Thread: Art of Shaving Razors

Newbie here. Been reading these forums for a while now as I get ready to make my jump into SR shaving.

I am looking at my first SR purchase and trying to decide what to get. The issue is I have a connection at the Art of Shaving who can get me products, including razors, at a significant discount.

All AOS SRs are Thiers-Issard, carbon steel, round point, hollow (appears to be full) and 5/8 (appears as such, haven't made a detailed measurement).

Question is: is it worth getting the AOS razor given the substantial (50% or more) discount I can get, or should I go with something from SRD or similar?

Thanks in advance and I'm looking forward to getting into the 'sport.'

So long as you share that discount, you'll be okay.

If you buy from AOS, you need to have it honed. Their razors are of very good quality, but they are not shave ready form the store because I hone quite a few from people in the NYC area who purchase them. I find their strops and other things over priced for what you get even at a big discount, but their razors are made by a great company.

SRD pays for itself in that you get quality products with good advice and their previous free honing for life can't be beat. Their strops are also great, but they are pricey to nick if you are beginning to strop for the first time. Their other products are reasonably priced as well and you will not buy anything of poor quality from them.

I would go vintage first only because you get better prices here in the classifieds and if you drop or mess up a less expensive razor or strop you have not lost as much money.
Just my opinion.

Originally Posted by treydampier

If you buy from AOS, you need to have it honed. Their razors are of very good quality, but they are not shave ready form the store because I hone quite a few from people in the NYC area who purchase them. I find their strops and other things over priced for what you get even at a big discount, but their razors are made by a great company.

I have a lot of experience sharpening with whetstones, etc. Do you think that this is something I could attempt myself or would I need to send this out for a pro to handle?

I would go vintage first only because you get better prices here in the classifieds and if you drop or mess up a less expensive razor or strop you have not lost as much money.

The discount is substantial enough to make it worth it, even if I destroy the blade. Plus, I'd feel bad destroying a vintage blade as opposed to a new one. You cannot just manufacture a 'vintage' item after all!

Thanks for the help!

Originally Posted by HBirdman80

Newbie here. Been reading these forums for a while now as I get ready to make my jump into SR shaving.

I am looking at my first SR purchase and trying to decide what to get. The issue is I have a connection at the Art of Shaving who can get me products, including razors, at a significant discount.

All AOS SRs are Thiers-Issard, carbon steel, round point, hollow (appears to be full) and 5/8 (appears as such, haven't made a detailed measurement).

Question is: is it worth getting the AOS razor given the substantial (50% or more) discount I can get, or should I go with something from SRD or similar?

Thanks in advance and I'm looking forward to getting into the 'sport.'

Part of the sport is in the shopping and knowing what price to pay.
If you get that large a discount well golly that is a game changer.

TI makes as good a razor as anyone out there today. They seem to temper their blades slightly harder than others but their heat treatment is consistent by all accounts. I like my TI blades a lot. The hardness is simply a matter of preference.. I sort of think that a hard blade stays almost sharp enough longer than a slightly softer one so I do not get more shaves from it the way others say they do. But, others have different faces, whiskers and habits so it just depends on you.

With a 50% discount get two at a time....

Here is what I would do. If the price differential of the razor including the price of professional honing is substantial I would go with the lower price. However if the price was not substantial I would be inclined to establish a relationship with one of our full service vendors and go from there. Of course AOS prices are highly inflated to begin with so just compare.

As far as the honing goes only you know your abilities. Just consider straight honing is different than knife honing and many well experienced knife honers have difficulty at first with straights. I would not be practicing honing on that razor.

Well, an AOS Thiers-Issard is black plastic is the cheapest model. If you can score one for a 2 digit number, I would recommend it. You would find it hard to find a new TI for cheaper. Then send it out to be honed. Not because you CAN'T do it, but it will give you a basis for which to judge your own honing. However, it would be easier to get a blade from on of our full service vendors.

Originally Posted by HBirdman80

I have a lot of experience sharpening with whetstones, etc. Do you think that this is something I could attempt myself or would I need to send this out for a pro to handle?

I think you could do it, provided you had a benchmark to aim for. If this is your first razor then you don't have that benchmark. If you go for that razor, just send it to a honemeister here to hone it, then check out the hones/honing forums and wiki at SRP and give it a go when it needs to be touched up.

-Chief

I have an AOS TI in horn. It is a 6/8, not a 5/8. Good shaver, but not not in the same league as some of my vintages.

Go for a vintage razor, shave ready from the classifieds if this is to be your first purchase. Spend 40-50 dollars. See how you like it and then move up the ladder. I would not recommend TI as an entry level razor simply due to their high prices.

I think that of all the TI's I see, the AOS ones actually have the best fit and finish on the TI's for some reason. They are consistently well ground and rarely have a bigger bevel on the front side than the back (TI says from grinding off the burr). Once a bevel is set and they are honed, they are very nice razors. Because they are from AOS, the price is higher, but a discount is a good ting.

No bad decision here.

Lynn