Any straight-razor users about?

Been shaving with a straight for over 6 years & find it's the only way I can shave without tearing my face up. I have about 10 razors that I use in my rotation. NOTHING beats a straight razor!

Not only can you get a great shave, you can defend yourself with one too!

And yes, women DO find it sexy.... 8)

Big + 1 for straightrazorplace.
 
I've been using straight razors for close to ten years now (I'm only 30 so I guess I just started young). I think once you get used to it and figure it out you won't go back. Head shaving is a time consuming (and scary) challenge that I wouldn't reccomend : )
I still use a regular razor for that.
 
Knifecenter.com has a wide variety of new straight razors for $45 and up. I started using a straight razor about 2 months ago after many years with traditional blades. Slow learning process for me but like the close shave results but definitely takes longer time to get the job done.
 
I had the most luck with Ebay, but be sure to take a good look at the picture. The first one I bought was pretty much worn out; had I looked more closely I would've realized that before I bought it. The second was an old Zartina that worked very well. The third was a Dovo "Silver Steel" model that neither took nor held an edge like the Zartina did, but I suppose that it was serviceable. The fourth was a newly produced model that I purchased from a vendor here; it had been ground so poorly that it could not be saved.

I'll be the bad guy here and admit why I gave it up: as sharp as I could get that Zartina, a Fusion gets just as close (if not closer) with less work. Yes, it costs more, but as I'm only shaving once per week it's not that big of a deal for me.
 
Also to note, there are several razor companies/retailers that offer professional sharpening services. Once they have a good edge on them, keep them stropped and you'll rarely have to sharpen them again.
 
your leg apparently makes a good strop as well:
ill2-017.jpg
 
Been shaving with straights for a long time now. Occasionally I'll get bored with that and hone/strop a good Opinel or Douk Douk and shave with that instead. Here's my two cents;
- Very good quality old razors are indeed available for a reasonable price from antique shops, swap meets, etc.. However, they will invariably need to be reground (nicked and dented edges) honed and stropped prior to use. That's fine if you know what you're doing, could be quite frustrating if you don't:(
- If you're deployed, or just in the field training, you've got enough to worry about keeping your weapons/other gear squared away. The old school carbon steel razors can become rust magnets in the field if you aren't fastidious about wiping them dry and occasionally giving them a swipe of CLP or something
-So. . . . my vote would be for a new DOVO or other reputable brand in stainless steel. Shouldn't require anything more than a light stropping out-of-the-box to get you up and running. It'll shave good and not develop the "black death" (rust pitting) when you're out "living rough";)

Sarge
 
I got my straight from vintagebladesllc.com Reasonable prices, I love my dovo. I also found that I am quite a bit more fond of the milled dish soap, the later is more cushiony if that makes sense.
 
Another +1 for Dovo. Although it's not a stainless blade, the Classic Tortoise is a brilliant shaver. I also have a couple of plain-jane Best Quality's and they do a fine job.

Antiques will be difficult to find in stainless models, and will almost certainly need restoration work before being shave ready. Given your circumstances I would agree that new is probably the way to go. :)
 
My sweetheart has remarked several times lately on my "baby smooth" cheeks. What she doesn't know is that for the last week I've been shaving exclusively with what Opinel calls a "garden knife". Cheap as dirt, but the blade is good Swedish Sandvik 12c27 steel and takes a breathtaking edge. One of THE keys to a good nekkid blade shave is hot lather and plenty of it.
I use a mug, brush, AND a good old copper tea kettle to get that water piping hot. For shaving soap I skip the frilly stuff and use Grandma's Lye Soap.
I know what you're thinking - Lye Soap?- heck yes, it's a lot milder than what you may have been lead to believe, and contains no dyes or perfumes. With hot water and a good brush it lathers up one heck of a foam, and one cake of it will last months. You can get Grandma's Lye Soap at most health food stores, I get mine from my local ACE Hardware. Shaving with a bare blade ain't new, and it ain't no mystery. With sufficient practice any feller can scrape the whiskers off his face natural as scaling a perch.:D

Sarge
 
Sarge, I may have asked this before regarding Opinels and Douks for shaving, but what kind of profile/grind do you give them? Flat grind, chisel, hollow? I'm guessing that the typical arm hair shaving edge I give 'em ain't going to cut it (so to speak) when it comes to getting one's face or head close shaven...
 
C.S., Opinels and Douk Douks are both ground to what I like to call a "flattened convex" blade profile, convex, just spread out sort of gradual like. To sharpen one up for shaving you want to hone down to a fairly acute edge, like 10 degree bevel on each side giving a total inclusive edge angle of 20 degrees. It's gonna be sharp and make the hairs pop, but makes for a delicate edge that'll dull up on you if you're cutting anything but your whiskers with it. The folders that I shave with don't get used to cut anything else, because any edge deformity at all in a shaving blade is going to wind up feeling like dragging a garden rake across your cheeks.:o

Sarge
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
C.S., Opinels and Douk Douks are both ground to what I like to call a "flattened convex" blade profile, convex, just spread out sort of gradual like. To sharpen one up for shaving you want to hone down to a fairly acute edge, like 10 degree bevel on each side giving a total inclusive edge angle of 20 degrees. It's gonna be sharp and make the hairs pop, but makes for a delicate edge that'll dull up on you if you're cutting anything but your whiskers with it. The folders that I shave with don't get used to cut anything else, because any edge deformity at all in a shaving blade is going to wind up feeling like dragging a garden rake across your cheeks.:o

Sarge
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, Sarge! :thumbup:

Shaving with a douk-douk might make the layman think one is removing their beard with a batarang. :cool:
 
Sarge IIRC on a thread far away and long ago in another shaving thread you mentioned some kind of gel or oil that you had used in place of a lathering up. :confused:
Was that indeed you and if so would you mind naming names and where to get it? ;) :D

Here for the last few months I've been having to use my old Norelco electric to whack off the worst of what little beard I do have and what little I do have is noticeable as well as scratchy the very next day. :(

If I shave with one of the better disposables I can get by two days without shaving.

But when I'm having a really good day and feel like taking my good ol' sweet time I can lather up and shave with my solid brass Trac II that takes the replaceable Trac II Blades with the Teflon strip and can go nearly three whole days before I'd have to shave to be really respectful enough to go out into public.....:thumbup: :cool: :D
I was thinking that if the product you were telling us about worked as well as the lather does for me then I'd be able to get the really close long lasting shave a helluva lot more often.....:thumbup: :cool: :D

.
 
How did I miss this thread?

This is what I shave with, well, one of my 5 straight razors... + 3 old DE Gillettes... anyway.


It's my great grandfather's razor that I got restored, with amboyna burl scales.

June1st005.jpg
 
Yvsa, the shaving oil I used to use is called "Shave Secret" and it's usually available at Wal Mart. Shaving oils are mostly just plant based essential oils, so I reckon regular old olive oil would work. Tell you what, I'll try the olive oil this morning and let you know. With any of 'em, you just wet your face with hot water, rub in the oil (two or three drops spread on the palms of your hands will cover your face nicely), splash on more hot water, and shave away.:thumbup:

Sarge
 
Okay, tried the olive oil, wasn't real impressed. It worked, but not as well as Shave Secret. Personally I love a good mug & brush and all that hot, foamy lather, the stuff that comes out of aerosol cans might as well be Cheeze Whiz.:barf:;)

Sarge
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
Okay, tried the olive oil, wasn't real impressed. It worked, but not as well as Shave Secret. Personally I love a good mug & brush and all that hot, foamy lather, the stuff that comes out of aerosol cans might as well be Cheeze Whiz.:barf:;)

Sarge
Click to expand...

Thanks Sarge!:thumbup: I've still got my brush and mug and a couple extra cakes of shaving soap that I keep for sentimental reasons but that I rarely use anymore. The Shave Secret sounds promising for a quick run across the face on a bad day or when pressed for time.

It's just too much trouble for me to go through the whole rigmarole unless I'm having a really exceptionally good day when I wake up and find my fingers aren't too terribly numb to get it all together. ;) :thumbup:

.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top