Thread: What straight razor to start with?

Hi guys, this is my first post and I'm sorry if it is a common question. I would like to buy a new straight razor to start my adventure into straight razors and I have a few in mind. Which would you recommend me?

The Dovo Ebony Spike Point

The Filarmonica Doble Tempe 7/8

The Dovo Bismark


Anything else in the sub $150 range?


Thank you in advance for the advice, I truly have no experience or knowledge of straight razors so your help is appreciated!

-Matt

Those are all good razors. For a beginner, I would lean a little toward the Dovo Bismark.

for 150 you could pick up a couple of nice vintage shave ready razors in the B/T/S
section. If you really want a new razor I would agree with the bismark

Thank you guys for the advice, I appreciate it very much! Two more questions... any reason you chose the Bismark over the other two? I'm not a huge fan of the looks, but looks definitely aren't everything.

Also, I have a goatee (only on my chin, no mustache) which is a reason I like the spike tip. Would the spike tip be a huge factor or can I still style my goatee well with a round tip?

Thank you all again. Hopefully after I get my first razor I won't have to ask these dumb questions anymore!

+1 on buying several shave ready vintage razors on the BST area.

As I'm sure you're aware, these razors have very delicate edges that do require stropping prior to shaving (a skill in and of itself). As such, just starting out there is a fairly high potential for error in stropping/dulling the edge. If you do that with your ONE razor, you're out of commission until you either bring the edge back with proper stropping if it's not too damaged, or you get it fixed by someone with experience.

With just a goatee you have 2 1/2" - 3" of a straight edge to use for shaping if you shave around that area vertically (come at your chin XTG from cheeks toward chin.

My profession is risk management/insurance, so I can't help but analyze situations from a risk minimization perspective (having more than one razor to start reduces the risk that something bad might happen to your one shaver if you only started with one).

Oh and......................Welcome!

Chris L

Chris, thank you for the advice as well as the welcome! I'm on ebay, looking around for a good vintage straight, and I found two that look nice. I wanted to post them to see if you guys think they're legit and if they are a good deal.

Here are links to the two razors:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=009

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=004

The Filarmonica on eBay would be nice -- better than the Henckels you posted with it (IMO). The Henckels appears to have rust/pitting spotted all over the obverse side of the blade (this may or may not clean up sufficiently). Filly's on eBay though are going for premium prices (lately), so don't expect to get is for any less than the new ones you've been checking out.

I have the 6/8 Bismark. I love that razor. It is good because I found 5/8 a bit of a challenge to use till you get your technique down. I had a Dovo Darkstar and even though I like the razor the Bismark is a lot smoother shaving. I would encourage any new guy to go bigger than 5/8.
Buying from the forum is a good way to go, a great way to go. Try to buy one. You have to park your butt on the net to get one. I bought my first ,new, to get going then starting looking on the forum, but it is really hard to get the right one. One has to have a pretty good idea which razor they want and be quick on the draw.

Ya, the straights listed on here go quite fast! I'll keep looking... and by the way, I wont be doing honing myself for a bit, I'll probably get a few really cheap razors to learn how to do that before I try with my shaving blade. There is one more I'm looking at in the forums; the black one for sale in this thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=17403

This one looks good but I have not heard about it

Originally Posted by mvforza

Ya, the straights listed on here go quite fast! I'll keep looking... and by the way, I wont be doing honing myself for a bit, I'll probably get a few really cheap razors to learn how to do that before I try with my shaving blade. There is one more I'm looking at in the forums; the black one for sale in this thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=17403

This one looks good but I have not heard about it

I do not know your financial means are but I would buy a new razor and a four-sided pasted strop. Have your new razor honed to establish an edge. You can keep that thing going scary sharp till you get another razor and decide what you want to do.
For me the cheapest way was to buy a DMT8EE and the 4 sided strop and then get another razor and hone it. It has worked out really well and was the cheapest way to go for what I wanted to do. I do not plan to take out dings I just want to shave with a really sharp razor.


Later,
Richard