The Straight Razor Acquisition Thread

Thank you Steve.

 

Soon to be back home, a pair of Le Grelot 355 rescale by Alfredo.

 

Great scale choice for that pair!

 

Whew - knock me over with a feather

 

Thank you gents!

 

I got my first straight razor, at last!



The razor and stop arrived today, so I can try it out tomorrow. Hurry up whiskers... grow whiskers, grow!

- Bax

 

Congrats! If you need an edge, give a shout.

 

Congratulations! It should be a fun journey.

And Steve’s offer will make no doubt that it is a shave ready edge, if you need it.

Tom

 

It is supposed to be shave ready from Dovo. I thought I would strop it and try it. I don't have anything to compare to, except my Focus R-28 shavette, but I reckon if it's not cutting very well, I'll notice (and will probably start whining for honing advice).

- Bax

 

They never are, from Dovo. Give it a try, then send it to someone to hone it properly. You will see a difference. And, whatever you do, don't buy a Convex Hone.

 

Tried it today. It FELT and SOUNDED like it was shaving fine! But it wasn't. I ended up using my Focus R-28 shavette to finish the shave. I did CUT myself pretty badly with the Dovo straight razor, though; my finger! I was used to choking up on my grip on my shavette to do the left side of my face near my ear, but with this straight razor, IT'S ALL BLADE! I choked up on my grip all right... and put my finger on the blade, OWIE! Finger bled like a stuck pig. So it's plenty sharp to cut my finger, but not sharp enough to cut my whiskers. I bought some of that fiber-optic film to hone it and looked over the threads on the forum to see how to use it. I'll give it a hone then try using it again. I bought a cheap $9 vintage straight razor to practice honing (called a "Salamander").
;-)
- Bax

 

My recommendation is still to send it to a professional, so that when you decide to do your own honing, you have something to aim for. A well honed razor.can be kept up, with minimal cost and effort. Once honed, it should last a couple hundred shaves, it not more, with just stropping.

.

 

.

 

Welcome to the Dark Side - just don’t ask where the cookies are (yeah, long ago reference)

Take it slow and let the process unfold at it’s own pace that works for you. And ditto on the advice to get it properly honed

 

(Edited to include the link and tinkered with words.)

I thought I'd just give it a go with the fiber optic lapping film (using the "Slash McCoy" videos on https://www.nakedarmor.com/blogs/news/hone-straight-razor-lapping-film

... but you guys are giving me second thoughts about doing it myself! Where do you send a new straight razor to get it honed by professional (without breaking the bank)? Is there a Shave Den list of recommended HoneMeisters?
- Bax

 

@Steve56 is more than skilled in honing despite not being a professional - I can’t imagine you’d go wrong taking him up on his offer If you want an ongoing resource I have sent probably dozens of blades at this point to Glen Mercurio @gssixgun for honing. You’ll see him recommended frequently, for good reason.

No reason to back off on the lapping films. I have used them to refresh blades as needed. But, getting that bevel set by someone with years and years of experience with thousands of razors is something I rely on Glen for.

 

I have my eyes on one of these

 

You might want to look at the other ones for sale. Half the price, and just as good of condition.

 

I just picked up a $10 Cook, Everett, and Pennell, "Pearl" 86, made in Germany, probably just before the turn of the (last) century:


Near as I can tell, the company is a drug store on the East coast around 1898-ish. Unfortunately, I found a couple of chips in the blade that may be fixable, or may make it unusable.

Arrow shows the location of the chips on the blade.


Here's a close-up of the damaged area of the blade. I played with the color, tint, brightness, and contrast , to make the chips more visible:

I figure I have 2 options: (1) take away a LOT of blade material along the whole edge and give it a new "set" to make a smooth, straight cutting edge, then hone a new edge on there, or (2) remove the edge from bottom of the blade to just beyond the chips, thus making the cutting edge of the blade effectively about 2/3 of its original length.

I'm a SE noob; not sure what the best plan would be. What would YOU do with it?

- Bax