Thread: New or Vintage?

A couple of points:

1) For your first couple of razors, buy some nice shave-ready razors from the good folks on this board.

You can get decent-looking shave-ready razors for $35 - $50 (depending on size, grind, condition).

If you keep it in good condition, you can flip it to someone else for about the same price if you don't like it or decide to move on to something else.

Get a razor you can live with - don't shoot for your "dream" razor for your first one - you're likely going to screw up the blade stropping or some other common newbie-type mistake and you don't want to spend $$ on what will become a trial and error razor.

I got my first three razors from altima55 (e-bay seller) totally refurbished and shave-ready (well, truth be told, they needed a few laps on a pasted strop, but that's well-within the abilities of a newbie) for a grand total of $100 shipped. They were all quality razors - after I got some more razors, I kept the one I liked the best and sold the other two to a newbie for what I paid for them.

If you buy from someone here, ask a few basic questions if the picture doesn't speak for itself, but don't bust their b@ll$ about a $35 razor. If you buy a couple of razors from the same guy and ask nicely, they may be willing to throw a practice razor in for free or next to nothing - lets be honest, most of us have a few junkers lying around that might never be anything more than decent razors, but can certainly be used to gain honing/stropping skills. You don't want to learn to hone with one of your shaving razors - the honing learning curve can be a tricky one.

Start with a basic set up - couple of decent shavers, a practice razor or two, pasted and leather strop. That's all you need to get the ball rolling.

If you decide you want to hone your own, get a Norton 4/8 or some good natural stones. Every now and again they come up used (I got my Norton off of e-bay).

As for the price of the Nortons, they are a mass-produced item, so the retail price is not due to limited availability. Also $70 is not a lot to spend for something that will last a lifetime if cared for properly.

Don't make this more complicated than it needs to be.

Buy a shave-ready razor and a stop and get started already- then you can start experimenting with honing, different sizes/grinds, etc.

yeah... my only concern is how often im going to be sending it out for honing, some people are making it seem like once i get a shave ready edge, if i dont use diamond paste in between, im going to be re honing every month, if not sooner... so i should probably learn to hone pretty soon... after 3 professionaly honings i could have just bought a stone lol then maybe a wapi to destroy...

Originally Posted by Warlockdlx69

yeah... my only concern is how often im going to be sending it out for honing, some people are making it seem like once i get a shave ready edge, if i dont use diamond paste in between, im going to be re honing every month, if not sooner... so i should probably learn to hone pretty soon... after 3 professionaly honings i could have just bought a stone lol then maybe a wapi to destroy...

There are probably many experienced members on this forum that would hone some razors for you for free...as long as you are respectful. A properly honed razor will last a long time before needing to be touched up as long as it is properly maintained with the strop. For me 1 month would probably be the bare minimum that an edge should last.

True, I am no honemiester, not evan close, but if I get a little respect, I might get a razor shave ready for some one. Heck right now I would like to put a get together going for folks in North Carolina. I have one member willing.

Phil

Just to give you an idea, I've been shaving about 4 times a week with the same razor since Christmas. No honing needed so far, just some touch up on a pasted paddle here and there. It's shaved great the whole time, although I think it's almost time to hit the stones.

hmm... maybe ill try that then

Originally Posted by jimmyray

Just to give you an idea, I've been shaving about 4 times a week with the same razor since Christmas. No honing needed so far, just some touch up on a pasted paddle here and there. It's shaved great the whole time, although I think it's almost time to hit the stones.

ditto here through with a little less frequent shaving and two razors I've still got a ways to go before honing either would seem necessary.