Thread: First Razor - Crown

Ok, I just bought my first straight razor. I got it from an antique show after talking the guy down from $30 to $20 because one scale was cracked at the rivet that holds the blade. It's a Crown Razor Co. made in Boston, MA and says Extra Hollow Ground Fully Warrented on it. I read another post here that said this is a good razor that was made from 1900-1930. It has a little rust on it also, but it looks like it could be removed with steel wool. The edge is decent but it will need honed before use.

Now for questions.

1. Does this seem like it was a good deal? I looked at 20-30 razors before I got this one. I was looking for a very plain looking (therefore not expensive to antiquers) razor with a good blade for a decent price. I didn't want to spend much without knowing if I even liked shaving with one.

2. Is it hard to find someone who uses a straight razor locally (barber maybe?) that will hone a razor for you? I don't have a hone and assume a knife sharpening stone would not suffice.

3. Until I buy an actual strop, will any old piece of leather work as one? I have a few old leather belts around which is what my dad and grandpa always used after sharpening knives. It worked on fillet knives will it work on razors?

Thanks and any other tips/recomendations are more than welcome. I have done a lot of reading (mostly on this site) but have absolutely no actual hands-on knowledge of "real" razors.

I apologize if the pictures don't show up. If they don't I'll fix them later. They're not showing up in the preview so we'll see.

Looks like it can be saved. A bit too much hone wear for my taste, but the steel doesn't look pitted beyond hope.
Whether it was a good deal, depends on what you compare it to. You would have gotten a much better deal if you had picked one in the classifieds. Or you could've done a lot less buy picking up a newly made razor from a steel that can't hold an edge.

Yeah, I didn't want to spend a lot just to see if I liked it so I wasn't going to buy new. Especially since all the highly respected brands seem to be rather expensive. As for the classifieds, I hadn't seen any so cheap (price-wise). I probably would've known what I was getting that way, but I really wanted to start cheap... The way I see it is, I've bought my first razor for the price of a pack of Mach 3 refills so if I like it, good. And if I don't then if I don't shave for a month I've broken even. I basically just wanted to make sure I hadn't bought a completely crappy one. I personally could care less about the cracked scale, as long as it remains usable until I decide if I like it (if I decide I do I can always replace them) but I guess I didn't really know how to look for hone wear. Some of the other ones I looked at had really bad looking blades... Either they were wavy which looked to me like someone didn't know how to hone them correctly or they were chipped (some badly and some just slightly) which I didn't want to deal with.

Doesnt look too bad....

I would clean it up and send it too one of the honemeisters to get honed...

I dont know about the scales though that might be a problem but I never tried to replace or fix scales yet (I will soon)

I've got a similar Razor from the classifieds (same blade new scales) and it was in a perfect shaveready state.. It was my first razor and I loved every shave I got from it.. its now ready for a touch-up

$20 dolars is not too bad for such a razor I guess but it will need some work before you could use it.. but if you dont mind sanding and polishing you will have a great shaver soon..

I dont know if I would use a belt as a strop...but I'm pretty new myself so....I cant be of any help there...


Maarten

Thanks for the reply... I definitely don't mind if it needs some work... Money is in shorter supply right now than my willingness to work so I don't mind steel-wooling some rust and having to hone it. I just need someone to show me how. I wasn't real sure about the belt either... Just another attempt at saving a few bucks until I know if it's worth it (to me).

I'd personally rather not send it out to get honed. I only plan on having it honed by someone else once. I'm the type of person that prefers to do everything themselves. I'd just like it done once so I get the idea and then I'll learn from there. Sending it out won't give me the chance to learn so I'd rather learn by trial and error than by paying someone else to do something. If I can't find someone locally I'll probably just get a hone and keep trying until it passes the arm hair test.

Hone a man's razor and he'll shave for a month... Teach a man to hone and he'll shave for a lifetime... Or something like that.

By the way, I forgot to mention that I'm in the Phoenix area so if there's anyone from here on the board that wants to help a newbie I'd much appreciate it.

Originally Posted by darobison

If I can't find someone locally I'll probably just get a hone and keep trying until it passes the arm hair test.

Hone a man's razor and he'll shave for a month... Teach a man to hone and he'll shave for a lifetime... Or something like that.

Well... hone a mans razor and he knows how a sharp razor feels on his skin.. let somebody hone his first razor himself and he will probably get a burned face throw his razor in the corner and start using M3's and canned goo again....

If you want to see if its something for you I would really recomend to start out with a shave ready razor... its cheaper than the hones you need to get this puppy shaving again anyway.

the advantages are:
1- you will know what a sharp razor should feel like when you start honing yourself
2- you dont have to invest in hones right away
3 at first you will only have to worry about your technique and stropping... not to wonder if your razor is sharp enough

Maarten

It would be good if someone showed you how to hone.
But failing that plow through everything on the wiki on honing & stropping to give you a start.

Category:Straight Razor Maintenance - Honing & Stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Right, you would most certainly learn by trial and error, but you will likely endure a bit more pain than necessary in the process.
There have been plenty of guys taking your approach and when they finally break down and pay somebody to hone them a razor they usually realize that their honing has been lacking, even if they've been able to shave with a degree of comfort.
In the short term I would say your best bet is to do the cleaning yourself (you probably want to use sandpaper progressively from 200 to 2000 grit) and then having one of our resident honemeisters put the edge on it. Even if it costs you another 25 or so I think it's worth while.
Maintaining the edge of a honed razor is an order of magnitude easier and about that much cheaper than getting it honed in the first place.

Let me explain where your cost analysis goes wrong. By going for the seemingly cheapest option you end up spending more. If you spend as much time in the classifieds as you did looking through razors I'm sure you'd find one for under $40-$45 and you wouldn't have to wonder whether it would shave or not. Then with enough persistance on ebay or your local stores you can find a swaty for $10 (you will likely have to spend quite a bit of time lapping it but according to you your time is cheap) and with that you would be set forever without having to purchase another pack of cartridges ever. Instead your current approach would require at least $75 for a norton and perhaps another pack or two of M3 blades while you're learning on subpar edges. Of course, you want to find somebody to teach you to hone and perhaps use their hones, but that's basically using somebody else's generosity to cover the expense, which while may be cheaper for you is not a cheaper solution.

With this razor you want to buy at least norton 4000/8000 hone and the initial cleaning of the edge could be done on sandpaper. Check the old posts of randydance, I think that's what he usually does.

I have the exact same razor; mine has patina on the blade but is in very good condition and came with the original box and the paper instruction sheet mostly intact.

It's been in and out of my shaving rotation for some time. It's a good shaver. I like how the etch on the blade when it's closed in the scales reads: "EXTRA FULLY" above the scales.

Chris L

--"1- you will know what a sharp razor should feel like when you start honing yourself
2- you dont have to invest in hones right away
3 at first you will only have to worry about your technique and stropping... not to wonder if your razor is sharp enough"

This is why I'm looking for someone that knows how to hone. I just don't want to send it out because then I can't see it done, and I'm not going to buy a new "shave ready" razor just to try it. I absolutely hate shaving right now... If that doesn't change with a straight I'd rather be out $20 for a razor and 10-15 to a barber for honing it than 80-120 for a new razor.
<--- poor person

--"It would be good if someone showed you how to hone.
But failing that plow through everything on the wiki on honing & stropping to give you a start."

Thanks, I've read this once but I'm going to read it again now that I have actually committed somewhat to giving it a try. I've looked into this on and off for about 6 months now so I've read most of the wiki and alot of the posts on this board.

--"As another suggestion you may also be able to find a barber who knows how to do that and you can see if they'll help you if you pay them, but again that would be an expense.
With this razor you want to buy at least norton 4000/8000 hone and the initial cleaning of the edge could be done on sandpaper. Check the old posts of randydance, I think that's what he usually does."

As for the barber idea, that is the plan... I don't mind spending a few more bucks, but I want to see it if I do. I don't care if they actually spend time explaining to me, I can get that online but to see a pro do it would really put the reading in perspective for me (I'm a very visual and tactile learner). I was wondering about the sandpaper just to get rid of the surface rust on the hollowed part but a scotchbrite pad seemed to get most of it. I'll try to get the rest tomorrow. I actually didn't think it got it all on the front of the blade so I didn't try very hard on the back, but once I rinsed and dried it I realized that the front was almost perfect and it was the worse side originally.

--"I have the exact same razor; mine has patina on the blade but is in very good condition and came with the original box and the paper instruction sheet mostly intact.

It's been in and out of my shaving rotation for some time. It's a good shaver. I like how the etch on the blade when it's closed in the scales reads: "EXTRA FULLY" above the scales."

Sounds like our razors are in about the same condition except for the cracked scale on mine. It's funny that you mentioned the "EXTRA FULLY"... It was what caught my eye on this one, there were others that did too, but this one had a nicer edge.

Thanks guys... I'll be continuing my search for a local old-school barber on Monday. Too bad my great uncle is 2000 miles away, he was a barber many years ago and my dad (who was with me at the antique show) said that he used a straight for many years after retiring as well.