First my thanks to @Eben Stone for his wiki on this subject and @Slash McCoy for his YouTube videos.
My lapping films arrived last week and I sat down to hone a straight for the first time. I was surprised by how successful I was. I still have a nice bare patch on my left arm from "testing" and my first shave went pretty well.
I doubt I'll ever fall so far down the hole that I'll be investing in stones, but it was great to find another medium and some direction that gave me the results I was looking for at a cost of under $40.
I just wanted to share my success and reiterate to anyone thinking if getting into straight razor shaving what members are consistently saying-
Your brand new straight razor is very likely NOT shave ready and will need to be honed. Be prepared to figure that out or send it off to someone that can.
My lapping films arrived last week and I sat down to hone a straight for the first time. I was surprised by how successful I was. I still have a nice bare patch on my left arm from "testing" and my first shave went pretty well.
I doubt I'll ever fall so far down the hole that I'll be investing in stones, but it was great to find another medium and some direction that gave me the results I was looking for at a cost of under $40.
I just wanted to share my success and reiterate to anyone thinking if getting into straight razor shaving what members are consistently saying-
Your brand new straight razor is very likely NOT shave ready and will need to be honed. Be prepared to figure that out or send it off to someone that can.