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Thread: Too much information = overwhelming!

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    Default Too much information = overwhelming!

    Hi, I'm glad I found this site, it has a lot of information from people that really know this stuff but it's so much that it can be overwhelming.
    I hate shaving, it causes irritation, gotta spend money to always get new blades and it's annoying.

    Now I'm curious about straight razors but I have a few questions..





    #1. what is "honing" Is that sharpening? Why do people say they have to pay to get them honed
    #2. How do you sharpen and maintain them
    #3. How long to they last
    #4. Do u need that little brush
    #5. Do I need to buy blades for them separately or those are different types of straight razors?
    #6. I've seen ones online where you replace the blade and one where you don't replace them? Which is better?
    #7. Which should I get as a beginner's blade?

    I know that I can probably search here for hours and find the answer but if anyone can answer these specific questions, that would be lovely!


  2. #2
    Senior Member souschefdude's Avatar
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    Go to the beginners and read the stickys.
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    Yes I see them all but there's no stickies that answer right away questions that I have, I have to read hours of information and sort through it all, I thought someone could if they're kind enough to just answer the specific questions I asked

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    At this point in time... gssixgun's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kurolap View Post
    Hi, I'm glad I found this site, it has a lot of information from people that really know this stuff but it's so much that it can be overwhelming.
    I hate shaving, it causes irritation, gotta spend money to always get new blades and it's annoying.

    Now I'm curious about straight razors but I have a few questions..





    #1. what is "honing" Is that sharpening? Why do people say they have to pay to get them honed Yes and it is not that easy to do
    #2. How do you sharpen and maintain them You strop then you learn to hone
    #3. How long to they last Varies greatly from person to person and upon experience
    #4. Do u need that little brush No but it really helps and a good soap makes it even better
    #5. Do I need to buy blades for them separately or those are different types of straight razors? Those are Shavettes
    #6. I've seen ones online where you replace the blade and one where you don't replace them? Which is better? Matter of opinion
    #7. Which should I get as a beginner's blade? matter of opinion but basically it HAS to be shave ready

    I know that I can probably search here for hours and find the answer but if anyone can answer these specific questions, that would be lovely!


    Searching and reading gives you a more in depth immersion into the hobby, what you have above is simply my opinion, not everyone else's
    Last edited by gssixgun; 10-13-2013 at 01:49 AM.

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    Senior Member blabbermouth Chevhead's Avatar
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    Welcome kurolap!

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    Reading up on your questions might answer more questions you have never thought about yet.

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    Senior Member blabbermouth Hirlau's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kurolap View Post
    Yes I see them all but there's no stickies that answer right away questions that I have, I have to read hours of information and sort through it all, I thought someone could if they're kind enough to just answer the specific questions I asked
    The most honest newbee I've seen yet,Name:  smiley-laughing021.gif
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    First lesson don't rush. Using a straight is about going slow and learning.

    1. You first need a sharp razor (shave ready)
    2. You need a strop to keep it sharp after every use. (something you will ave to learn to use.)
    3. The brush and soap is part of it and does help with this type of razor but canned goo will get you by.
    4. Honing is another learning process and if you get a bunch of razors you may want to go this route. There are people who will hone/sharpen for you but there is a charge.
    5. A straight razor will last longer than you if treated properly. ( I have a few over a hundred years old and they will still outlast me.)

    You could get a shavette. It is a different type of razor. (looks like a straight) They have replacable. You don't need a strop, you need to buy blades.

    Then there is a double edge razor and once again replaceable blades no strop. These blades a by far cheaper than the plastic multi blade things you are using now.
    Good judgment comes from experience, and experience....well that comes from poor judgment.

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    Senior Member sheajohnw's Avatar
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    Your questions are not simple to answer, but I will give it a try.

    #1. what is "honing" Is that sharpening? Why do people say they have to pay to get them honed
    Razors have a delicate easily damaged edge and need to be much sharper than knives. Honing a razor requires a progression of stones that must be made flat before use. The final finishing stones are ultra fine grit. Think of using course sand paper to shape a board followed by finer grits to get a perfect finish. Anyone can buy sand paper and apply it to wood, but not everyone can turn the board into furnature. With sufficient knowledge, equipment, and practice, most SR users learn to hone blades in reasonably good condition. Restoration of worn or damaged SRs requires a lot of skill.

    #2. How do you sharpen and maintain them
    Starting with a shave ready edge, you strop after each shave, refresh on a pasted strop, barber's hone, or polishing hone when stropping starts to lose effectiveness. When refreshing no longer works, its time to rehone.

    #3. How long to they last
    I touch up my SR edges once or twice a month. I rehone after months of SR use. The razor tells you what it needs and when. Most of my SRs are about 100 years old more or less and will still be good in another 100 years.

    #4. Do u need that little brush
    The brush and good soap work well with a SR, a DE, and cartridge razors. You can get started for less than $20, or spend a lot.

    #5. Do I need to buy blades for them separately or those are different types of straight razors?
    SRs have only one blade that must be honed, stropped, and maintained.

    #6. I've seen ones online where you replace the blade and one where you don't replace them? Which is better?
    Replaceable blade SRs are called "shavettes". The one that comes closest to the feel of a true SR is the expensive Feather AC. Stropping and honing are not needed, but shaving skills still must be learned. You must also keep buying blades, although a blade lasts for several shaves.

    #7. Which should I get as a beginner's blade? The finest SR made will not shave unless the edge is shave ready. Most new and vintage SRs of good make will shave well, if the edge is shave ready. New junk razors of poor steel, heat treatment, and geometry can not be made to shave, or hold up in use. After shaving skills, it is really all about the edge. Most new SRs are not truely shave ready, unless opened and honed by the vendor. The best SR low cost deal is a $50 shave ready SR from a SR site classified section, IMHO. If I were to try a disposable blade unit, I would get the Feather AC.

    HTH
    Last edited by sheajohnw; 10-13-2013 at 03:25 AM.
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    First welcome to SRP.

    The questions asked are good ones that most of us had starting out. The best answer I can give you is read and read about everything. With a list like yours you are going to get bare bones answer where when you read through old post you get a more in depth idea of what is all involved in straight shaving. Which is a lot more then what you are use to.

    What I would suggest doing is going to Walmart and buying the Shea moisture shave brush and a puck of vdh deluxe shave soap. Learn how to use these two things while still using your cart razor. You will see an improvement in your shaves just with that.

    Then read and start applying things you are reading to your cart shave. Then once you have all your questions about straights answered you will be in a good position to start if you want to.

    If not you already improved your shave
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    Quote Originally Posted by kurolap View Post
    Hi, I'm glad I found this site, it has a lot of information from people that really know this stuff but it's so much that it can be overwhelming.
    I hate shaving, it causes irritation, gotta spend money to always get new blades and it's annoying.

    Now I'm curious about straight razors but I have a few questions..





    #1. what is "honing" Is that sharpening? Why do people say they have to pay to get them honed
    #2. How do you sharpen and maintain them
    #3. How long to they last
    #4. Do u need that little brush
    #5. Do I need to buy blades for them separately or those are different types of straight razors?
    #6. I've seen ones online where you replace the blade and one where you don't replace them? Which is better?
    #7. Which should I get as a beginner's blade?

    I know that I can probably search here for hours and find the answer but if anyone can answer these specific questions, that would be lovely!

    I would say that a brush should be your FIRST purchase, along with a soap or a cream. Learn to make a good lather on your face, first thing. Get your prep nailed and you got one less thing to wonder about as you try to get your shave together. For a first brush, my own personal rec is to go with an inexpensive badger rather than a boar. The badger doesn't really have a break-in period like a boar. It holds more soap and more water, all other things equal. Costs a few bucks more but not much. Whipped Dog has cheap beginner badgers. Beware the ebay badgers, especially from China... lots of heavy shedders out there and lots of hair of doubtful sources, but most guys who have tried Frank Shaving (prices on that one not as good as they used to be) or Lijun or Virginia Sheng brushes, are happy. You can always get a nicer one later, but paying an extra $200 for a top of the line brush mostly just gets you a finer level of craftsmanship or handle material or finish or brand name, not better performance. YMMV. A good starter soap is Van Der Hagen, from any drugstore or department store or even some groceries. Less than two buckerinos. You might want to upgrade a couple bucks and get some Kiss My Face in Key Lime scent. Or both. I like to add just a pea size blop of cream on top of my soap and wow I can make a blizzard of lather with my Chinese silvertip brush.

    Honing isn't all that hard IMHO but it is not something to mess with while you are still learning to shave. The problem with a newbie honing his own razor, is when the first shaves don't work so well, you won't know if it is your shaving or your honing. You need a true shave ready razor to start with, and also one to compare too when you do start honing. Once you are shaving with a straight and getting good comfortable shaves, then buy a second razor, shave-ready, and maybe try to hone your first one yourself. You can learn how, with the help and tutoring and advice of the members here. Or you can do what lots of guys do, and send your razor out for honing when it needs it. You can make your shave-ready edge last a lot longer, maybe even indefinitely (it's all on you) by stropping after each shave on a diamond pasted balsa strop, or even a chromium oxide pasted balsa strop. Some guys like a leather paddle or bench strop, or a loom (expensive) strop.

    Answering your question on how to hone or maintain would take writing nearly a whole book. It really is something to absorb over weeks or months on the forum participating and reading. I really don't know where to start LOL! But one thing you need right off the bat, is a strop and to learn how to use it. You strop your razor on a leather hanging strop before each shave, and some guys also give it a few licks after shaving. The strop aligns the edge, though it doesn't remove any metal like honing does. But the difference is like the difference between a good massage and medieval torture. Well not quite that dramatic but you know what I mean. So don't even think about having your first go at straight shaving without a strop. Be advised tho... you will probably destroy your first strop with knicks and cuts and slices and slashes and hacks and dings and abrasions. So a cheap beginners strop is a good idea, like the one from whipped dog or a filly. You can also strop on newspaper folded into a strip and looped over something and pulled back tight. If you gut your newspaper strop, no biggie, right? Use it the first few times you strop and you will save your leather strop from the worst of your damage. Remember to always pull your strop tight and only use light pressure from the razor, and ALWAYS keep the spine of the razor on the leather even when you turn to go the other way at the end of the stroke. Flip the edge outward, not the spine. Come to a full stop before you flip. Take your time at first. You are not in a cowboy movie. I go 50 or 60 laps. A lap is a round trip back and forth on the strop. The honing is not your most pressing thing. The stropping is.

    A straight razor lasts basically forever. Actually, with daily use, you should get a lifetime of use out of it. Half of my razors are at or over 100 years old. There are plenty of 150 and even some nearly 200 year old razors out there. I'll put it this way... you buy two razors and you will never need to buy another one as long as you live. Well, you will, but only because they are addictive not because you wore one out.

    The ones with replaceable blades are not true straight razors. They are usually called shavettes. YMMV on them. I used a shavette for a couple of weeks before I got my hands on a straight razor and they are unforgiving of careless mistakes, and also not as solid and rigid as a straight. The shave will be better, easier, less traumatic with a straight. Yeah you can use a shavette but unless you have some compelling reason like a religious taboo against stropping on dead animal hide or something, I think you will find a straight more satisfying than a shavette.

    For a beginner's blade, almost any straight will do if it is not pure junk, as long as it is honed to shave ready condition by a reputable vendor or honer. My first two razors were a Dovo Best Quality and a modified Gold Dollar, and to be honest I liked the Gold Dollar better but Dovo sells more razors than any other razor maker in the world for a good reason. And their better razors are excellent. I really like the Bismarck, and that would make a great razor for anyone, newbie or old hand. BTW no don't get a Gold Dollar as your first razor. Out of the box they are useless except for opening mail. Properly modified and honed shave-ready by someone who knows what he is doing and cares about his work, you might get a gem. But all that work comes at a price, and a really well done one will cost as much as one that comes from a more respected brand. Also coming from China, you take your chances on the steel. So far, knock on wood, seems to be pretty darn good. But I am a newbie myself so gram of salt, right? Lots of good offerings from Dovo, and also from Thiers Issard, Boker, Revisor, and others. The vendors on this site sell all of these. But maybe you would rather go for a vintage blade. WAY cheaper, generally, and you will most likely be getting a good razor. Otherwise, it would have went in the trash 50 or 100 years ago. Just make sure it is SHAVE READY. Not all razors claiming to be so, are. Anybody can list a POS razor on ebay and say it is "shave ready" but do you know that guy? Does he have a reputation? Somebody on the forum would be better to buy from, someone wanting to keep his reputation intact. Or someone who has satisfied customers on the forum, like Whipped Dog. Figure a shave-ready vintage razor will cost somewhere between $30 and $50 unrestored, just honed, and about twice that for a full restoration unless it is highly sought after. The type or size or grind is a preference thing and as a newbie you have not had a chance to develop a preference, so let's just say that basically any shave ready straight from a reputable person will do.

    Well my keyboard is running out of words here. Every question you could possibly ever ask, has been asked and answered on this forum and the stickies and stuff have lots of information presented by guys with a lot more experience than me, so do hang out a few weeks and do some reading. Trust me... it's all there. Absorb your background information and then you will be able to ask more detailed questions.

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