First off let me start by saying I'm glad I found this place and the wealth of knowledge shared here. I feel like in everything in life, we should never stop learning and can always learn something new. I know I have a lot of learning ahead of me and I can see this i the right place for that.

So, about a week ago I took my 2 sons to get a haircut at their barber. We start talking and I ask him if he knows where I could get a straight razor, I remember my dad using one when I was a kid and I was always interested, but never took the step to try one. So he says, " Yeah, just go to Sally's and they have them there. You know what, you can have this one, just buy some blades for it". My first mistake was thinking, this guy is a barber, he knows what he's talking about. So I proceed to watch some videos on Youtube and realize they are using straight razors, but think mine is just as good, I just have replace the blades instead of stropping. Then he tells me to go to Walgreens and i can find the "shaving set", for 10 bucks. Off to Walgreen's. I get the Van Der Hagen Shave kit, which I actually think has worked pretty good so far. It lathered up pretty good and left my skin pretty soft.

Anyway, I can see now that's not the best type of razor to use, but are they ok to use for shaving? Or are they mostly used to clean up edges and what not? I fell foolish knowing I've used it to shave the last two times I shaved, lol.

I just today scored a Shumate Dollar on a trade for about $20 trade value. I know its not gonna be perfect, but I don't mind restoring things as I actually enjoy restoring old axes and hatchets. I know straight razors are not the same, but with all the knowledge here on the forum, I think I can do a pretty good job. Now to find someone locally to hone it for me properly and get it shave ready.

Here is a pic of the razor, I hope its salvageable.