Thread: Beginners advice needed

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Joe,
I agree with you on this. If you are working with new razors, already honed a decent barber hone or multiple pasted strop is certainly a viable choice.

Because of limited time and their ease of use I manintain all of my razors with mainly two pasted strops. I send a few out to Lynn once a year if they are not up to snuff when I buy them new or don't have time to work on them and keep them going on pastes.
I use a 4 side with 9.0, 3.0, 1.0 and 0.5 Amplex and a 2 side, leather and balsa with 0.25 on each surface. With this setup I can take most (not all) new, out of the box razors and get them sharp enough to shave. When I have time I sit down with a Belgian, an Escher or a barber hone and hone but mostly it's pastes.

Ray got me started on this path because he said it was easy to learn. It was and I got my first new razor ready on a TI 2 side with 0.5 and TI white paste.
After that I wanted a longer, wider, more versatile strop and well, the rest is history <g> Yes, this is a biased answer but I make paddles because I believe in them.

I do own and occasionally use a Norton if I get nicks or a less than expected eBay NOS find.

I prefer paddle strops too, because they're easier to use, although they require more swipes.

I'm curious about your paste progression. 9 to 3 is like 1K to 8K. Don't you find that to be too big a gap. i would think you eould want a 6 micron paste in between, giving you about 3K, which would seem to be much more useful.

Joe,
6 micron would make a better progression and the next time I buy my bulk pastes I plan to add that on a new strop.

Tony

Get your razor or razors honed by lynn...they should stay sharp for at least 2-3 months...during this time forget honing forget paste...LEARN TO SHAVE AND STROP YOUR RAZOR...learn how to properly prepare your face before and after the shave...ask questions on the forum during this period if your efforts are less than satisfactory in obtaining a sharp razor and close shave...many of the forum members will be glad to help you...you must master the basics before moving on to honing and paste...improper stroping tech with paste will destroy your edge and make it unrecoverable and necessitate sending it out to be rehoned...same thing with a hone...also and no offense intended dont listen to advice from new str8 shavers...they are beginners like you they are just a little ahead of you on the learning curve...while they want to help, they only know what they hear or read on the forum...on the other side of the coin there are many knowledgeable members on this forum who can really help you master the basics...after 2-3 months of shaving and honing and soaking up info you can decide whether you want to learn to hone paste ect and then proceed...

Just to reinforce what has been said here be sure to have that razor professionally honed. It will make all the difference in the world. The strop you are considering is just fine and the only thing it needs is nothing for the time being. However, since you are paying for shipping of some items from classicshaving you might as well get the strop conditioning paste and the styptic pencil ( get 2-3, they dissolve quickly).
That way you will save on shipping costs in the near future.
The arguments over hones(which one) and pasted strops is never ending on this forum. The truth is that they all work. Its really a matter of personal choice, your pocket book and what kind of razors you will be working on( new, Ebay specials etc.)
What will probably happen is that eventually you will try them all. Thats what most of us do. Its really just a great hobby!

Your starting out very well, welcome to the group!