What's new

Noob asked about straights

Hi gents, on Friday I received a message from a friend who asked about straights. I asked what type of straight he was referring to a shavette or traditional straight. He was unaware of shavettes and sent on a link to the razor he was thinking about buying. That looked like a RSO and I said not to buy it.

I asked if he was sure he wanted to advance to the gentlemanly art and he said yes. I said I have a razor in my needs work pile I could do up and let him try to see if it is something he would be interested in keeping up.

As I figured one of my Swedes, Solingen or Sheffield razors would be a bit of a loss if it was damaged by a noob I thought I'd fix up a GD208 for him to try.

I had one still in the box so corrected the slight geometry issue, thinned the spine and reduced the stabiliser, put a bevel on it and took it through the films and diamond balsa. Will give it a test shave to make sure it is a good shaver before sanitizing, and handing it over.

I'll also give my old strop that I used for travel. It's not great, but is perfectly adequate.

Am I doing the right thing?
 
You had me at “fix up a GD208 for him to try”.
I bought a few with the intenet of entering the GD mod competition. I got so far as removing the scales from one, then life happened. Many people here say the take and hold a decent edge once the issues are fixed.
This is a rhetorical question? 😂
If he decides it's something he wants to keep with, I might have created a monster. I might have to convince him Swedish razors are dangerous and to avoid at all costs 😄
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I would also send him a copy of the SR shaving instructions. Then be prepared to answer a lot of his questions and provide detailed guidance.

Personally, I would not have thinned the spine down on the GD 208. That reduces the bevel angle. I have found that a more obtuse bevel angle, like is supplied on the OEM GD 208, is more forgiving with beginners. If properly honed the OEM GD 208 bevel can shave just as well (and be more forgiving) than one with a more acute bevel.
 
Last edited:
I would also send him a copy of the SR shaving instructions. Then be prepared to answer a lot of his questions and provide detailed guidance.

Personally, I would not have thinned the spine down on the GD 208. That reduces the bevel angle. I have found that a more obtuse bevel angle, like is supplied on the OEM GD 208, is more forgiving with beginners. If properly honed the OEM GD 208 bevel can shave just as well (and be more forgiving) than one with a more acute bevel.
I had to thin the spine slightly to correct an issue with the factory grinding. I probably reduced the angle by half a degree at most. I'll definitely send on a link to the sr shaving instructions, and realise there will be questions.

Appreciate your comment as you have more experience in introducing people to SR shaving than I.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
That should get him off to a decent start. If you take it through the three stage lapped and pasted balsa progression, you could maybe also send along a balsa treated with .1µ diamond paste, to keep it sharp.

No, the GD is not very hard, but hard enough, and harder than many old Sheffields, TBH. The 208 is a decent entry razor if properly honed. The way to get off to a bad start with a GD is to buy one as a complete noob, thinking you can hone it yourself and then learn to shave with it. Getting one that is already nice and sharp is quite alright.
 
Does this newb already know the value of proper prep using good products? And are they familiar enough with shaving technique to know about grain direction and multi pass shaves? I'd make sure they were 100% on all that before adding a straight to the mix.
 
Top Bottom