how to spot ugly ducklings but good "Shavers" on the bay?

Howdy gents. Been lurking for awhile and figured it was time to make a post. I started with straights a short time ago. I have a rather nice C-Mon that I use as my daily shaver and she serves me very well. Unlike many people, at this point I am not looking for collection grade razors. With the wife being laid off and the economy such as it is I find that I am willing to lower the bar on looks in hopes of keeping the bar high for quality of shave. I wish to expand my knowledge and feel of other types and sizes of razors. The bay is a great resource to be sure but can be very confusing and intimidating to the novice when funds are low and must be doled out with great care. Even tho I am fine with inferior looks I do still wish for a blade that can be shave ready and not break my already broken wallet. Anyone have any pointers on spotting a good quality edge without much concern for the freshness of the shine? As I said I am new to straights (recent DE convert) so have little to no knowledge. I understand this is a very open handed question but as the saying goes, if you dont ask you dont learn.

Thanks kindly for taking the time to read my post as it is very much appreciated.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/aucti...bay-101-a.html

That oughta help a bit. :)

Thanks much! I have been all over the wiki but missed this one! *bow

That is a very good thread! Thank you kindly for pointing me in the right direction.

Straight Razor Place - Beginners Tips: Feb 2011

here is another one


And the rest of it is in the original thread here

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...tml#post736914

Since you're on a budget , I would suggest you look at the SRP classifieds instead of wasting your money on ebay . You can find many shave ready razors at very reasonable prices . Almost anything decent on ebay will usually attract a lot of bidders , thus driving up the price , not to mention the snipers who throw in bids in the last seconds . The only way you will get a good deal , usually , is to take a gamble on bad pics , and or bad description , and luck out . IMHO , not the way to go when money's an issue . YMMV Good luck with whatever you choose to do .

Sorry Dave my first post might not have been clear enough. I am not so much looking to buy NOW but looking to educate myself BEFORE I try and buy. I figure if I start to educate myself now that at some point in the future I will be able to make an informed choice and reduce the amounts of failed tries. With the few links posted in this thread already I have found a huge amount of visual information to start working with. I am a very slow mover and am not a fan of jumping in the deep end without having some idea of what is under the water. that being said I do know my habits and that they do get the better of me in the long run. If I don't start learning now then I might make many uninformed snap choices when they do take over. A preemptive strike you might say!

Do you have hones, or lapping film or paste and any experience with them. Or are you looking to get the blade and then send it out. Once you are ready to start getting some other blades.

I am well versed in metal restoration but not in honing. I would be more than happy to clean and restore ( to the best of my ability) and have a talented hand add a fine edge until such time I am able to build the skill set to hone.

I must say those couple of threads were worth a wealth of information! They showed very clearly the issues people talk about and assume you know. Another couple months of SR shaving and educating myself and I might be ready to start looking around a bit!

Research. Research, research, research! If you want an edge over all the other ebayers out there you have to know your stuff better than they do. Full stop, end of story, no shortcuts. You can be lucky once or twice but luck runs out - knowledge stays with you for life.

Good luck.

James.

Can't stress the Research part enough :p It gets real expensive and messy fast on ebite purchases. Not to say you shouldn't take a chance now and again but make sure you know what your betting against.

I take risks all the time on ebite but I do it with rock bottom bids on things I'm ok with buying for parts. Say a razor looks ok but is rather dirty and posably rusted through, these can be hard to tell sometimes from pics given. So I look at what else that razor can give me, are the scales worth the investment? Are there any other goodies offered in the sale? When I mean rock bottom prices I'm talking $10 or so, sure I get out bid most of the time but I have also gotten some pretty good finds. Also keep an eye out for package deals or lots, the cost per item can end up being pretty low even when you trash half the items in the lot.

Surfing ebite for pristine pieces is another issue entirely and the Ebay 101 thread can help with some of the more critical problems that arise when real $$$ are on the line.

Do your research on what razors are suposed to look like as well as make and model differences, it will save you big time when out there scrounging for pearls in the... umm... Dirt ya dirt :p

I get out bid alot too.
but must times i get nice stuff.
sometimes i can break even or profit on
pure junk items.
And in those times i personally keep the nice stuff lol.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zerandise

I am well versed in metal restoration but not in honing. I would be more than happy to clean and restore ( to the best of my ability) and have a talented hand add a fine edge until such time I am able to build the skill set to hone.

---

If you don't hone yourself, it also means that you don't really know whether your restore was good or not.
With that I mean you don't really know if the razor will have nice, even bevels. You don't know if there are alignment issues or geometry differences between the spine and the edge. You don't know if the razor has issues with the transition between the spine and the shoulders which could mess up honing. Etc.

Unless you start honing yourself and learn firsthand the honing problems that can occurr as a result of geometry issues, you can't really restore razors.

You can hone razors without being able to restore them, but the other way around doesn't work.

I tell you this forum is amazing. I do love research. The wife calls me her "over analytical freak". I have not been bidding on any yet just playing a bit of a game of "spot the flaws". It's amazing what can be seen when the time is taken to see it! Bruno I have ordered a set of stones, 1k 4k 8k and 12k. Also going to be ordering both the SRP DVD and the Ellis DVD. I agree, if I dont put the bevel and edge on how am I really going to know the blade at all? I think that one act should be able to teach more about a blade than any other part of a restore. Thanks much again gents! Saying you are a wealth of knowledge and inspiration is a complete understatement!!

I would disagree. I have been fortunate enough to find very serviceable razors on e-bay. True, not one of them has been truly "shave ready" but since I am into restoring old stuff, it really does not matter. I have also found one or two pieces of junk but from those I learned what to look for and what questions to ask. There are the three important things to remember when looking on e-bay. First ask questions about the condition of the blade, scales and pins. Most sellers are honest and will tell you anything you might want to know. Second, study any pictures closely. If the pictures are fuzzy, out of focus or can't be zoomed, avoid them. Finally, check the seller's rating. I generally don't buy from anyone with less than a 98 percent rating. As I said, most sellers are quite honest and want to keep their good standing.

e-bay for me has been hit and miss, got a real nice Kama at a good price, looked to me like it had never seen a hone, or even a strop, factory edge, just stropped it up and shaved with it, very nice, description said good condition. But then i got a Frederick Reynolds that had probably half an inch or more cut off the end, my own fault for not looking closer at the photos. Getting stung once or twice helps to become more selective on auction sites, and if you miss one, there are plenty more on there. In all honesty, for a newbie, the best buys are from the classifieds here, if it says shave ready, it is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thunderman

I would disagree. I have been fortunate enough to find very serviceable razors on e-bay. True, not one of them has been truly "shave ready" but since I am into restoring old stuff, it really does not matter. I have also found one or two pieces of junk but from those I learned what to look for and what questions to ask. There are the three important things to remember when looking on e-bay. First ask questions about the condition of the blade, scales and pins. Most sellers are honest and will tell you anything you might want to know. Second, study any pictures closely. If the pictures are fuzzy, out of focus or can't be zoomed, avoid them. Finally, check the seller's rating. I generally don't buy from anyone with less than a 98 percent rating. As I said, most sellers are quite honest and want to keep their good standing.

---

Good advice, I do pretty much the same thing. I figure what the thing is worth to me and bid it and forget it. If I win it, I pay for it.

One thing I will NOT do is buy a razor that has been buffed/restored/cleaned/rejuvenated by anyone unless I am familiar with the seller. It is disgustingly easy to pull the temper from a blade with a buffer if not done correctly.

Shiny doesn't always mean good. ;)

After you've handled and looked at enough razors, you'll be able to spot those that have been shined up.

Have fun and good luck. :)

Well thanks to the links off this thread and more research I have tried my hand at some restorations over the past couple weeks. Still not into ebay frenzy as I am just learning but here is a thread I started with the restorations I have done so far. Still a long way to go and so much to learn!!!

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...torations.html

I'm still in the Learning Phase but I feel I've done well on eBay. Everyone has mentioned just about everything but when you are Searching make sure to try "everything"!

Spell things right/wrong, mix up characters (like, "Wade And Butcher" vs "Wade & Butcher"), use words like "Set", "Bundle", "Kit" in your searches. Each one will sometimes give you different results. Especailly with uncommon names like Catarragus (?sp) try spelling things incorrectly. I've found auctions that nobody was bidding on and were what I thought were great deals.

My feeling is that if I'm learning then the cost of a more expensive find is offset by the education I get. So, if I'm paying a bit more for something then I'm certainly not worried about getting my 'labor' out of it as I was learning that part anyway. Once I develop enough skill to be better/accurate then this might change... But, for now, I am just buying, rehoning, restoring to varying degrees and enjoying the different shaves I get.

Something I have yet to figure out is the "Box/Drawer Of Rusty/Crusty Stuff" phenomenon... I've bid on about 10 of these setting a limit like others have mentioned and have watched that auction slowly disappear into the stratosphere every time. I don't know a 'lot' about razors but I either know of or look up every manufacturer mentioned in the Ad and the overall pics are just rusty 'razor shaped' items. I'm usually thinking $20-$25 + S/H is gonna be a generous top yet those things have blasted past $100 in a hurry and I have yet to figure that part out. My theory is that:

1) Some really savvy/experienced folks are out there are seeing something I just can't see or they are getting inside information from emails. I rarely email as I have not found a wealth of information that way but, rather, a standard story of, "Well, they beloned to 'Some Family Member' and I think they are worth something so just giving this a shot."

2) Somebody unfamiliar with razors is thinking they can clean them up enough to make a killing on eBay is buying them up and not considering price or simply multiplying the average cost of $15/razor X 'Number Of Razors' and using that as their ceiling.

or, outside chance, but funny...

3) These are all the same drawers/boxes of razors from years past that inexperienced people buy, become intimidated by and then punt off in a garage sale where some other inexperienced person starts the cycle over.

Something else you might consider, after looking at your Restores link... Find someone that can hone really well but isn't that much into restoring and either trade for services/razors or drop them on the Classifieds and split the $$$.

My only regret with ebay shopping was not just simply paying up.
For some really rare stuff that got listed in the past.
Like the time i saw the swiss army straight razor pair
in france that was made in 1860 i should have just simply payed up.
I now know that's so darn rare.
Postive is i was talking to a freind of my about my hobby of shaving with straights.
guess what he has 3 swiss army straights when he finds them he going to gift them to me
life is awesome. I have stuff from england germany sweden but nothing from the swiss. one Japanese one.
kind of need more of those but their just razors and i would have to pay more for another blade.
I personally prefil to hone up every blade i shave with my self.
It's crazy i only spent 114 us dollars on the 4 stones i use. But a total i guessing around 3-4k on all my sharpening stones.
I know i spent 500 on just coticules. only use one of those. But i don't reget spending so much.
i was after natural rocks from every where. Would have spent more if i didn't goof up with waiting to
long to manuelly put in the snipe bid. I think it would be wise to practice holding the razor flat on the stone
with a worthless blade. Cause i personally bought my first straights thinking i would save money. In a way i do
i know what's worth buying and what's junk. If i would quit looking at ebay i would quit finding nice stuff dirt cheap.
though to me 50 bucks is dirt cheap.