My first straight razor.

[Disburden]

I just purchased a Original Wapienica Razor from Ruprazor.com.
Has anyone had any rexperience from buying through this site? In the discription for the razor it says there is a three month honing warrantee and the razors come honed stropped and shave ready. I have yet to purchase a Tony Miller strop because I just shelled out money for the straight and can't afford anything else until my next paycheck. Would I be able to try out the razor when it first comes in the mail without having a strop? I would wait for the second shave until I had a Strop at home to use before the second use of the razor.

Any advise on using the razor? Are they "Shave ready" straights from this site really shave ready? Can I use it without stropping the first time I use it?

Any help would be great! Thanks guys!

 

[Tiago Basilio]

Well, I never purchased anything from rasurpur, but I ear that it has a great reputation, so I wouldn´t worry about the shave readyness

As shaving for the first time with it, in my opinion you should do fine, but the following times it should be better for you to strop it. There are some options that you could consider - some better then others - like the use of a newspaper (it has some abrasive characteristics) or a very smooth belt. But I am sure some other guys, much more experienced then me can give you a word also...

TB

 

[Disburden]

I have never heard of using a newspaper or Belt before. Odd, has anyone else done this?

Any more feedback would be appreciated thanks!

 

[tg16]

I received an original Wapiencia razor in the mail yesterday from Ken. I can tell you it is a great razor and Ken's honing is excellent. This was not my first experience with Ken. I bought a Dovo from someone on this board and they shipped it to Ken to hone and from there it was shipped to me. You can have complete confidence in a razor he has honed.

There is a thread regarding honemeisters on this board, but since we are talking about Ken, I can honestly say that I will continue doing business with him.

 

[stnlymumford]

I received an original Wapiencia razor in the mail yesterday from Ken. I can tell you it is a great razor and Ken's honing is excellent. This was not my first experience with Ken. I bought a Dovo from someone on this board and they shipped it to Ken to hone and from there it was shipped to me. You can have complete confidence in a razor he has honed.

There is a thread regarding honemeisters on this board, but since we are talking about Ken, I can honestly say that I will continue doing business with him.

I agree. I also picked one of these up recently... probably not many left

 

[crankymoose]

I purchased from Ken at ruprazor.com too great service and honing, do not strop before your 1st shave at all so that way there is no chance of you damaging the blade on 1st time stropping it is shave ready and that way you can feel a properly honed razor, after 1st shave you will need to strop it before every shave there after I recommend at least 25 on linen/cotton and 50 on leather

just with your shave and stropping both while new take your time and enjoy the process and you will be less likely to injure either yourself while shaving or the strop/razor when stropping

 

[NFlames]

I just had Ken hone one of my straights, it came back SCARY sharp! I'm sure a Wapi honed by Ken is ready to go out of the box.

 

[jlander]

I have never heard of using a newspaper or Belt before. Odd, has anyone else done this?

Any more feedback would be appreciated thanks!

There are people that use a belt for stropping, however I would be cautious. Use an X pattern and keep it light. Get a real strop as soon as you can.

I have read several articles by people who recommend using newspaper as a finish hone. The print has a very low abrasive level. I have never tried it though.

 

[mdunn]

Ive used newspaper when ive been traveling and didnt want to bring a strop. It works, but you need to do about 2 or 3 newspaper laps for every leather lap you would normally do. Also make sure its folded over a few times so it has a little bit of 'give'.

 

[Disburden]

Maybe I'll try this out. You fold it a few times so it is stiff right?

 

[adamant]

Someone (Joel maybe) did a review on stropping methods, newsprint was one.

 

[tpoof]

Congrats on your straight razor purchase!
Like others have said about refraining from stropping the new blade.. till the second shave...
I have used the newspaper as a strop and find it works quite well..
I like to fold it so it is about 3" in width and has about 3-4 layers...
Lay it on a counter top or piece of wood and tape one edge down so it does not move. Hold the other end in your hand then proceed to strop, taking 30-40 strokes...make sure you flip it on the spine... should be very sharp, excellent!
Do the HHT for giggles.always nice to see those hairs pop!
Now that I have a assortment of strops I rarely use the paper...
but it remains in my arsenal and works quite fine..
Good luck!
You will love straight shaving once one gets over the learning curve..
and its not all that bad... its worth it... IMO!

 

[Disburden]

Thanks for all the help guys. Received the razor in the mail today and I can't wait to try it. Although I am a little intimidated by the blade! I'll try the newpaper trick until I am able to afford a strop.

Any shaving tips for the first time? My wife thinks I am going to disfigure myself!

 

[Lucius]

Any shaving tips for the first time? My wife thinks I am going to disfigure myself!

Don't strop it the first time. It should be fine and you don't want to risk rolling the edge before you know what it's supposed to feel like (not that you should roll the edge anyway, it's not as easy as it's sometimes made out to be).

Make sure you can take all the time you want.

It's one of those things you can read about 1,000 times but you're never going to know what you're doing and get good at it until you actually do it.

 

[Disburden]

I actually used the straight for the first time today. I started a new thread about it. The shave didn't turn out well, it felt like I just woke up in the morning right after. But no cuts, no burn, so I feel good.

 

[xconverge]

If the original wapi is out of stock, anyone have any experience or insight as to how long ruprazor takes to restock stuff?

 

[pal]

I actually used the straight for the first time today. I started a new thread about it. The shave didn't turn out well, it felt like I just woke up in the morning right after. But no cuts, no burn, so I feel good.

Congratulations, you have made a great leap forward, I mean not getting cut, feeling good. I wish I could say the same about my first str8 shave.