Thread: Newbie in trouble!!! Need help... (Question extravaganza!)

Hello to everybody!

And thank you in advance for the atention...

Let me just, before I start writing, call your atention to the fact that I tend to be a bit prolific... so... bare with me for a while. And please... bare with my english (it is quite tidy, in fact, but it's not my native language...).

I am rather new to this whole straight razor shaving thing. I started researching on it 4 months ago and actualy bought my first straight razor a month ago. Since I started shaving with my straight razor I've had a wonderfull time doing so and I suspect that I will never go back to any other shaving method. It is utterly relaxing and puts me, first thing in the morning, in a joyful state of mind, ready to face a day of classes, composing and feeling poor looking at my bank account...

The very first thing I did when I decided to "convert" to this lost art was joining this comunity. And may I say that, so far, it has been most helpful. Thanks to all that, to this date, have bared with my questions in the chat room.
I actualy bought my razor from a SRP guy who was selling a kit on the classified section of this site. I bought from him a dovo 5/8 "best quality" razor, a dovo small hanging strop and a Col. Conk hone. The guy who sold me the kit was even kind enough to offer me Lynn's DVD. And it's been most helpfull. Yet... some doubts remain.

But this is the point where my troubles started. So far, the shaving part has been great. I was actualy a bit scared when I placed the blade to my face because I read so many other newbies saying that their faces were razor burnt for a week or so after the first experience. I actualy got more razor burn the first time I used my DE safety razor... and managed only to nick my face 3 times. Only!

I'm portuguese. Therefore... I live in Portugal, a place unfriendly to straight razors in the hands of newbies. So I figure from the treatment I've had in shops that sell shaving extravaganza... at least where I live...
When I recieved my previously described kit I went to this shop that sells everything a barber would need (except for real straight razors...) trying to find some yellow strop paste to apply to my strop, to get some information on honing and stroping in first hand. Let's face it... seeing is better than reading and I expected him (the shop keeper) to be helpfull. Instead, he was rude, condescendent and assumed for himself - I am young and young looking... - a kind of fatherly figure trying to talk me out off all this straight razor business... No comment on that... And then I told him that his job was to serve the costumer, that is, ME (!), I figure he assumed that he was out of line... and started telling me stuff. He looked at my strop (I took the whole kit with me...) and told me that I might not need the hone if I used some black paste on it. So I bought some black paste - Filarmonica brand - and apllied it on my strop as he told me: two lines along the strop (lengthwise...). I did so, stroped and my razor was hanging hair test free! Oh joy of shaving it has been!!

But... I started thinking and reading again. I realized that he had not told me if I would only use the pasted strop for refreshing the edge or if I could use it before every shave... So I started doing some research on this matter. I figured that it might be abrading my razor ever so slightly, but pushing it - strop by strop - to a point that it might become over-honed!

So... my questions are these:
1) If this strop (the only one I have...) has a black paste on it, it must be reserved only to refreshing the blade, right?
2)Therefore... I need a new (unpasted) strop for my daily stroping, right?
3) If that is the case, what can I use to strop before I find a new strop?
4)Using a pasted strop just refreshes the blade turning the honing process not necessary?
5) I own a Col. Conk hone... and I've read that it is both very good and very bad... leaving me on a tough spot. Is it good or not? I don't know the grit, but it feels very smooth to the touch (it is a grey stone mounted on a wood paddle...).
6) Is there any way I can remove the black paste from the strop and get it back to its original, unpasted, condition?

Yesterday I went to the chat room and talked to some of the guys there (thanks a bunch, again...). Their advice was to get a new strop and use the pasted one for refreshing the blade. I also described the hone and was told that I should buy a Norton 4k/8k since they figured that the Col. Conk hone I have is not suited for straight razor honing. This actualy confused me since I did some research on this particular hone and my conclusion might be that it is pretty good... One of the guys sent me links to some forum threads on Col. Conk hones and pasted strops... The two threads on the hone were contradictory: one stated that it was good and the other stated it was bad! Go figure... I take it that it might be a personal choice... Still, I would need some insight on this matter. Care to give me a thought?

Another thing that usualy crosses my mind, after my research period, is the number of razors I should own. I read somewhere that the edge is so fragile that it shouldn't be used twice in a row because the razor should need to "rest" at least 24hours so the edge may realign itself... The guys on the chat room said that it was a myth. Also said that "better safe than sorry...", but the key to the whole business is stroping. Any thoughts on this?

So... If you've read this far... you are interested in my strory/existential doubts. Therefore, I kindly urge you to send me a line that can be useful... Thank you ever so much for the atention. Let us not forget that we are gentlemen... and we are sort of the "knights of the round sink". I figure that a "round table" is not suited for shaving!

Hope to hear from all of you pretty soon!

Welcome aboard. Here are some quick answers (writing from work lol)

1) If this strop (the only one I have...) has a black paste on it, it must be reserved only to refreshing the blade, right?
-Right

2)Therefore... I need a new (unpasted) strop for my daily stroping, right?
-Right

3) If that is the case, what can I use to strop before I find a new strop?
-A soft leather belt did the trick for me for the first couple of months, until I got one of Tony's

4)Using a pasted strop just refreshes the blade turning the honing process not necessary?
-Not completely unnecessary but you can extend the time between honings to a couple of years.

5) I own a Col. Conk hone... and I've read that it is both very good and very bad... leaving me on a tough spot. Is it good or not? I don't know the grit, but it feels very smooth to the touch (it is a grey stone mounted on a wood paddle...).
-Looks fairly shifty. Norton, Shapton or coticule would be your best bets.

6) Is there any way I can remove the black paste from the strop and get it back to its original, unpasted, condition?
-Not as far as I know, but somebody like Tony should confirm my opinion before you give up on it.

Thank you very much!

Well... it actualy figured. But I was in denial... I don't feel like beeing on the marked for a new strop... So... I'll make my own! I guess... I'll get in touch with some of the more audacious members who dare make their own strops!

I'll bare in mind what you said, answering my questions. And I'll think about buying a Norton 4k/8k... they're not that expensive, really.

Thanks again! And if you remember anything else, please drop me a line as a reply!

As long as you have the right leather, making the strop shouldn't be a problem. If i were you, I'd still try to remove as much abrasive from that pasted strop as possible and switch over to a finer finishing abrasive like 1.0, 0.50 or 0.25 micron diamond or chromium oxide.
I'd start with saddle soap and probably sand a layer off the top before washing it out with more saddle soap.

The col. conk stones that I have seen have been white arkansas stones listed in the 2K range. This would be fine for finishing a knife, but would be a poor choice for a razor.

yep - we talked on the chat and the label on his hone says arkanzas.
although it may not have been designed for razors and from what i understand lapping it could be a nightmare. but 2k stone sounds neither here, not there, unless you honemeisters think it may be useful for the bevel setting.

And of course the norton will be a fine choice - as you said it is not expensive.

Ok, guys... please keep talking! I'm learning a great deal right now.
I just have to synthesize all the information so I can come to a conclusion.

So far this is what I've learned... and correct me if I am wrong:
1) bad choice listening to the guy from the shop
2) I need a new strop
3) If I want to make my own strop I have to extremely carefull on choosing the leather
4) col. conk are a dubious choice as hones; better get me a norton

Anything else?

Thanks a bunch!