Thread: Monitarily Confused

An antique dealer is the absolute last place you should ever look for something old at a good price. If you want a straight razor you should go to every "Estate" sale you ever see and visit every barbershop with any barbers that are over 60 years old. Another good option is to visit "flea markets", but they are long shots.

Another good option is to go out on Ebay and do searches like "staight razor" instead of "straight razor", leaving the r out is the "Einstienian" moment in Ebay searching. Also, don't look for a nice razor, look for nice blades and nice scales separated. You can put them together yourself.

+1 on getting one pre-sharpened from the classifieds.

I got lucky once and bought 2 nice straights from an older barber. The ones with old straights are getting harder to find. Both needed to be sharpened.

learning how to shave witha straight razor is hard enough without adding the crappy razor factor into it. Get a nice shave ready that is set up and learn to shave with it. Then you can start to hone your razor and the restore a razor. I'd bet dollars to donoughts that most new straight shavers couldnt really appraise a antique store razor. I started by buying a nice Dbl Duck on ebay, when i go t, i sent it off to be honed, and the honer told me i bought a razor that was beyone repair. he was cool and sold me a very good razor (a martin if i recall) that was shave ready. One pass with that and i was sold. night and day vs, the one pass i tried with the junky one.

i'm thinking getting a straight shave at a barber shop is a good idea so you will know what it feels like.. you can also ask one to show what they use to maintain the razor. i lucked out and have the hone stones that i need to sharpen one with..

Yes the few dollars these days does seem to now mean $10.00 from an antique shop at least. Open them up and look at them I've had pretty good luck personally with almost 1/3rd of my finds I'd consider worthwhile but their going to be a lot of work and unless you want to learn restoration honing before you learn shaving pay the little extra for one from the classifieds. (That being said I got all mine from antique store hunting and got my grandfather to sharpen my first one up for me)

I can see both sides of the argument, if youre just starting out and not sure what you want/need then cheap razors can be a bad bet but I also think there are plenty of good deals to be had if you look hard enough. Im into collecting all sorts of stuff from old watches to old camp stoves and lately razors, I regularly get lucky and find sought after items for a few dollars equivalent but you have to put some leg work in

I picked this one up (my first straight) just before Christmas at a Car boot sale for £2 mint condition never been honed



The car boot season is over until late Spring and I needed more cheap razors to satisfy my urge so Ive been gambling on ebay, not a favourite source of mine but Im doing ok and and scoring razors to shave with and work on

This one was from ebay, about 18USD I guess, again it had never been honed but it needed a little cleanup after poor storage and I made new scales





These 3 came from ebay for about 30USD, or 10 each and Im very pleased with them



They look a bit rough and indeed they need quite a bit of work but I enjoy fixing things up and the edges are clean and straight, I already posted them elsewhere but to recap the two on the right are circa 1850 (research ongoing) ivory scales and I suspect they will make superb shavers, I have already refinished the one in the middle, just needs the scales refitting and honing, one on the left is very rusty Geneva Cutlery USA early 20th C but will also make a good shaver when Ive finished with it.

Im up to about 6 razors so far and one more that I wrecked (oops), I havent spent $80USD on my razor collection and personally I prefer them to a new razor of any make. Ok I have no dubl ducks are whatever the latest greatest brand might be but Im happy with what Ive got and its early days, now I have a few for a rotation theres plenty of time to look out for more bargains as and when they pop up and Im 100% sure they will but as always YMMV.

Heres that middle blade after a days worth of hand rubbing, not a great pic Im afraid. Its not that hard to make a rough blade usable if youre prepared to put a bit of time into it and read up on it first.

Like you say, you '"got lucky". What Glen said. Lovely scores though.

It seems vintage blades can be hit or miss. I've been very lucky to get two pristine ones (like brand new) from an antique store, but those seem to be rare occurances. For instance; I went to a flea market earlier today. I spotted several blades, but none of them were anywhere near the condition of the two I already own. One was slaughtered - apparently by someone trying to sharpen it on a knife sharpener. A few of them might have been nice restoration objects, but I just don't have the time to put into it.

srp classifieds you wont be dissapointed

I've been able to find some usable ones at antique shops nearby- my favorite razor is a Torrey I found for about $12. I also bought a $5 W&B chopper with a nick in it. The nick honed out okay, but the crack behind the nick was covered by tarnish. I think it's trash.

With such a good supply in my area, I'm half tempted to start buying all the ones I come across that are in decent shape and throw them up on the classifieds here, but my restoration and honing skills are sub-par and selling them "as-is" will make it difficult to cover my expenses.
J.