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Straight Razor Newbies: What you need, and why you need it.

What you need to start shaving with a straight
and why you need it

View attachment 76701

Razors:
View attachment 76697
The most important bit of kit. The most important thing to remember is that it must be 'shave ready'. New razors from the factory are sharp, but not quite sharp enough to shave. If you buy a razor on the bst, ask - if you buy a razor from an online vendor, then make sure they are going to hone and inspect it.

Razors come in all shapes and sizes, so lets get the terminology out of the way while we look at what a good starter razor is. The width of the blade (from the sharp 'edge' the the blunt 'spine') is measured in eigths of an inch, so a good first straight will be of size 5/8 or 6/8. Not too big, not too small.

In terms of grind (how thin the blade is), it really depends on your face. Some guys like wedges, some guys like full hollows.

The end of the razor (called the toe) can be styled in many ways - the one in this picture is a 'french' point. You want any but a 'spike'. Its not that you wont be able to shave with it, but a really sharp spike on the end of the razor is not nearly as forgiving as a rounded end, and you will probably nick your ear or nose as you shave.

The best value is a vintage razor from the BST.

Strops:
View attachment 76698

Strops are used before you shave to remove any tiny ammounts of rust that have formed on the edge of the blade, and straighten everything up. You should strop about 60 laps (one lap is 'there and back'/all the way down one side, roll and all the way back) before each shave.

Some strops come with canvas or linen as well, they act like a rougher leather strop and some guys (myself included) like to do about 20 laps before the 60 on leather, to get a really nice edge.

The three strops here (from top to bottom) are a vintage one, a tony miller, and a dovo - representative of the three ways you can get a strop:
Dont get a vintage strop. At least not right away, its probably old dry and cracked and needs some lovin' before its ready, only you dont know what ready is yet - so dont be tempted.
The next kind is a new strop, but not from a factory. Things like the tony miller, or one of kenrups strops. Get one of these, theyre the best value.
Production strop. These are expensive, but still quite good.

The thing about stropping, is that youre going to nick your strop quite a bit while you learn. No ammount of being careful will avoid it. So do yourself a favour and either get the filly from kenrup, or the practice strop with a full one from tony miller.

Pastes:
View attachment 76699

Pastes are very high grit (which means tiny particles) materials spread out on a strop. They act kinda like a hone in that they remove metal from the edge. Theyre used to keep a razor sharp.

With normal use a razor slowly becomes dull just from slicing through your beard. A few laps on a pasted strop will refresh the edge and get it back to super sharp. Eventually you will need to hone the razor again, but it can buy you a lot of time before you do.

You dont really need pastes, some guys just have a barbers hone, and some just send their razor out to a honemeister if it starts to dull.

Hones:
View attachment 76700

The biggest mistake guys make when thinking about getting in to straight razor shaving is thinking they need hones.

YOU DONT NEED HONES!

You maybe need a hone. If you get a high grit hone, like a barbers hone or chinese 12k etc, you can maintain your razors edge indefinately (so long as it has only become dull through normal use).

Once you get into shaving with a straight you might want a couple of hones to learn to sharpen razors yourself, but most guys dont bother, and just send their razors out to a honemeister if they get chipped, or if they buy a non-shave ready razor.

Still interested? Want to know more?

Go read the interactive guide for more information!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've been shaving with DE's for over 40 years just switched over to Straight Razors 8 months ago so I can attest to the value of this post.

Learning the skills of of straight blade shaving has many facets. For me knowing where I needed to focus my attention ( identifying what was working and what was not) was most of the battle.

Example: A fresh blade sharp from a honemaster tells me a poor shave is not the razor - it's what I'm doing with it.

Areas to address: Is my beard prep sufficient? Learning the skills of stopping. Is my lather slippery? Do I need to lower the blade angle?

From my experience this post offers is a fine "Base Line" staring place for anyone learning the art of straight blade shaving.

Thanks mdunn for the time and effort put into this post. Well done!


What you need to start shaving with a straight
and why you need it

View attachment 76701

Razors:
View attachment 76697
The most important bit of kit. The most important thing to remember is that it must be 'shave ready'. New razors from the factory are sharp, but not quite sharp enough to shave. If you buy a razor on the bst, ask - if you buy a razor from an online vendor, then make sure they are going to hone and inspect it.

Razors come in all shapes and sizes, so lets get the terminology out of the way while we look at what a good starter razor is. The width of the blade (from the sharp 'edge' the the blunt 'spine') is measured in eigths of an inch, so a good first straight will be of size 5/8 or 6/8. Not too big, not too small.

In terms of grind (how thin the blade is), it really depends on your face. Some guys like wedges, some guys like full hollows.

The end of the razor (called the toe) can be styled in many ways - the one in this picture is a 'french' point. You want any but a 'spike'. Its not that you wont be able to shave with it, but a really sharp spike on the end of the razor is not nearly as forgiving as a rounded end, and you will probably nick your ear or nose as you shave.

The best value is a vintage razor from the BST.

Strops:
View attachment 76698

Strops are used before you shave to remove any tiny ammounts of rust that have formed on the edge of the blade, and straighten everything up. You should strop about 60 laps (one lap is 'there and back'/all the way down one side, roll and all the way back) before each shave.

Some strops come with canvas or linen as well, they act like a rougher leather strop and some guys (myself included) like to do about 20 laps before the 60 on leather, to get a really nice edge.

The three strops here (from top to bottom) are a vintage one, a tony miller, and a dovo - representative of the three ways you can get a strop:
Dont get a vintage strop. At least not right away, its probably old dry and cracked and needs some lovin' before its ready, only you dont know what ready is yet - so dont be tempted.
The next kind is a new strop, but not from a factory. Things like the tony miller, or one of kenrups strops. Get one of these, theyre the best value.
Production strop. These are expensive, but still quite good.

The thing about stropping, is that youre going to nick your strop quite a bit while you learn. No ammount of being careful will avoid it. So do yourself a favour and either get the filly from kenrup, or the practice razor with a full one from tony miller.

Pastes:
View attachment 76699

Pastes are very high grit (which means tiny particles) materials spread out on a strop. They act kinda like a hone in that they remove metal from the edge. Theyre used to keep a razor sharp.

With normal use a razor slowly becomes dull just from slicing through your beard. A few laps on a pasted strop will refresh the edge and get it back to super sharp. Eventually you will need to hone the razor again, but it can buy you a lot of time before you do.

You dont really need pastes, some guys just have a barbers hone, and some just send their razor out to a honemeister if it starts to dull.

Hones:
View attachment 76700

The biggest mistake guys make when thinking about getting in to straight razor shaving is thinking they need hones.

YOU DONT NEED HONES!

You maybe need a hone. If you get a high grit hone, like a barbers hone or chinese 12k etc, you can maintain your razors edge indefinately (so long as it has only become dull through normal use).

Once you get into shaving with a straight you might want a couple of hones to learn to sharpen razors yourself, but most guys dont bother, and just send their razors out to a honemeister if they get chipped, or if they buy a non-shave ready razor.

Still interested? Want to know more?

Go read the interactive guide for more information!
 
Another quality post!.. You're on a roll... The more i read about straights the more i get tempted to give it a go
 
I'm not going to put a direct link, because i get the feeling it is not kosher.

But... One of the other sites has a good article on starting out on a budget that I would recommend in addition to this excellent post.
 
I may be a bit out of order by offering advice since I haven't even tried it myself but with that in mind I read the advice from many other (much wiser) members. It looks like a good and inexpensive way to try honing is with the lapping film. There are several threads on the B&B that can explain much better than I can. It is worth checking out.
 
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