An Evaluation from a More Knowledgable Member?

I have been very cognizant of the warnings about beginners buying SRs on Ebay but I figure that you have to actually do a little looking to learn. Last night I was doing a little browsing and came across a number of blades and a couple of them caught my eye but these two in particular have me curious:

6/8 Wadsworth & Son "Boss"

5/8 J.A. Henckels "Emperor"

They both look nice and the prices seem reasonable but there are a number of things that make me nervous about placing a bid on either. The first is that the seller has few reviews and the fact that he suddenly selling a number of straight razors concerns me. The blades themselves look nice but how much of that is the photography and/or a pass on a buffer that may have created problems that I want to avoid? I also have no illusions about these razors actually being shave ready (to be fair, the "Emperor" may, in fact, be sjhave ready if such an act interests you) but the possible condition of the razors themselves is what intrigues me.

To be clear, this is largely an exercise in learning about vintage razors and how to shop for them. I have some interest but at this point I'd rather pass than make a truly bad purchase so I leave it to the membership to give me some advice and tell me if I'm being overly cautious or far too gullible.

Links only go to ebay, not the specific item.

Firstly, your concerns are founded. The seller does indeed has few reviews and upon inspection of his feedback, it becomes apparent that he is selling razors he purchased from seller johnloc1.

My guess is he might well be a straight razor neophyte who has decided that this hobby is not for him and is selling the razors he bought.

I don't want to sound too alarmist, but I would take the term " shave-ready" with a large grain of salt on eBay, especially when it's a razor that is being resold by a newbie who may have probably dulled the edge.

Lastly, 100% feedback on eBay is extremely easy to have. So if you want a truly shave ready vintage razor on eBay, you have to be 120% sure the seller knows what he is doing.

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Originally Posted by Utopian

Links only go to ebay, not the specific item.

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Sorry about that, I believe I have it fixed now.

Razors don't look bad, but since they are auction style who knows what the price could end up as. A few things I have noticed when it comes to buffers to watch out for are when corners and sharp edges seem to be rounded and have a softer look to them. Some people tend to be quite aggressive when buffing to try and speed things up. Also I think people think that buffing will increase the value, but to me it doesn't when improperly done. I dont think they were and if they were it doesn't seem to be aggressive. Buying on eBay is always risk. If you can't hold them in your hand you can never be 100% sure as to what you will receive. As to them being shave ready you never know. I've had a few sellers, when asked, state that they mean the razors are ready to be made to shave even though some had chips and other damage. Any razor I buy from eBay I expect to have to hone unless they are known to know what they are doing or they state the you can actually shave with them in present condition. Even then everyone's expectations are different so I find it better to hope for the best, but expect the worst when it comes to buying on eBay. Less likely to be overly disappointed that way.

When looking at razors on eBay you might want to have a list of question that you would like to have answered in the ad or by the seller. If truly shave ready is important to you then you need to know that. A good question for opener on that is what is your progression when honing and did you shave test the blade. Not everyone shaves with the save level of edge. So even if he has a reasonable grasp of honing and has shave tested the edge it may not satisfy you. My number two son shaves with razors that are way past what I would consider needing a touchup, and he is quite happy with them.
More to the point of your question, the photos of the razors look good. You can hide flaws in glamour pictures, there have been those in the past accused of photoshopping razor pictures, there are people out there that are way better at photography than they are at restoring razors.
If the price was right, I would bid on those razors, but I won't be this time.

The razors look purchasable to me. However, if those razors aren't shave ready, they should be honed by someone who knows what they're doing. So, always consider that cost of honing plus postage for shipping three times. I'm usually more of a benefit of the doubt person, except for shave-readiness.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

When looking at razors on eBay you might want to have a list of question that you would like to have answered in the ad or by the seller. If truly shave ready is important to you then you need to know that. A good question for opener on that is what is your progression when honing and did you shave test the blade. Not everyone shaves with the save level of edge. So even if he has a reasonable grasp of honing and has shave tested the edge it may not satisfy you. My number two son shaves with razors that are way past what I would consider needing a touchup, and he is quite happy with them.
More to the point of your question, the photos of the razors look good. You can hide flaws in glamour pictures, there have been those in the past accused of photoshopping razor pictures, there are people out there that are way better at photography than they are at restoring razors.
If the price was right, I would bid on those razors, but I won't be this time.

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Great advice here. My son bought a very nice looking W&B razor off of imgur.com and I told to him to ask those question. This was the response:

"It is shave ready, shave tested. Honed by me with 1 layer of tape. Bevel set on Chosera 800x, a few laps on 1k ss, BBW, Coticule, finished on a yellow/green thuringian and stropped on a Tony Miller fast bridle. Blade is centered in the scales."

He bought that razor and it's been fantastic...

Adam

I asked a seller of a visibly chipped CV Heljestrand that claimed shave readiness, "have you shaved with this razor? How do you know it is shave ready?" His response was my dad was a barber who used the razor in his shop.

Many a good deal can be had on e bay. Even ugly cheap razors may clean up nice. Shave ready? Get the details.

Very nice razors. They seem to be in very good condition. For a first razor you should try and get a round point, like the 2nd razor you listed. As the others have said shave ready can mean a lot of things. I have received a few razors that were shave ready from ebay. I am picky about my edges so most of the time I take them to the stones. Good luck.

Maybe Stefan/mainaman can post up the pics he just showed me of a "Shave Ready" FB razor he got hehehe

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Maybe Stefan/mainaman can post up the pics he just showed me of a "Shave Ready" FB razor he got hehehe

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Yes that was the shave ready I received a few days ago

....:gaah:

When I see "Shave-ready" mentioned somewhere on an eBay listing, it actually deters me from wanting to bid on it.

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Originally Posted by Badgister

When I see "Shave-ready" mentioned somewhere on an eBay listing, it actually deters me from wanting to bid on it.

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In my case, I got the razor from a raffle group on FB. I asked the seller if it was honed and he said he could hone it for me with a layer of tape so I agreed because I wanted to try someone else's edge. Got the razor and first thing I did was to look at the edge with my scope....can you imagine this razor getting in the hands of a person that does not hone and has no way of checking the edge? The pics do not show it much but the bevels were well covered with rust spots as well.

Here is the razor in question a 8/8+ Herder. Definitely shiny does not mean in good condition as far as the edge is concerned.

I wanted to thank everyone for their help. I ended up bidding on both of those razors but got sniped in the final seconds to lose them, a very real possibility any time but all that more likely when you are on vacation and not able to give the auction as much attention as you would like. If someone here won them then I offer you my sincere congratulations!

Wow, a serrated razor[emoji12]