@bscarpenter, thanks for starting this thread. I am hoping to start my journey with straights in February, hoping that I can pass it off to SWMBO as my birthday present! I'll be following along here, and starting my shopping list.
Excellent. Acquire a strop first. So it's waiting for you, when the straight arrives. You don't want to shave without a blade being stropped well. Illinois 127 or 827 are excellent starter strops, as well as strops for experts. Not expensive at all.
Very good info here & thanks for all of the responses. I will take my time to look through the resources provided before I start any acquisitions. I couldn't figure out why someone would strop after and then again before shaving, but @Keithmax explained it. I'm leaning toward a paddle strop to start. Other than feel, is how does one know if there is an issue with the edge, like it's been "rolled"? Will you see it with a visual inspection?
Just jump in and get a regular strop. They are easy to use, just start out slow, and don't add a lot of pressure, or let the strop sag. They are very simple to use. As for a rolled edge, I've not experienced one, that I know of, and I've looked with a 60x loupe. Sagging strops and too much pressure causes a "Rolled Edge", from what I've heard.
Don't overthink these things, @bscarpenter , straight shaving, and especially stropping, is easy. It's when you decide to "Hone your Own", that's when it gets very tricky.
I am one that "generally" learns things the hard way. I also tend to want to learn on something that I plan to use. It's like why would one qualify for a pistol permit with a 22 cal, when they plan on carrying a 9mm? With that said, I learned on a hanging strop like @DaltonGang and some others. Since this is all very fresh in my mind; I found myself putting excessive pressure on my hanging strop. Now, (IMHO) I could have easily even put more pressure on a bench type strop. Now there may be much better reasons to start with paddle type strops, but using a hanging strop for a month now and my blade seems better now than when I first started using it
I still have problems on the top lip especially with shortish (few days) growth where the blade tends to skip. I have given up for now and use a DE to finish off as recommended above.
I tried the stroke recommended by @Drygulch (which the SRP Library calls the Guillotine Style.) It was a great addition to the scything pass I had been focusing on. I now highly recommend learning both at some point. I found the "slicing" style of the Guillotine pass advantageous in some situations and the scything style better for others. It also was not nearly as difficult as I assumed it might be.
Here: I made this a little easier, rather than navigating to another site. Below is the "Scything" stroke: Below is the "guillotine" stroke.
Hmmmm, the only time I have "Blade Skipping" is when either the blade isn't sharp enough, there isn't enough pressure used, or both.
I think it's most likely due to lack of pressure. I can fully understand some trepidation by a new user to apply more pressure to a straight razor against your face This took some time for me to feel that a little more pressure wouldn't peel my pretty face off
I get it. It's a little scary for me to use more pressure around the lips. Lucky for me my lips are small, so there really isn't anything that could be lopped off.
Pick up jeweller's loupe to look at the edge. You can visual look for both rolled edges and if there are any small chips. If you roll the edge you will know because the shave will be terrible, the blade will just pull and not cut. With a paddle strop just use the pressure of the razor to strop, do not apply an pressure. The blade rolls when you apply pressure especially towards the cutting edge. Do this and you will not roll the edge.
Good for you. SRs can be a lot of fun. A bit bloody at times...but fun. It won't take you long to get the hang of it. Your questions: How often will you need to strop?: before each time you use the razor. I do 50 laps on leather. And a few laps after to ensure the edge is dry. How long will it take a newbie to strop?: that depends on your speed. Usually a couple of minutes. My advice-- go slow and focus on your technique. Otherwise you will end up slicing your strop. How often will I need to send it off to be honed? -- depends on how often you use it and how well you strop. As for a kit: start with a good razor that is professionally honed. Otherwise you won't have a good experience. As for a strop, I suggest you start with an inexpensive leather covered board strop. Or newspaper. You can grow from there. Personally I started honing from the beginning of my SR journey. It requires spending some cash, but like most aspects of shaving it will save you money in the long run. Warning-- SR shaving is addictive...well, the collecting part of SR shaving is anyway.
