Thread: Urban myth or true

Gents I thought the main purpose of a strop after honing was to remove the microscopic bur that forms on the edge of the blade, if not stropped off it causes the edge of the blade to blunt quickly, at least that why I strop my wood working kit after sharpening.
If the strop is also coated with rouge (iron oxide) it puts a fine polish on the edge to.

I remember when I last shaved with a SR I could not get an edge good enough just from the honing stone to shave with, it would pull the hair. If I honed and stropped, it was a smooth snag free shave.
Are there any brand recommendations for SR's from all here?

That is a good question. I can not answer it because I do get razors to shave nicely off a stone alone. I would be curious though if you could PM me about your stropping technique or describe it here, I would love to hear about it.

I do not think that Mentors should endorse products, but, I like Dovo stainless razors. It is what I use and like, but I am not necessarily endorsing or recommending them. I am just stating an observed fact. I have only owned about 8-10 razors in my whole life though.

Originally Posted by IArmstrong

Are there any brand recommendations for SR's from all here?

There are LOTS of good brands of razors to choose from. Here you go:
Good Straight Razor Brands - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Originally Posted by IArmstrong

Thanks for the welcome guys and the reply's.

Well now I just need to find a razor, a strop, and some soap, I still have my hone and brush.

The prices for razor have gone up loads since the late 80's early 90's, some beautiful blades out there.
I think Im going to get a vintage one with a solingen blade or Sheffield steel.

Any tip on sterilizing old blades?

Thanks

Ian

Welcome to SRP!

Are you trying to sterilize or disinfect? Huge difference here.

Straight Razor Place Wiki article: http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwiki/index.php/Sterilization


I've been reading about pressurized autoclaves.......and I just don't think your average celluloid or plastic scales can take that kind of heat without ruining them.....nor would I want to experiment. I have a full stainless TI razor that can take it but it doesn't justify the $400 for the contraption.

Violight makes a UV case for the average disposable razor and it operates on AAA batteries. While I would love to send them an e-mail asking if they have plans to make this type of case for your average straight razor user, I could only imagine the canned response along the lines of, "are you kidding us? Please stop wasting our time!". I wouldn't mind buying two of those and removing the light generating parts and combining them lengthwise and placing a razor in the case for half an hour or so. They're only $30 each so for $60 plus the cost of whatever type of case I could come up with, i.e. "engineer". It might be worth it to make one for straight razors and post it in the Workshop part of this forum. I just might be adventurous enough to try something like that

Originally Posted by IArmstrong

Thanks for the welcome guys and the reply's.

Well now I just need to find a razor, a strop, and some soap, I still have my hone and brush.

The prices for razor have gone up loads since the late 80's early 90's, some beautiful blades out there.
I think Im going to get a vintage one with a solingen blade or Sheffield steel.

Any tip on sterilizing old blades?

Thanks

Ian

While you are in the restoration and honing process you can
use alcohol and sanitizing wipes. Just clean and re-oil after
each session. Since the cleaning and honing process takes
a couple days the repetition of sanitizing, cleaning and re-oiling
is a good thing.

I was tinkering with my frowning warped sacrificial problem Dovo a
couple of months back and I use 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean
it before stropping. I got distracted and put it up. In less than 24 hours
the grease/ oil free surface developed some small rust spots.
They rubbed out easy enough but it was interesting how quickly
it happened.

Most shaving soaps are hyper fatted so a simple warm rinse and
wipe after shaving tends to leave a protective coating good enough for
most actively used blades. Because this is true for so many
there is a lot of confusion about this.

Mineral oil is a good thing as is a silicon coated "gun" cloth
that many machine shop supply stores also have. Keep it
sealed up as per the directions. Oily rags are a shop fire
hazard so good shop habits are good to bring home.

I sure hope it's a myth. I just got my first razor a few days ago and I'm having a hard enough time keeping it "shave ready" with all the learning curves. I'd also only be able to shave about once a week which probably wouldn't work out so well.

Well, the absolute undeniable unquestionable fact is that it is absolutely impossible to get by with just one razor. It's just a fact, reject or deny it to your own peril. In fact probly not even 10 will do.

Myth and Myth no doubt.

I have more than ten and that is not enough. Some mornings I just don't think I can make it. LOL

Loads of good info guys.

I think Im going to go for a new Dovo.
After a lot of thinking (about 5 mins) Im just a little paranoid about the history of a vintage used razor, so going down the new route.

So will let you all know how I get on and if I manage to shave or peel