Thread: Help please

Hi all I'm in the market for my first straight after a few practises with my shavette. Now I'm on a limited budget and am looking on ebay can any one give me some tips on what to look for. At mo looking at a 6/8" by burgess is this an ok brand

Buying off ebay is a bit of a gamble in general. I bought a few razors to start with, to practice honing and because, err, they were shiny. I was lucky to get a couple that were almost shave ready, but you can't guarantee this.

I searched for the razor you mentioned, and the guy selling it is a reliable seller for certain. I don't know about that brand, never heard of it. Note that the description says that there is some pitting to the edge, that could make it a bit more work to hone. I assume you're planning to send it off to be honed by a professional? It won't arrive shave-ready.

I'd strongly recommend staying off ebay until you know what you're looking at. You should assume the razors there need an overhaul and a full honing, at best. For a beginner on a budget, consider the classifieds here, or perhaps the starter set at whippeddog. Both those avenues would be much safer purchases and would probably make your shaving experience a lot better.

Best of luck.

since you are in the uk you might also want to look at the invisible edge or any of our other eurpean based vendors... i'm thinking shipping time and customs duty.

Thanks all for the info I shall check them out

With a limited budget you'll have to decide how much is a gamble worth to you. Most anything cheap you get on ebay will need at least honing, so you should add the cost of that (including shipping to and from whoever hones it) to the final price. Secondly, for your purposes the brand is irrelevant, it can be of the best brands out there and if it was abused (something you may not be able to tell) it may still not get a good edge, although you will still bear the full cost of the razor and trying to make it to shave.

I'd say the smart money is in buying something that is good to go, so that you don't have to risk anything. In the long run buying cheap and adding the work on top of that may be slightly advantageous financially (if your time is not worth much), but that cannot be done with a 'limited budget'.
Buying something inexpensive that's already fixed you're paying well under the minimum wage for the work done to it.
To save money good things to trade off are cosmetics - tarnish & pitting away from the edge, getting unknown brand (as long as the person who has honed it is experienced and can vouch for the edge that's all that matters); bad things to trade off - significant/uneven hone wear including heavy restoration work like removing deep chips or deep pitting, as well as buying from another 'beginner' because their claims are based on little to no experience.