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i'm new to the world of straight razor shaving and was wondering if the straight razors on ebay that usually run 10 to 20 dollars are worth my time or money. or should i just stick to my 80 dollar dovo? i'm just looking for another good daily shaver.do i have to spend $60 or more for a good razor? can somebody help?
If you don't mind honing and restoring them, they could be something.
If you want a shave ready in a good condition, go to the classifieds.
+1 on everything Olivia said.
I'd add to that, be sure you read the list of brands to avoid in the wiki before buying off ebay.
There are a lot of brand new razors on ebay in the $10-$20 range, and they are useless. I made the mistake of buying some, but fortunately for me, I was able to get my money back. Most people are not so lucky.
the truth is quality razor will cost more.
It's very rare to get more than you pay for on EBay, but they are to be had if yo know what you are looking for, can do the work required to get them to shave ready condition yourself and have the patients to find them. Since you are just starting out I would say that it is not someplace you should be shopping if you want to get to shaving with a straight razor soon. I would recommend finding a Double Arrow or WAPI from a vendor here on SRP that sells them shave ready of buy a cheaper one from the classified section on this site. Get one or two of them to shave with along with a strop. You should be good for around 5 or 6 months if you get 2 and don't damage them. While you are shaving with them you can pick up an EBay special to restore and learn honing with. If you don't want to go past the DA or WAPIs all you will need is a barber's hone, small coticule or Chinese Water hone to touch up your shave ready razors when they get dull, in 5 or 8 months. I am assuming that youare not working with a large budget here. If money and time are not an issue and you don't mind a long learning curve, go for the EBAY specials and have fun learning from your mistakes. Good luck. :gl:
A quality old razor may not look good, but at least it has the potential to be a good shaver. If you don't care about having a pristine looking razor, you can get a great shaver for little cost as long as you buy a good brand and get it honed well.
Am i missing something in here ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Utopian
Condition may not look good or bad but quality stays same? doesn't matter it is old or new blade?
Or this is just typing mistake Ron?
it's cheaper if you buy one already cleaned up, honed and tested.
you can save some money by doing the cleaning or most of it yourself, but the chances that you buy a razor that is not junk are not very high, so better rely on the expertise of somebody else to make that pick. plus until it's honed and tested you never know how it shaves.
if you want a new razor get the dovo and be done, that seems the only thing available in your budget.
I think he means that an old razor may not look good cosmetically; stains, scales worn, pins loose, needs cleaning, etc. On the other hand, IF it was of good quality to start with, it can still be a good quality shaver after a little work cleaning and honing. (Except if heavily rusted, pitted, chipped or cracked blade.)Quote:
Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl
At the same time, a brand new bright shiny blade made of poor quality steel will never be a good razor.
Yup, you got it right. I have some ugly old razors that I've never bothered to clean up yet. Some have severe pitting on regions of the blade that are far from the edge so it's only a cosmetic issue. They shave great but look horrible and I probably couldn't sell them for more than $10, but I never will.Quote:
Originally Posted by fritz
My point was that the aesthetics of a razor might be poor, but it can still shave well. Contrast this with a nice shiny new Zeepk, Krieger, or Master razor on ebay. They are clean, shiny, new, and crap!
i would also like to add that i have bought razors on ebay for as little as $12, they clean up nice and have good metal in them that hold an edge well. these are great for learning proper hone and strop techniques. i look for the older ones stamped boker and solingen as well as some of the antique american razors. i also agree with the other members that master, zeepk, kreiger, frost are a waste of time and money. good luck
It is possible to get a cheap razor to be good, but (generally) it won't be good straight off the bat it will require, at the very least, honing but possibly much more. Also, you have to know what to look for, I strongly recommend you hang around here for a few weeks or a month before you buy on ebay, there aren't a huge number of variables on a razor - and it doesn't take long before you can spot the good ones from the trash. Even then, you're taking a risk on ebay - pictures lie!
However, here's a couple I've bought off ebay:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...h_100_1218.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...h_100_1216.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...h_100_1163.jpg
The top two had pictures that were taken from about 8 feet away, and were risks, the bottom one seemed pretty clear cut but had a some weird hone wear and slightly warped scales - it is also one of my most favorite shavers. They've all only been polished with metal polish, and they've all needed honing.
Happy hunting
I personally have bought three off of ebay, all less than ten dollars. One was a crap Solingen that I've learned to love, one was a Frenchie that I'm excited to get honed when I get the cash because hi_bud_gl says they're good and I found that they may be somehow related to TI (there are nay sayers but I'm still excited), and a Sheffield with a nick. All of them were not pretty. Polish helped a little. But I can deal. Now the real deals come from lurking... antique stores, trades with members, the classifieds... I got a Goldedge for $80 from an Alaskan craigslist. Just stumbled upon it. Typed in Goldedge on google. I know they're usually going for that on ebay, but I really liked this one because it was round point and the perfect size for me, so... $80 well spent IMO. My other great find was from an antique dealer, $35 for two NOS Solingens. If that isn't good I dunno what is. On ebay they would've been bid way up. Deals can be had everywhere, but just remember, on ebay, you'll have to get lucky for a deal.
+1 to all that. Joed forgot to mention the cuss words :rant:that seem to go along with cleaning, repairing, replacing, and hone work Money spent on a good razor that is shave-ready, is money well spent. The Evilbay fixer upers will end up costing more than you'd think in the long run.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joed