Quote Originally Posted by kwlfca View Post
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!

Quote Originally Posted by gssixgun View Post
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!