Thread: a bold, heretic statement.

wow, i wouldnt' have expected so much approbation thx for your answers, guys.

Uberhones, such as the 12k-30k ones are nice-to-haves, i take it then.

Nice to ahve, but I seriously don't want to shell out even MORE money for straight razor shaving than I already had so far, so I'll do without em.

Maybe one day, Razor stuff acquisition disorder will finally catch up with me. maybe.

I like to think that to figure out what one needs to maintain their razors, you need to think BACKWARDS. Like this:

* When you have just bought your first razor, shave-ready from a good vendor, you must use it as such, no friction on any surface.
* OK, so now it's been a few shaves, and you got the hang of the handling. Now you will learn how to strop. Stick to the leather side, it will just realign your edge properly.
* Getting a bit rough? Perhaps you should add to your stropping routine the canvas side, which will gently sharpen your edge.
* Well, seems now after more shaves that even canvas is not enough, so it's time to find a sharpening surface. At this point you have the choice to go towards a high-grit stone (12k) or a pasted surface (e.g. 1 micron diamond + CrOx).

That's where I am so far: 1 micron diamond paste, CrOx finishing, and then stropping. It's been a few months, and my edge is like new every time I hit the pasted strop.

Beyond this stage, you are probably entering the realm of repairs/restores, or the annual let's-make-sure-the-edge-is-perfect sharpening. The worse your blade is, the lower grit you will need.

There's really nothing new or bold about the OP. It's exactly what all the vet members say, actually. (And you don't even need the 1k - you could slurry on a 3k-5k synthetic; how do you think they did it with just a Norton 4k/8k combo?) But if you look at the number of posts made based on membership length, most of the posts are from newer members while the senior members post a much smaller % of the total posts. As a result, the opinions of the newer guys tend to dominate the forum (as far as volume/repetition). So opinions like "quarter hollows shave better than full hollows," "this razor is a full/true wedge," "You need to hone up to XXk to get a good shave," etc appear more often than senior guys can contradict or correct them.

In a forum like this NEED and WANT are two very different things,or we would be reading all these posts. We only have two wrists and I suspect that those who have many razors also may have more than a few watches also......

As we were told at college:
"An engineer can do for five bob what any fool can do for five quid"

Originally Posted by welshwizard

As we were told at college:
"An engineer can do for five bob what any fool can do for five quid"

For your American friends-whats the conversion rate?

I reckon you need the following:

- At least a 365 day rotation of razors
- A set of Naniwa hones
- A set of Shapton hones
- A set of Norton hones
- A 325 and 1200 DMT as a minimum
- Half a dozen strops of various leathers and fabrics
- A variety of pastes and sprays, not limited to CrOx and diamond
- At least one barber hone
- An Escher
- A coticule
- A Charnley Forest
- At least one J-Nat
- At least one brush
- Somewhere between half a dozen and a dozen soaps as a minimum
- A mug
- A paypal account
- A generous bank manager

That should see you right I reckon!

Seriously though, I agree with the OP. You really dont need a lot of kit to keep a razor up and running, a Norton 4/8 and a strop would be plenty.

Originally Posted by Grizzley1

For your American friends-whats the conversion rate?

Whatever sounds right in US dollars

Interestingly, when I was a kid, a half crown coin (two shillings and sixpence in pre-decimal currency) was often referred to as half a dollar.