1st timer with a straight edge

[rick54]

The idea that a razor must "rest" after a shave has me baffled. In the days of old it was the norm for a gent to visit his local barber for his morning shave.
Now if that barber gave 20 shaves that day, are you saying that he needed to have 20 fresh "fully rested" razors on hand so as not to use the same one twice in a day?
I think this whole idea of letting a razor "rest" may be just a way to get folks to buy more than one razor. Even a seven day set is a great promotion, but doesn't come cheap these days either.
I know one or two nice razors will work fine. I think it's only us folks who become "addicted to razor collecting" that think we need more and more razors. After all, it's not a case that we need them, it's we just have to have them! LOL

 

[AFDavis11]

Its an interesting point. I for one don't know the answer, or even all the facts. I think barbers used a lot of half hollow razors which held there edge a while. I think a razor might realign itself a little after 24 hours. I find I can shave several times without stropping if I wait until the next day to shave, why? Don't know. Do I worry about impregnating a strop with metal if I strop after a shave? Yea, a little. Do I think the razor realigns itself? Yea, a little. Have I actually seen any evidence? No! The more I learn about it and really get good, I mean really good, with a straight, the more I start to believe in these ideas, BUT, I also see them create little difficulty in shaving. I think about the actual reason someone decided to add a linen side to a strop and stropping before you hit leather on linen or after a shave with linen makes sense to me. Back in the day, say somewhere in an Oklahoma boom town, you did a lot of things that today would seem overcautious. Why? Well you couldn't just order up a strop from Classicshaving.com and have it arrive within a week.

Technically, you should never change the brand of oil you use in your car. Have I done it? Yes. Did I "see" a difference? No. May be along the same lines. 175 years from now, when gas powered engines are long gone they'll be wrestling with the "whys" behind not changing oil brands and scratching their heads too.

 

[Aky007]

I remember my grandfather using a straight edge and it was the only one he had. He never used to wait 24 hours for the blade to rest and he had no problem?

 

[kozulich]

Hi everyone. This is my first thread as iam new to this forum. Its great to see so much interest in shaving.
I recently purchased a dovo straight edge with a mother of pearl handle. I used it first time yesterday on a small part of my face(just as a trial) i also have a merkur future which is excellent. As i shaved it did not seem to shave very much, i have a long way to go in mastering the technique. Do any of you guys think that maybe its not as sharp as it should be?
I really want to master the whole process eventually.

Most every str8 razor needs some fine honing when you first get it. Honing is not that tough. The razor geometry is specially made so that if you lay it on its side on the stone, you will get the correct angle. Then its just a matter of light, even pressure and the same number of laps on both sides. But make sure the stone is the absolute finest you can get. I like ceramics, other guys like the waterstones or belgians. In many cases a pasted strop will do you just fine. An unpasted strop is good for aligning the edge but not so much for honing. For me, I rarely need to hone. If I feel the blade starting to pull a little, I use the pasted strop, otherwise, I can go for many shaves just using the russian leather strop with 20 passes. The myth about letting the blade rest is just that, a myth. A lot of str8 shavers try to make it out to be a great art and mystery, but don't be frightened, its not. Just use common sense and treat the blade with respect and you'll do OK.

Kozulich

 

[Aky007]

Most every str8 razor needs some fine honing when you first get it. Honing is not that tough. The razor geometry is specially made so that if you lay it on its side on the stone, you will get the correct angle. Then its just a matter of light, even pressure and the same number of laps on both sides. But make sure the stone is the absolute finest you can get. I like ceramics, other guys like the waterstones or belgians. In many cases a pasted strop will do you just fine. An unpasted strop is good for aligning the edge but not so much for honing. For me, I rarely need to hone. If I feel the blade starting to pull a little, I use the pasted strop, otherwise, I can go for many shaves just using the russian leather strop with 20 passes. The myth about letting the blade rest is just that, a myth. A lot of str8 shavers try to make it out to be a great art and mystery, but don't be frightened, its not. Just use common sense and treat the blade with respect and you'll do OK.

Kozulich

Sounds like excellent advice. Thanks very much Kozulich.