Thread: Razor choice, on short notice, sorry

hi, im looking at the Coppel Cutlery Co. 11/16" Germany (Shave Ready/Tested), selling here for 38$, or a new col. conk solingen 5/8 off ebay for 15 plus shipping , with about an hour left. if anyone can reply in time, that would be great, thanks.

Go for the Coppel in the classified!

the col. conks are razors but you will still need to hone it/ have it honed which, if price is the issue, work out to the same amount or perhaps a little more.

The Col Conk is presumably a Dovo, and looks sort of blah to me. The price is climbing quickly and has lots of bidders, it’s really going to not be much of a deal. And it will probably need to be honed to be actually shave worthy, add $20 to the final delivered price if you can’t do it yourself.

The Coppel I have never heard of, but that means next to nothing as I am no expert. The blade itself has a nice shape to it, a nice look to it, and I personally consider a little non business edge pitting and staining a good trade off for dollars spent if you get a piece of steel that can actually take a good shaving edge. Of course, all would remain to be seen when it actually gets into your hands to attack your face, but I’d say it was a better value than the Conk.

Thanks for your help, I think im going to go with the classified one, i was just making sure. By the way, as you might have guessed, i am new at this, and this is my first. I know i need a strop and a honing stone aswell. Any suggestions on these items? And my only requirements are 1 cheapish, as i am very new at this, and 2 relatively good quality, such that i wont need to buy them again as i progress, at least for a while. thanks for you help again.

It's hard to go wrong with a Tony Miller starter strop, as for cheap stones, all I can think of is the Chinese 12K, it's suited as a finisher, you will need a "coarser" stone like the Norton 4K/8K to do more than just a quick touchup though.

I think Tony may not have his $30 strops at the moment, in which case you're looking to spend about double that, or there were illinois strops at kinfecenter at about $30.
i think some members used to offer strops, but i'm not sure if they still do - look in the classifieds

hone - the norton 4k/8k with sandpaper on flat surface for lapping is probably still the best option for a good all around hone. your razor being honed you may be happy with just a finishing hone - few options there, the chinese one, barber hones, coticules... the budget side will mean the first two.