Thread: Intro

My name is trey and I recently took up the hobby of collecting and resotring straight razors. I used to collect and still collect and repair pocket knives and am now looking for a new hobby. I am a grad student and have taken up straight razor shaving with little ill effects so far. I find it to b an intriguing artform as opposed to a reactive motion. I am still learning to sharpen razors as at is different from KNives, but I belive I will master it with time. Anyone who can offer advise on stropping would be great though becuae I bought a cheap strop and it has two pieces. ONe is black leather that is soft on one side and has velvet on the other. The other piece is just a piece of cow hide. THey are baded to gether at the top. Can anyone tell me exactly what each is for because I think it will improve my chaving technique and help maintain my razors better. I would also like an opinion on ceramic hones and how well they work for razors.

All Advice appreciated!

Welcome Tray,

Sounds cool. I'm not sure I have any good answers, but I'm sure others will join. I've played a bit with various strops and I found that most of them do the job just fine. The main difference to me has been the draw and I have a favorite based on that.
I have a couple of ceramic hones, but haven't had the chance to play with them. I think they are generally slow cutters and range a lot in coarseness. The swaty ones are finishing hones, rathe well regarded.

Anyways, how long have you been shaving with your straights?

Welcome to SRP Trey, glad to have you aboard the straight train....
Good to see another person interested in restoring the straights... Check out the "Workshop" forum you will find a lot of info there....

Welcome Trey. Lots of good advice here to help you achieve your goals. The WIKI has some good info on honing and restorations which comes for SRP member posts and makes it easier to find. Nice job on the WIKI guys! Study up and have fun!

Originally Posted by treydampier

My name is trey and I recently took up the hobby of collecting and resotring straight razors. I used to collect and still collect and repair pocket knives and am now looking for a new hobby. I am a grad student and have taken up straight razor shaving with little ill effects so far. I find it to b an intriguing artform as opposed to a reactive motion. I am still learning to sharpen razors as at is different from KNives, but I belive I will master it with time. Anyone who can offer advise on stropping would be great though becuae I bought a cheap strop and it has two pieces. ONe is black leather that is soft on one side and has velvet on the other. The other piece is just a piece of cow hide. THey are baded to gether at the top. Can anyone tell me exactly what each is for because I think it will improve my chaving technique and help maintain my razors better. I would also like an opinion on ceramic hones and how well they work for razors.

All Advice appreciated!

It sounds as though the strop is a Zeepk. In that case it is no good right out of the box. The only one I saw needed to be sanded down for about 7 hours before it was useable, and the Black side isn't good for anything.

I have only actually been using them for about three weeks. I like the feel withthe exception of going under the chin. THere it is a pretty rough feeling after chaving. But, I get better each time, and I find that shaving every day and only skipping occasionally makes it a lot less traumatic.