Thread: Do you get what you pay for?

I think Bob had it right when he said stay someplace in the middle and you'll be ok. Anything beyond that is asking us to measure the utility you you'll get and... well if that was possible, I doubt you would have a penny of savings left lol!

- You NEED a good blade. It has to be able to take an edge. My first was Dovo's cheapest (Dovo "Best") - I still love it, and use it regularly.

- You NEED a strop to keep your blade in shape... but most any strop manufacturer will do when learning - you'll probably destroy your first anyway (don't use your great, great grandfathers to learn on).

- Stones are great, and I advocate to get one(s) right off, but many would say that's rubbish. Truth is, sending your blade out for honing is a great option but then you'll want two blades... well I would anyway.

- Your face will tell you how expensive a brush you need. Eventually, once you find how lovely a silver tipped badger brush is... you might never go back - but you don't need it. Heck you can lather with your hands were you inclined.

- Soaps, creams and aftershaves are all luxury items. That said in my world, especially when starting off, an after shave balm to save off the burn learning inevitably provides was priceless.

Only by mixing all of the above however will you be able to truly get the whole experience. In my opinion anyway.


Now for me - buying a luxury combination of cream/soap, balms/splash, along with a nice scuttle to mix it all in is just an awesome overall experience! I love it. Mixing it all up in my scuttle (especially in winter) with my Simpson brush is pure heaven! Slicing off my beard with a finely honed blade off my stones is pure pride. My wife feeling my face and stating I smell good is priceless lol.

Your mileage will vary - the journey is absolutely the best part and 90% of the fun - just don't go overboard on any one thing from the get-go. Every aspect has 1,000s of aspects! It's true lol - good luck!

If I may chip in. Admittly I skimned the thread..

My first endeavour was a cyril r salter. And it was junk. And costly junk at that. £100 for a set of razor stone and brush. The stone now keens pocket knives. Justalex has the brush and the razor remains a reminder of a bad time lol. You do and don't get what you paid for. My advice is ask on here and check the classifieds. Every shavable razor I own is vintage and to my knowledge I have no funny disease. In fact since straight shaving I have been educated on such things.

You will find good razors are more expensive as the metal is cleaner and purer whereas chinese and pakistan razors use a mix of steels from many different sources. Not all steels are born equal and may not hold an edge well.

Advice is what you need my good man. And you should heed it well.

Geek

Originally Posted by kwlfca

If you want a really good value brush, you can get a good silvertip from Larry at Whipped Dog Straight Razor Shaving Equipment for $30 or less and everyone loves his brushes (they're out of stock right now but will get more in a week or two). He also has Col. Conk branded Dovo Best Quality 5/8 and 6/8 in case you can't find a Dovo BQ in stock on SRD. They come in red scales and the 6/8 also comes in pearl.
They come shave ready and his shipping is either free or very cheap. I'm expecting a 6/8 in pearl and a rich man strop shortly.

Thanks for that link, and especially about the brushes. Would his cheapest badger brush be good, or should I spring for one of his best ones? I like what I hear about silvertip brushes. I just tried to lather with one of the walmart boar bristle brushes and it was kind of like scouring my skin off. Yeah those Dovo razors on the second page are pretty reasonable, and apparently he hones them before sending them out, so I could still start out with a guaranteed sharp razor. Nice. That is on my short list!

Originally Posted by gssixgun

There are lists in the Library (wiki) here that give the names or razors to avoid.... The real problem is the names change nearly every week, as the Pakistani and the Chinese companies will make them to spec, so it is hard to keep up on each name...
This is why you read "Stay Away" from so many people, mostly because we don't have the time to keep testing each new name...


Basically anything Pakistani is mostly junk there are a few that can hold an edge but they are few and far between and basically a crap shoot, and the edge fails rather quickly even if you can get one there...

Chinese razors are pretty bad too, some are made as knives and don't have the geometry to hold the edge or the steel and temper..

The Gold Dollars have ok steel but the geometry and grind errors on over 50% of them do not make them easy to hone and set up, there is a huge thread on here with tons of info on them and the older Double Arrows... We got so sick of the "Discussion" because they are so inconsistent we just started putting all the posts together in that thread, if they were all bad there would be no discussion or if they were all good.. but they are 50-50 so some like them and some hate them...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ld-dollar.html


And yes I have honed just about every one of them I can get my hands on just to test them, haven't found many that will shave so the odds are against you

It is however your money and your time so let us know if you get one to shave

Okay, so it is a pretty safe bet that any Pakistan razor is not worth picking up, and same for all Chinese razors except the possible exception of the Gold Dollars? I have to admit I haven't read that entire thread... 51 pages! Must be pretty controversial! But I gather that just ordering one from ebay will be a total disappointment and the only hope of getting a good one is to get one doctored up by a pro. Well, that must cost nearly as much as one of those Dovos from the whipped dog site! I will give the Gold Dollar some thought but right now I am leaning toward the Dovo razors I think. Got to do some more reading on those Gold Dollar razors. Any idea what I should expect to pay for one all fixed up?

Thanks again, guys!

Originally Posted by TulaneBoy

Thanks for that link, and especially about the brushes. Would his cheapest badger brush be good, or should I spring for one of his best ones? I like what I hear about silvertip brushes. I just tried to lather with one of the walmart boar bristle brushes and it was kind of like scouring my skin off. Yeah those Dovo razors on the second page are pretty reasonable, and apparently he hones them before sending them out, so I could still start out with a guaranteed sharp razor. Nice. That is on my short list!



Okay, so it is a pretty safe bet that any Pakistan razor is not worth picking up, and same for all Chinese razors except the possible exception of the Gold Dollars? I have to admit I haven't read that entire thread... 51 pages! Must be pretty controversial! But I gather that just ordering one from ebay will be a total disappointment and the only hope of getting a good one is to get one doctored up by a pro. Well, that must cost nearly as much as one of those Dovos from the whipped dog site! I will give the Gold Dollar some thought but right now I am leaning toward the Dovo razors I think. Got to do some more reading on those Gold Dollar razors. Any idea what I should expect to pay for one all fixed up?

Thanks again, guys!

Let me add a few "layman's" perspectives on what was said.

The cheap razors (India, Pakistan, China) have the highest probability of defects, which means that a beginner's chance of success with them are less than that for someone with a lot of experience. Some guys who like to make and restore razors like the challenge of taking one of these and making them into something special.

Dovos (particularly the "Best Quality" line) are among the least expensive of the quality razors, which is why they are cited as good ones to start out with for beginners who want to learn how to use and service one. Get a razor with a good reputation and spend as little as you can for learning purposes.

There are a lot of preferences when it comes to brushes. Boar brushes are the least expensive, yet some people like and prefer them. Badger brushes have the most absorbency of water and lather, so most prefer badger. I like Finest Badger because it is a bit stiffer than the more expensive Silvertip Badger. Silvertip Badger caresses your face. I'd say most people prefer Silvertip and I'm kind of an oddball for preferring the less-expensive Finest.

Strops are another hot topic, as is honing equipment. I'll stop there and chime in if you want to know more about these things.

People who are inquisitive as you are really have an interest in straight shaving and will persevere while at the same time enjoying the learning curve. You strike me as someone who will really enjoy this.

What you do not want to do IMO is buy the bottom wrung stuff,than re-buy to upgrade.
Most things will work just fine to begin with but your mind set will change in a very short time.
Buy the best you can afford and look at it as a lifelong investment.spend a little now.you will end up spending more later.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

What you do not want to do IMO is buy the bottom wrung stuff,than re-buy to upgrade.
Most things will work just fine to begin with but your mind set will change in a very short time.
Buy the best you can afford and look at it as a lifelong investment.spend a little now.you will end up spending more later.

I hadn't thought of this before, but if you buy reasonable quality stuff, you should also be able to resell it if you want/ need to. The cheap stuff you will have to turf.

Originally Posted by kwlfca

If you want a really good value brush, you can get a good silvertip from Larry at Whipped Dog Straight Razor Shaving Equipment for $30 or less and everyone loves his brushes (they're out of stock right now but will get more in a week or two). He also has Col. Conk branded Dovo Best Quality 5/8 and 6/8 in case you can't find a Dovo BQ in stock on SRD. They come in red scales and the 6/8 also comes in pearl.
They come shave ready and his shipping is either free or very cheap. I'm expecting a 6/8 in pearl and a rich man strop shortly.

I found his website from another post and am debating between the one you've mentioned and Dovo Best Quality Black 5/8 from SRD. opninion

(sorry for minor thread derailment op)

Well, I have a badger brush, a Dovo, and a "cosmetically blemished but modified and shave-ready" Gold Dollar coming.

Are the strops from star shaving company any good? They have one called the Big Mama and a bigger one called the Big Daddy. Which would be better for a first real strop? I am from the bigger is better school of thought but is it TOO big, the Big Daddy?

I just found out you can strop on... NEWSPAPER! I will use newspaper the first couple of times just to avoid any oopsies on my first strop. The family heirloom I will keep in reserve for now.

With two shave ready razors, I shouldn't need to worry about honing them for a few weeks, right? I will leave the search for a sharpening method for another thread. Probably when the first one gets dull I will give it a go on my Dad's finer stones, which I just found out are Arkansas stones, almost all of them. One big one is like glass and my dad sits in front of the TV and will sharpen one of his favorite knives for a solid hour on it and then shave a little piece of his face with it. He has always done that for as long as I can remember. He says it takes a lot of strokes to make a difference in an edge but that there is nothing in the world like it. I was reading about the HHT test and he has always done that with his old Trimble and Case pocketknives so I am pretty sure and he is pretty sure that his big stone will work for a straight razor blade. But I am sure there are other types of stones and other methods that have their good points so I will come back here for sharpening advice when I got a dull razor to contend with. Now the fun part... learning how to use the razor! Well, first the boring part waiting for delivery.

Oh, one more question. I did some more reading on the Gold Dollar thread, and noticed that the thread is closed and nobody can add a post to it. It didn't look to me like the discussion had got particularly heated or offensive, but maybe my standards are not as high or something. I have been told I argue like a pit bull LOL! I just figured the Gold Dollar experts would be watching that thread and they might have the answers to questions about them. I gather from another post in this thread that all Gold Dollar posts have been moved to that thread, so is posting about them discouraged? The thing is, I know nothing about them and I am curious.

I found another site for a company called Revisor. Are their razors any good? They sure have a big variety! I think the most intimidating thing about them is the idea of trying to pick something out from all those choices! And what about Hart? They are made in the U.S. and that to me is a small plus. I see Dovo is made in Germany but I do have a healthy respect for German craftsmanship.

I was in a knife shop this morning and happened to mention that I was thinking about straight razor shaving, and the guy tried to sell me first one of the Pakistan razors you guys warned me about, but for $39.95, and when I didn't bite, presented me a Dovo which I proceeded to do the HHT test on. Didn't pass. Nothing. Tried to shave arm hair. The guys goes, "Be careful with that!" but it barely cut any hairs, mostly just pulled a couple out I think. Definitely not sharp. My pocketknife is waaaaaay sharper than that. He didn't have any strops in his shop so I figure he was talking out his behind about how much he knew about straight razors. I asked him about Gold Dollar razors and he actually had a bunch of them, all in individual crushed blue cardboard boxes, for $19.95 each. I looked at one and you could maybe use it to butter toast with or something. I told him I could get one on ebay for 99 cents and he got all huffy and said that he had individually inspected each one for quality. I asked him why he didn't sharpen a few so new guys could just buy one and start right out shaving, and the conversation sort of went downhill from there. I don't think I am on his Christmas card list haha. Thanks to you guys and other resources I have found in the last few days, I didn't waste a bunch of money on a bunch of disappointing crap.

If you do a search on this site there are loads of threads about revisor, I believe they also advertise here, though I am not sure. Can't be any more helpful than that, sorry.