10 months, RAD, and why the wife took my credit card away...
keljian's latest post (http://straightrazorpalace.com/newbi...date-tips.html) made me do it. It has been 10 months for me. Prior to that, I was using my trusty nickel plated Dovo 42 DE, and rather liked it.
Now then. Started in December last year with a pair of NOS Wackers. Quickly added a Steinhoff and a Puma I got from a famous auction site. Still had my full setup of Castle Forbes and a rather nice Mühle brush, so I was ready to go. Or so I thought.
However, along with the Puma in the pictures had come another that I had thought beyond repair. So I started looking for an expert opinion on that razor, and ended up in the old chat system. Now, I do like forums, but if you need a quick answer to an imminent problem, nothing can replace chat. Luckily for everyone, dwessel (who is, as everyone knows, da bomb) has replaced the old chat system with a new one which is actually useful. One lesson learnt is that if you need quick advice, or just cannot find a post you know exists somewhere in the maze that is SRP, the new chat system is your best bet - give it a try!
But I digress. In the chat, I found a group of extremely knowledgeable and helpful people. One of them now owns that Puma, and I am glad he does, if only by ways of gratitude for helping maintain this wonderful site. These gentlemen also helped me identify, buy, and ship my current collection of razors.
Apropos RAD, left to right:
Not shown, amongst others, are a Custom Scaled Inox Olympic Trading Co. 13/16ths and a 7/8th round point "Damascus" razor, both also obtained from the venerable coully.
Also not shown is Joe Chandler's Complete Honing Setup.
Further to keljian's extremely useful learnings, I found out a few things that may be helpful for the Europeans in this forum:
- A razor bought from an SRP member in the Classifieds will typically shave better than one from a shop or the egregious auction site.
- Said razor will also only cost a fraction of a new razor, but be of better quality, because SRP's quality assurance (i.e. experienced members) actually works.
- Shipping honing stones from the US will cost you an arm and a leg.
- Should you be able to ship anything without arms or legs, don't bother trying to ship it to Australia, lest you also lose your mind. At least if you are living in Germany.
- Bavarian customs officials are difficult to deal with, and will happily hold your beautiful razor from Australia for more than two weeks. That is after it has taken the razor itself a month to arrive.
- The EUR/USD conversion rate is working to your advantage. Use it while you can, because prices for razors in Europe are skyrocketing, and this price increase will spill over to the US shortly, or as soon as US dealers run out of stock.
- While German technology is obviously superior to any other technology in this universe, German razors do not necessarily shave better than English or - horribile est dictu - French razors.
- If you speak Swedish, use "Köp och sälj i auktion & till fast pris på Tradera. Nya auktioner idag!" to pick up Swedish razors for very little money. A razor is called "rakkniv" in Swedish, if that helps any. And 1 USD = 6.63831 SEK.
So there. All I can say is thank you SRP, and thanks a lot to the friends I have made in this forum. You have been extremely friendly, patient, and helpful. Did I mention patient already? :rolleyes:
P.S. Just in case you are wondering about the wife and the credit card in the subject line: I am currently not taking any offers for nice razors, unless you accept money transferred via a Nigerian bank. I still love her to bits, though.
