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I wanted extend my hobby a little more and decide to buy brush,strop.i couldn't believe what i am seeing.Prices are higher then i expected.Is this just me been cheap person?i used to think escher's are expensive above 200 etc now i saw strops for 80 brushes over 250 wow,
Any opinion please shoot it as hard as you can?
Prices are expensive. I can see someone spending thousands if they wanted all the best equipment.
Just picture how much a set of shaptons (i.e. 1000, 4000, 8000, 16000 and god forbid the 30000 too!), a fancy shaving brush, a nice strop, a bunch of fancy shave creams/soaps and aftershaves??
People switching the straights to save money....:rofl2:
You can still buy a good brush for a reasonable price. Vintage Blades is having a big sale and the Shavemacs are darned good brushes.
Being new, I wouldn't know what the old prices were, but it seems to me that there is actually just a very very wide range of prices for the items we use, and subsequently a large range of qualities, features, and/or "luxury" you get. I mean, you can get a "good enough" strop for $20 or pay over $100, a razor for $50 or $800, a hone for $35 or $600, a brush for $15 or $500. A soap for $1.50 or $60. Aftershave for $5 or $75. Huge price ranges, and from what I can tell, there is definitely a point at which the returns don't justify the extra cost anymore, unless of course you have extra money to spend or you just want to experiment.
Did the same items you are looking at used to cost less? Or has there been a jump in quality since you've looked, and therefore a jump in price? Most of the $80+ strops are really really nice handmade strops with the best materials. You can still find plenty of strops for much cheaper, but you may not be getting the best possible quality. Also, you really don't need to spend $250 to get a great brush. Jimmy is right on, the shavemacs are damn fine brushes and the sale makes them even sweeter. You could even order a custom shavemac with a D01 knot and real horn handle for much less than $250. And then there are the Rooney super brushes which are among the best bang for the buck brushes you can get in terms of price vs quality.
What exactly are you looking for in a strop or brush? Maybe we can recommend something that fits the bill and won't break the bank!
Get a cheap practice strop from Tony Miller and a shave ready razor from a member here on the classifieds and you are in business. Brushes can be had for under a tenner, shaving soap needn't be expensive either. A nice Swaty barber hone on ebay for touch ups needn't break the bank either.
The "best" isn't necessarily the best. You can always find the most expensive but that and the best is often mutually exclusive.
You can still put together an assortment of razors, brushes, strops,hones and other gear thats does a great job for little money.
Well, if you flood the market with $50 Eschers, maybe that will start a downward trend?Quote:
Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl
I'll take two!:D
Agree but i am not that smart .i learn hones and took me 3 years.i have spend more then 250 to buy turkey stone but every attempt end up buying trush.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
I don't know anything about strops,brush etc.I got great help from member zeppliin to buy brush.Now lets see how i will end up with strops.i know oldschool knows some japan side was selling great strop need to ask his help on that.
Utopian you are killing me it Took me so much energy and time to buy those stones .if i sell them for 50 i don't know what will happen to my brain.I should say end up some psychiatric home.
Tell me about it, the prices. I'm new to straight shaving and I spent a small fortune on equipment. I had used electric shavers all my life and would spend about $225 on the top of the line Norelco so my thought was I would spend the same on a straight razor. Well the razor was a TI and it was $230 little did I know how much the brush, strop, and accessories would cost. I find quality is worth investing in on some things. I could have gone low on the brush but I thought if I'm going to do this I want comfort and I don't want to replace anything for a long, long time. I went with a Dovo Silver tip at $180. I knew nothing about strops and spent $75 on a Russian leather. Mug, soap, skin care, and a stand another $160. With todays economy I must be crazy to spend this kind of money. I'm blessed with the ability to pay for this at the present. If I get 10 years out of the razor and brush it would be the same amount spent on replacing an electric every 4 years or so.
Well, there are still strops for $20 that Kenrup makes, but yes, the $30 apprentice strop by Tony seems to be no more, probably for a good reason. There are a lot of good strops in the $50-$100 range though and it seems that most people still prefer to have a lot more razors than strops.Quote:
Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl
I just checked and the price of my daily brush is exactly the same as it was 2 years ago - $200, this is actually cheap, compared to over 50%-80% increase on the Dovo and Thiers-Issard razors.
You should be able to get a lot more than 10 years out of this equipment, or pretty much from any other - the razors doesn't go bad or anything :). And yes, quality is important and the razor manufacturers just follow the normal market rules. There is apparently no problem with demand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen436
It looks like Tony is actually coming out with an upgraded version of the Apprentice strop for $34. The Well Shaved Gentleman The Heirloom Razor Strop Company : Heirloom Latigo "Barber's Friend" Strop. Knowing Tony's work and reputation, I'm sure it will be hard to beat the value! Guess you have to wait until April for it, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by gugi
I totally understand what you're saying and I thought the same thing at first. The more I looked around though, the more reasonable the prices became. I use an Illinois 827 strop which does a good job for $30, a shave-ready razor here for $38, a badger hair brush at a yard sale for $2 and I use soap that I buy for $2 a puck and cheapish aftershave too. Heck of a lot cheaper than me using cartridges for a year...
Part of the reason we spend so much on straight razor supplies comparatively is that we're not looking for a mediocre shave.
All of us want the best experience possible. At this moment I'm looking to upgrade to a badger's hair brush from a boars hair and that means I'll be dropped an extra 20 to 80 dollars for this added luxury.
Has a boars hair brush worked fine? Yes but a badger hair brush is undeniably better. And I'm (semi) gladly paying for one.
That is the beauty of being a newbie, I think these prices are normal.
$150 and $200 for choppers on ebay normal, Are they suppose to be cheaper?
$80 to $200 brushes, something wrong with that?
EXCELLENT HUMAN PSYCHIATRYQuote:
Originally Posted by canyon289
[/QUOTE]$150 and $200 for choppers on ebay normal, Are they suppose to be cheaper?[/QUOTE]
THIS IS I AM TALKING ABOUT MIKE WHEN i start butcher's maximum price was 70$
Someone once told me that the price is whatever your willing to pay. Prices on Ebay get out of hand when it comes to Vintage razors IMO.
I'm afraid I'm too frugal (cheap) to even consider many of these purchases, I buy used. And it helps having been a collector for years, my biggest investment was time and patience. I probably have less than $50 in all my shaving accessories including restoration materials. I did purchase new soap and will spring for a strop but after having shaved for free for so many years I refuse to spend too much.
The money, time and attention we al devote to an arcane shaving methods indicates we are all at the best eccentric and at the worst over the edge. Pardon the pun.
If this is TRUTH You are the winner on my List and i do admire YouQuote:
Originally Posted by beenpickin
Im by no means cheap but this is turning out to be an expensive hobby. I didnt intend it to become a hobby I just wanted to shave with a straight, I now have what I need to shave and have even sent something out to have restored but I still need stuff, I would like a better brush, I would like some aftershaves and would like to try some shave creams, With some of the aftershaves being $40 and $50 a bottle I really have to do my reaserch to make sure I get something Im gonna like. I know I could buy samples but what Im saying is that there is so much to choose from and nothing is cheap. A new guy just getting into this who wants decent stuff could easily spend $500 dollors buying stuff his first week .
yeah, want is a bitch, ain't it :roflmao
as usual it boils down to priorities, i didn't expect this to become a hobby either and i've spent orders of magnitude more than i needed to, but i'm glad i did and hope to be able to downsize.
the problem is in my humble opinion:
1. all these things are considered, in general, higher class
2. small market going for them, with a very specific desire. I think manufacturers, for the most part, still consider this "bespoke" type fair
3. limited supply. it isn't like the market is flooded with the accoutrements. otherwise we could walk into any store you find bics and find our stuff too.
does this mean I think its right? hell no. not on brushes anyways. I have a tony miller strop, I paid just under a 100 bucks for. I consider it worth it. it is very nice, you can tell there was time and skill used in making it. a brush on the other hand. a knot of good hair and a piece turned on a lathe. I don't see all that extra money. weren't there some users on here that were making their own and had access to good silvertip knots? I'd like to see them under the classifieds offering things for sale. I have a <50 brush I use, it works. I am more into the razors myself, but wouldn't mind being able to try some other brushes. but at the cost can't afford to try it and not like it.
Red
It's supply and demand. The supply of vintage razors is limited, and the demand is increasing. Of course the prices will increase. Stop telling your friends how great straight razor shaving is if you want the prices to level off :o