I am about to plunge into the world of straight razors. However, I am little confused on what is necessary for the proper maintaining of a straight. I would appreciate it if someone could give me a simple list of all the things needed to maintain a straight. Any suggestions would be most helpful. Thanks in advance---------Wess
Straight razor supplies for beginner
- Thread starter wess76
- Start date
The simplest setup is a razor that's already sharp, and a strop. That should keep you going for maybe 10-20 shaves. When it begins to dull, it's time to hone.
There is no "simple list", simply because there are so many different ways to accomplish the task. There are two basic tasks to maintaining a razor: daily pre-shave stropping, and honing.
There are two common styles of strop, the hanging strop that old barbers had attached to the chairs, and the paddle strop that is basically leather glued to a board. There are five basic flavors of hone: barber hones, waterstones, oilstones, abrasive paddle strops, and USPS (aka "mailing it off to an expert").
You'll need something for daily stropping, and eventually (or maybe sooner) you'll need some flavor of hone. You can get a 4-sided pasted paddle strop that has abrasive pastes on three of the sides, and bare leather on the other side, and this will cover your basic daily stropping and honing requirements. 3, 1, and 0.5 microns will take care of you for a long time.
But eventually you'll want to get a hanging strop since they're faster to use, and you'll want to get some kind of waterstone (everybody seems to get the norton 4k/8k) for major honing duties like fixing ebay acquisitions and removing nicks. And a barber hone because they're really small and fast and easy to use, and you can toss one in your ditty bag on trips.
There are two common styles of strop, the hanging strop that old barbers had attached to the chairs, and the paddle strop that is basically leather glued to a board. There are five basic flavors of hone: barber hones, waterstones, oilstones, abrasive paddle strops, and USPS (aka "mailing it off to an expert").
You'll need something for daily stropping, and eventually (or maybe sooner) you'll need some flavor of hone. You can get a 4-sided pasted paddle strop that has abrasive pastes on three of the sides, and bare leather on the other side, and this will cover your basic daily stropping and honing requirements. 3, 1, and 0.5 microns will take care of you for a long time.
But eventually you'll want to get a hanging strop since they're faster to use, and you'll want to get some kind of waterstone (everybody seems to get the norton 4k/8k) for major honing duties like fixing ebay acquisitions and removing nicks. And a barber hone because they're really small and fast and easy to use, and you can toss one in your ditty bag on trips.
ouch said:
You are honing every 10-20 shaves??!?! Good god man, are you serious? I have a steel wool like beard, and with proper initial honing, and a good strop I can go at least a month or two before I even feel the desire (not the need) to tune it up a bit with a few swipes on a pasted strop....
1. Sharp razor
2. Hone
3. Strop
4. Experience in how to use them
2. Hone
3. Strop
4. Experience in how to use them
A razor that has been honed by a pro. The new razors fresh from the factory are not shave ready.
A 4 sided paddle strop that has been pre-pasted with the abrasives mentioned above.
This will keep you going for some time.
If your trying to keep your costs low then start with a vintage razor that has been honed.
www.billysblades.com/ ( Bill Ellis) and
http://www.shop.writerferret.com (Joe Chandler)
Both have outstanding offerings.
A 4 sided paddle strop that has been pre-pasted with the abrasives mentioned above.
This will keep you going for some time.
If your trying to keep your costs low then start with a vintage razor that has been honed.
www.billysblades.com/ ( Bill Ellis) and
http://www.shop.writerferret.com (Joe Chandler)
Both have outstanding offerings.
I'm in the same situation you're in and here's what I got for an initial set up:
Razors - Three vintage razors made shave ready by a pro (I don't do anything in moderation), as well as a couple of decent looking razors on which to practice.
Strop - Actually strops - I bought a 3-inch red latigo two-sided strop (linen and leather) for daily honing - I'm told the linen makes a big difference (although no one seems to know why) and a four-sided padle strop with 3, 1 and 0.5 micron diamond paste on leather and .25 micron diamond paste on balsa. Both of these were bought from Tony Miller who is the person behind The WellShavedGentleman (http://www.thewellshavedgentleman.com). Tony was great to deal with and my strop choices were based on considerable input from him - he also throws in a basic leather strop (made from left over leather - not as pretty, but equally functional) for noobs to use as a practice strop so they don't ruin their "good" strop for free (it would also double nicely as a travel strop).
Hone - I went with the pasted strop initially and am putting off buying a hone for now. There is some debate as to tune your razor on a hone or a pasted strop - I can't comment either way. However, based on my conversation with Tony (who I didn't feel was just trying to sell me another strop!) I decided that I would be better off with the pasted paddle strop initially. If I stick with it, I will buy a good hone - probably a Norton 4k/8k, but possibly a Belgian - as I will want to be self sufficient. However even if I do buy a hone, the pasted strop will still be used to tune my razors and increase the time between honings.
My total cost for everything was about $250. If you wanted to go cheaper, you could likely look for used strops/hones in good condition. This is the second time I've tried using a straight, the first time I did it on the cheap and tried to sharpen some decent antique store finds using a decent high-grit Japanese waterstone (1k/4k) some .5 micron microsanding paper attached to a padle strop with leather on the other side (total start up cost - $75). While I could actually get razors sharp enough to shave with, I never got a good shave from them.
So, long story short, you can try to save money on the strops/hones, but its probably false economy to scrimp on the razors - you don't need to go out a buy a new razor, but spend the money to get some pre-honed razors and a couple of bucks more on some practice razors so you know you're starting with sharp blades.
You can often get decent shave-ready razors for around $30 from some of the old hands at SRP - they won't be collectors' items, but they will be serviceable, which is all you need to start.
Razors - Three vintage razors made shave ready by a pro (I don't do anything in moderation), as well as a couple of decent looking razors on which to practice.
Strop - Actually strops - I bought a 3-inch red latigo two-sided strop (linen and leather) for daily honing - I'm told the linen makes a big difference (although no one seems to know why) and a four-sided padle strop with 3, 1 and 0.5 micron diamond paste on leather and .25 micron diamond paste on balsa. Both of these were bought from Tony Miller who is the person behind The WellShavedGentleman (http://www.thewellshavedgentleman.com). Tony was great to deal with and my strop choices were based on considerable input from him - he also throws in a basic leather strop (made from left over leather - not as pretty, but equally functional) for noobs to use as a practice strop so they don't ruin their "good" strop for free (it would also double nicely as a travel strop).
Hone - I went with the pasted strop initially and am putting off buying a hone for now. There is some debate as to tune your razor on a hone or a pasted strop - I can't comment either way. However, based on my conversation with Tony (who I didn't feel was just trying to sell me another strop!) I decided that I would be better off with the pasted paddle strop initially. If I stick with it, I will buy a good hone - probably a Norton 4k/8k, but possibly a Belgian - as I will want to be self sufficient. However even if I do buy a hone, the pasted strop will still be used to tune my razors and increase the time between honings.
My total cost for everything was about $250. If you wanted to go cheaper, you could likely look for used strops/hones in good condition. This is the second time I've tried using a straight, the first time I did it on the cheap and tried to sharpen some decent antique store finds using a decent high-grit Japanese waterstone (1k/4k) some .5 micron microsanding paper attached to a padle strop with leather on the other side (total start up cost - $75). While I could actually get razors sharp enough to shave with, I never got a good shave from them.
So, long story short, you can try to save money on the strops/hones, but its probably false economy to scrimp on the razors - you don't need to go out a buy a new razor, but spend the money to get some pre-honed razors and a couple of bucks more on some practice razors so you know you're starting with sharp blades.
You can often get decent shave-ready razors for around $30 from some of the old hands at SRP - they won't be collectors' items, but they will be serviceable, which is all you need to start.
If you put some abrasive paste on the linen side of your strop you can go for a very long time between honings.
Have a look here guys, summarised info for newbies. 
http://www.straightrazorplace.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6759
http://www.straightrazorplace.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6759
- Thread starter
- #10
joel said:
In my defense, I shave maybe twice a week with a straight, and I have a lot of them, so it may take well over a year before a razor needs to be rehoned. As a carryover from from knife sharpening, I've always maintained that things should be sharpened before it's needed. When I say "hone", I refer to a few light swipes with a 10-15K water stone. Ideally, they should never need to see anything coarser.
I do like to sharpen my knives a lot- daily is not too much in some cases. Perhaps I'm overdoing it with my razors, but I've had good results. I do agree that a good pre shave strop is really all that's required once the edge is set up right.
You'll also note that my 10-20 shave recommendation was made for the potential newbie, who in all likelihood will round off the edge somewhat before he develops good stropping technique.
ouch said:
In my defense, I shave maybe twice a week with a straight, and I have a lot of them, so it may take well over a year before a razor needs to be rehoned. As a carryover from from knife sharpening, I've always maintained that things should be sharpened before it's needed. When I say "hone", I refer to a few light swipes with a 10-15K water stone. Ideally, they should never need to see anything coarser.
I do like to sharpen my knives a lot- daily is not too much in some cases. Perhaps I'm overdoing it with my razors, but I've had good results. I do agree that a good pre shave strop is really all that's required once the edge is set up right.
You'll also note that my 10-20 shave recommendation was made for the potential newbie, who in all likelihood will round off the edge somewhat before he develops good stropping technique.
When you're talking about a 10k/15k stone, you're really doing the equivalent of what I'm told many straight shavers do - which is to take a few swipes with a pasted strop whenver they feel the blade is not quite as sharp as they'd like it. My understanding is that lots of guys go to a pasted strop this frequently to tune the edge and prolong the interval between honings on a 4k/8k stone to re-establish the edge.
Quick question, do you use the 10k/15k stone as you would a pasted strop (leading with the spine) or as you would a coarser hone (leading with the cutting edge)?
Just curious.
Suzuki said:
You've made some excellent points, but I should point out that neither a 1K or a 4K water stone is a "high" grit. The 1K is a medium grit, and too course for razors, except for establishing an initial edge. Great for bringup up a burr on knives, too. The 4K is really just a medium/fine. Polishing stones are usually 6K and up.
Suzuki said:
I lead with the edge on stones (for razors that is- with knives, the spine leading stroke is the more important of the two). Occasionally, a circular motion is used with coarser stones for initial work only. Stropping is always spine leading.
ouch said:
Thanks Ouch.
Special mention - Tony Miller has beginners strops for a paltry $23 - and can do "seconds" for a little less as well.
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