WTB: Shave Ready Straight for Beginner

[castlecraver]

Hi all... I'm posting this here since this will get the most attention from the people I'm directing it at, namely those of you who know what you're doing with a hone. I'm looking to experiment a little with straight shaving, and would like to find a nice starter straight razor that someone can sell me well-honed and shave ready, so I can get by on one of the Well Shaved Gentleman's strops (one side pasted) for a month or two before I really make the plunge.

I'm looking for a "Merkur HD" of straight razors, and I trust those of you who know what you're doing with one of them to be able to direct me. Something that I'll have fun starting out with, and want to keep in my collection if all goes well.

Any help from the straight users here? I've read the FAQs at SRP, watched Lynn's DVD (twice!), but I really don't need another shaving forum to waste my time on when I should be curing cancer... I'd prefer to just look for help from someone here.

 

[joel]

Hi all... I'm posting this here since this will get the most attention from the people I'm directing it at, namely those of you who know what you're doing with a hone. I'm looking to experiment a little with straight shaving, and would like to find a nice starter straight razor that someone can sell me well-honed and shave ready, so I can get by on one of the Well Shaved Gentleman's strops (one side pasted) for a month or two before I really make the plunge.

I'm looking for a "Merkur HD" of straight razors, and I trust those of you who know what you're doing with one of them to be able to direct me. Something that I'll have fun starting out with, and want to keep in my collection if all goes well.

Any help from the straight users here? I've read the FAQs at SRP, watched Lynn's DVD (twice!), but I really don't need another shaving forum to waste my time on when I should be curing cancer... I'd prefer to just look for help from someone here.

You might want to purchase a new beginners razor from John Crowley, as they are reasonably priced, and he can/will hone them up for $20.

Another option is to buy a Dovo/TI new razor for about $50-60, then send it to me and i'll hone 'er up gratis. This would be my preference (if I were you) as you'll get exactly what you want (looks wise), it'll be in mint shape, and it'll be quite reasonable. You can get a nice/new Dovo (or even a timor from classicshaving) for $55-80, some of which have mighty nice looking genuine ebonywood handles, or faux tortoise. A nice shaving TI will run you about $70 - and in this case, once sharpened, will retain its edge for a mighty, mighty long time... heck, with a TI (provided you don't have steel wool on your face) with a pasted strop - you might never need to re-hone it!

You could always buy a vintage/classic straight that is pre-honed, however I think (knowing your taste) you'd prefer spending an additional $15-20 up front and getting something nicer.

Lemme know if I can be of any additional help!

Edit: - just to add, if it were me, knowing what I know/have experienced to date, and having owned well over 100 straight razors, if I were to start over, I would start with a dovo with a stainless steel blade. They require little maintenence, hold an edge for eon's, are incredibly smooth shavers (once honed properly) and are super easy to control for a beginner. Provided you are careful with it and don't bang the edge up on the sink, it'll last a lifetime, and keep the exact same look/appearance as the day you purchased it. You can pick up a mighty handsome genuine ebonywood stainless dovo for $99 and it has a plate on it, to have your initials engraved on it if you so desire.

 

[castlecraver]

Thanks Joel... I'll be in touch

 

[sphughes]

As a follow up to Joel's post......I own alot of Straights, and still a personal favorite (always in the rotation) is a Dovo 5/8 Tony Miller sold me with my strop. This is a ~$60 razor that is very easy to maintain, and boy does it give sweet shave. Since your buying the strop from him anyway...........

-Scott-

 

[ouch]

I think it will be hard to beat Joel's advice. A new Dovo will provide a lifetime's worth of pleasure, or, if you feel you're not cut out for it, will lose very little if you choose to resell it.

 

[AandW]

As a follow up to Joel's post......I own alot of Straights, and still a personal favorite (always in the rotation) is a Dovo 5/8 Tony Miller sold me with my strop. This is a ~$60 razor that is very easy to maintain, and boy does it give sweet shave. Since your buying the strop from him anyway...........

-Scott-

Go with Tony Miller.

 

[castlecraver]

Just as a quick update:

I had a true learning experience in the form of a long phone conversation with Joel. First off, Joel was just incredibly helpful, patient, and willing to let me benefit from his years of experience. A fine gentleman all-around for offering a free hone and all the insight, straight-related and otherwise he offered me. Plus, he doesn't seem so much like Mr. Scary Forum-Owner when you're talking to him in person

Long story short, he convinced me to go with the Feather Artist Club instead of a traditional straight. My goal in all of this is to get the best damned shave I possibly can, and we decided that it would be a lot easier, cheaper, and more enjoyable to achieve with the AC. As luck would have it MrFred posted an AC RG with an almost-full dispenser of Super-Pros for sale moments after I hung up with Joel! (hence my "someone in Texas was tapping my phone" comment -- not a political joke, I swear! )

I didn't anticipate a conversation with Joel to end up with him convincing me not to try the straight. But, this is how candid and helpful the guy is. Taking into account my complete satisfaction with DEs so far, "If what you're looking for is for that perfectly smooth, long lasting shave, I'd recommend you not switch to a straight." (or something like that). He went over his experiences with the AC, and explained how it would likely take me months-to-years to get that BBS shave I'm accustomed to with a traditional straight. Not that I wouldn't mind putting in the time to learn, but that smooth shave is essential to me now -- like Joel, and probably like a lot of you, I get cranky when I feel a rough spot during the day, and sometimes find myself aching to do a little touch-up so much that it preoccupies me slightly. I probably couldn't deal very well with a sub-par shave for that long, while investing in strops, hones, etc.

Well, I've been using the AC for 3 days. Its gone very well. As I started out, I was getting as good of a shave as I did my first few times out with the DE. The chin was still a disaster, and I did much better with my dominant hand. I've been improving every day, trying different grips and angles, and actually only required a tiny bit of touch-up in the usual trouble places with a DE after a 2-pass with the AC this morning. Maybe it was the Tabac, but it came out completely BBS. I'm very, very happy so far. I don't anticipate it will be too much longer before I hit upon the right technique to handle those trouble places. As its exactly what I experienced the first time out with a DE, I'm not discouraged in the least. I expect I'll be consistently BBS with the AC within another week or two. Much better than the learning curve that Joel described for me with a standard straight.

Don't let me discourage anyone from going for the straight, if that's what you want to do. The discussion with Joel, however, convinced me I'm less interested in the meticulous hobbist interest in straights and more interested in getting an awesome shave consistently every morning. I'm happy with the route I chose -- After I get everything refined, I'm probably going to splurge on the stainless steel AC DX -- I like the looks of it better, its probably a tick heavier, and the RG coating seems to hang on my face juuuuust a little. Not a big deal though, and probably not something I'll rush to do anytime too soon.

I just wanted to give a quick update and put out a public THANKS to Joel for his advice in this. He's a true gentleman who runs an awesome forum

 

[ouch]

Great post, Pat, and thanks for sharing your experience. I agree that the notion of a straight razor is more about the entire process than the end result. I, for one, enjoy the tinkering around with strops and pastes and stones, and do it more for the old school indulgence than for the shave itself.

You may be right about the Tabac- I find I get my very best straight shaves using my rapidly depleting supply of Willi G. soap, which is somewhat similar to the Tabac.

I can't believe some of the contortions one must endure with a straight, either a traditional or a Feather. A lot of muscle memory needs to develop to handle the tricky areas. I still have a great deal of difficulty with a S-N dominant side stroke- I may never get it.

Enjoy the ride.

 

[Tony Miller]

Joel has a great program going to get vintage shave ready razors into Newbie's hands. I also sell new Dovos, pre-honed on a Belgian coticule for $69 via my website. These are done by EL a member here and on SRP and they are truely shave ready and in stock ready to go.

Do not rely on the typical mall or online knife store who tells you these are ready to go out of the box. All of them need hand work on a hone first.


Tony