Thread: starter razor vs. dream razor & starter strop?

Normally I would say get a vintage razor from the classifieds here however the SRD offer is mighty persuasive. It's a matter of do you think you will become a great honer pretty quickly and do the honing yourself or you will be relying on sending it out.

The only thing I can add to this discussion is that if you have your heart set on a specific vintage razor from the classifieds you have to move fast; sometimes they sell as quickly as they are posted. Trust me, I think most of us have been burned that way.

I couldn't pass up the "free honing for life" offer (even though I'm "old"). That way you always have something to compare others to. Now I've got a different problem - ebay. My first thought was to have a razor or two to be in "rotation", but now I have "several" razors to rotate. Is this a disease?d

[QUOTE=mikk;700620] I would like to get a nice razor, but after I have one I am happy with, the chances I will start collecting are small, I think.

Hahahahahahahahahah

Yeah, we all said that.

Seriously, if you get a decent razor, don't go for a bargain basement strop. It's like buying a $3,000 camera and getting a $49 lens.

Sounds like RAD is setting in! It's happening to me too - I've got 3 on the go already!

But on the main subject, I decided to spend about £50 on a decent shave ready vintage for my first razor rather than go for brand new. The thought process was that the vintage was ready to use and cost less, I may have had to spend more getting the brand new blade honed to shave readiness, and the resale value afterwards if I couldn't get into straight shaving. As I said, the vintage I have cost £50, and I could probably sell it for close to that now (although not freshly honed), whereas if I'd spent £120 + honing on a brand new a good chunk of that is markup so I'd probably have been lucky to get £90 back, also taking into account the availability of some brand new blades.

I could be off the map with that theory, but it's all purely academic now anyway cos I'm enjoying shaving this way and I'm getting the hang of it!

Always leave yourself room to upgrade.