Hi everybody, I am thinking about real straight razors now (I have the one with disposable double edged blade). I found them very costly. If I make an investment in straight razors, strops and hones; do these things will last forever? (of course when properly used). I want to know about this razor sharpening service which is done like 3-4 times in a year(depends actually). What exactly is done in it? Can this thing be learned at home by oneself? Basically I want to know if one learns the techniques of stropping and honing (of course at home), then are there any recurring expenditure on a straight razor; like blades are the only recurring expenditure in DE safety razors, straight razors which uses disposable blades. Thank you.
Straight razor shaving is fairly inexpensive, acquiring a collection of (rare) straights, top of the line stones, and multiple strops is what becomes super expensive. One can pick up a vintage shave ready straight for under $60. Nice strops can be had for a little as $25-30. In terms of keeping the straight sharp, you can do quite well with Chromium Oxide pasted balsa, and a Barber's hone. People have been known to keep a straight edge going for years with just a Barber's hone. If you want to fully maintain the straight yourself, you will probably want something like a Norton 4000/8000 combo stone, and some sort of finishing stone like the Chinese 12K. This will allow you to maintain every straight out there, as long as it's not an Ebay special whose edge needs lots of TLC (metal removal) to reach a shave ready state.
Michiganlover nailed it. Only thing I would add is to start, limit yourself to one nice razor you like and really want to have and one strop, thats all you need to start. The other stuff you can add as you get more into it. If you don't want to go the vintage route quite a number of vendors sell straight razor sets that include both the strop and presharpened razor. The advantage here is no hassle shopping and you are ready for a shave as soon as the small box comes to your door.
I will jump on the bandwagon here and refer you to Larry over at http://whippeddog.com/ Larry is highly regarded over at B&B and SRP, and he is available via email pretty much all the time if you need help with straight shaves. Larry is 100% dedicated to helping new straight shavers get started. I have bought several things from him and he is a square deal all the way around. You can get yourself into a decent straight razor starter kit for less than $50.00 shipped, which includes a freshly honed vintage straight, oxide pasted balsa wood and an introductory strop. Check him out and tell him Jeff Stryker of Lakeland Florida referred you.
I hope it is o.k. to link to SRP, Robin wrote a very good article entitle "The Beginners Shopping list" http://straightrazorplace.com/forums/beginners/43930-shopping-list-beginners.html
Shave Ready Razors for $33 When you can be on look out for Cedarfurnitureman's ( Quinton ) or Undream's ( Brad ) listings on ebay. These are very reliable and can't stress their customer service. Which is sorely lacking in some popular vendors out there.
Hi, why ask for advice here when you live in the last great stronghold of straight razor shaving? When I travelled around India 20+ years ago you'd see the barber-wallahs shaving customers in the street with a straight razor, at a time when it was already pretty much a lost art in Western countries. I'll bet that if you asked your older relatives, grandfathers and grand-uncles etc, you'll find someone who used to shave with a straight who can give you advice and maybe even give you their old razor. Failing this, find an older men's barber and ask his advice. There must be hundreds of old Sheffield razors left over from the Raj in the markets. For a strop just get a local leatherworker to make you one. Just my 2 annas.
2 Annas - well - let me add my 2 paise now The observation is very accurate and i remember 20 years ago when barbers used actual straights and not the cheap shavettes they do today chiefly for hygiene reason. However before one starts looking for all those Sheffield razors in the backyards of India, one must also keep in mind that India is a recycle specialist. It is the world's largest recyclers of junked old ships. Indians are extremely good at the recycling anything precious. all those Sheffield razors would have been sold by the kilo to the local metallurgist in return for some annas-paisas or rupees back then and they would all have gone in to the smelting furnace and reappeared as other metal objects. Plus there is no appreciation of vintage in India, as there is more appreciation by way of recycling.
I will throw out my opinion but for full disclosure I haven't had my first straight shave yet....I am waiting on two shave ready vintage 1920 razors that I got from the classifieds on a forums similar and a $20 dollar strop. The good thing about 2 razors is that I will keep one shave ready so I can compare as I try my hand at stropping and eventually honing. Also, if I need to send a razor off for honing I have something to shave with while waiting for it to return.
I'm one of those who maintained their razor for many years with just a barbers hone and a strop. It's those damned enablers on the shaving forums that stoke the acqusition disorders. Fortunately, after I bought my 7-day set and a Japanese hone, my shaving related purchases have dwindled to just a kilo of Cella once every couple of years. Now I spend my money on pipes and tobacco.
Got to agree with Chimensch, once you have all the basics, you don't need to spend any more money. The problem is that we keep looking at these forums and seeing beautiful razors and we try to invent reasons to buy them (or soaps, brushes, hones, etc.). Try to avert your eyes to all the sparkle you keep seeing! :happy102
I've been doing this a while now. You can get a good straight that is a non name American blade off ebay for $20, pay $15 to get it honed (shipping and all) and boom,$40 ($5 to ship it to the honer) for a shave ready straight. Now, it gets sticky when you start adding strops, stones and soaps. You can get a starter strops at whippeddog.com from Larry and save yourself the heartache of nicking a newer expensive strops. But, say you get that then come back and add a $75 strop (you can get a premium strop as good as any cowhide strop made for that price) and then get a Barber's hone from Glen for about $45 or less. So $40+$45+$15+$75= $175. With this you can maintain the razor indefinitely. Now when you figure what you spend on Mach 3 blades a year, you come out far ahead in the long run. The soap is expensive, but I have been using the same puck for over a year now so you really get a lot for your money. Long term it pays off, but the problem is the addiction which ultimately raises the prices of everything. Stones and extra strops and expensive brushes are what adds to the cost. Find yourself a good addiction psychiatrist and you will be able to stay on a good budget.
You can also hit yourself in the head with a hammer for free (edit: not you personally of course) It's a better bet to simply purchase a razor which is already honed. Who knows whether your $20 ebay purchase will be honeable for $15 until the guy (or gal) doing the honing has it in hand? Countless hopefuls have tossed away $ on ebay razors that need more than a $15 honing But anyway yes it can get expensive if you let it
It's true - straight shaving can run the entire spectrum of cost, although I would say that, in terms of initial outlay to get you started, it is perhaps the most expensive of all the various shaving media out there (excluding electric). However, as others have said, in the long run, barring addictions and acquisition disorders, and maintaining discipline, straights will work out perhaps the cheapest form of shaving. Although I am not one to talk. For me it started as shaving, became a hobby, then there were various forms of AD. I do not want to tally it all up, but a few custom straights, several Japanese natural stones, a strop here and there ..... it adds up if you let it! James.
After I bought my Dovo, strop and barbers hone in 1980 I spent nothing on shaving except for a few pucks of Williams each year. When I found the forums I went temporarily insane: Mastro Livi customs, name brand NOS razors, an autoclave to test sterilizing razors for an insane project to bring straights back into the babershop and finally a custom 7-day set, so you could say that I used up all my shaving savings from the previous 28 years. Thankfully, my ADs have burned themselves out and I'm back to spending next to nothing on shaving.
This is true, but I have purchased and honed quite a few razors off ebay that turned out fabulous. I have also honed ebay razors routinely for others. Most honers do ask for pics or review it before they agree to a price, but there are many no-name razors that sell cheap and make excellent shavers.
I have come across many of your posts in this forum and many others where you share your experiences and I think they have been very educating. I am a newbie to straight razors and have been doing a lot of reading on the matter of honing. I got a honed razor from Larry as it seemed the safest thing to do and I am very happy to have taken that course. I am also considering buying a Dovo. I am inspired by one of your posts where you mentioned about this new Dovo and maintaining it using just a Barber's hone for 28 years !! Now that is amazing to know. I am considering buying a yellow coticule for myself apart from perhaps a Norton 4K/8K in case a bevel needs to be set on a normal razor. I do not intend to buy ebay razors and set bevels and edges, so I guess this should suffice. My question to you on the barbers hone. Are they the same as the yellow belgium coticules ? If not, what are you referring to and where are they available ?
