Vintage Shaving

[Shangas]

Honing and stropping is easy. And I mean easy. If a doofus like me can do it...anyone can.

Just remember a few basic rules...

1. NO PRESSURE. If you put pressure on the blade, you bend and roll the edge and that screws up your razor.
2. Light, fast strokes. If you must roll the blade, then roll it on the spine, not the edge.
3. When stropping (I assume you're using a hanging-strop), keep the strop TIGHT and keep the blade LIGHT. If the strop bows or sags, that'll make the stropping less effective and a heavy stropping hand will dull the edge.
4. Strop before and after each shave. Hone when necessary (in my experience, once a month).

 

[boone33]

Nice. I've been in the market for shaving accessories.

 

[dnjan]

Honing and stropping is easy. And I mean easy. If a doofus like me can do it...anyone can.

Just remember a few basic rules...

1. NO PRESSURE. If you put pressure on the blade, you bend and roll the edge and that screws up your razor.
2. Light, fast strokes. If you must roll the blade, then roll it on the spine, not the edge.
3. When stropping (I assume you're using a hanging-strop), keep the strop TIGHT and keep the blade LIGHT. If the strop bows or sags, that'll make the stropping less effective and a heavy stropping hand will dull the edge.
4. Strop before and after each shave. Hone when necessary (in my experience, once a month).

Shangas has it right. To provide a bit more explanation:

The honing is probably done at an angle close to what you would get if you put a single layer of electrical tape over the spine and then honed with both the tape-covered spine and the cutting edge touching the stone at the same time.

So, the very slight sag you get in the strop from a tight strop along with light stropping pressure will be enough of an angle (when the spine and cutting edge are touching the strop at the same time) to polish the edge without rounding it. But letting the strop noticably sag will round the edge and result in the too-frequent need for honing.

 

[Shangas]

You need a good sharpening stone for razors. If you can, the best thing to get is a "Baber's Hone", which were honing-stones used by barbers, because they needed to resharpen their razors all the time. But a standard 4,000/8,000 grit honing-stone (that you might use for kitchen-knives) works just fine.

The best strops are made of leather. You can get a cheap, good-quality one online. Or you can even try and make your own. You can use an old leather belt as a strop (provided it's nice and smooth), I've even heard of people cutting up old jeans and stropping on the denim trouser-legs.

 

[Harry Gooch]

Shangas has it right. To provide a bit more explanation:

The honing is probably done at an angle close to what you would get if you put a single layer of electrical tape over the spine and then honed with both the tape-covered spine and the cutting edge touching the stone at the same time.

So, the very slight sag you get in the strop from a tight strop along with light stropping pressure will be enough of an angle (when the spine and cutting edge are touching the strop at the same time) to polish the edge without rounding it. But letting the strop noticably sag will round the edge and result in the too-frequent need for honing.

Forgive my ignorance, but what part of the blade is the spine?

Thanks,

Harry.

 

[Saint-Just]

I'm quite happy with DE razors (Gillette Tech 1946) and a nice Simpsons Super Badger... Choosing the right soap (or cream) is a different challenge altogether..
Straight razors are brilliant but although I am a little into knives I find that honing and stropping properly is much more difficult than it appears. You think it's fine until you compare your own razor with one properly honed...

 

[Shangas]

Harry, this is a standard straight-razor. 5/8 full hollow roundpoint. Made in Germany.

The POINT is the tip of the blade.
The SPINE is the blunt end of the blade.
...opposite to the EDGE (no need to tell you where that is).
Opposite to the point is the SHOULDER (not all straights have a shoulder) with one, or two stablisers, to prevent the blade from cracking (this one has two stablisers).
Then you have the SHANK or the TANG, then the pivot-pins that hold the SCALES and at the very end, the tail of the razor.

 

[Harry Gooch]

Harry, this is a standard straight-razor. 5/8 full hollow roundpoint. Made in Germany.

The POINT is the tip of the blade.
The SPINE is the blunt end of the blade.
...opposite to the EDGE (no need to tell you where that is).
Opposite to the point is the SHOULDER (not all straights have a shoulder) with one, or two stablisers, to prevent the blade from cracking (this one has two stablisers).
Then you have the SHANK or the TANG, then the pivot-pins that hold the SCALES and at the very end, the tail of the razor.

Excellent! Thanks again.

Harry.

 

[Young fogey]

My vintage Gem safety razor

I'm sure the experts here will tell me how old my razor is. Thanks in advance. A late South Philly barber used it for decades in his shop.