Thread: noobie saying hi ,and

hi all ,, well i decided to but a straight blade and give it a go ,eek ,hope it works out ok , i just got a cheap set from the bay to see how i get on , the seler said that they are german steel and good shaving quality , so will see how it works out .
didnt want to spend to much just in case its not for me .
i thought i would only have a straight razor shave once a week anyway ..just use my electric when im going to work .
anyway will let you all know how it goes .

Did the seller specifically say they were shave ready? If not, you might be in for a world of hurt, or at least disappointment. Most razors sold new and on ebay are not ready to shave. Also, do you have a strop? You need a strop of some kind to use before every shave. You can get info about that in the strop section.

Check out the stickies at the top of the newbies forum for more basic information.

If you need them honed, PM me for info and I'll do it for free. If you want them honed well, , look around the forum and you will find list of others who provide this service.

Oops!
I just noticed you are in the UK. You probably aren't going to want to mail them to me. There are members a tad closer to you. Poona is the first who comes to mind.

it comes with a strop and paste etc ..
here is the link ,, tell me what you think '
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWN:IT&ih=017

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Unfortunately, I think you may have bought a poor razor. I don't see the brand name anywhere, but it looks like the typical eBay/Pakistani razors that do NOT hold an edge and are not worth anything.

If that is what it is, you may get one or two good shaves out of it. I know from experience, as I bought a Zeepk kit just before I found this forum. I only got one good shave out of mine. Also, the strop I received was poor quality and had a very large bend/crease, rendering it useless.

In all honesty, before shaving, I would recommend looking in our B/S/T and buying a shave ready vintage razor from one of the members. Have it handy when you first shave, that way you can use both and really tell the difference.

Don't mean to be the bearer of bad news! Welcome and Good luck

~Chris

Hi and welcome.
Thought I'd touch base as I got my first straight razor (a dovo) just over a week ago. It cost £75 new and wasn't shave ready. This meant my first few shaves were far from great, although there's a huge learning curve anyway with technique. After checking out the advice on this site, I've bought a shave ready vintage razor from theinvisibleedge.co.uk and the difference was amazing (and half the price ). Now that I know how sharp a razor should be, I'm now trying to find the best way to get the dovo sharp (I'd like to learn to do it myself!!)They also offer a honing service so that could be a good option for you. The price of your ebay purchase seems incredibly low, so please let me know how it works out. Anyway, good luck and have fun. It's worth persevering!

Bad Razor Brands (stay away from these)
Zeepk, Master, MasterUSA, Kriegar, Steel Warrior, Sanguine, Simco, "Good Quality", "Special Quality", "Best Quality", "High Quality", "Two Man", pakistani (any razor made in pakistan), Razors "designed by Jim Frost"

There are some "no brand" razors on ebay dirt cheap. DON'T BUY. Also some razors have taken to painting "SOLINGEN" on the razor and are not dirt cheap but not overly expensive either, The blade is forged in pakistan and scales put on in germany so they are using a legal loop hole to claim these are manufactured in Solingen. this causes some problems. Watch out for them.

This is pulled from the Sticky in the Newbie's Corner. Again, I would highly suggest buying a shave-ready razor from one of our members. You can usually get one anywhere from $35-50, of course some go for a lot more. Even post a "wanted" ad in the B/S/T. Someone will respond.

~Chris

well after what has been said here , i have just ordered this ,, i think this is the real deal ,,well i hope so anyway ..i wanted a new one ,, dint fancy an old timmer one ..
this chap seems to know about them and it said its shave ready ..let me know what you think ..click link below
http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/page83.html

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Wapi's are good starter blades. You will be much more pleased with that razor. Also, as you'll notice, a LOT of this hobby is personal preference. Soaps, creams, boar hair or badger.

But I'll tell you what, vintage blades can be MUCH better shavers than new. As far as affordable NEW razors go, you can either buy Dovo, Theirs-Issard, or Wapis. There are others like Mastro Livi whose razors go all the way up to $900+.

The old manufacturers knew what they were doing, and made some fantastic blades.

so as my new Wapi is shave ready ,, do i just strop it before each time i shave from then on ,
if i only use it once or twice a week , i hope it wont need much in the way of honing .
not for a couple of years anyway .
what do yu think