I've been looking at getting into straight-razor shaving for years, but due to my financial situation (yay for college life), I have been hesitant to pull the trigger. I was visiting home a few days ago and my dad saw me looking at a razor online which started a conversation that eventually led him to show me the razor that his dad used back in the day. After talking, he decided to let me have the heirloom razor, strop, and brush (pictures attached). The razor is a bublduck satinedge, the strop is made by STOP BRAND, and the brush is an Ever-Ready The razor has some discoloration, but it looks more like patina than rust to my very untrained eyes. I know some dublducks are valuable/good blades, but I am still very new to all of this.
I am beyond excited to start my journey into shaving with this razor and learning everything I can. My dad never used the razor, so he didn't have any advice or tips to pass on. He and I have both honed and sharpened knives as long as I can remember, but with this being an heirloom, I don't want to mess anything up. I tried honing it, and felt like it was a good edge, then I stropped it... It didn't come close to passing the HHT or the Tree-Topping test.
A google search led me to reddit and eventually brought me here. I've already spent hours reading different guides and threads and there is more information here than I could have possibly imagined. I want to learn everything I can, but I also don't want the "need to learn everything" to be a barrier to my starting to use the razor. Here are my questions:
1: Is this a blade worth putting the effort into getting cleaned up and honed?
2: Do I try to hone the blade again and clean it up? Or, being new, am I better to send it off to be honed/restored?
3: Do I need to do anything to "restore" a strop that has been out of use for 40+ years?
4: What are "absolute musts/tips" that I should know before I start my first shave?
Thanks in advance to anyone who responds, and to everyone who has contributed to these forums that have already taught me so much!
I am beyond excited to start my journey into shaving with this razor and learning everything I can. My dad never used the razor, so he didn't have any advice or tips to pass on. He and I have both honed and sharpened knives as long as I can remember, but with this being an heirloom, I don't want to mess anything up. I tried honing it, and felt like it was a good edge, then I stropped it... It didn't come close to passing the HHT or the Tree-Topping test.
A google search led me to reddit and eventually brought me here. I've already spent hours reading different guides and threads and there is more information here than I could have possibly imagined. I want to learn everything I can, but I also don't want the "need to learn everything" to be a barrier to my starting to use the razor. Here are my questions:
1: Is this a blade worth putting the effort into getting cleaned up and honed?
2: Do I try to hone the blade again and clean it up? Or, being new, am I better to send it off to be honed/restored?
3: Do I need to do anything to "restore" a strop that has been out of use for 40+ years?
4: What are "absolute musts/tips" that I should know before I start my first shave?
Thanks in advance to anyone who responds, and to everyone who has contributed to these forums that have already taught me so much!