Advice appreciated for first buy...

Russtopher · Apr 6, 2010

I finally have some work coming my way, and I'm going to use part of my first paycheck to enter the world of straight razors. Here's what I plan to get right now:

- A restored straight razor from www.whippeddog.com (Anybody know what the payment options are there? I couldn't find much about it on the site.)
- A Red Latigo 3" strop from Vintage Blades
- A Norton 4000/8000 Waterstone, bought through Vintage Blades.

Any thoughts, suggestions, recommended alternate options, etc?

raccoonandbrush · Apr 6, 2010

I've never heard of the website selling the razor. The strop and hone sounds good.

Russtopher · Apr 6, 2010

I saw the site recommended in a previous "Where can I buy a straight razor?" thread. For the prices he's asking I'm going to buy there unless someone gives me a really compelling reason not to.

sproosemoose · Apr 6, 2010

Hi,
I recently started with straights also. Let me give you my advice.

Get a shave ready razor - i.e. honed and stropped. That site doesn't look like it does it.

Strop sounds ok.

Hones - these 4/8 are for sharpening after the bevel is set, but not a finishing stone. You need a 10k or 12k or even higher (but it's expensive). Further from that it is common to get a pasted / sprayed strop. So by itself the Norton 4/8K will not be so useful for you.

orchestrion · Apr 6, 2010

Larry at WhippedDog DOES sell shave ready razors. If you pay any attention to the BST forum, you've probably seen him selling one. I myself don't own a razor from Larry, but he has a very good reputation here for being very helpful and informative. It sounds like a good choice for a first razor. :thumbup1:

EDIT: Larry's site doesn't have payment options because the razors listed are just razors he's in the process of restoring. He sells them here on the forums.

Bertilak · Apr 6, 2010

Whipped Dog doesn't advertise their razors as shave ready so I think you will be disappointed with a razor from there. They do look like reasonable deals for someone who wants to hone their own razor but you will almost certainly not have the skill to do that yourself at this point. It takes quite a bit of practice.

I suggest you look at the BST forum for a low-proced, shave-ready razor. If you feel better buying from an established business check out http://ruprazor.com/store/index.php. Ken specializes in entry-level razors at good prices. Note that the prices he quotes include shipping in the USA.

EDIT: I see Larry Andro of Whipped Dog has replied below that when sold, his razors are indeed "shave ready".

dancraig · Apr 6, 2010

Russtopher said:
I finally have some work coming my way, and I'm going to use part of my first paycheck to enter the world of straight razors. Here's what I plan to get right now:

- A restored straight razor from www.whippeddog.com (Anybody know what the payment options are there? I couldn't find much about it on the site.)
- A Red Latigo 3" strop from Vintage Blades
- A Norton 4000/8000 Waterstone, bought through Vintage Blades.

Any thoughts, suggestions, recommended alternate options, etc?

Larry at www.whippeddog.com is a very good man to do business with. You can pay him with paypal.
He sells shave ready razors.

Klarion · Apr 6, 2010

Kind of odd about the WhippedDog razors. All of the ones Larry sells on the BST are advertised as shave ready. I'd suggest contacting LarryAndro by PM, and just asking him to clarify things for you.

LarryAndro · Apr 6, 2010

The razors on www.whippeddog.com are shown "as received", and not as they will be sold. They have not been honed in those pictures yet. But, every razor I sell is shave ready. Very shave ready.

Let me add a little more about my philosophy when selling razors. Many razors sold here are polished to a shiny mirror finish. You should not expect that when you buy razors from me. I will clean razors up, but won't invest a lot of time. If I did, I would have to charge $30 and more.

I sell razors primarily to newbies. They don't know whether straights are for them, and certainly don't want to break the bank on just the possibility that they will enjoy straights.

Summarizing...

I cut NO corners on the sharpness of the edge. I cut corners on the cleaning.

As a final aside, I take high resolution pictures, and when I put up razors for sale I describe the razors in detail. If you buy off www.WhippedDog.com, I will mention to you any flaws that exist.

Thanks for the heads up, Dan!

Russtopher · Apr 6, 2010

LarryAndro said:
The razors on www.whippeddog.com are shown "as received", and not as they will be sold. They have not been honed in those pictures yet. But, every razor I sell is shave ready. Very shave ready.

Let me add a little more about my philosophy when selling razors. Many razors sold here are polished to a shiny mirror finish. You should not expect that when you buy razors from me. I will clean razors up, but won't invest a lot of time. If I did, I would have to charge $30 and more.

I sell razors primarily to newbies. They don't know whether straights are for them, and certainly don't want to break the bank on just the possibility that they will enjoy straights.

Summarizing...

I cut NO corners on the sharpness of the edge. I cut corners on the cleaning.

As a final aside, I take high resolution pictures, and when I put up razors for sale I describe the razors in detail. If you buy off www.WhippedDog.com, I will mention to you any flaws that exist.

Thanks for the heads up, Dan!

Excellent timing! It seems I was writing you an email while you were writing this reply. Thanks for answering one of my questions already, there are a few more in the email.

joshmpdx · Apr 6, 2010

now that you've got your razor sorted out we can discuss hones and strops.

A lot of people like Latigo, however i much prefer horse hide. why not pick up a cheap strop that you can (and you will) nick up until you can make a more informed decision about what strop you'd like.

I agree that you don't need a norton combo hone. I'd recommend a finishing stone as well.

Russtopher · Apr 6, 2010

joshmpdx said:
now that you've got your razor sorted out we can discuss hones and strops.

A lot of people like Latigo, however i much prefer horse hide. why not pick up a cheap strop that you can (and you will) nick up until you can make a more informed decision about what strop you'd like.

I agree that you don't need a norton combo hone. I'd recommend a finishing stone as well.

Is there a specific brand/grit of finishing stone you'd recommend?

Bertilak · Apr 6, 2010

LarryAndro said:
The razors on www.whippeddog.com are shown "as received", and not as they will be sold. They have not been honed in those pictures yet. But, every razor I sell is shave ready. Very shave ready.

Larry,

Please note that from looking at your web site it was not obvious to me just what you are selling. Well, I thought it was obvious, but I was wrong.

One razor is listed as "will take a shave ready edge" as opposed to actually *having* a shave ready edge. The pictures show prices and it is stated that the razors are "as received" before cleaning and honing. To me that means they are for sale as pictured and they need to be honed and is why warned off the OP. I saw no reason to think the pictures and text did not represent exactly what you are selling.

I edited my original post to indicate my misunderstanding.

Respectfully,
Bob

natchez · Apr 7, 2010

I have done business with Larry- I bought a Shumate hone from him. He is just great to do business with. Fast communication and fast service. He also fills a void in the market, providing shave ready razors of good quality for very low prices for newbies. He also provides inexpensive practice straights for learning to hone, if that is what you are looking for. His site is small, but his heart is big. I got more very useful information with my hone purchase than I ever expected. You can rely on him to be there for you. He operates in the true helpful spirit of B&B.

Barbash · Apr 7, 2010

joshmpdx said:
now that you've got your razor sorted out we can discuss hones and strops.

A lot of people like Latigo, however i much prefer horse hide. why not pick up a cheap strop that you can (and you will) nick up until you can make a more informed decision about what strop you'd like.

I agree that you don't need a norton combo hone. I'd recommend a finishing stone as well.

I would agree with buying a less expensive strop to begin with because you will nick the strop at some point. Plus if you don't like shaving with a straight you haven't invested a lot in your startup.
I have a yellow belgium coticule that I have used to touch up my "shave ready" razors, but I didn't buy it right away. I wanted to make sure that straights were for me before I invested in a hone and I used my razor for a good solid month before I finally broke down and bought my coticule.

michiganlover · Apr 7, 2010

Just giving more praise for Larry.

A shave ready razor from Larry, and an entry level strop (I recently got an Bismark/Illinois off the bay for $21 shipped) will get you started on straights for around $50. That's a hard price to beat.

Buy the "poor man's strop kit", and a barber's hone from Larry, and you should be able to keep your razor in shave ready status for quite some time.

Larry is a pleasure to work with, and a wealth of useful information.

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Advice appreciated for first buy...

Russtopher

raccoonandbrush

Russtopher

sproosemoose

orchestrion

Bertilak

dancraig

Klarion

LarryAndro

Russtopher

joshmpdx

Russtopher

Bertilak

natchez

Barbash

michiganlover

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