As a part of a marketing class I'm taking, I'm reading a book called 'The Guru Papers', in it it says that God's unconditional love is not very unconditional, as you must believe in His Son to enter into Heaven. I believe that this displays a lack of understanding between the concept of love and the concept of a just God.
You see, God loves us all, everyone, no matter what. If He did not, He would not have sent His one and only Son into the world to die for the sins of all mankind. His love, without condition, for humanity is well established.
Let's talk about justness, or fairness. How fair is it for someone who is highly involved in their church, trying their best to live a good Christian life, and who has a genuine relationship with Jesus to go to hell? Not very fair, right? Likewise, how fair is it for a mass murdering psycho with no relationship with Jesus to go to Heaven? Again, not fair at all. See, the Christian makes a conscious choice to have a relationship with Jesus, while the unrepentant sinner makes a conscious choice not to (either knowingly or unknowingly). We choose whether we go to Heaven or to the other place. How fair would it be for God to allow people who made a conscious choice not to go to Heaven to go to heaven? Not fair at all.
Understand this, God loves everyone, even those who are in the pit of hell, and it breaks His heart to see them there. Acceptance of Jesus isn't the gateway to God's love, God gives His love freely to all, acceptance of Jesus is merely the conscious choice to live your life for Jesus and, ergo, spend eternity in Heaven continuing to live your life for Him and His cause.
God loves you no matter what, where you spend eternity is up to you.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Friday, September 17, 2010
Razor Sharpening--Saving Yourself a Ton of Money
Oh my goodness!! The world of straight razor shaving is literally out of it's collective mind!! If you listened to half of the people on Badger and Blade or Straight Razor Place Forums, they would have you convinced that you MUST have a $100 strop, a $100 shaving mug, a $390 shaving brush, and the absolute most expensive soap you can afford, $50 from Straight Razor Designs!!! Are you kidding me?!?
When it comes to the subject of sharpening your razor, they are no different. Offering up advice to purchase a $500 Shapton 30,000 grit water stone, or a $80 Norton 4,000/8,000 water stone, or even the full range of Shapton ceramic glass stones, from 220 grit all the way up to 30,000 grit, for a whopping $680!!! If you regularly sharpened razors from a completely dull edge (think letter opener) all the way to a perfected shaving edge then I could understand purchasing all of those stones. However, seeing as you're probably a lot like me and only sharpen your razor once every 4-6 months, you are not going to need all of these things.
For many people, they cannot justify purchasing anything other than a strop to maintain the edge, as they would much rather pay $20 + shipping & handling to have their razors sharpened twice a year, with a 5 week turnaround! If that is you, please, send me your razors! I'll happily take your money & get them back to you in two weeks! Seriously though, I can almost understand these people. They likely only have one razor and probably have never sharpened a pocket knife. That is perfectly okay, and there is nothing wrong with that. But, if you're like me and have multiple razors (I have 3), it would cost me $120 per year to have them professionally sharpened, and I can't justify that. Plus, there is just a simple satisfaction of a job well done that you can never get from paying someone to do it for you.
Since most of you will start off with only one razor, and will likely want to do it as simple, quick, and inexpensive as you can get away with, I will start there and build into using an antique razor hone (purchased from e-bay), multiple hones, and so on.
Make Your Own Razor Hone
Didn't I tell you we were going to start inexpensive? How about $15 for all the leather you'll need to make 4 leather stropping "hones"! Go to Woodcraft (link at bottom) and there you can purchase a 6" X 12" piece of compressed leather suitable for cutting into 4 strips of 3" X 6" pieces to make your leather hone. As a side note, do not use your razor to cut the leather! I know it goes without saying that you should use an actual leather knife or a sturdy pair of kitchen shears, but some people would actually try this, I'm sure, so it needed to be said. Now, go to your local lumber yard and pick up some kind of wood to glue the leather to, all you need is a 3" by 6" piece, but you need 4 of them, so whether you buy a 3X2X24 or whatever, makes no difference. If they'll cut them individually, that's great. Also, some over-run isn't bad so if they don't have exactly a 3X6 piece, don't spend money to get them to cut it to size, if they'll do it for free, why not; but don't spend money.
Once you have the wood back home, you're going to need to put some real quality adhesive on the back of it that is suitable for gluing wood to leather. From everything I've read, simple Elmer's wood glue should do the trick, also rubber cement seems to work well. As a precautionary measure, before you go gluing the leather to the wood, sand the wood lightly and make sure that no dust or other particulate is present on the wood. This will ensure a proper seal with the leather. Do not coat the entire piece at once! Apply a thin to medium thick coat of glue to the back (coarse) side of the leather, at this point you want about half of it coated with glue. Now, apply it smoothly to the board starting with the top and working your way to halfway between the top and the end of the glue. At this point, go ahead and glue up the rest (all but what you need to hold it) and then apply to the board. Make sure that you press out any air bubbles that may have formed and that the leather is flat on the surface, with no creases, and no glue on the top. If glue is present on the top, wait until it dries and use your fingernail to pick it off; no worries. Repeat this process for the remaining 3 pieces of leather, and now you have four high quality "hones" that you got for $15 and a little elbow grease!
Now, when it comes to actually using your "hone" so that it will sharpen your blade, there are a few things that you need to purchase. The first one is a diamond paste or spray. We all know that diamond is the hardest mineral on the face of the earth and that nothing except another diamond can scratch it; so whether you have an Art of Shaving Thiers-Issard New Forging razor (my personal choice), a DOVO, Bokker, or any number of Damascus steel blades with Rockwell hardness factors in the mid 60s, a diamond paste will be able to do the job.
The brand that I use is Amplex Super Abrasives and is available from the Classic Shaving store (although when I last checked they were all out of stock.) although Straight Razor Designs makes a spray that is also diamond and comes in the same sizes. Now, this is very important, when you apply these pastes/sprays to your "hone", apply only one paste to each block and (if spraying) make sure none of the particulate from the spray gets onto the other "hones". Accomplish this by washing your hands in between applications and covering the other hones with a towel or a paper towel. You will need 3 micron sizes; 1 micron (approximately 15,500 grit), 0.5 micron (approximately 30,000 grit), and 0.25 micron (approximately 60,000 grit {which doesn't even exist in stone}). These pastes/sprays are available from the retailer's listed for around $15-$22 each. So, for the total cost of $81 and some elbow grease, I have provided you with the equivalent of a $76 stone, a $95 dollar stone, and a stone that doesn't even exist; I'd say that's pretty good!
Sharpening Your Razor--The Big Payoff
Sharpening a straight razor is so incredibly simple that I struggle to see why so many struggle with it! That is true of using a stone to sharpen it (pushing the blade forward) and of strop sharpening it (the way I'm about to show you). Let's review what we've got to work with, pieces of leather attached to a board. Obviously if we attempted to sharpen the blade like we would a knife on a stone, we would cut into the leather and damage the blade; accomplishing nothing, right? We must therefore learn how to sharpen a razor on a leather hone.
First, lay the razor on the leather with the blade facing up. Slowly rotate the razor until the blade is flat on the hone. Now, pull the razor towards the 3" end of the hone that the blade is not facing, I repeat, is not facing. You pull the razor, with the back (or spine/head) or the razor leading towards the end of the hone. You do not push the razor blade first as you would on a traditional stone hone. When you reach the edge, rotate the razor blade up, push it forward so that the end of the blade (the part nearest where you hold it) is about half-way up the hone, rotate the razor so that the blade is lying flat, then pull the razor spine first towards the other side. There, one "lap" around the hone completed!! Repeat this as many times as is necessary on your largest grit, then thoroughly wash the razor (we don't want 1 micron particulate spoiling our 0.5 micron hone now, do we?), and repeat as many times as necessary to polish the edge, then move down to your final "hone" before you repeat the process again on your hone with no diamond paste/spray on it. Then you are ready to shave!
Sharpening a razor is really a simple and easy task and, when you do it right, it can be inexpensive (compared to the alternative) also. I hope this article has illuminated how low cost the world of straight razor shaving can be and has encouraged you to become a part of our world!
John R. Weaver is a avid writer, blogger, and wet/straight razor shaving enthusiast. His hobbies include music, fly-fishing, being active in his church, and reading. His website is http://johnrweaver.blogspot.com/
Woodcraft.com Product: Compressed Leather for Hone/Slip Makers
Badger & Blade Forums, Straight Razor Place--Instruction and Forums,
When it comes to the subject of sharpening your razor, they are no different. Offering up advice to purchase a $500 Shapton 30,000 grit water stone, or a $80 Norton 4,000/8,000 water stone, or even the full range of Shapton ceramic glass stones, from 220 grit all the way up to 30,000 grit, for a whopping $680!!! If you regularly sharpened razors from a completely dull edge (think letter opener) all the way to a perfected shaving edge then I could understand purchasing all of those stones. However, seeing as you're probably a lot like me and only sharpen your razor once every 4-6 months, you are not going to need all of these things.
For many people, they cannot justify purchasing anything other than a strop to maintain the edge, as they would much rather pay $20 + shipping & handling to have their razors sharpened twice a year, with a 5 week turnaround! If that is you, please, send me your razors! I'll happily take your money & get them back to you in two weeks! Seriously though, I can almost understand these people. They likely only have one razor and probably have never sharpened a pocket knife. That is perfectly okay, and there is nothing wrong with that. But, if you're like me and have multiple razors (I have 3), it would cost me $120 per year to have them professionally sharpened, and I can't justify that. Plus, there is just a simple satisfaction of a job well done that you can never get from paying someone to do it for you.
Since most of you will start off with only one razor, and will likely want to do it as simple, quick, and inexpensive as you can get away with, I will start there and build into using an antique razor hone (purchased from e-bay), multiple hones, and so on.
Make Your Own Razor Hone
Didn't I tell you we were going to start inexpensive? How about $15 for all the leather you'll need to make 4 leather stropping "hones"! Go to Woodcraft (link at bottom) and there you can purchase a 6" X 12" piece of compressed leather suitable for cutting into 4 strips of 3" X 6" pieces to make your leather hone. As a side note, do not use your razor to cut the leather! I know it goes without saying that you should use an actual leather knife or a sturdy pair of kitchen shears, but some people would actually try this, I'm sure, so it needed to be said. Now, go to your local lumber yard and pick up some kind of wood to glue the leather to, all you need is a 3" by 6" piece, but you need 4 of them, so whether you buy a 3X2X24 or whatever, makes no difference. If they'll cut them individually, that's great. Also, some over-run isn't bad so if they don't have exactly a 3X6 piece, don't spend money to get them to cut it to size, if they'll do it for free, why not; but don't spend money.
Once you have the wood back home, you're going to need to put some real quality adhesive on the back of it that is suitable for gluing wood to leather. From everything I've read, simple Elmer's wood glue should do the trick, also rubber cement seems to work well. As a precautionary measure, before you go gluing the leather to the wood, sand the wood lightly and make sure that no dust or other particulate is present on the wood. This will ensure a proper seal with the leather. Do not coat the entire piece at once! Apply a thin to medium thick coat of glue to the back (coarse) side of the leather, at this point you want about half of it coated with glue. Now, apply it smoothly to the board starting with the top and working your way to halfway between the top and the end of the glue. At this point, go ahead and glue up the rest (all but what you need to hold it) and then apply to the board. Make sure that you press out any air bubbles that may have formed and that the leather is flat on the surface, with no creases, and no glue on the top. If glue is present on the top, wait until it dries and use your fingernail to pick it off; no worries. Repeat this process for the remaining 3 pieces of leather, and now you have four high quality "hones" that you got for $15 and a little elbow grease!
Now, when it comes to actually using your "hone" so that it will sharpen your blade, there are a few things that you need to purchase. The first one is a diamond paste or spray. We all know that diamond is the hardest mineral on the face of the earth and that nothing except another diamond can scratch it; so whether you have an Art of Shaving Thiers-Issard New Forging razor (my personal choice), a DOVO, Bokker, or any number of Damascus steel blades with Rockwell hardness factors in the mid 60s, a diamond paste will be able to do the job.
The brand that I use is Amplex Super Abrasives and is available from the Classic Shaving store (although when I last checked they were all out of stock.) although Straight Razor Designs makes a spray that is also diamond and comes in the same sizes. Now, this is very important, when you apply these pastes/sprays to your "hone", apply only one paste to each block and (if spraying) make sure none of the particulate from the spray gets onto the other "hones". Accomplish this by washing your hands in between applications and covering the other hones with a towel or a paper towel. You will need 3 micron sizes; 1 micron (approximately 15,500 grit), 0.5 micron (approximately 30,000 grit), and 0.25 micron (approximately 60,000 grit {which doesn't even exist in stone}). These pastes/sprays are available from the retailer's listed for around $15-$22 each. So, for the total cost of $81 and some elbow grease, I have provided you with the equivalent of a $76 stone, a $95 dollar stone, and a stone that doesn't even exist; I'd say that's pretty good!
Sharpening Your Razor--The Big Payoff
Sharpening a straight razor is so incredibly simple that I struggle to see why so many struggle with it! That is true of using a stone to sharpen it (pushing the blade forward) and of strop sharpening it (the way I'm about to show you). Let's review what we've got to work with, pieces of leather attached to a board. Obviously if we attempted to sharpen the blade like we would a knife on a stone, we would cut into the leather and damage the blade; accomplishing nothing, right? We must therefore learn how to sharpen a razor on a leather hone.
First, lay the razor on the leather with the blade facing up. Slowly rotate the razor until the blade is flat on the hone. Now, pull the razor towards the 3" end of the hone that the blade is not facing, I repeat, is not facing. You pull the razor, with the back (or spine/head) or the razor leading towards the end of the hone. You do not push the razor blade first as you would on a traditional stone hone. When you reach the edge, rotate the razor blade up, push it forward so that the end of the blade (the part nearest where you hold it) is about half-way up the hone, rotate the razor so that the blade is lying flat, then pull the razor spine first towards the other side. There, one "lap" around the hone completed!! Repeat this as many times as is necessary on your largest grit, then thoroughly wash the razor (we don't want 1 micron particulate spoiling our 0.5 micron hone now, do we?), and repeat as many times as necessary to polish the edge, then move down to your final "hone" before you repeat the process again on your hone with no diamond paste/spray on it. Then you are ready to shave!
Sharpening a razor is really a simple and easy task and, when you do it right, it can be inexpensive (compared to the alternative) also. I hope this article has illuminated how low cost the world of straight razor shaving can be and has encouraged you to become a part of our world!
John R. Weaver is a avid writer, blogger, and wet/straight razor shaving enthusiast. His hobbies include music, fly-fishing, being active in his church, and reading. His website is http://johnrweaver.blogspot.com/
Woodcraft.com Product: Compressed Leather for Hone/Slip Makers
Badger & Blade Forums, Straight Razor Place--Instruction and Forums,
Wet Shaving--Luxury on the Cheap
When most people think about wet shaving, the think about their grandfather, or their great-grandfather, pulling out the straight razor, giving it a good stropping, mixing up some shaving soap, putting a hot towel on his face for a good three minutes, and all of that. However, that is not exactly what wet shaving is. Although wet shaving has long been associated with the use of a blade (i.e. a straight razor or a safety razor) over a cartridge razor (i.e. Gillette Mach 3, Fusion, Track Two, etc.); what wet shaving really is all about is what medium you put on your face before you shave (I.e. canned "cream" or gel v.s. shaving soap or actual shaving cream).For the purposes of this article, we will consider shaving cream to be that which comes from a tube and must be mixed with water by the use of an appropriate brush to form a lather that is then suitable for shaving with. Anything that comes out of a can will be referred to as shaving foam. Wet shaving, then can be applied with either cartridge shaving or when shaving with a blade.
Why should we wet shave?
I'll assume that you have already been told that aerosols are harmful to the environment and are probably sick of hearing ecologically-responsible things and cut right to the chase; it all comes down to money! When you buy your normal shaving foam, how long does that can last you? If you're like most men I know, the answer is likely a month or two, no more than that. Given the average cost of a can of shaving foam, that is likely to run you almost $100 per year! Would you be surprised if I told you that a regular (i.e. 2.5-4 oz.) bar of shaving soap would last you almost a year (with regular shaving) and only cost you about $4 for a very good brand? Of course you would!
The absolute best shaving soap I've yet tried comes from a small Texas based corporation known as Van Der Hagen Enterprises. They make several products for shaving, but the one I have fallen in love with is the Deluxe Shaving Soap. It is available in numerous National retail stores (i.e. Walgreen's, Wal-Mart, CVS) and comes in a little green box. It lathers up very quickly and it is absolutely a dream to put on your skin! It is so smooth and creamy that I assure you, you will never go back to shaving foam again!
Another important reason that you should adopt the luxurious ritual of wet shaving is that it is simply better for your skin than dry shaving (i.e. using shaving foam). Many shaving foams use ingredients that, at best, are not good for your skin and at worst are downright harmful. Shaving soaps, on the other hand, are always made from the richest, most moisturizing, best-for-your-skin ingredients you can find; this holds true from the lesser quality products (i.e. Col. Conk's) to the higher quality products (Classic Shaving Brand, Truefitt & Hill, Taylor of Old Bond Street, Vulfix). Why? Because wet shaving is all about moisturizing the hair, and, as a side effect, your skin, so that it is easier to shave. When the hairs on your face are properly hydrated (through the hot towel method and proper application of shaving soap lather) it is almost nothing to achieve a very close, smooth, shave. Also, the process of applying shaving soap lather to one's face lifts the hair off of the face and works the moisturizing agents deep into the hair follicle and the skin; so not only will you achieve a closer shave, but you will also have a softer face that the woman in your life will certainly enjoy!
Of Mugs and Brushes
First off, a standard coffee mug should be quite adequate for wet shaving purposes. I see no reason to pay $20 for one that is custom monogrammed or even the ungodly price of $46-$100 for a wooden or pewter shaving dish, be realistic and use a coffee cup! If you must get a custom mug just for shaving, visit Cool Shaving (http://coolshaving.com) and get the mug that says "Real Men Shave With A Blade" for $15, but I believe even that is ridiculous!
Now, to brushes. You don't really believe that I would advise you to shell out $70 for a Super Badger brush, do you? Of course not! I recommend, are you ready for it, women's powder brushes! Ever since I started wet shaving, I have been using a synthetic powder brush that I purchased from my local grocery store for a whopping $7 and it has worked fantastically. As far as boar's hair brushes go, unless you like being poked with a thousand tiny needles while you're applying your shaving lather, I would say avoid them at all costs. I hear that there are some on Amazon for about $15 (badger hair) but when you factor in the shipping, it still doesn't make sense to me to pay twice as much for something that is of equal quality to something I can get for half and no shipping at Wal-Mart!
Razor Selection
I know that some of you will be very wary of shaving with an actual blade (i.e. safety/straight razor), but please allow me to extoll the virtues of doing so. First of all, you may not even realize it, but you are enslaved to the cartridge razor industry! They force you to buy cartridge pack after cartridge pack or razors that go dull within 1-2 uses and you just blindly accept their slavery, thinking that they have your best interests in mind. After all, if shaving with a straight razor were so superior, they wouldn't have created the cartridge razor industry, right? Wrong!
When King Gillete (yes, that's really his name) first came up with the idea for the safety razor blade (what he really invented, b/c models of the safety razor handle existed for about a decade before he introduced his), he wanted a product that could be thrown away after a few uses. The advantage (if it can be called that) over a straight razor, is that it never needed to be sharpened because when it dulled, you just threw it away and put in a new blade. To me (having been shaving with a straight razor for about two years now), I do not really see this as an issue because, with regular stropping (which should be done before and after every shave), a razor will need to be sharpened only every 4-6 months. The cartridge/safety razor industry was therefore created on the illusion of convenience rather than the superior quality of the shave.
Furthermore, the shaving foam industry was created out of the illusion of convenience as well, because it is now possible to squirt "lather" (foam) directly into your hand for application to your beard without having to mix soap and water and work up a lather with a brush. Generally, it takes me less than one minute to work up a suitable lather using my brush, so I ask you, is that really an inconvenience for the superior quality of the shave that you will have because of it? I think not!
Now that we know why the industries of the disposable razor and shaving foam came about, let us now turn our attention to the proper selection of a straight razor, suitable for shaving, and that only needs sharpening every 4-6 months. Straight razors come in all manner of sizes, thicknesses (4/8 to 7/8), and grind. The grind is what determines how much of the thickness of the head & back (that 5/8 or 7/8) is carried forward to the blade. Razors come in full-hollow ground, 1/4 ground, 1/2 ground, and in full wedge configurations. I would recommend that you look for one that is 1/2 to 1/4 ground as this will provide less blade "chatter" as it glides over your skin and is easiest for beginners to handle.
I hope that all of this has inspired you to become a part of the wonderful world of wet shaving and (hopefully) to make the leap and purchase your own straight razor!
Links:
http://www.vdhent.com/, http://mamabearssoaps.com, http://www.classicshaving.com/Home.html, http://www.straightrazordesigns.com/, http://www.theartofshaving.com/
My recommendations for a beginning razor: http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=DV101587, http://www.theartofshaving.com/shop/product/68020/10 <---My Personal Choice
Why should we wet shave?
I'll assume that you have already been told that aerosols are harmful to the environment and are probably sick of hearing ecologically-responsible things and cut right to the chase; it all comes down to money! When you buy your normal shaving foam, how long does that can last you? If you're like most men I know, the answer is likely a month or two, no more than that. Given the average cost of a can of shaving foam, that is likely to run you almost $100 per year! Would you be surprised if I told you that a regular (i.e. 2.5-4 oz.) bar of shaving soap would last you almost a year (with regular shaving) and only cost you about $4 for a very good brand? Of course you would!
The absolute best shaving soap I've yet tried comes from a small Texas based corporation known as Van Der Hagen Enterprises. They make several products for shaving, but the one I have fallen in love with is the Deluxe Shaving Soap. It is available in numerous National retail stores (i.e. Walgreen's, Wal-Mart, CVS) and comes in a little green box. It lathers up very quickly and it is absolutely a dream to put on your skin! It is so smooth and creamy that I assure you, you will never go back to shaving foam again!
Another important reason that you should adopt the luxurious ritual of wet shaving is that it is simply better for your skin than dry shaving (i.e. using shaving foam). Many shaving foams use ingredients that, at best, are not good for your skin and at worst are downright harmful. Shaving soaps, on the other hand, are always made from the richest, most moisturizing, best-for-your-skin ingredients you can find; this holds true from the lesser quality products (i.e. Col. Conk's) to the higher quality products (Classic Shaving Brand, Truefitt & Hill, Taylor of Old Bond Street, Vulfix). Why? Because wet shaving is all about moisturizing the hair, and, as a side effect, your skin, so that it is easier to shave. When the hairs on your face are properly hydrated (through the hot towel method and proper application of shaving soap lather) it is almost nothing to achieve a very close, smooth, shave. Also, the process of applying shaving soap lather to one's face lifts the hair off of the face and works the moisturizing agents deep into the hair follicle and the skin; so not only will you achieve a closer shave, but you will also have a softer face that the woman in your life will certainly enjoy!
Of Mugs and Brushes
First off, a standard coffee mug should be quite adequate for wet shaving purposes. I see no reason to pay $20 for one that is custom monogrammed or even the ungodly price of $46-$100 for a wooden or pewter shaving dish, be realistic and use a coffee cup! If you must get a custom mug just for shaving, visit Cool Shaving (http://coolshaving.com) and get the mug that says "Real Men Shave With A Blade" for $15, but I believe even that is ridiculous!
Now, to brushes. You don't really believe that I would advise you to shell out $70 for a Super Badger brush, do you? Of course not! I recommend, are you ready for it, women's powder brushes! Ever since I started wet shaving, I have been using a synthetic powder brush that I purchased from my local grocery store for a whopping $7 and it has worked fantastically. As far as boar's hair brushes go, unless you like being poked with a thousand tiny needles while you're applying your shaving lather, I would say avoid them at all costs. I hear that there are some on Amazon for about $15 (badger hair) but when you factor in the shipping, it still doesn't make sense to me to pay twice as much for something that is of equal quality to something I can get for half and no shipping at Wal-Mart!
Razor Selection
I know that some of you will be very wary of shaving with an actual blade (i.e. safety/straight razor), but please allow me to extoll the virtues of doing so. First of all, you may not even realize it, but you are enslaved to the cartridge razor industry! They force you to buy cartridge pack after cartridge pack or razors that go dull within 1-2 uses and you just blindly accept their slavery, thinking that they have your best interests in mind. After all, if shaving with a straight razor were so superior, they wouldn't have created the cartridge razor industry, right? Wrong!
When King Gillete (yes, that's really his name) first came up with the idea for the safety razor blade (what he really invented, b/c models of the safety razor handle existed for about a decade before he introduced his), he wanted a product that could be thrown away after a few uses. The advantage (if it can be called that) over a straight razor, is that it never needed to be sharpened because when it dulled, you just threw it away and put in a new blade. To me (having been shaving with a straight razor for about two years now), I do not really see this as an issue because, with regular stropping (which should be done before and after every shave), a razor will need to be sharpened only every 4-6 months. The cartridge/safety razor industry was therefore created on the illusion of convenience rather than the superior quality of the shave.
Furthermore, the shaving foam industry was created out of the illusion of convenience as well, because it is now possible to squirt "lather" (foam) directly into your hand for application to your beard without having to mix soap and water and work up a lather with a brush. Generally, it takes me less than one minute to work up a suitable lather using my brush, so I ask you, is that really an inconvenience for the superior quality of the shave that you will have because of it? I think not!
Now that we know why the industries of the disposable razor and shaving foam came about, let us now turn our attention to the proper selection of a straight razor, suitable for shaving, and that only needs sharpening every 4-6 months. Straight razors come in all manner of sizes, thicknesses (4/8 to 7/8), and grind. The grind is what determines how much of the thickness of the head & back (that 5/8 or 7/8) is carried forward to the blade. Razors come in full-hollow ground, 1/4 ground, 1/2 ground, and in full wedge configurations. I would recommend that you look for one that is 1/2 to 1/4 ground as this will provide less blade "chatter" as it glides over your skin and is easiest for beginners to handle.
I hope that all of this has inspired you to become a part of the wonderful world of wet shaving and (hopefully) to make the leap and purchase your own straight razor!
Links:
http://www.vdhent.com/, http://mamabearssoaps.com, http://www.classicshaving.com/Home.html, http://www.straightrazordesigns.com/, http://www.theartofshaving.com/
My recommendations for a beginning razor: http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=DV101587, http://www.theartofshaving.com/shop/product/68020/10 <---My Personal Choice
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