Thread: Practice razor

I returned recently to wet shaving and straight razors and I decided to learn myself how to hone a razor and maybe give a try in restoring one too. However, the only razors that I have in my collection are way too valuable to practice upon (two customs from Robert Williams and two vintage Wade&Butcher professionaly restored).

So, I would like to ask for your advice. What kind of razor should I practice on? Should I start with a vintage razor or a cheap Pakistani one? Where should I look for it?

I tried several antique stores in my city (Athens, Greece), but they tried to sell me razors with cracked and chipped blades for 40+ euros (they thought that I was a hipster new to the sport ). Given that investing on a coticule stone is already a big expenditure on my budget I would not like to spend too much on a practice razor.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Start with something you know CAN be honed. Imagine the frustration doing trial and error on a razor that can't actually take an edge!!

When I started to hone, I sent my practice razor to a professional for honing to begin, and learned to refresh it, and worked my way backwards in the progression.

Originally Posted by Andy77

Start with something you know CAN be honed. Imagine the frustration doing trial and error on a razor that can't actually take an edge!!

When I started to hone, I sent my practice razor to a professional for honing to begin, and learned to refresh it, and worked my way backwards in the progression.

Alright, so definitely not a Pakistani razor. What would you suggest?

Aloha!

I have had very good luck practicing on Gold Dollar razors from China. They take an edge very well and are actually quite good to shave with once you have honed them. They are also very inexpensive. Some you can get for free for buying other things like a strop or a brush. But be aware, the toe and heel shoulders on some models can be thick and this can block you from being able to lay the blade flat on the honing stone. Some of them need to be ground down before they can be honed correctly. My particular Gold Dollar razor was fine for honing right out of the box because the shoulders were already reduced at the factory.

You should be able to get a Gold Dollar on Amazon or aliexpress.com. As I said, they are very inexpensive. I've seen the Gold Dollar 66 model for as low as $2.99 US. I got mine free when I bought a travel strop.

I also have a Cutthroat Gents razor that I travel with because they are decent razors but if I lose them, I won't cry. These are also relatively inexpensive and have a better production finish than your standard Gold Dollar, but they can actually be much harder to hone. The blades warp easily and it is a bit difficult to give them a good honing without developing a wire edge. So these, IMO, are not good for beginners. I mention this because as Andy said, you need something that CAN be honed and that takes an edge well. You don't want to be in a position of doing everything right, but you think you are doing something wrong becuse the blade you have chosen won't take an edge easily, or at all.

-Zip

I started with mint vintage razors and a new Dovo. I wanted to learn about honing not learn how to trouble shoot junk razors. So known markers, perfect geometry, as in no wacky hone wear, and tape. The tape no. Tape debate rages on all the time, but that debate is for people that know what they are doing. Beginners need tape, until they get the process dialled in. In the beginning most put way way too much pressure on the spine. If you use tape, you wear the tape quickly, if not you stuff a razor. Use the very best razors you can find, and there are tons of them out there selling for under $60. They will not be from the best known makers, however there was once hundreds of makers just in Germany, most of them little known makers, all of them making great products. Barber supply houses had them marked for them, all unknown makers all of them great razors. Look around and you will see what I mean.

Andy has the right idea. IMO go vintage, do not waste your time with a Chinese or Paki razor. When your done you will have something worth shaving with. Why buy something that will possibly need modified before even honing it. A great vintage blade can be found for not a lot and will be better steel to work with.
Learning to refresh your blade sounds like a great place to start, or jump right in and learn to hone from the start. Getting a hone to refresh your edge will be less investment, getting a full progression can be expensive. Doesn't have to be but can be. It's really up to you.
Should you choose to go the refresh route, I suggest a naniwa 12k or kuromaku 12k by Shapton. Either of these should give you repeatable and reliable results. There are a myriad of options out there and you can get into natural hones, the 2 I suggest are great stones though.
Just my 2 cents.

Inexpensive decent honed razors, come up on the Buy/Sell/Trade all the time. I would start there!


Mike

There you go! Just saw a Torrey on the BST this morning for a cool $22. Can't beat that with a stick.


Mike

Great points, also a lot about it in the wiki and plenty of threads of people asking the same Qs.

All I wanna say, heed the advice and don't make the mistakes others have made, you don't wanna learn the hard way, read: you don't wanna mess up your valuable (emotionally or monetary) razors.

I sort of ruined a heirloom razor before SR shaving got famous. I regret it to this day, I salvaged it, but I had to re-grind my razor to fix a chip I had caused. Not a mistake anyway should make.

Start a thread looking for a mentor in Athens Greece. I know there are a few long time members there.
~Richard