More gear... really?! Help!

[RobAtSGH]

So I bought my first real straight.

It's nothing special - a Frederick Reynolds 9/16 hollow-grind with ebonite scales in decent nick with no blade warpage or edge damage. Needs a complete rehoning, though.

I want to do this myself. I've managed to get a uniform, bright edge with a 2500-grit Spyderco ceramic stone, but I know that I've got a lot more work to do. I've read the honing tutorials and understand that at best I've set a reasonable bevel.

So, I'm looking to outfit the rest of my "maintenance shop." I'm looking for reasonable, and with as few obscure tools as possible.

Would this be considered a serviceable list?

• Norton 4000/8000 waterstone in addition to the Spyderco above
• 3" balsa stock, cut to length, for finish polishing
• white, green, and red "rouge" compounds for the above

I'll grab a leveling stone for the Norton at some point, and I need a recommendation on a reasonably-priced hanging strop. I've seen the Fromm/Illinois strops, but I've also seen lots of complaints about them being cupped and way too stiff.

Thanks, everyone.

 

[danielghofrani]

Hi,
welcome to straight razor shaving!
2500 grit is still bevel setting. from this point on I recommend you buy a Norton 4k/8k water stone (that will be a very important and key stone in your honing arsenal later on as well). you sharpen the razor on the 4k side until it can shave arm hair rather easily. just make sure you don't apply too much pressure. when you can shave arm hair then go to the 8k side and continue honing for about another 30 laps (60 x strokes). (make sure you have a very light touch). from this point you can assess the edge using hanging hair test and just the feedback from shaving arm hair. if the edge was not "sharp enough" do another 10 laps and re-asses . Im just saying this because it is easy to over-hone on a synthetic stone.

at this point your edge should be shavable after stropping but I highly recommend buying a 0.5 micron CrO on balsa bench strop. it is very inexpensive and very very effective. 0.25 micron diamond on felt is also very effective.

if you are on a budget I recommend stropping lightly on denim (old jeans). I highly recommend you invest in a good quality strop because it will be worth it at the end . just keep saving for a good strop.

Dan From Iran

 

[RobAtSGH]

Thanks - that's right where I figured I was in the process.

That matches up pretty well with my list. The white compound's about 12K grit, the green's .5mic CrOx, and the red's .25mic FeOx. Was definitely going to go the balsa strop route for edge polishing.

I'm willing to spend money for a reasonable leather/cloth strop, I just don't want to overspend for more than I need. But, I want a quality product that isn't going to give me grief. Any brand recommendations?

 

[danielghofrani]

I have a steerhide strop bought from Tony Miller at thewellshavedgentleman.com those strops are made with SUPERIOR craftsmanship but I am not sure if that level of luxury is necessary.

I have bought crox on balsa and diamond on felt bench strops from a store called starshavingsupplies from ebay and they were very very nice no frills effective products. they (the name of the owner is Ron) sell very affordable leather strops as well and based on their bench strops I would assume that their hanging leather strops should be reasonable quality as well. But YMMV.

Disclaimer: I am not endorsed by these vendors I am not trying to advertise them I am just sharing my personal experience. I am sure there are other great sellers out there as well.

 

[noahpictures]

You'll most likely nick your first strop during the first month. I recommend a Whipped Dog strop or one from Starshaving.

 

[danielghofrani]

You'll most likely nick your first strop during the first month. I recommend a Whipped Dog strop or one from Starshaving.

Yes I double that. I nicked my first strop many times when I was turning (ruining both the edge and the strop).

on a more technical note about finishing razors:

this should not be your immediate worry but I have to point out that finishing on pastes entirely will contribute to a sharp edge, but the edge will be obtuse because of the pastes stropping. this will mean that the edge would not last as long as if you finished the razor on a stone with the edge leading.

I don't use pastes to finish my razors I use the pasted strops to touch up the razor and when the edge is too obtuse to come back to shave ready, then I will touch it up with a hone.

as I mentioned this should not be your immediate worry but eventually you might want to invest in a higher grit polishing/finishing stone (naniwa 12k, 16k shapton glass stone, Chinese 12k, etc)

Dan From Iran

 

[rossvtaylor]

I darn near cut through mine (pic in another thread), so I highly recommend the WhippedDog "poor man's strop" to start. I'm using a "nice" strop now, but am so glad I started and learned on the WhippedDog strop. And, yes, he's got nice ones now as well.

 

[Mick]

I stropped on a folded newspaper for quite a while before getting my first strop (Pakistani..... boot leather it seemed like.. I would not recommend it to you either).

If you can strop on a newspaper without cutting it you should be ready to graduate to leather. BTW that is NOT me in the video.