noob question looking into this

[omarwashington]

so ya really just looking into this and have a few question. If I were to start up using straight razor How common is it for you guys to send a straight razor to be serviced by a professional honer without having honing stones yourself?

I would like to start out with just one nice straight razor, for a beginner like myself would I need more than one razor?

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

A lot of guys send their razors to honemeisters, so it's very common. If by common you mean how often it needs to be honed, it depends on a lot of things (stropping technique, shaving regimen, beard thickness, etc.), but I'd say once every few months or so.

Eventually, though, it'd be in a shaver's (and their wallet's) best interest to atleast learn how to touch up a razor without having to send it out. If you have your initial shaver honed to perfection by a honemeister, you should be good to go for a while provided you don't make too serious of a noob mistake and roll the edge or damage it otherwise. Stropping is the key to keeping your edge shave ready for as long as possible and it'd benefit the beginner to pick up some .5 chromium oxide for the occasional touch-up without having to send it to be honed again.

To answer your second question: You can have as many razors as you'd like, but if you plan on sending them out to be honed instead of touching them up yourself, it'd be a good idea to have two on hand. Too, if you screw one up (roll the edge, etc), you won't be out of a shaver while you're waiting on it to return from a honer.

All that said, though, learning to touch up a razor isn't rocket science and shouldn't be a problem for a guy with a tiny amount of dexterity. Once it's honed professionally and is INDEED shave ready*, a touch-up hone (a variety of barber's hones and the Chinese 12K are readily available and inexpensive) and some chromium oxide will probably prevent that razor from ever seeing a honemeister again.

*Varies. Different honemeisters have different ideas of what shave-ready is. Shave-ready for one guy might pull and tear for another. If you send it to someone competent at their task, it shouldn't be a problem. But, on the other hand, if the razor isn't cutting properly and you're sure that your technique isn't to blame, most honemeisters are happy to bring it up another notch for you if you send it back. If I were to pick one guy, it'd be Lynn Abrams, but you're probably looking at a fairly long turn-around time considering he hones for a couple different vendors AND hones razors that are sent to him by members of several different sites. I've heard very good things about Ray-Man, Glen (GsSixgun), and a few others, too.

Edit: Here's a link with some more honemeisters to consider http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=108403

 

[Luc]

I'm one of those who have a bunch of razors but leave the honing to a honemeister. Having more than one razor allows me to try something different. When a few of them are dull, I send them to be honed and I still have a few to play with until the other come back!

 

[omarwashington]

Thank you , that sums it up

 

[leighton]

I don't think I've *had* to hone one of my razors in over a year...

Oh, your talking about only having one razor.....



edit:

Ok, ok, serious post. Its going to be a rough road in the beginning. Your honing will stink and you won't have the cotton/linen strop either. So expect a week to a month before sending it off the first time. Closer to the week than the month. Second round. Your better, depending on how quickly you learn and how much practice you put in, your stropping should be pretty good. Maybe even good enough to graduate to the linen/leather strop. Expect about a month to three months. Round three. At this point, you've either got it, or you don't. Most people get it. Your proficient at stropping, you've got the good strop (TM linen/leather or Rup Paladin) and you've got the shaving angles and technique down. At this point, you should be stropping a lot. 100+ laps. Doing this will enable you to keep an edge for 6 months to a year. Of course, if you don't do a lot of laps on the linen, you can't expect 6 months of longevity.