (this once happened to me) because noone can say "it will definitely be there on this date", or spend more money in the uk for the convenience of knowing it'll be there on a given day?

Good kit choice.
Do use something like coarse and medium 3M wet dry
paper to tidy up the surface of the Chinese
hone. They are hard rocks and will eat
a good DMT for lunch.

I might comment that stone masons will use
a $6-9.00 60 grit carborundum block to rub down
set cement and field stone or patio steps. If your
Chinese 12k hone is not flat consider one of these.
The price is way better than a extra extra coarse
DMT. Once lapped flat you can maintain with the same
lap that you use on all your water stones after you
take the worst of the scratches out with 3M paper.
For about $40 these Ch12k hones can be a bargain.
The best are as fine as 15k and the worst well they
are all over the map.

The ones from Woodcraft are most likely to be good.
eBay is a crap shoot because a number of folk are
in the Chinese hone game now.

what about the lapping stone from the norton kit?

tekbow,

I most heartedly recommend Mr Neil Millers strops (http://www.strop-shop.co.uk/category...ddles,b.html); they are truly superb and he is a most fine chappie to do business with

Have fun & a good weekend !

Best regards

Russ