Thread: mint and functionality...

jl, if you followed me over here, this is what i'm saying:

if you list the functional properties of a razor, somewhere on that list there must be an expectancy for how long a razor will last. and, at the very least, that is related to mintness. the less mint a razor is, the less life it has left in it, no matter how well you take care of it since the act of maintaining a razor involves eroding the metal that composes it.

so even a crap pakistani razor that has almost no functionality will become less functional as it is used. just because it starts low doesn't mean there isn't a correlation between them.

i see that if you're talking about the usefulness of a razor at this instant, there doesn't have to be a correlation. but if you consider the amount of use you'll get out of a razor over time, a mint razor is more useful than a non-mint one, if all other properties are the same.

maybe i'm just arguing technicalities, but from a practical standpoint, if you had a choice between two razors (for shaving, not collecting) that were very similar in all other ways, except that one was mint and the other had been used for fifty years, you'd probably pick the mint one. when i was saying surfboards were different, it was because, if a surfboard were a razor, you could put the metal back onto it.

i will definitely give you the argument, though, since i'm sure since situations like the one above are rarely encountered outside of hypothetical discussions. that's all i wanted to say about it. i guess this really should have been a pm, but in case anyone was curious (i realize how remote that possibility is), i figured they could read it here.

for most purposes if I had two razors and one was mint and the other wasnt I would prefer the mint razor...however here are some considerations:

• A mint razor is not shave ready
• A mint NOS (new old stock) razor may be out of my price range while a 50 year old used razor is not.
• I prefer older razors such as those made in the 1800's, I enjoy knowing that they were used 100 - 200 years ago by someone else and made by hand. I honestly would probably pay more for a like new condition or restored razor used by someone in the 1800's than I would for one found in a box that was never unwrapped.

But for simplicity, if money is not a concern and you are able to get a razor shave ready or know someone else who can, and you have two razors in front of you one which is mint and one which is not, the mint one obviously has more life left in it and is in better shape.

good points. i guess in a careful argument, we would have had to start by defining what we mean when we say 'functionality.' but i can definitely see what you're saying now and i think your point is well taken. oh, and thanks for stepping in and moving the posts.

I find that Mint razors are easier for new people to hone than some of the older razors with use or significant prior use. A mint razor usually only takes minimal honing to make it shave ready and so long as you are buying a German, French, US or Maestro made razor, you should be ready to shave in short order.

Lynn

According to the dictionary there is no such thing as mintiness, not even with chewing gum.

Originally Posted by HoekmanX

According to the dictionary there is no such thing as mintiness, not even with chewing gum.

Tell that to Ebay...

Originally Posted by adjustme69

I find that Mint razors are easier for new people to hone than some of the older razors with use or significant prior use. A mint razor usually only takes minimal honing to make it shave ready and so long as you are buying a German, French, US or Maestro made razor, you should be ready to shave in short order.

Lynn

What about English made?

Originally Posted by adjustme69

I find that Mint razors are easier for new people to hone than some of the older razors with use or significant prior use. A mint razor usually only takes minimal honing to make it shave ready and so long as you are buying a German, French, US or Maestro made razor, you should be ready to shave in short order.

Lynn

Lynn,

I think this goes more to the heart of what Cyrano138 is asking than a lot of the other information offered here.

Cyrano, the real trick with a mint razor (provided it's a well made, quality razor) is that the spine/edge angular relationship is exactly (or at least as close as possible) as the blade was designed to be. No one has mis-honed, or in any other way, altered the critical angles that make the blade perform as it's designed. Even a professionally honed razor won't radically alter that relationship for many years of normal use.

When you have a blade that is visibly altered from the original shape, the angular relationship has been seriously altered, and isn't constant across the entire edge, as most razors should be.

Very early blade designs were wedge shaped (straight sided, or no concave grind), but they were wider at the toe of the blade than at the heel. In other words, you had convergent top and bottom lines, instead of the top and bottom lines being essentially parallel. Even the heavy wedge blades made in the 19th century in Sheffield, with their pronounced "smile" profile, had the spine and edge in pretty close alignment, although on an arc.

Virtually none of the blades that I've seen sold as "minty", unless New Old Stock (NOS) blades, have the really correct relationship of a truly MINT blade. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, but I've seen too many blades with a straight spine and either a smiling or frowning profile advertised as "minty".

Long story made short, unless you have a really refined honing technique, any blade that isn't close to MINT will be much more difficult to achieve a good shaving edge with, primarily due to the varying angular relationship. As one develops more skill in honing, the more difficult edges become easier to deal with, bjut they defineitely aren't for most beginners.

In the arena of functionality, you can see that blades that aren't MINT, or close to it, can be significantly less functional for a new shaver, or anyone who isn't skilled at honing.

I think that if we were all concerned about razors being mint we would all just buy new razors and not mess with the Eboy stuff.

To me if your talking mint vs nonmint its mainly appearances. The mint razor looks prettier and will require less work to bring it back to its original appearance.

If you want to talk about functionality then its not a matter of mint vs nonmint its the degree of wear the razor has. A razor can be far from mint yet still be highly functional. I've seen razors that looked mint yet had maybe one defect like a huge chip in it and I've seen ancient razors that required a little TLQ and they were basically new again. The classic case to me was the guy who bought a very expensive razor that came still sealed in the original box, never used or even touched by human hands and while fondling his new razor dropped it on a concrete floor and lost about a 2 inch piece of the edge. So, would that still be a mint razor? And no it wasn't me!