Hello everyone. I am here to learn all that I can about straight razor shaving. I love to learn new things, especially old ways. I have purchased a new Dovo Solingen razor along with a cheap strop, shaving cream and a brush. My Dad gave me his Dad's old razor, but I will keep it as a heirloom. I did get excited and ordered two shave ready razors off of ebay which should be here tomorrow. A J Swill & Sons and a Cattaraugus both 6/8 straight. Since I ordered them, I have found out so much more. So, I don't know if I made a mistake or not. LOL. I wanted to have something to practice stropping and such. Anyway, thank you for allowing me to join and I look forward to learning a lot from y'all.
Hello from Mississippi
- Thread starter Jwhall
- Start date
Welcome to B&B.
Welcome from West Tennessee..
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Welcome to the forums. Great to have you here.
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Welcome aboard!
- Thread starter
- #7
I'm in Brandon.
Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard.
Welcome to the forum!!
Welcome to B&B.
Ha! I teach at Hinds right up the road!
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing. Don’t forget to check in with the guys in the Straight Razor Forum. They would love to hear from you.
Welcome to B&B!
Welcome to B & B, enjoy!
Welcome aboard!
Great to have you here! I am just starting down the straight path myself. A Cattaraugus Yellow Boy is the only razor I’ve caught in the wild and honed so far. I guess I am a Method guy at this point - lapping film, 50-100-200k balsa strops and a Tony Miller 3” cotton and horsehide strop. It worked for the Yellow Boy! I have a few more wild SRs waiting in the honing queue.
I hope that you post your experiences - it is encouraging to hear how the first steps are going for other new straight shavers.
On the days I have time to work on my SR shaving, I often clean up with a safety razor and post results on
The Daily Double
Your eBay shave ready razors may not suit your standard, but they should be in fine shape for you to get started honing. There are lots of conflicting opinions out there, but lapping film is not very expensive, balsa strops are easy to make, and like I said, it worked for me. It was very nice to get a good (beginner) shave with my own edge just a couple weeks into the journey. Here in the Pacific NW, I am finding plenty of decent wild vintage straights to choose from in the $15-30 range.
For edge comparisons, I have a straight that a forum brother gifted me and a new basic Ralf Aust. The Aust factory edge was improved by a 200k balsa stropping, plus the ‘mandatory’ cotton/leather.
See you on the forums!
I hope that you post your experiences - it is encouraging to hear how the first steps are going for other new straight shavers.
On the days I have time to work on my SR shaving, I often clean up with a safety razor and post results on
The Daily Double
Your eBay shave ready razors may not suit your standard, but they should be in fine shape for you to get started honing. There are lots of conflicting opinions out there, but lapping film is not very expensive, balsa strops are easy to make, and like I said, it worked for me. It was very nice to get a good (beginner) shave with my own edge just a couple weeks into the journey. Here in the Pacific NW, I am finding plenty of decent wild vintage straights to choose from in the $15-30 range.
For edge comparisons, I have a straight that a forum brother gifted me and a new basic Ralf Aust. The Aust factory edge was improved by a 200k balsa stropping, plus the ‘mandatory’ cotton/leather.
See you on the forums!
I've purchased shave ready and not-so shave ready, and found they all need a little more honing before stropping to suit me. I have a couple of old stones that my Grand Dad used most of his life. They came from his Dad's Iron Foundry, where he used them to sharpen planing blades and wood chisels used to make casting patterns. When I was a kid, Grand Dad used these stones to teach me how to hone his straight razors.
I got a diamond stone to flatten both, and in addition have several other finer stones. Just finished my recent purchases - Gold Dollar #66 and a Boker King Cutter. Both shave great!
When I was In college, I spent a couple of weeks with a girlfriend & her family who had moved to Gautier. Her Dad (my old Boy Scouts hiking leader) worked for the Litton Shipyards in Pascagoula. It was at that time I learned how to pick up crabs without getting pinched.
I'll occasionally pick up one from the tub of crabs at the Chinese market labeled "Do Not Touch", especially when there are some snotty know-it-all teenagers standing around watching. I'll pick one up, play airplane with it, then put it back, walking away quickly.
It's amusing to hear their howls from a couple of aisles away, as they get pinched trying to pick one up...
I got a diamond stone to flatten both, and in addition have several other finer stones. Just finished my recent purchases - Gold Dollar #66 and a Boker King Cutter. Both shave great!
When I was In college, I spent a couple of weeks with a girlfriend & her family who had moved to Gautier. Her Dad (my old Boy Scouts hiking leader) worked for the Litton Shipyards in Pascagoula. It was at that time I learned how to pick up crabs without getting pinched.
I'll occasionally pick up one from the tub of crabs at the Chinese market labeled "Do Not Touch", especially when there are some snotty know-it-all teenagers standing around watching. I'll pick one up, play airplane with it, then put it back, walking away quickly.
It's amusing to hear their howls from a couple of aisles away, as they get pinched trying to pick one up...
