Thread: How Many Razors Do Newbies have?

Originally Posted by Lazarus

blockhead

Similar tastes indeed. You say you are getting ready to work on some strops? Get this, I have a beautiful old belting leather briefcase I never use anymore and I have been eying it and thinking "hey that old belting leather might make some nice strops". So basically I am thinking about destroying a briefcase that cost around $800 twenty years ago to make some strops that could be purchased for around $50-$60. It concerns me a bit that this strikes me as perfectly reasonable. I welcome opinions as to the lunacy or brilliance of such a course of action.

Don't do it. I can't imagine that an old strop is better then a new one, so why destroy some history? If it was $800 20 years ago, what would that equate to today?

Take a look at razors. We all search for vintage blades and get excited when you stumble upon a good find. What makes the really good find? When we find an old razor that was a "high" end model. Basic law of supply and demand says that there will be more inexpensive razors around then the expensive ones. The same is probably true for briefcases, huh?

If you are ready to part with it, try selling it and then use the funds to buy a new strop. I highly recommend the bridle strop from SRD. I love the way that thing feels.

I'm brand new, and I have TWO razors.

I think I'll be good with two for a while, and then I'll probably start buying / selling more in search of what will eventually be my IDEAL razor.

I don't see myself ever having more than three or four on hand at any one time, though. Got to try and keep from hoarding these things.

~ Ryan

Originally Posted by KingOfBreifne

I'm brand new, and I have TWO razors.

I don't see myself ever having more than three or four on hand at any one time, though. Got to try and keep from hoarding these things.

~ Ryan

Good luck with that… I told myself that at the beginning only to find that acquiring was as much fun as shaving! Then there's honing and stropping… to each his hone! (ducking now!)

Originally Posted by seanomatopoeia

Good luck with that… I told myself that at the beginning only to find that acquiring was as much fun as shaving! Then there's honing and stropping… to each his hone! (ducking now!)

ducking? Dubl Duck?

Originally Posted by seanomatopoeia

Good luck with that… I told myself that at the beginning only to find that acquiring was as much fun as shaving! Then there's honing and stropping… to each his hone! (ducking now!)

Yeah...I didn't say exercising disciplined willpower was going to be easy. I've got one nice 3" strop, and a 2" strop that I'll paste at some point. I've got two nice vintage razors that I'm happy with for now. Honing...not sure I want to mess with that yet. I'll just send the razors out to someone to have them hones for a while.

But it's the creams / aftershaves / balms that I'll be acquiring at a steady pace, I think. I've been blessed / cursed (depending on how you look at it) with an INSANELY keen olfactory system (runs in the family), so good-smelling stuff smells REALLY good to me, and crappy-smelling stuff smells REALLY bad to me.

So I'm on a quest for the best-smelling creams / lotions out there.

~ Ryan

I have three - all bought on eBay, for a total of $100.00. A Genco, a Clauss, and a Dwarf Duck. I had intended to buy two, but when I saw the Dwarf Duck, well, I couldn't restrain myself.

Only one is honed at this point, I get the other two back from the barber on Saturday.

Oh - I also have a terrorist device that looks like this:



Hacks my face up every time. Don't know why, but I just can't get the hang of that thing. I wonder what the Arabic writing says - "death to the infidel"?

I'm a rookie and I have just one so far, but i can see the value in having two. So, I'm saving my nickles and dimes.

Rob.

i started a couple weeks ago and i have 3. 2 of which i use to shave and one i use to practice honing. id like to get to the skill level that i can sharpen them myself. i decided 2 shavers is a good start and it will give my wife time to forget about my RAD recently.

We'll not talk about the four pako letter openers I blundered into at first, m'kay? Great!

Beyond that, I've got an entry level Dovo 6/8 that provided my first full shave. Good results.

Waiting for restoration (i.e. the $$$ to do it with) are a Dubl Duck that lost its scales upon unwrapping from shipment (ebay: caveat shavor), a no-name allegedly pre-1860, a no-name Solingen (both of which are badly patina'd), a decent Solingen 5/8 of good quality that's stropped up nicely and a Bohlerstahl with a bad pin but excellent blade.

My current quest is for some hones with which to remove a couple of small dingers in the antiques. Still studying how to get rid of patina.

Most have come from ebay, but a couple from estate sales around here. Take the veterans' advice. Watch those estate sales. Here in WV, with the second oldest population in the country, I've found a couple that intrigued me.

I've posted on this link before about how many razors I have but that really wasn't an answer.

I believe I now have the correct answer. At least it is for me.

You need enough razors to decide if one style, round, spike, square or one size 4/8 5/8 6/8 etc or one brand, W&B DD etc or one grind, quarter, half full or wedge is your "go to favorite".

I've only been shaving with a straight for 6 months now. I've collected around 24+ razors. I've had half of them honed by experts so I can actually use them. Four have just been sent off.

But of all these I find that I keep coming back to two razors.

A Case Red Imp 132 and a Thomas Turner "hollow ground razor".

Both are cosidered 1/4 hollow (I think) and around 5/8 to 11/16. The Case has a square point with a sharp tip (spike?). The Thomas Turner has a extended point (spike?).

I seem to prefer the 1/4 hollow grind. I don't know why. I also seem to prefer a definate "tip" to the razor.

I have a W&B full hollow 7/8 that I got for a steal off ebay, replaced the completely missing scales with grey bone from one of the sites that sells Dovo replacement parts and I don't care to shave with it. I've tried numerious times.

Now I won't sell it because it's worth keeping just to show friends what a true wedge looks like and what a barber's notch is.

My other razors that are shave ready seem to just sit in the cabinet - but - I have not reached the stage that I think I need to sell any. Time will tell.

So try all of them. All shapes, sizes, makers etc. Then sell the ones you've put all the work and money into to make "shave ready" to those of us who are still looking for the "perfect" razor.

Just my take on it.

Zacsdaddy