Budget for beginning with straight razor shaving?

Thank you Bazz. Your advice inspired me to check out Billy's listing on eBay. I asked him for a little advice too. As a result, I have just ordered my first straight razor and a strop.
Cool, what did you get? Did he also create a custom product for you so that you didn't have to pay for separate shipping or?
 
Thank you Bazz. Your advice inspired me to check out Billy's listing on eBay. I asked him for a little advice too. As a result, I have just ordered my first straight razor and a strop.

That's great, i'm sure you won't be disappointed, i have one razor from him and the edge was superb, and his strops look top drawer as well. You'll have to post some photos for us to drool over when they arrive.
 
That's great, i'm sure you won't be disappointed, i have one razor from him and the edge was superb, and his strops look top drawer as well. You'll have to post some photos for us to drool over when they arrive.
Billy's work is first class, and he's really helpful.
 
That's great, i'm sure you won't be disappointed, i have one razor from him and the edge was superb, and his strops look top drawer as well. You'll have to post some photos for us to drool over when they arrive.
I am hoping that the razor and paddle stop arrive today. The strop is a leather and cotton canvas combination. This leads to a question if you or anybody else reading this don't mind.

I started shaving with DE's in March 2019. In the interim I have also used SE's. I shave almost every day. Most months I don't miss a day. A week ago I used a rolls razor for the first time and loved it. I have now had 7 consecutive shaves with it (have a NOS one on the way too). So to my question. As it looks like I will be mostly working from home for at least a month it seems like a good time to learn the art of straight razor shaving. I would ideally like to try this daily. My guess is it might take some days to build up to a full single pass which I will complete with the Rolls (closest to a straight in my collection and I do have a new one coming in). Based on this modest start and only taking off a days growth, if I'm lucky, with one pass how much stropping should I do canvas and leather? I guess I will work this out for myself over time but I don't want to ruin the edge or the shave in the first weeks.

Sorry for the preamble to the question but I thought the fact I am only taking off a days growth might be relevant Thanks, Tony. .
 
I am hoping that the razor and paddle stop arrive today. The strop is a leather and cotton canvas combination. This leads to a question if you or anybody else reading this don't mind.

I started shaving with DE's in March 2019. In the interim I have also used SE's. I shave almost every day. Most months I don't miss a day. A week ago I used a rolls razor for the first time and loved it. I have now had 7 consecutive shaves with it (have a NOS one on the way too). So to my question. As it looks like I will be mostly working from home for at least a month it seems like a good time to learn the art of straight razor shaving. I would ideally like to try this daily. My guess is it might take some days to build up to a full single pass which I will complete with the Rolls (closest to a straight in my collection and I do have a new one coming in). Based on this modest start and only taking off a days growth, if I'm lucky, with one pass how much stropping should I do canvas and leather? I guess I will work this out for myself over time but I don't want to ruin the edge or the shave in the first weeks.

Sorry for the preamble to the question but I thought the fact I am only taking off a days growth might be relevant Thanks, Tony. .

I personally never got on with cotton, linen or canvas as a stropping media, just didn't like the feel so i use leather and suede.

As a point to start with try 60 laps on the leather pre-shave and 20 laps on leather then 20 laps on the cotton post shave. As time goes on i suspect you'll find your own path but that was the advice given to me when i started and it still forms the foundation of my stropping regime.

Take it slowly to start with, even practice stropping a cutlery knife just to get the motion dialed in, as you can damage the edge of the razor if you're not careful.
 
Counting strokes can be counter productive. You should learn to feel the shift in the draw of the leather. That's how I was taught and it has served me well ever since. For me it is the most accurate way to judge a razor's shave readiness.
Leather behaves differently on a paddle strop to a hanging strop. On a paddle strop you feel a loosening, on a hanging strop the draw increases when / if the edge aligns well.

Having said all that try a 1:2 ratio stropping routine. For instance a friend of mine who seems to never need to refresh his blades does 35 on linen, 65 on leather. So that might be a guide to how many strokes.

With canvas /material strops, not all are equal. Flax linen is much the most effective and can be picked up in wide webbing quite cheaply on the bay.
If you are using pasted balsa, you don't really need canvas and can jump straight to leather.
 
I only use linen (vintage towel folded five times) after a complete progression from setting bevel to finish, never between shaves.
 
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Brilliant article.

Effect 4 shouldn't be underestimated. I can't count the number of times I have got into the arguments with less experienced shavers about the lubricating effects of stropping. If you don't believe me, just compare stropping on two identical strops, one conditioned, and the other raw. Been there done that.
That's why it's really important to maintain your strop carefully. Too much treatment and it will not burnish properly, too little and it wont lubricate.
 
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