Making the jump to straight razors

Cabaal

Well guys,
I've been using a DE since 2009 so well used to it, funny thing is I now hate my merkur progress and like the cheap 1950's Gillette Superspeed I bought in 2011 on ebay.

Anyway, I'm not tempted to give a straight razor a go,

So on that note what can people suggest for starting off that won't break the bank? What can people in the know suggest?

hitemfrank

What do you define as 'not breaking the bank'? Do you have a budget in mind?

Cabaal

Ideally under 50e-60e but perhaps this is far too low?

hitemfrank

For that money I would advise a Whipped Dog sight unseen razor and the poor mans strop kit. The razor will not be a great looking thing (you probably wont even see it until it arrives at your door) and the strop will be as basic as they come but you should be able to get it for about $60 delivered.

Here is the link for the razor and for the strop kit. If you end up not liking straight razors he will buy it back from you too.

Again, it's nothing pretty but it's a cheap way to try out a shave ready straight razor.

Also he sells other new and vintage razors on his site which you can actually see.

Another option is available if you are a member of one of the shaving forums. You should be able to pick up a decent deal in the buy and sell sections of the forums.

ladhrann

Cabaal wrote: »

Well guys,

So on that note what can people suggest for starting off that won't break the bank? What can people in the know suggest?

What I suggest before buying one is asking family members for your grandfathers or other male relatives straight razors.

Doing this I got 2 x Udahl, Puma, Dubl Duck & Double Crown [recent find] as well as three DE razors for instance. So that's five razors of which I got four restored by Neil Miller in the U.K.

Gran Hermano

You really want to make sure you get a shave ready razor and not just factory sharp.
Drop Neil an email and ask him if he has anything suitable http://www.strop-shop.co.uk

Cabaal

ladhrann wrote: »

What I suggest before buying one is asking family members for your grandfathers or other male relatives straight razors.

Doing this I got 2 x Udahl, Puma, Dubl Duck & Double Crown [recent find] as well as three DE razors for instance. So that's five razors of which I got four restored by Neil Miller in the U.K.

None available from my family, no straight razors and no DE, my dad certainly did use a DE but doesn't have any anymore

ladhrann

Cabaal wrote: »

None available from my family, no straight razors and no DE, my dad certainly did use a DE but doesn't have any anymore

Pity about that, my father used to use one as well but when coaxing him back to the DE I gave him one of his father-in-law's ones [my granda's]. Still though ask extended family members as well just in case they through them out or something terrible like that!

Raoul

Whipped dog is pretty cheap but do be prepared for how unaesthetically pleasing it will be. I got one from there and I got my strop from shaving.ie. I love shaving with a straight razor now but still don't use it all the time as I am much quicker with the safety razor as it doesn't need to be stropped or anything like that.

run_Forrest_run

just seen this beginners straight razor pack, anyone know if it's any good?

Linky

hitemfrank

I would be skeptical of that set up. There is no mention of who makes the razor. If it was made in Germany it should* be fine. If it was made in China/Pakistan it will almost certainly be crap.

You could email them and see if they will tell you who made the razor.

*even if it was made in Germany by Dovo and rebranded it will still need to be sharpened before you get a decent shave from it. Dovo sharpen them before they leave the factory but they are not sharp enough to shave with.

run_Forrest_run

hitemfrank wrote: »

I would be skeptical of that set up. There is no mention of who makes the razor. If it was made in Germany it should* be fine. If it was made in China/Pakistan it will almost certainly be crap.

You could email them and see if they will tell you who made the razor.

*even if it was made in Germany by Dovo and rebranded it will still need to be sharpened before you get a decent shave from it. Dovo sharpen them before they leave the factory but they are not sharp enough to shave with.

excuse my ignorance here but how would you sharpen it? Is that honing? Or is it just stropping (or a bit of both)?

hitemfrank

Yeah honing is sharpening. Stropping just realligns the edge to get it nice and straight at a microscopic level.

As for how you hone, that's opening a can of worms. You can use synthetic (a few different manufacturers and prices) hones, natural hones (quite a few different types of quarried stone. can get really expensive depending on what you want) or even lapping film (designed for polishhing fibre optics it's cheap but you need a flat surface).

To simplify it, you pretty much want a 1k stone to set the bevel and then higher grits to polish the bevel. You may need an even lower grit to start off if the razor is in pretty poor condition (not an issue for new razors).

Lapping film would be the cheapest way to go. Get a 1k synthetic stone and then 5, 3 and 1 micron film as well as a piece of float glass (or marble tile) and you have your hoing set up. Lapping film comes in A4 size sheets so you can make about 4 strips out of each sheet and each strip should last about 20 razors or so (from what I've read anyway).