Picked up some older razors, would appreciate some wisdom

[MidAg_BlackGold]

Ok, so I got these two straights; one is an Otello "Hamburg Grind" #21, and the other is a Wester Bros. "Fraterntity" #33. (Also picked up the Old Spice mug!)


The edges are straight to my eye, and both are still quite sharp (the WB more so). The blades look a bit better condition-wise in person than they do in the pictures.

These are my first straight razors. I have been on the fence about trying straights for a while, and seeing these in person pushed me right over the edge. I have perused this forum a bit, but obviously not enough. My first question would be who I should try to get to hone these bad boys. My second would be whether the poor man's strop kit from WhippedDog would be a good direction to take for beginner's blade maintenance. Lastly, I would appreciate any knowledge anyone may have about these two razors (quality, brand, origin, etc). The Wester Bros. was made in Solingen, but that's about all I know. Regardless, I am pretty excited about picking these up as my first straights!

Thanks!
Travis

 

[Wullie]

You've got a couple of nice Solingen razors. They should clean up and hone up and shave just fine.

Neither of them is particularly rare.

There are several good honers here. IF you're thinking of buying from Larry, why not send them to him to hone for you. Then you'd get all your stuff back in one package.

IF you're anywhere close to Ft Worth, gimme a shout.
Willie

 

[Slash McCoy]

Larry hones pretty good. I bought one of his whipped dogs and was quite satisfied with it. His Poor Man Strop Kit is a good intro kit. He has badger brushes, too. Now the reason the PMSK is a good beginner strop setup is because you are likely to slice and dice your first strop while learning. So it is meant to be expendable, not to be your final strop. Use it for a month and get a Big Daddy from www.starshaving.com. And maybe get a bigger balsa slab and paste it with diamond paste from www.tedpella.com, 1u and .25u. But initially I recommend the PMSK. If the strop survives your first month, keep it as a backup or as a travel strop. If it gets lost, stolen, or destroyed, you didn't lose an expensive one. Anyway, you can get one or both your razors honed, the PMSK, and a badger brush for less than some strops cost by themselves.