Thread: Best no-frills, no-BS shaver for a newbie

Also, huge thanks to everyone who replied and especially Ben for taking the time to find some great classified deals! You can bet I'll stick around here and try to contribute to this RAD (pun intended) community in the future!!! Thanks again fellas! Keep on rockin!

Looks like you're getting hooked up, but for future purchases, I can give you some more advice.

You can get a WONDERFUL shave with something that looks like total crap. In terms of getting a good shave, there's really only 2 things that matter.

1. The edge.

2. The quality of the steel.

In truth, you could even ignore the quality of the steel, except that if you don't have good steel to start with, you can't get and keep a good edge.

A person could very easily pick up a $10 blade on ebay, spend $20 to have it honed, and be rockin' and rollin' with a razor that looks like garbage, except that it has a nice keen edge.

The things to look for are:

1. An edge that is either straight or smiling. You don't want a frown.
2. An edge that does not have visible chips.
3. A razor with no pitting or rust on the edge itself.
4. Scales that are in tact.
5. The razor should open and close without the edge hitting the scales.
6. Ideally, the razor should be tight enough in the scales that it will stay open/closed on it's own. However, as long as the scales are not cracked, you can GENTLY tap the pins with a ball peen hammer to tighten them.
7. Even wear on the spine. There can be a lot of it, but as long as it's more or less even, the razor should hone up just fine.
8. Quality steel. As a general rule, any vintage razor is probably safe in this department, although old razors made from solingen steel are probably a safer bet.

Beyond that, the whole thing can be covered in orange rust and deep pitting. The scales can be ugly as sin. You just knock the rust off with sandpaper, polish it up a little bit with some maas (will not get it glossy unless you really do some serious sanding work first) and then send it off to be honed.

Jonny it looks like you're about set up to start! Welcome! This is indeed a great place and I can tell you I've learned more in here in a few months than from years of reading anyplace else. Every time I start to think I've got all this down pat, I read something that takes me into new territory. Great info and tremendous people! From a larger perspective you could say this place is what we'd all like the world to be more like - happy shaving.

ive never been to a more genorous, friendly forum.
the guys around here are really quite incredible, for both; there wealth of knowledge, and genorosity.

Thanks JDurango for the post. It helps since I'm in the same boat as a newb trying to find the right gear to get me started. I've been reading the Wiki and this site to help with my learning.

Thanks slarti..for the classified scan. Tried to get a couple, but no longer available

Yeah... SRP is great, people here always step up. You've received lots of great advice... I'll try to add to the info by telling you what I think is the best no frills NEW shaver (not a classified blade).

In my opinion, the Wapienicas are great no-BS shavers for a great price. I've had great experiences with them, and some guys keep wapis in their regular shave rotations along with their collector blades.

Other than that I'd go with the classifieds.