Confused.....straight razors

Johnus

Johnus

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5,246
First: I'll admitted that I've never used a straight razor. But I'm curious.
Second: I've been reading a lot about them. Even bought a inexpensive vintage one.
What I'm really having a problem with is all the talk about using 4 or 5 different homes. 2 or 3 different strops. Etc. Etc.
I just can't see my grand father back in 1890 saying 'wonder what hardness hone I'm going to use today?' as he gets ready to go to mill!
Wasn't it like the 1904 Gillette? A blade, was a blade, was a blade! You just had one choice and didn't think about it?
So what do I really, really need besides a razor and soap to get started. (and yes I watched UTube and the 2, 100$ nortons in the turtle pond, don't think gramp's had one of those either).
Thanks.
 
Nope I don't think he did. He most likely received it in shaving condition and kept it that way with a barbers hone or a natural one. When he could no longer make it sharp himself he would buy another or have it re-sharpened most likely if you look at the high end more expensive hones you will see that they are natural stones that were made and used a long time ago
 
I concur with Pedro. Granddad probably made do with a double sided strop at best, and some sort of finish hone. He most likely subbed out any major sharpening work to a knife grinder, and kept a second razor in reserve. Finding someone competent to do the maintenance is the thing: in days gone by there would be a local tradesman who could take on the work, but now it's a matter of finding someone on the web or doing your own.
 
This seems to be something that I'm going to have to let my subconscious work on for awhile. As the razor I have now is very clean but also very dull I think that I'll just go through the motions with the extra shaving lather in the mornings to see if there was any muscle memory that was genetically past down. I live in his old home, so he may want to spiritually pass down some advice too!
 
Johnus said:
This seems to be something that I'm going to have to let my subconscious work on for awhile. As the razor I have now is very clean but also very dull I think that I'll just go through the motions with the extra shaving lather in the mornings to see if there was any muscle memory that was genetically past down. I live in his old home, so he may want to spiritually pass down some advice too!
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An excellent site to check out is: http://straightrazorplace.com/content/
Full of straight razor information and very nice folks who are great with advice. Just like the good folks on this forum.
 
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