First straight razor.

Hi everyone,

Well, I got my first straight razor.
For now I'm just looking at it, because it doesn't look like I could actually shave myself with it.

Here are a few pictures of what I got:


My dad had it tucked away somewhere, he gave it to me yesterday.
I know it's in the wrong box and has a few nicks and dings on the handle area, but I think when I put a little TLC into this razor I'll be able to get it "shave ready" again.
It needs a bit of cleanup and a good honing and stropping.

I'm going to do a test honing on the blade this afternoon with my 8000 honing stone and see where the impurities are on the blade. (Yes I'll put tape on the top of the blade).
(I'm sure I can use a 3000/8000 Zwilling Twin Finishing Stone Pro to hone it right?)

I'm going to order some shaving items today, like stropping paste, stropping belt, and one of those (don't know what these are called) Puma tensioned stropping thingies.
this thing:


Once I get this razor all honed and stropped, I'll be ready to order soap, lots of band aids, and a brush.

OK, I'm making some fun about all of it, but it's because I'm pretty exited about the fact I'll be getting rid of my Gilette razor soon .
No need to worry because I am very, very careful with everything I do.
The honing and stropping of a straight razor will be a new experience for me, never honed a razor before, but I know how the honing process works. I have been honing my knifes for over 20 years and they aren't sharp unless you can shave your arm or leg hairs with it.

Anyway, I'll post pictures again when I cleaned this (old) razor up.

There are also a few questions I have:
1: In one of the pictures it says: No 0. What does "0" or "zero" stand for?
2: The actual shape of the blade, (shouldn't this be straight?) I did read the info about "smiling blades" and since the blade has a "smile" I think it's still usable?

Please leave your thoughts, comments etc.
Don't hold back on your thoughts, I'd appreciate it if you give your honest opinion.

Thanks in advance!

Very cool heirloom. Congrats. That one can be made shaveable with just a little work. Others more expert than I can chime in on the blade contour.

Congrats!

My honest advice is to send this out to a honemeister to get a proper edge on it. Then buy an inexpensive razor or two from eBay and learn to hone on those, while you use this heirloom to learn to shave with.

One reason is that you won't be putting unnecessary wear on your heirloom by practicing your honing on it. And smiling blades can be harder to do, which makes it more likely you'll be making mistakes on a razor you probably want to keep from that fate.

Conventional wisdom is to not try to learn to shave and hone at the same time and with the same blade. The reason being you don't really know what a sharp and smooth edge should feel like, so you won't know if what you're feeling on your face is due to your shaving technique or your honing technique. This will make learning both skills harder, not easier. And if you've not had any brush / lather experience, that too will complicate the learning process: learning how to get good lather for straight shaving can be tricky at first. You want your shaving learning to be as simple (few changing variables) as possible so that when things don't go well you can isolate what the problem is.

Note: you may not be conventional in your talents and abilities, and thus this advice may not apply to you. But, coming from someone who has lots of years experience honing knives before trying straight razors, I have to say I'm very, very, very glad I wasn't trying to learn to hone on the blade I was just taking my first shaves with. Having those first 15-20 shaves under my belt with a genuinely sharp edge before I started learning to hone was important.

No matter what you choose to do going forward, congratulations on a great heirloom razor and welcome to the world of straights!

Thanks for the replies guys

lishijia, I'll take your advice and do just that.

I bought a used Merx 13/16 from a guy that was auctioning shave-ready blades on one of our local 2nd hand sites.
He will hone and strop it for me before sending it over.
He advertises the razors to be honed on a variety of Japanese honing stones and finishing it with a Gokumyo 20k.
he will disinfect and strop it before sending.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the razor I bought:


I have to be honest, after posting the thread and in my excitement after, I started on honing the razor.
It was indeed quite a challenge. I took my time and had to really "feel" the blade to hone it.
I also had to slightly lift the blade on the tip part to get it evenly honed. (because of the "smile")
I have to say, it was great fun!! I love honing knifes, but this... this was even more fun.
The delicacy of the blade, the water on the stone, the sound, the feel, the way it looks... excellent experience.
I hope it's still understandable the way I describe it...lol

Anyway, I took it to a barbershop downtown afterwards (after reading your reply) and had it checked by a local very old barbershop who still sells straight razors and spoke to the owner. He pressed the razor on his thumbnail along the edge, checked the sharpness and told me, even though the smiling shape of the razor is not something he is used to, the razor is actually in excellent condition. "All this Needs is some stropping" he said. I was happy to hear I did a good job so far.

I am going to a different barbershop tomorrow that sells all kinds of shaving equipment, treat myself with a good brush, soap, a stropping paddle and paste. I will take the razor with me and have it checked there too, maybe the people there can show me how to strop it properly. real life is always better than youtube..lol (especially without the annoying commercials). It will be fun

Last but not least.... I also bought a cheap razor of Ebay.
However, I really like the razor I bought. it's a Russian razor with a "cccp" logo on the handle.


It looks pretty decent to me for a razor to practice on and when it's "shave ready" I am going to use it too.

Pretty cool I'll have 3 different razors to try out soon.... can't wait to test every single one out and see what's the difference between those razors.
but that will all be future experience, first I need to learn to shave with 1 straight razor.

OK, a whole story again from me, time to end it.

Thanks again for the replies guys


Now we wait for it to arrive....

Sounds like you're on your way!

Some guys actually prefer smileys. They shave just fine. Just a PITA to hone them but when you get used to them, no biggie. I prefer straight edges myself. You can shave with a good 8k edge but I suggest getting a proper finisher. 1u film, or a 12k Naniwa. The strop you show is called a loom strop. They are great except that one is pretty short.

I sure do love those Russian blades! They shave like a charm.