Thread: Hello - the Curse/Luck of EBay?

So obviously I'm new. I've been on the fence about straight razors for a few years now (DE shaver) and for some odd reason got the itch to finally take the plunge and of course what do I do? Go straight to eBay and purchase 2 straights.

Of course after I do this I realize I should probably research some more and that's when I discovered this site! Hello.

Thats also when I discovered the big bold advice to never buy off of eBay when you are new to straight razors and don't know what to look for. I also read that was some peoples favorite threads to read and laugh at so I thought what better way to introduce myself than to show you guys my completely ill informed guess purchases.

Will I be sad if I got taken for a ride? Sure. But I didn't spend a ton so I won't feel awful. Anyway, what everyone likes see around here. Here are the two razors.


Straight Razor 1

Straight Razor 2

There you have it. My two spur of the moment Ill advised purchases. I will most likely be lurking around a lot and learning from the more experiences guys, so thank you all in advance for all the great info that is here.

Welcome to SRP! Didn't have much luck viewing your razors as the links go to EBay's main page when I click them. As long as you didn't spend too much on them you are probably okay. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Speedster

Welcome to SRP! Didn't have much luck viewing your razors as the links go to EBay's main page when I click them. As long as you didn't spend too much on them you are probably okay. Good luck!

So sorry about the links. I was going to fix it but I think a mod already took care of it (thank you).

No I don't think I spent a ton of money on them but part of the fun after realizing my mistake of blind knowledge buying was so you guys could laugh or commend my luck. Hopefully you can see them now.

I look forward to learning a lot from everyone here.

Welcome to SRP ! Ya done good. Get 'em pro honed though. See our 'member services' in the SRP classifieds, and don't forget to check out the beginner's guide.

Member Services - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

Straight Razor Place Library:Books/Beginners Guide - Straight Razor Place Library

Welcome to the forum. From the photos in the links I would say you got away pretty lightly and dodged the eBay bullet. I am no expert but can't see anything hugely wrong with those razors. You may or may not have to get them honed.

Bob

Fixed the links for you.

The first is in better condition, the hone wear on the second along with the description does not instill confidence (I prefer to see spade called a spade, unless it's Oscar Wilde who is doing the calling).

Originally Posted by gugi

Fixed the links for you.

The first is in better condition, the hone wear on the second along with the description does not instill confidence (I prefer to see spade called a spade, unless it's Oscar Wilde who is doing the calling).

That shows how little I know. I would have sworn the 2nd one was better. Lol. Crazy. I've got a looooong way to go but it will be a fun ride. Can you go some more into detail about the differences you see or what makes you feel this way? If it's not too much to ask. Thanks.

Jimmy,

Thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely test them out and see if they need a pro hone. I tried to focus on eBay items that were supposedly "shave ready" to avoid this step but it retained isn't something I will know until I try to shave.


Bob,

Thanks Bob. Everyone has been very kind. Makes me feel happy I didn't latch onto some utter trash.

Well, it takes experience and you should take a look at the ebay101 thread for some more explanations, but ultimately you need to see razors in person after you've seen them on pictures to start noticing the signs.

Anyways, the first one has narrower bevel and it may be that the pictures are blurrier, but from what I can tell (with the much more natural curvature at the tip and the heel) the chances are it's real. They both have bigger honing flats on the spine towards the tip.
The bevel on the second one shows scratches, it is quite wide and especially towards at the heel gets towards the stabilizer. That means that it was honed with significant pressure to flex the razor it and that's not a good thing regardless of whether it was done because the honer is impatient/doesn't know how to hone that part without pressing hard on it, or the razor had issues that required it.
So, calling the finish 'mirror', the hone wear 'even', using unnecessary adjectives in all-caps, throwing out meaningless 'big' numbers, visible scratches on the bevel - these are not the things that people who know what they are doing tend to do, hence my skepticism.

Originally Posted by gugi

Well, it takes experience and you should take a look at the ebay101 thread for some more explanations, but ultimately you need to see razors in person after you've seen them on pictures to start noticing the signs.

Anyways, the first one has narrower bevel and it may be that the pictures are blurrier, but from what I can tell (with the much more natural curvature at the tip and the heel) the chances are it's real. They both have bigger honing flats on the spine towards the tip.
The bevel on the second one shows scratches, it is quite wide and especially towards at the heel gets towards the stabilizer. That means that it was honed with significant pressure to flex the razor it and that's not a good thing regardless of whether it was done because the honer is impatient/doesn't know how to hone that part without pressing hard on it, or the razor had issues that required it.
So, calling the finish 'mirror', the hone wear 'even', using unnecessary adjectives in all-caps, throwing out meaningless 'big' numbers, visible scratches on the bevel - these are not the things that people who know what they are doing tend to do, hence my skepticism.

Whoa. That's amazing the things you can see when you know what to look for. I'm not even sure I can see everything you mentioned even when looking for it. I assume that means all the issues come down to possibly needing to be honed by a professional? If that's the case I'll gladly say I dodged a bullet on my purchases.

I really appreciate you taking the time to go more in depth.

There's so much to look at with these Straight razors. DE were so easy, grab a blade, slap it on and go.

Originally Posted by Mythrol

Bob,

Thanks Bob. Everyone has been very kind. Makes me feel happy I didn't latch onto some utter trash.

Nothing to thank was just what I thought no kindness involved. The razors may not be NOS condition but I can say that I do have razors in my rotation that have ugly hone wear/ mishoned but still shave well. Not beauties but they work.

Bob