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Just received in the mail today. Man! This was one disappointing buy from EBay! Biggest waste of $112.00 ever. Attachment 87027Attachment 87028Attachment 87029Attachment 87030 The blade looked great in the photos but when I got it today there is massive wear on the spine. I don't even know if it can be saved. The box though is interesting as it contains a built in hone and strop.
Live and learn.
There is alot of hone wear at the toe as seen in your pictures. It's a salvageable razor though to shave with but not pristine. Lesson learned :(
While there's some wear it doesn't look that bad? A layer or two of tape when honing and it should be good to go.
However, that box is cooler than the other side of the pillow. What kind of stone is in it?
Well that's just how it works. If the photos are good and show that the item is in excellent condition, the risk to the buyers is less, so the price ends up higher. IIRC nice pumas usually sell for more than that, or at least used to.
You've got other things with it so that'll offset the loss a bit.
Well I might sell the box to get some money back. I don't know what kind of stone but it is smooth with hardly any nicks. The strop to I must sat is in great shape with just one tiny nick. I guess I will be sending this one to Lynn also for a professional opinion. What I will do I've decided is sink my hard earned money into some new razors. I figure one Hart and one Revisor should be a wise purchase
Took a better look at the stone. It has faint veining and just for shots and giggles I lapped it. Took almost no time. Thing is nice flat and beautiful. But not very wide at all maybe an inch and a half??
That's how they are, they're just for maintenance of an already good edge and as somebody said earlier there is a number natural hones that were used in these boxes.
I think some of those hones were thuris, I wouldn't sell it before at least trying it. :)
I have two Frictionite barber hones. Unlikely I would use it much if at all
It really doesn't look that bad. I'll bet it can be restored to a great shaver.
I wholeheartedly agree, it should be relatively easy to hone and provide a superb shave, all it needs is some TLC!Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
I don't think you wasted your money either.
I ended up giving it a quick honing on the Frictionite barbers hone. No luck still dull as my humor. I then put a strip of electric tape on the spine and rehoned it again and gave it a good stroping. Its pretty sharp and passes a hanging hair test but barely. I will send it out to be professionally done I guess.
Feel your pain. I've gotten burned on two from the bay so far (a Red Imp with busted scales and a W&B that has most of the blade missing). Luckily, it wasn't as expensive as yours but I think I've learned my lesson about the bay. I'll only buy from members on shaving websites from now on
Well after a layer of tape and a careful methodical rolling X stroke on my barbers hone and 200 laps on the strop it sharpened up very nicely. Shaved with it today.
But I agree with you. I will be hitting up the classifieds here very soon
It truly is the only way to shop for razors short of an antiques store and even that's a crapshoot. I did pick up two W&B's last weekend at antique places in good shape for a decent price.
Myself, I like the box. Between it and the razor, I dont think you did all that bad. I was watching that one too, but it went for a bit more than I felt up to.
Well the box is on the bay as we speak
A 112.00 Puma is what you got. Apparently you got a good razor or someone would not have used it so much. Hone wear is not necessarily a bad thing. A frictionite is to maintain a sharp razor. Not to sharpen a razor, IMO. The box is cool too. I really see no reason to complain.
It may not be meant to sharpen a razor but it did, quite well in fact. I know I shouldn't complain and I learned a good lesson.
I don't know about that. To me a bad hone wear is more of an indication of honing incompetence than much use of the razor. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by sharptonn
I would tend to agree. The razors I put down over a decade ago show my total lack of skill as the spine wear is atrocious.
Not talking about this razor pictured, where the wear does look unusual for the age of a razor, but:
If spine/hone wear is even over the length of a blade and corresponding to the level of wear on a razor, I don't think it shows incompetence at all. If it's a great amount for a razor that has not been used much, it tells me that someone has honed on too coarse of a stone for general maintenance and with too much pressure on the spine. That's bad.
Uneven spine wear can be from the same, or could be a bad grind.
I can't imagine that people, back in the days when most people used these razors, worried so much about hone wear as we do now - choosing to use the razors as a matter of utility and not collection, and buy another razor when they wore their razor out - after eons.
If I were honing razors for someone else, I would tape them but only because that's what people seem to expect. The razors that I've been using daily (one in particular that gets at least 80% of my shaves on a daily basis), I never tape. It never sees anything but a maintenance hone, and shouldn't need to ever see more, as I shave it straight off the stone (so there's no pastes or powders rounding over the edges creating a lot of need for metal abrasion).
Anyway, it looks like a good razor with (a lot of) cosmetic wear. I couldn't think that what's on it would prevent it from being a great shaver. .
It's not at all worrying about hone wear, the fact is that maintaining good razor shave ready takes very very little work on the hones. You can hone it weekly for a hundred years and the width won't be reduced by more than 1/32".
Now, abusing the razor by say putting a chip on it, or letting it rust is a whole different story. And I can not think of a single reason for hone wear that's not even.
At the end of the day it's possible to shave with any piece of good steel of reasonable size, but that doesn't mean it should be the preferred way of shaving.
I was following the same razor on eBay. When the price had been lower I really considered going for it ... But when it stayed low it started to scare me off. Shame it didn't work out for you. It really did look like you might have gotten a buy!
Sorry.
But, of Course! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by gugi
I don't know what qualifies as "bad" honewear.
It's preferable to get a razor that his little wear, period.
But if I'm going to get one that's well worn, I don't mind if it has hone wear on it that keeps the bevel angle at the edge of the razor the same as it was factory new.
If it gets shallower because of excessive wear, that's bad. If the razor is worn significantly and taped every single time it's ever honed, the steeper bevel angle isn't going to be that great, either.
I haven't shaved any razors down to stubs yet, and my regular routine puts little wear on them. But I don't tape spines, either. I can't imagine that many people were sitting around in the 1800s taping spines.
I am of the opinion that Puma is good, high quality, but overrated. If they are in fancy scales, the cel rot gets them. The telling thing here is that Pumas must bring a vison of a large Puss swiping away the hairs! Any time one comes up, it brings high dollar, in spite of it's condition. I would take a Henckels any day! :D
Lol! Well aside from being a WB and DD fan I'm just getting back into straight razor shaving. I am looking to slowly build a collection of good solid shavers. I'm not interested in jewel encrusted scales and the like but would like to have a good if not exceptional example of various manufactures
I wouldn't have sold the hone if it was a thurri. If you go off the deep end and come done with a case of acquisition disorders...sooner or later you are gonna purchase another one. It'll probably cost you a lot more than you paid. Especially if it has a escher sticker slapped on it. The puma may not be a looker, but it'll give you great shaves for the rest of your life.
