Thread: Just got my first straight. How'd I do?

Vintage PUMA 85 Stright Razor Made in Germany Frcm - eBay (item 250307675113 end time Oct-19-08 08:03:06 PDT)

I'm a *total* newb to this, but it looks to me like the blade is very evenly tarnished, with a small amount of rust toward the heel. The edge looks completely straight. I wish there was a picture of the other side of the blade, but if it's comparable to the side shown, I think this blade will clean up to near-perfect, with a few deep pits where the rust is on the heel. The scales look to be in decent shape. It is missing one pin, though.

At five seconds left in the auction, the bid was at 10 bucks. Then, of course, the requisite snipers took aim.. and missed. My max bid held, and I scored this for $27.55 shipped.

I would *love* to hear opinions on this blade... Anything about it.. how well you think it'll clean up, was it a decent price, etc. etc.

Now it's time to research blade restoration.

A hearty welcome to SRP.

Now for the hard part. That is a beautiful razor. It will become a good project for you. Now put it in the drawer for a bit of time. I highly recommend two things for you.

First, obtain Lynn's CD. It's worth its weight in gold. It's over 3 hours of great information on most all aspects of straight razors. It's a great place to start.

The second is to get a razor from the either classifiieds, or a starter set from someone like Kenrup. A 5/8 or 6/8 round point is a nice razor to learn how to manipulate the blade in you hands and what the right blade angle is for you. Without the need for sutures or a blood trasnsfusion. The round point will help in not slicing into your ear or nose like you would with the beautiful spike point. You are going to need a strop and some shave soap/cream at the very beginning, along with a razor.

Not trying to discourage you. Rather, just a little perspective so you don't get frustrated or discouraged. Start the right way. Then you can send your beautful spike point to honemeister when you are ready to move on...

I learned with a spike and still have both ears!!!!!

"How'd I do?"! You scored well. Enjoy that one.

X

If you're new to straight shaving and this is your first blade I would follow dward's advice. Got second bladewith a French, Spanish or puond point that has been honed correctly and learn to shave with that one. Second choice: have the razor you just purchased professionally honed and buy a second to learn honing with. You'll save yourself a lot of frustration and improve your learning curve for both shaving , because you will not be testing you honing skills with every shave and wondering if your problems are your techinque or your honeing, and honing, because you will have a proper standard to measure you honing skills against. Good luck and it's nice to have you in our group.

Thanks, guys!

I'm jumping into the straight edge thing with both feet. I've been doing the safety razor/badgerhairbrush/good cream thing for a couple weeks now. Lovin' it.

So of course I had to jump into straights. I'm planning on buying this: 5/8 Giesen & Forsthoff TIMOR #306 "Hamburg Ring" - white celluloid : Shaving Shop - luxury classic wet shaving products - straight razors razor, a four sided pasted paddle strop, and a regular strop to keep me shaving while I restore the Puma. Typically, do new blades come from the factory in a condition in which taking it to the pasted paddle strop then regular strop will get them shave ready, or should I just plan on buying the DMT 8k equivalent hone now?

The Puma is going to be my learning restoration/honing victim. I'm also going to be buying the DMT stones that are 1.2k and 8k equivalent. And of course the restoration CD from Billy Blades.

I'm an avid gun and reloading enthusiast, too, so the first step will be to remove the scales, tape the razor's edge, and let it spend a day or three in some fresh walnut media in my brass vibrator.

And here I told my wife that wet shaving was going to *save* us money. No wonder she gave me that "uh huh, suuuure, honey" look.

You got that "uh huh, suuuure, honey" look too!

I almost bid on that one<nice score!!!

Originally Posted by dward

The round point will help in not slicing into your ear or nose like you would with the beautiful spike point.

This is not correct in my experience.
The only real cut I've ever had was with a roundpoint when I tried to get the last hairs under my nose.
The roundpoint gets in the way, and lulls you into a false sense of security.

If you think the spike point will cut you, simply draw the point very softly across a bit of cork or wood so that it loses its teeth. Do that and you won't accidentally cut yourself.