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First Go With Lapping Film

Chef455

Head Cheese Head Chef
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.
 
That's wonderful! You found a honing solution and a rather inexpensive one, which is harder to do in the honing rabbit hole with all the other tempting and expensive options out there.
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
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.
I've been using lapping film for years now and am a great supporter of it. I did eventually buy a set of Shapton stones later but found the film superior. So when the time comes where you are considering stones, you might give it a second thought. You can buy a lot of film for the price of those stones for no added benefit. If you follow through with pasted balsa and strop on the .1K between shaves, you won't have to ever hone again. I have razors that haven't been honed in at least four years.
 

Chef455

Head Cheese Head Chef
I've been using lapping film for years now and am a great supporter of it. I did eventually buy a set of Shapton stones later but found the film superior. So when the time comes where you are considering stones, you might give it a second thought. You can buy a lot of film for the price of those stones for no added benefit. If you follow through with pasted balsa and strop on the .1K between shaves, you won't have to ever hone again. I have razors that haven't been honed in at least four years.
Yeah, those stones simply won't ever happen for me. With the results I got from the film I just don't see the point for myself. I'll have to look into the pasted balsa but I've joined the GRUYERE so I'll need to pull the trigger in the next few days.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
Lapping films are a great teacher for whetstone honing. After some time you may be tempted to get into the hard stuff, just to see if you can do it. I did and am glad that I first perfected my lapping film technique.

I am not a whetstone fanatic. Most of my SRs are still lapping film honed and diamond pasted balsa finished. If your SR stable is increasing, you may find a course whetstone or two more economical for bevel setting than using lapping films.
 
Balsa and lapping film is great when starting. This is what I used for initially, but as @rbscebu mentioned if you are gonna have more than handful of razors, bevel setting with film is a bit of a pain and not really that economical in the grand scheme of things if you look at the big picture. For finish and upkeep they are great.
I started on lapping film and was quiet happy and didn’t think I’ll get any stones, but that lasted less than a year. All bets were off after the first 9 months. Now I just buy razors so I’d have something to sharpen on my stones since all the razors I have Donte really need even a touch up..😅
Good luck with your journey. Whatever route you choose, just enjoy it. No right or wrong…
 
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