Thread: Picked up my first straight razor

Hey everyone
I picked up my first straight razor the other day. It was kinda an impulse buy but I liked the way this razor looked. The seller posted nice high quality photo's so I decided to take a chance. I am kinda taking the standpoint of if it works it works if not it'll look cool in my bathroom. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. I figured the razor would atleast need a good hone and I have found a local shop that can take care of that for me. My best guess from research its an ERN. Maybe someone out there will know for sure. Honestly I have no real idea what I bought.
I am still new to and learning straight razoring technique with a CJB Kamasori. Which has been going OK, but I have yet to get as good of a shave with it as my Edwin Jagger DE with Astra blades.

You should do just fine with that razor. My only recommendation is that the you be sure that the local shop your planning on using knows how to hone a straight razor. If they don't shave with one…I wouldn't trust them to hone one

And Welcome to SRP.

+1 Please don't let just anyone hone that razor it is in excellent shape and should be a awesome shaver...

General rule of thumb.. If they don't shave with a Straight Razor regularly or if they have an Electric type sharpener in the shop don't let them touch a SR...

Nice score and welcome aboard

Well if Glen says that it's a score... it's a score. And a mighty fine looking one at that! You know Glen hones blades... Anyway, congrats and welcome.

For what it's worth, don't get too bogged down with how close you get with a straight too quickly. A DE will shave pretty close, and with very little to no practice. It's rare that you'll get that close with a straight without getting your tech down. And that takes a bit of time.

It's well worth taking that time though as if you are anything like me, you'll find that you'll not only get marginally closer shaves, the shave itself will last longer. Your 5 o'clock shadow will become a 7 o'clock shadow. And that's awesome!!

Again - welcome.

Hey guys thanks for the words of encouragement.
The shop I am planning on taking it to does mostly surgical instrument sharpening. Some local guys say they do awesome work.
I have only been shaving the easy parts of my face with my CJB. I'm so slow that I have to re-soap regularly because it is dissipating. Only one weeper so far but all my weepers are in the same area regardless of the razor I use. My guess is all those years of quick disposable shaves damaged my skin.

The local guys that say this company does "awesome" work are all straight razor shavers who have used this company in the past to hone their razors? If they are not I would take their comments with a grain or three of salt. I would still consider sending the razor out to a specialist in SE honing.

Bob

This is the only thing I could find as to identifying who made this razor:
http://trade.mar.cx/DE329107

Update: I just received the razor in the mail today. All I can say is Wow! It looks almost brand new. I don't think it is going to need a honing. It passed the HHT. I tried shaving a small patch of forearm and it did ok. So for now I am going to strop it and see how it does. It was really well cared for or a reall nice rstoration. But I don't think it was restored. there is no evidence of buffing or polishing.
I think the razor is worth triple what I paid for it. Definitely a nice find. Probably if it was advertised as an ERN razor it would have fetched much more. Bonus that it came in the original box.