Shaving Paddle verusus Hone on New "Used" Razor

[Brad]

I have a 30 year old razor on the way that I just acquired that has supposedly never been used (sure looks pretty). It is my understanding that this will not be shave ready.

Would a pre-pasted 4 side paddle strop from Tony be my best bet as a newbie, or should I have this honed somewhere before using it and buy a regular hanging strop?

I freely admit to having no idea how to hone it properly, so have no desire to do it myself even if I had the correct equipment. If the right way to do this is to have it honed here, can someone recommend someone in Austin who could do it for me?


If anyone has had good luck with the pre-pasted strops getting a new razor ready, please let me know as that is really the direction that I would lean if I can get good results.

Brad

 

[SteveS]

You could try the paddle and shaving with it, but I'd bet it would need to visit a hone before it shaves well.

 

[izlat]

Actually, in the past razors may have come OK to use right off the shop. However, even a sharp razor may lose its edge just sitting, in my experience.

I'd first try just leather (and linen, if you have it), and do thumb pad and HH tests. If encouraging, I would try as is. If not good on first stroke - I'd take it to Chromium (green) for 30 or so laps, leather again and test again.

If it's not ready to use afer this - I'd try say a Swaty or another finishing hone for 10-50 laps. In your case this would be the coarse diamond, but 50 laps on diamond may be too much (I don't know, I have never used any diamond).

If the diamond doesn't work - your best way forward seems to be a honemeister

Good luck
Ivo

 

[Tony Miller]

Ivo,
I feel 50 would be WAY too many. When I first started out I did all the shave ready razors I sold solely on pasted strops. 9.0/3.0/1.0/0.5 and never more than 15 passes. I may go back once or twice on the finer grits if not sharp enough though. It is a slow and not always perfect method. For the most part I would say any new razor would do best visiting a hone first although there may be a few lucky ones out there....I never got any.

A paddle in my mind is to keep an edge going, not to create one, and this is from a guy who regularly created the edge on a paddle. There are better ways.

All my razors now are done on a hone by EL, one of our more experienced members.

Tony

 

[Brad]

Tony, what would your recommendation be for the three grit types if I went with your combination paddle for both?

How do I know when a razor is sharp enough as a newbie? I know how a new feather blade feels, but short of shaving and confusing bad technique with insufficient sharpness is there a way to tell?

Brad

 

[Taz]

I am in the camp of honing it first to insure the bevel and edge are right especially if you are new to straights and unsure what a great edge is like. Then you would know what it really should be like and as you learn you will be able to tell just by a pass(I know there are the tests but nothing is a accurate as a pass)

 

[izlat]

Well, I have gotten several old razors that *may* have been NOS by the looks of them and some of them have shaved beautifully as is. This is why I think in the past (e.g. 30 yrs ago) they may have come more shave-ready than they do now. I think I remember John P also sharing that his best shaver was a new Dovo that beat pretty much anything out of the box

I love honing, but why do it if there is no reason?

Again - do the TPT, HHT - if encouraging proceed to test. If not - take to the hones.

Tony - yes, I suspected 50 on diamond may be too much - this is why I said so, and warned I have not used any

Cheers
Ivo

 

[Tony Miller]

Tony, what would your recommendation be for the three grit types if I went with your combination paddle for both?

How do I know when a razor is sharp enough as a newbie? I know how a new feather blade feels, but short of shaving and confusing bad technique with insufficient sharpness is there a way to tell?

Brad

Brad, The 2 I would insist one would be 1.0 and 0.5 diamond compound. 3.0 is popular too and is similar to the 8K side of a Norton. I use this much less often than the others. Some like 0.25 micron, others fine it "too" sharp. I feel it leaves a more delicate edge that does not hold up as long for me.

0.5 chromium oxide is a very face friendly option as well.

Tony

 

[minstrel]

Just chipping in my 2 cents' worth here: My second straight was purchased new, a 6/8 round point Giesen & Forsthoff "German Hoppe". It was definitely not shave ready out of the box, so I used a home-made paddle strop (vegetable tanned leather glued to a thin balsa board) "pasted" with the buffing compound I normally use to polish the handles for the knives I make. I managed to get the edge shave ready with that, although it took several dozen passes on the strop to get there.

/Nicholas

 

[izlat]

Nicholas - i have no idea how abrasive this compound is, but it seems that your success shows that the edge was not far away from shave-ready and blade had more than a good bevel, yes? Exactly what I meant - if it doesn't need to go to hones, especially coarse ones - why would I do it

Cheers
Ivo