Buying first straight razor - vintage Solingen?

[GermanShaver!]

Hi,

I've been shaving with a safety razor for about one year, and have been doing quite well with it.
But since the beginning of my wet shaving career I've always wanted to try shaving with a straight razor.
Since I live in Germany, don't want to spend a lot of money on the razor,
and vintage razors from Solingen seem to have a good reputation I thought about picking
up a used one online. Pricewise I thought of offers around 15Euros. Rust, uneven edges and excessive spine wear
are something that I should probably avoid as a beginner. Is there anything else I should consider before buying?
The brand seems to be quite irrelevant because all Razors from Solingen are made from quality steel which will keep an Edge(??)
After buying the Razor I will have to put a new bevel on it and take it to at least an 8k finisher and strop on a leather strop.
To avoid buying expensive stones like a Belgium coticule, a Thuringian, or an 8k synth I was thinking about a set of fine lapping film
with sizes 9,5,3,1,0.3,0.05MIC. The lapping film which I found online here in Germany seems to be 3M non psa backed Aluminium oxide lapping film.
I should be able to cut 4 20,6cm*7cm strips from one sheet.
From reading online I found that I will need a dead flat surface to apply the lapping film too.
Since I really want to avoid ~20mm Plexiglas, acrylic, or float glass and I've seen some guys use stone tiles I was thinking about just applying the film to my granite kitchen counter. Does anyone have some experience with this or similar solutions?
Since 9MIC seems to be quite a bit too fine to set a bevel and I'm on a tight budget I've come up
with 3 options:
1) I use a King 1000/6000 combo stone which I also use for kitchen knives
2) I buy another coarser sheet of lapping film (30MIC?)
3) I use 1k grit sandpaper
Option 1 seems to bee less than ideal from what I've read online and option 2 will use up the Aluminium oxide film quickly.
Purchasing a new 1k just for razors is something I would try to avoid cost-wise.
As far as the leather strop is concerned I would either buy a cheap one (to not damage an expensive one with cuts)
or fabricate one myself out of some veg tan leather strips. Chromium oxide and the other strop paste red and black should not be needed, right?
From what I read online on german forums the finest black paste was measured at under 1 MIC which would be coarser than the 0.05MIC lapping film finish.
What I might just need seems to be the yellow leather care paste.
Thanks in advance for every answer.

 

[MurderousCrow]

I'm sure you will get great advice on your choices from the denizens of this forum.

My only input would be that in honing straight razors, I found the initial bevel setting to be of the greatest importance. It might be worth investing a little in a good stone exclusively for this; especially as you are looking at razors to restore.

Luke

 

[Aggelos]

So, lets handle the different points :

As far as the razor is concerned, yes, try to start with a "perfect" blade, no rust, no wear, even edge. 15€ seems a good price, but if you have flea markets around you, you could find it for an even lower price.
There a few bad Solingen blades, that's true enough, but I would stay away from the 7/8+ blades (which, coming from there would be stamped 14) for a starter, and favor a round nose.
As far as I am concerned, I favor vintage Pumas when I gift a blade to a starting friend.

That being said, I would advise you have your first straight honed by someone who knows what he's doing, for reference. That's the only way you will ever be sure.
If you feel like paying for port to France and back, I can do that free of charge.

A general rule is to never use the same stones for razors and knives.
And since the edge of a razor is precision work, only a stone can correctly do the trick, AFAIK.

The cheapest way IMHO is having a decent 1000/3000 combo for bevel setting, and then a Welsh trio for the rest of the work.

But well, you should only invest in stones if you consider honing and maintaining several razors.

Veg leather strips sound good if you want to build your own strop, and if the razor has been pushed correctly on a 12+ finisher, oxydes are indeed not needed

 

[global_dev]

My advice is to use the 1K you have (make sure its dead flat) and then get an inexpensive flat tile, glass plexi, whatever and mount it to some balsa/bass wood (inexpensive) to give you the height you desire and attach your film. I think you’d be fine with any of your 3 choices for now.

If you are trying on an inexpensive razor and have never honed a razor before, i might buy a second and have it honed by someone who can hone to compare.

edit: i just remembered i used a piece of scrap granite i got for free from a stone shop. Maybe one near you could cut up a piece at the size you want.

 

[steveclarkus]

Hi,

I've been shaving with a safety razor for about one year, and have been doing quite well with it.
But since the beginning of my wet shaving career I've always wanted to try shaving with a straight razor.
Since I live in Germany, don't want to spend a lot of money on the razor,
and vintage razors from Solingen seem to have a good reputation I thought about picking
up a used one online. Pricewise I thought of offers around 15Euros. Rust, uneven edges and excessive spine wear
are something that I should probably avoid as a beginner. Is there anything else I should consider before buying?
The brand seems to be quite irrelevant because all Razors from Solingen are made from quality steel which will keep an Edge(??)
After buying the Razor I will have to put a new bevel on it and take it to at least an 8k finisher and strop on a leather strop.
To avoid buying expensive stones like a Belgium coticule, a Thuringian, or an 8k synth I was thinking about a set of fine lapping film
with sizes 9,5,3,1,0.3,0.05MIC. The lapping film which I found online here in Germany seems to be 3M non psa backed Aluminium oxide lapping film.
I should be able to cut 4 20,6cm*7cm strips from one sheet.
From reading online I found that I will need a dead flat surface to apply the lapping film too.
Since I really want to avoid ~20mm Plexiglas, acrylic, or float glass and I've seen some guys use stone tiles I was thinking about just applying the film to my granite kitchen counter. Does anyone have some experience with this or similar solutions?
Since 9MIC seems to be quite a bit too fine to set a bevel and I'm on a tight budget I've come up
with 3 options:
1) I use a King 1000/6000 combo stone which I also use for kitchen knives
2) I buy another coarser sheet of lapping film (30MIC?)
3) I use 1k grit sandpaper
Option 1 seems to bee less than ideal from what I've read online and option 2 will use up the Aluminium oxide film quickly.
Purchasing a new 1k just for razors is something I would try to avoid cost-wise.
As far as the leather strop is concerned I would either buy a cheap one (to not damage an expensive one with cuts)
or fabricate one myself out of some veg tan leather strips. Chromium oxide and the other strop paste red and black should not be needed, right?
From what I read online on german forums the finest black paste was measured at under 1 MIC which would be coarser than the 0.05MIC lapping film finish.
What I might just need seems to be the yellow leather care paste.
Thanks in advance for every answer.

Solingen razors are excellent. Avoid rust but some tarnish is acceptable. Lapping first is wonderful. I’ve been using it for two years with great results and prefer it over synthetic stones. As far as a base goes, it is best to have something you can hold in your hand and is perfectly flat. Acrylic has proved to be the best but polished stone is best. Size 3” x 12” x 3/4”. (Sorry about English measurements). Honing off a countertop would be difficult. Search for the “Method” threads by @slashmccoy for detailed instructions for using film.