New Guys - Please read

[urleebird]

If you have been looking for a razor and find the whole process a tad confusing, I'd like to narrow it down a little for you. Do not bid on razors like these:

eBay item 6567330108
eBay item 6566828576
eBay item 6567105312
eBay item 6567105191
eBay item 6567105107
eBay item 6567104866

These razors are junk and they will definitely turn your straight razor experience sour.

And this guy lies through his teeth. His descriptions don't even come close.
eBay item 6567294801
In fact, if you live in Chicago, please go kick his butt for me

[Traveller]

I went to E bay to look at the razors you mentioned,these are the same type sold in Belize C.A. I live there about 6 mos a year and have had occasion to try these razors,They are made in Pakistan and are really rough on the face(actually unusable) I also checked out the sellers other items he sells jewelry to attach to you tongue piercing(for those of you that have one)check it out you wont believe it Later daze

[mgraepel]

Just gonna toss my two cents in on what I've learned in E-bay shopping. There are a few brands you want to watch for specifically and that will work great for you. These include Double Duck, Wade & Butcher, Henckels, and Böker. Other things you could watch for but I wouldn't necessarily rely upon are markings that mention Sheffield or Solingen. You shouldn't go wrong with those, but the blade has to be in decent shape (of course).

[RichZ]

Also Filarmonica is very good too made in Spain. It is one of my favorites got it on ebay. Oh by the way on ebay also search under "Cut throat" there are razors there that don't show up on a straight razor search.

[xman]

I've heard good things about the Torrey razors too as well as those from Geneva NY and look forward to trying them myself. Nobody's mentioned Thiers Issard as a good shaver, but I've RARELY seen those on ebay.

X

[sensei_kyle]

My first razor from Lee was a JR Torrey. Really nice shaver. I'd buy another one and not think twice about it.

[uthed]

Part of the problems with searches on eBay is you end up with 4357 results, 95% of which have NOTHING to do with you are actually looking for. This is the advanced search criteria *I* use that seems to cut down on the crap-ol-a ..... Cut-and paste it into the search box on eBay and compare the results to what you've been using:

straight razor -DVD -guitar -music -hunting -hunters -kitchen -chefs -portable -electric -CD -card -IRAQI -Dutch -Pakistan -Jaguar -Steroteam -amp -movie -doors -wireless -subwoofer -subwoofers -matthews -TOPPS -Raze -rotary -fabric -cutter -Clancy -Ludlum -Epilator -cue -telescope -broadheads

[Sigurd Aaset]

Part of the problems with searches on eBay is you end up with 4357 results, 95% of which have NOTHING to do with you are actually looking for. This is the advanced search criteria *I* use that seems to cut down on the crap-ol-a ..... Cut-and paste it into the search box on eBay and compare the results to what you've been using:

Just tried it, and it works. What's the logic behind using that many search words? Seems like half of them aren't even related to straights, but I'm probably wrong, being a newbie an all.

[johnnyhotdog]

it's all in the "-" as a "minus", not a spacer.

[uthed]

Just tried it, and it works. What's the logic behind using that many search words? Seems like half of them aren't even related to straights, but I'm probably wrong, being a newbie an all.

Well, what I do is start first-time searches with just a few simple words .... Then I watch for annoying patterns of repeating mis-hits ..... Then I pick out a word or phase that has absolutely NOTHING to do with straight razors and insert that (preceded by a space-and-minus) at the end of my search phrase and then search again.

This process goes on until I get fairly pure results .... Or I run out of space in the search box ..... which allows for LOTS of modifications like this

ANOTHER THING you can do for efficiency is to use an either/or within parenthesis ..... for instance, (sowbelly,sow-belly), which is the shape of one particular pocketknife, will find either spelling .... That is better than using sow*, which is going to buy you a ton of hits that are not for a pocketknife.

Oh ...... and a lot of people suck at spelling ...... so for a vintage Sheaffer fountain pen, I start off with the terms: (Sheaffer,Shaffer,Schafer,Schaffer,Schaefer,Schaef fer,Shafer) then, I add the space-and-minus for the bad hit items ..... some of by best bargains were because sellers didn't get picked up by peoples' automated searches because they misspelled the brand or item name ....

Once you find a search that really works for you, save it! Then next time just go to "My eBay" and click on the saved search to launch it again ...... OR, if you are hot for a particular item or brand, you can edit the search style and have eBay send you an e-mail when new items that match that search get listed on eBay ..... sort of convenient, because from your e-mail reader, you can launch a new window to look at the new listing without going back and forth from eBay.

I probably just killed all my easy "steals" on eBay razors with this, but hey, I'm selling now, not buying, LOL

daviduthe