Thread: Joseph Allen & Son OR Griffon: Which to restore?

Originally Posted by RezDog

I hope you are not learning with your heirloom razors. As a beginner I did a few bonehead moves and caused some minor damage to my razors. I would hate to see any harm come to an heirloom. An inexpensive shave ready razor from the classifieds would be a better choice for a beginner razor.

Hi RezDog - good point. I was thinking of buying an inexpensive razor to learn how to hone and shave. I'll check out the classifieds.

I'm starting from scratch, so I'll also need a strop. Any recommendations?

I already have soap and brush (been DE shaving for years).

As you are in the USthere are several places to shop. You could either get an inexpensive Illinois from the net, or get a nice strop with a replaceable leather from Straight Razor Designs. New people tend to beat their strops up a little, so don't spend a lot. Replacement leather is really quite a bit less than a new strop.

If you are contemplating a strop I'll chime in and recommend SRD's modular paddle strop. I bought one of these to start with and it certainly has a couple of traits that I feel are a plus for those new to straight razors and their maintenance. The first is that a paddle strop simplifies learning to strop a razor to some extent because it allows you to focus on the razor and not worry about how much tension is being applied to the strop. Removing this factor went a long way to making me feel a bit more confident in my stropping technique. The modular design of this strop was also a big draw (no pun intended) for me as replacement leather is very reasonably priced and it allows me to try different leathers to find the draw I prefer. The one downside I will admit to is the fact that the only fabric panels available are the rock hard wool pads but I haven't found that to be a major issue for my own use.