straight razor blade quality + hidden costs?

rohandias · Post by **rohandias** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:50 am

hi there,
a few questions regarding straight razors:
firstly, i'm a complete newbie.
I'm in the market for a decent DOVO. i have noticed that there are many different blade types - such as stainless steal and 'silver steel' etc etc. what things should i note when i go looking for one, if i don't care much at all about the handle (they all look mighty fine!)

Also, i find the 0 upkeep cost after the inital cost very attractive - would a good DOVO razor; and DOVO linen strop and a norton 4000/8000 hone last me a lifetime, and be all I need in terms of razor maintenance? Do any of these items wear out over time? What are other things i would potentially require?
Are strop pastes required if a hone is purchase?

Thanks in advance !

Minstrel · Post by **Minstrel** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 6:13 am

I'm not a seasoned straight shaver myself, but as far as I can tell, if you have a decent razor, a strop (either a linen/leather combination or just leather), and a hone, that's pretty much all you need to get more than a lifetime's worth out of the razor.

You don't need a pasted strop if you have a hone, but some feel that stropping a razor on a pasted strop helps refine the edge even more. Others use a super fine finishing stone (like a coticule) to get that refined edge.

Unless you damage your equipment beyond repair, you shouldn't need to buy any new hones, strops or razors. However, you may want to. One razor is seldom enough, once you start...

Edit: What you should look for in a new blade is to buy one which has been pre-honed by someone who knows what they're doing. That way you will get a truly shave ready razor. Most new razors aren't truly shave ready straight out of the box.

mparker762 · Post by **mparker762** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 7:22 am

The "hidden costs" are real, and come in the form of some very expensive acquisition disorders.

Straight Razor RAD is the most obvious, and it can be extremely expensive - there are some highly desirable razors out there that run nearly a grand. Even if you avoid the big-ticket razors there are hundreds of years worth of razors made by hundreds of different manufacturers out there on ebay looking at you with those puppy-dog eyes, and you just know that if you don't give that 200yr old Sheffield a proper home that it will go to some slob that will use it to trim his toenails.

The other big acquisition disorder is HAD (Hone Acquisition Disorder). The Norton is just the gateway drug, next thing you know you're bidding $400+ for that yellow-green Escher on ebay, or learning Japanese so you can figure out exactly which Japanese hones are the 20,000 grit stuff of legend, and where you can get one for less than US$2000. And if you're poor like me then the 30k Shapton is practically a bargain at only US$300. And there were several hundred different barber hones made - yeah they're relatively inexpensive but you've got to get them all because you never know which one will be that mythical 15k grit barber hone that time forgot (fortunately for my pocketbook I found mine early).

Some guys also get into strops, but thankfully I finallly reached my limit with eight.

Pauldog · Post by **Pauldog** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 8:49 am

What's the "grit" of polished marble? 90,000?

rohandias · Post by **rohandias** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 4:18 pm

haha! brilliant post. I had a hunch that that would be it. Just to confirm - would the norton 4000/8000 be the perfect choice to start out?

rustyblade · Post by **rustyblade** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 4:56 pm

rohandias wrote:haha! brilliant post. I had a hunch that that would be it. Just to confirm - would the norton 4000/8000 be the perfect choice to start out?

I prefer my yellow Belgian Coticule, I never had much luck with the Norton. I think of the coticule as a barber hone that I can just pull out of the drawer and use right away to refresh the edge. The Norton requires soaking for 20 minutes in water.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:13 pm

Ah,....see?.....right away with the "yellow Belgian Coticule".....and I wonder what those cost?......you see where this all goes, and quickly....you've been warned.
Gordon

rustyblade · Post by **rustyblade** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:18 pm

bernards66 wrote:Ah,....see?.....right away with the "yellow Belgian Coticule".....and I wonder what those cost?......you see where this all goes, and quickly....you've been warned.
Gordon

About $100 for a decent sized one (hundred bucks here, hundred bucks there...)

It can be an expensive hobby. Best way to spend less is to stay as far away as possible from the SRP Buy and Sell forum. I've been lured by so many pretty razors from there, I am drawn like a moth to a flame.

mparker762 · Post by **mparker762** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 9:10 pm

And ebay - don't forget the tempation of ebay. Odi et amo etc...

rohandias · Post by **rohandias** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 1:52 am

haha nice nice. Okay let me rephrase the question. I'm a uni student with a curious shaving obsession on a tight budged. If I wanted one, and only one hone for a razor that has been bought pre-honed (ie i'm not doing massive restorations on ancient razors etc) to get me though the next 10 years (or at least until i've decided upon a lucrative career simply to support my shaving habits), then which hone is for me? Also, I wouldn't mind forking out around $100 or even more if it will give me one hone perfect for my needs. I'd obvoiusly prefer one that you don't have to soak in water and you can just whip out but yeah i'm really not too fussy, so i would like recommendations for both types.
Thanks once again!

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 3:48 am

The sheer variety of options is enormous. If you want to do it on the cheap, with a pre-honed razor, you could make two balsa paddles, groove and paste their surfaces with Flexcut Gold and HandAmerican Liquid Chrome and you'd be set. Another cheap way with a little more finesse would be to buy a magnetic bench hone and have a selection of 3M diamond papers and some leather or felt surfaces with pastes to attach.
Remember that if you want to be like the vast majority of straight shavers in history, you need the blade sharp enough to shave with the grain only, and any fool can achieve that. Modern day straight users tend to want to shave to perfection, and to hone your straight so you can go against the grain is a lot trickier. Both the above options will do it. If you have to have hones, feeling they are part of the whole deal, then I would get Shapton glass-backed 5 and 8k stones for starters. I've given my Norton away.

Chris

Minstrel · Post by **Minstrel** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:49 am

Instead of rushing into buying a Norton, you may also want to check out the beginner packages of New Old Stock hones from Tilly at http://www.redtrader99.com/hones.html I bought the #2 package and was able to use the hones to hone out a couple of nicks in a razor I'm restoring. She's very nice to do business with too. And she also has some straight razors for sale...

/Nicholas

mparker762 · Post by **mparker762** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:19 pm

I'll second what chris said, though I sold my Norton instead of giving it away

I'm also a big fan of the Shapton hones, which are water hones but need neither a soak nor a slurry to work. Paddles are very economical and easy to use. Since you're on a budget you might want to think about a barber hone. You can use these dry or wet. My favorite barber hone is the Dubl Duck combination hone, but there are a lot of other hones out there that will perform well.

Whatever hone you get, just make sure that its lapped flat before trying to use it.

Racso_MS · Post by **Racso_MS** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:03 pm

Would you like to know what I hate about this forum...

It has a psycholgical effect on my psychi (sp)...

I've been wanting a straight for years and don't have any knowledge about them. Threads like this just make my AD kick in to over drive and the discipline not to purchase one is almost more than a man can stand...

One day I'm going to break down and buy one with all the accoutrements and go for it... But honestly I don't have a clue..there is definetely a language barrier that I must over come...

Some research is warranted and reading the Docs Guide is probably the first order of business...

I enjoy my DE shaving so much I can't imagine a better shave, but you never know...

FiReSTaRT · Post by **FiReSTaRT** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:47 am

I didn't get good results from barber hones (even though some people did), but as long as the Norton is lapped flat and you do a proper x-pattern stroke, you'll eventually get it there. As for finishing/touching up, 5 strokes on the chromium oxide every 5-10 shaves is all it takes. To me that's much more convenient than using hones, but to each his own. Since I have a rotation currently sitting at 9, I usually do them all in one shot.