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Thread: What's the Difference?
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02-25-2008, 09:48 PM #1
What's the Difference?
First post! I've been shaving straight for two and a half months now, lurking on the SRP forums all the while. Thank you all for the great resource!
I've been shaving with a Col. Conk "Best Quality" blade I got secondhand on Craigslist. Before you tell me that it was forged by slave labor in Pakistan, quenched in the blood of orphans, blunted out of spite, and 100% of Col. Conk's proceeds go to Al Qaeda recruitment, don't bother. I've read it already. Based on the opinions I've read about Col. Conk, I would have expected this razor to sneak out of my bathroom cabinet at night and crawl, inchworm-style, down the hall to my bedroom and slit my throat while I sleep. This has not yet happened. In fact, after about two weeks of abysmal irritation, I've been consistently getting smooth, comfortable shaves. I sharpen it once a week (also a Col. Conk hone - I don't actually know what the grit is), and strop 50/100 before each shave. It passes the hanging hair test at six or eight different points on the blade every day. Any small nicks I get are fully attributable to my own inattention.
So if this is a lousy blade, what's the difference? How would a professionally-honed Boker, Double Duck, Wade and Butcher, etc., improve my life? Are they just shinier with pretty scales, or is the shave appreciably different? How?
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02-25-2008, 10:03 PM #2
Mind you, im a newb as well. But if you do put a hone to it every week, I think you'll have to buy a new razor soon anyhow . It seems though that people don't hone quite that much. No idea if its due to the metal in the blade.
Also some things are easier for me to appreciate because of materials, design or story behind a product. So when I imagine myself spending 30 minutes shaving I'm using something someone, somewhere put some thought or work into.
I think this is why the idea of using a pair of roller-skates, a steep hill and a concrete building for shaving appeals more to me than using a zeepk blade, eventhough the blade could without a doubt be a good shaver.Last edited by Chady; 02-25-2008 at 10:07 PM.
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02-25-2008, 10:46 PM #3
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02-25-2008, 11:26 PM #4
A Col. Conk razor has absolute nothing to do with a Zeepk. Col Conk razors run new anywhere between $110 and $180. They are made in Solingen/Germany, I suspect by Dovo(?).
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02-26-2008, 01:51 AM #5
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02-26-2008, 02:39 AM #6
Even if I'm learning with a better razor than I realized, my question stands: what makes a Col. Conk or any other razor a better tool for shaving than a Zeepk? Before I succumb to the initial symptoms of razor addiction and start trading up, I want to know I'm getting something useful for my money.
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02-26-2008, 02:59 AM #7
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- May 2006
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Thanked: 369Col. Conk straight razors are rebranded Dovos.
Scott
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02-26-2008, 07:58 AM #8
And ZEEPK razors are just rebranded butter knives.
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02-26-2008, 10:16 AM #9
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- Jan 2008
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Thanked: 0If your Conk is a rebranded Dovo, then it's not a bad razor at all. You shouldn't need to hone it that much, once every two months is plenty. If it's going dull that often you're probably not stropping it right. To answer your original question, a quality razor uses a high carbon content, fine grained steel that's been ground to a very thin edge, then hardened and tempered so it can take and hold a very sharp edge. Quality steel isn't cheap, and neither is the equipment and most importantly the skill needed to put the whole thing together. So what you're paying for when you buy a good razor is quality materials and the labor of a skilled worker, just like anything else of quality. A Zeepk or other cheap razor won't take or hold that fine edge your Conk will, and so won't shave comfortably or closely.
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03-01-2008, 10:36 PM #10
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- Jan 2008
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Thanked: 4I am still very new to the game so any thing I say may be corrected by others with more experience. However, my understanding is that zee razors an other no name razors are not hardened properly. This means that they will not hold an edge. I have been told that some will be good long enough to shave one cheek, then need to be re honed.
I as reading on another sight (sorry I an not find the link) that ne problem with "no name " blades ( razor or other) is that you can easily find what grade steel is used, but there is no reliable way to tell the process used to harden the blade( temperature difference in quenching). also depending on the company it may not be consitant.
All of this being said if you have a blade that is holding an edge and giving you a good shave there is no reason to trade up. once you are more comfortable with razors you may want to try a second razor, but I would not get rid of the one you have unless you already had one you liked better in hand.