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- #21
Wow, the lather didn't even come to mind. Good point! Yeah now that I think about it, you kinda need some body for that.
What was your 1st straight razor? (pictures welcome!)
- Thread starter nicepatina
- Start date
Pumacker Black Diamond. A Solingen blade purchased on the bay in seemingly unused condition, for a song. It's still lovingly kept in great condition.
Ontario 4/8 1/2 hollow (can you really be full hollow at 4/8?).
It was early in COVID lockdown (2020) and I was looking for things to pass the time that didn’t involve leaving the house. I knew absolutely nothing about straight razor shaving, but Razor Emporium offered a number of “vintage“ straights, and at $75 it was cheaper than buying a new razor, so seemed a good way to dive in. It was identified as ”shave ready” with a full description of the honing process that it had undergone. On the first shave I knew it needed to be better. I read the “Science of Sharp” site and quickly improved it with denim pasted with 0.5u diamond paste. Then I found B&B and very quickly dropped down the various rabbit holes of hones and other straights. I’ve always been interested in history and the history of straights has since become a topic of particular interest.
Today I have a very large (IMO) collection of straights, and quite a few hones as well. But still learning. In general I prefer razors in the 6/8-7/8 range, and the Ontario doesn’t get much use, but I would be hard pressed to part with it, because it was my first.
Thanks to the OP for starting this thread!
It was early in COVID lockdown (2020) and I was looking for things to pass the time that didn’t involve leaving the house. I knew absolutely nothing about straight razor shaving, but Razor Emporium offered a number of “vintage“ straights, and at $75 it was cheaper than buying a new razor, so seemed a good way to dive in. It was identified as ”shave ready” with a full description of the honing process that it had undergone. On the first shave I knew it needed to be better. I read the “Science of Sharp” site and quickly improved it with denim pasted with 0.5u diamond paste. Then I found B&B and very quickly dropped down the various rabbit holes of hones and other straights. I’ve always been interested in history and the history of straights has since become a topic of particular interest.
Today I have a very large (IMO) collection of straights, and quite a few hones as well. But still learning. In general I prefer razors in the 6/8-7/8 range, and the Ontario doesn’t get much use, but I would be hard pressed to part with it, because it was my first.
Thanks to the OP for starting this thread!
I bought two at the same time: an 1870-1883 Mappin & Webb 5/8 near wedge and new Ralf Aust 5/8 Spanish tip. I used the Mappin and Webb first.
(I suppose you could say a Weck hair shaper was my first, because that’s what I learned on until I bought a real SR.)
(I suppose you could say a Weck hair shaper was my first, because that’s what I learned on until I bought a real SR.)
Bengall 3/4 (Cadman)
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
I that was the last and only Bengall that you ever have/had. You should now know that they are not for you.
Leave them for others to collect.
Ralf Aust 6/8 Round Point...still love those horn scales.
A gift from my grandmother at the time and what got me started in the hobby. Got it restored a while back but probably going to try and get some more original scales later (black horn). Only use it for special occasions these days. 
Timor 4/8. Not the first I owned, but the first I ever shaved with.
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- #30
This was the horn color I was hoping to get when I ordered mine! But when mine arrived, it was more brown. Although I am learning to love it. But that black and streaky white is money.
Mine was a 5/8 Geneva Cutlery that belonged to my grandfather. I gave it to my nephew and he's very happy with it.
If you'll forgive a bit of self-indulgent reminiscing:
The year was 2014, and coincidentally, I was also 14 at the time. Some fuzz had started to sprout, unsightly and mold-like, atop my upper lip. Dad never needed to shave (his only facial hair is a mysterious mustache which, in the fashion of a cat's whiskers, grows to a certain length then conveniently stops without any trimming necessary), and my stepfather wore a beard, so I wasn't going to get much guidance or advice, let alone equipment.
The first few times the fuzz appeared, I removed it with a freshly honed kitchen knife. About as much epidermis as one would expect went with it, of course, but I healed quickly and the aesthetic relief was worth the smarting. I had never heard of a "double edge razor", and a cartridge razor was what my mother used to scrape the bristles off her legs for special occasions, so both of those were obviously out. Being interested in historical matters, blades generally, and knife sharpening, a straight razor seemed like just the thing. Unfortunately, I was absolutely broke at the time, and no one in my immediate family felt like financing anything as ridiculous (in their view, of course) as a straight razor for me.
Eventually one of my step-uncles, kinder than the stepfather by far, remembered that he had a couple of old straights picked up on a whim at a garage sale during some distant and primeval past era, and offered them to me. They turned to be 3 rust spotted hone-worn once-5/8" Solingers. At very least all of them had set bevels, which I could keen up somewhat on a 1000 grit smith ceramic stone, a scrap of heavily used 2500 grit automotive paper, and a strop loaded with anonymous green chinese polishing compound. How's that for a honing set-up? I had neither soap nor a brush, and generally shaved with splashes of water every few strokes for cutting fluid. Thankfully, the hair was neither thick nor widely distributed, and I managed. Anything was better than the atrociousness of teenage facial hair (I remain firm in my belief that no man under 40 or 50 or so should ever be caught wearing a beard). For whatever reason, the idea of looking up how to shave correctly had never occurred to me. Looking back, it's a good laugh.
At 19 or so, I had started to get into Japanese cutlery, so my sharpening gear began to include waterstones. One day, I found a solid old Sheffield half hollow at a junk shop, which I bought, and having been by that point at least partially civilized out of nanban barbarism and Anglo-American devilry in careless sharpening, I resolved to research straight razor restoration and care properly this time. The desire for a calm and peaceful shave turned into an obsession. Now, sixty odd razors later, I finally feel like I'm starting to get it.
One of the first:
The year was 2014, and coincidentally, I was also 14 at the time. Some fuzz had started to sprout, unsightly and mold-like, atop my upper lip. Dad never needed to shave (his only facial hair is a mysterious mustache which, in the fashion of a cat's whiskers, grows to a certain length then conveniently stops without any trimming necessary), and my stepfather wore a beard, so I wasn't going to get much guidance or advice, let alone equipment.
The first few times the fuzz appeared, I removed it with a freshly honed kitchen knife. About as much epidermis as one would expect went with it, of course, but I healed quickly and the aesthetic relief was worth the smarting. I had never heard of a "double edge razor", and a cartridge razor was what my mother used to scrape the bristles off her legs for special occasions, so both of those were obviously out. Being interested in historical matters, blades generally, and knife sharpening, a straight razor seemed like just the thing. Unfortunately, I was absolutely broke at the time, and no one in my immediate family felt like financing anything as ridiculous (in their view, of course) as a straight razor for me.
Eventually one of my step-uncles, kinder than the stepfather by far, remembered that he had a couple of old straights picked up on a whim at a garage sale during some distant and primeval past era, and offered them to me. They turned to be 3 rust spotted hone-worn once-5/8" Solingers. At very least all of them had set bevels, which I could keen up somewhat on a 1000 grit smith ceramic stone, a scrap of heavily used 2500 grit automotive paper, and a strop loaded with anonymous green chinese polishing compound. How's that for a honing set-up? I had neither soap nor a brush, and generally shaved with splashes of water every few strokes for cutting fluid. Thankfully, the hair was neither thick nor widely distributed, and I managed. Anything was better than the atrociousness of teenage facial hair (I remain firm in my belief that no man under 40 or 50 or so should ever be caught wearing a beard). For whatever reason, the idea of looking up how to shave correctly had never occurred to me. Looking back, it's a good laugh.
At 19 or so, I had started to get into Japanese cutlery, so my sharpening gear began to include waterstones. One day, I found a solid old Sheffield half hollow at a junk shop, which I bought, and having been by that point at least partially civilized out of nanban barbarism and Anglo-American devilry in careless sharpening, I resolved to research straight razor restoration and care properly this time. The desire for a calm and peaceful shave turned into an obsession. Now, sixty odd razors later, I finally feel like I'm starting to get it.
One of the first:
Tough to say which was my 1st SR, but this was my first used.
Ralf Aust 6/8" in Horn, that I ordered direct from him in Germany while I was in London last year
Ralf Aust 6/8" in Horn, that I ordered direct from him in Germany while I was in London last year
Guillermo Hoppe.
Found her in a Connecticut antique shop in 2009 marked $15. With my clever negotiation skills, she was mine for $12. She cleaned up well and has been a workhorse ever since.
Found her in a Connecticut antique shop in 2009 marked $15. With my clever negotiation skills, she was mine for $12. She cleaned up well and has been a workhorse ever since.
Did you have any idea what a nice razor you had found, @Sando?
Heh…of course not! Beginners luck. But it started my journey on collecting 14s. I find a keeper every so often but nothing tops the GH…yet.
I bought this from a barber supply shop on the second of September 1998.
I was lucky in that it was shave ready, just stropped it and off I went on 'the journey'.
I have re-knotted the brush, but still the original handle.
I later realised how small the blade is (4/8") compared to a 6/8 or 7/8.
I was lucky in that it was shave ready, just stropped it and off I went on 'the journey'.
I have re-knotted the brush, but still the original handle.
I later realised how small the blade is (4/8") compared to a 6/8 or 7/8.
That's pretty slinky, I like that. I've been using a few smaller razors recently (having always kinda ignored them before), and I'm finding them quite good. Certainly different / interesting / fun at the very least.
And yes - one of mine is a 4/8 Heljestrand that would probably have been described as '1/4 hollow', but on something that size it manifests as pretty much a wedge.
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