Hello, Finally signed up today, but I've read threads from here and Straight Razor place as a guest many times. I had an interest in straight razors from the first time I saw one. Electric razors always seemed to pull and they'd leave my skin feeling funny. The Gillette and Schick offerings of today, just don't seem to be quality items, the cartridges are expensive, and the manufacturing has all moved to Asia. I recently tried the new 5 blade Gillette razor and it gave me the worst razor bumps I've ever had. When I shave with a straight razor, I seem to get more time between shaves, and a straight leaves behind no funny feelings or skin irritation. I was given a Jatco Solingen 5/8 straight razor and a U.S. Made Certifyd leather/linen Strop on my 20th birthday. I never looked back, I'm 25 now, and only on rare occasions shave with a different type of razor, and only then for curiosity or speed, but I always go back to the straight. The Jatco served me well with only stropping and honing on a King 3000 stone until early last year. That was when my cat knocked it off the counter, and the blade was badly chipped in the fall. I replaced it with a Sheffield straight I found in a storage locker cleanup. It may have been a military issue, the locker I found it in belonged to a deceased RAF pilot. I was able to clean it up nicely and got a fair shave from it, but there was rust I couldn't remove and I think I was in over my head trying to get razor sharpness from it. It has since been replaced with a Mehaz Solingen straight razor. German steel seems to have a richer look than others, I like this razor, but its just not as easy as I remember the Jatco being. I'll be buying another razor shortly, I'd like more unique scales, and I think I'll be ordering a wood Hart razor, I like to buy American when possible. But I'm also looking at DE razors. For brushes I have an Italian made boar hair brush and a Kent badger hair, I greatly prefer the Kent. I have an old Wilkinson-Sword shaving mug and I've been using natural local soaps, but I'm curious to try the menthol products I've been reading about. Thanks for your time, and I'll be looking around, because I'm definitely not getting the potential from my blades with only the Certifyd strop and 3000 stone, and I want to treat my next razor like a King. Any advice or recommendations are appreciated. Thanks' again.
Welcome to The Shave Den, a great community of guys and gals that enjoy wet shaving, I hope you enjoy your stay! Be sure to sign up for the January Newbie Give-Away for a chance to win some great shave gear! Sorry, I'm not a straight user, so I really can't offer up any advice.
Welcome to The Shave Den from a fellow Canadian. I have read and re-read your post and I am not sure what your question is... There is a good section on straight razor shaving here with lots of info on Hones and strops and such. I am a newbie straight user and find the section quite helpful
Welcome to TSD! This is the best wet shave board on the planet! That was a great intro post as well. Like Bill, I can't help you with your questions about straights but someone will come along that can.
Thanks to everyone. Wyatt and Stingray, I guess I didn't really have a direct question in there. I'll certainly be reading any articles about hones and strops. I've been shaving with straights for many years, and since I love them so much, I'd like to move towards more unique razors and try some of the different makes. But I've never had a selection of stones or used any strop pastes, and I mainly just want to make sure I don't do anything that could inadvertently ruin an edge, or use some kind of polish that would take off the gold etchings that some razors have. Thanks again, and I'll be checking in often. And Happy birthday Wyatt.
Welcome from Texas Welcome to the cozy confines of The Shave Den. Find a comfortable leather recliner and set a spell.
