Thread: Hopefully I won't be learning an Ebay lesson with this!

I won my first razor on Ebay.6530530964

Went a little over what I intended to spend but it looked so good.

Hopefully it will be a good shaver.

I'll keep you posted.

Curt

That's nice work on the back .... looks like about a 1910-1920 era razor and would have commanded a serious price in its day. Sorta' deco ....

Yeah, the work on the back really pushed me higher in my bid. I hope that it will turn out that I can make it into a decent shaver as I'm not really interested in just collecting.

Maybe I will get my answer this week if it arrives.

I'll post my results.

I only have a Dovo stainless from Ray's at this point and have had good luck with the Norton 4/8 and Dovo wide strop keeping it shave ready. I also have a SRP razor coming.

Is there an approximate time when stainless steel became popular in str8 razors?

Curt

That is one good looking razor. Enjoy shaving with it. 8)

I bought a Bartmann High Class in tortoise shell that looked like the same blade some months ago. It is one of my "go to" razors because of it's sperior shave.

It's hard to list all my favorites because I've got a lot that really have character and are great shavers, but a few just seem to stand out.

1. Kavall 6/8 - I'll have to put pictures sometime of this razor. It's a gorgeous true Damascus blade with a very unique spine and is a wonderful shaver. This one took many hours of work but I"m so glad I did take the time to "bother" with it. Got it in my first collection of Ebay "junk" - initially it looked like the sorriest of them all but turned out to be the best.

2. Bartmann High Class 7/8 - just a great razor - no other way to say it.

3. A Robeson 5/8 round point with a golden bee-hive handle. This was another "junker" in a lot that I bought off ebay, but after cleaning and polishing and more polishing and cleaning and then honing, this one's been a great shaver from the first time I put it to my face. I think the Robeson razors are the big "hush hush" secret among those of us who like shaving with classics - Every one I've had has turned out to be a good shaver.

4. Black Diamond 8/8 - this was another real surprise. A lady I bought 2 razors from told me she had two more and sent me pictures - both had very visible chips in the edge that would require regrinding the edge. I tried to turn her down but she was so nice that I finally offered her 20.00 for both and it was done. Sure glad I did that - both turned out to be great razors - one was a Black Knight square point, 6/8 and the other was the Black diamond 8/8, which was a real standout.

Also, a really nice spike-point M. Jung with gorgeous ivory handles (one crack along the base pin - so typical of ivory <sigh>). Very solid, gorgeous razor with a flawless blade that looks to be blue steel and another really prized item.

Geesh, I could go on and on, I need to get rid of some of the dozens of razors I've got but every time I look through them, the qualities that put them in my "keeper" box shine through time and time again.

By the way.... I've recently purchased a really interesting genuine inlaid tortoise shell scale razor with the bar-back... Manhattan Razor Company.... and this is an OLDIE! I've got another much more recent model, too, but there's no comparison - this is definitely pre-1840. I know it was early in the 1800's when tortoise shell disappeared from the mfg. scene.

Dang.... now I want to go home and start working on it again!

The razor arrived yesterday.

It seemed to be sharp when I checked it.

This morning I stropped it and shaved.

I just thought I was getting a good shave with my Dovo. Now I have a new standard. The blade on the new one is very thin (maybe what they call a singing razor). I'll have to take my Dovo to the honing shed to try and match this one.

Beautiful, shaves great, and good price. I guess I had a good ebay razor experience!

Now I'm just impatiently waiting for the SRP razor.

Curt

Those Bartman's that Crowley is selling are as good a shaver as any out there. Very Nice. Lynn

Originally Posted by Poove

<<snip, snip>>
Is there an approximate time when stainless steel became popular in str8 razors?
Curt

First, there is really no such thing as stainLESS. Stain RESISTANT is a more accurate term, away from the advertising departments anyway. Razors that were a little easier to keep polished up began to appear at the turn of the century (late 1800s, that is) and marketed themselves as "silver steel." There is no uniform definition of "silver steel" or formula for its composition. Some of the earlier ones added a trace of silver to cutlery steel for added polish, is about all.

*Real* stain resistant blades began appearing in any sizeable quantities in the late 1930s. I don't think they became particularly popular until perhaps the 1950s, which by that time, few razors were sold other than to barbers. Barbers liked them because they could be sterilized with less tendency to rust. Still, most barbers continued to oil their blades every evening before closing the shop.

Today stainless is popular with the go-go crowd as being a little easier to keep corrosion free. The price for that, however, is that they tend to be a little harder steel to make keen. On the flip side of *that*, once keen, harder steel razors stay keen a bit longer.

There will be a history quiz on Friday and this material will be covered!

daviduthe