A number of new razor but which should I look at.

Hi all, my first post as I now have some razors!

I shave with a DE, I dont shave every day, I used to leave it until things started to get too long and itchy. About 5 days max usually. I went to a DE because the cartidges were useless when it was that long and thick, too much clogging up for me.

Since moving to the DE I have to agree it's no longer a chore and I shave more frequently because I actually like it :) Because of that I have been thinking about a straight razor but given the costs of them in NZ I didnt pursue the idea.

Cleaning out my father in laws place I can across a small collection of his fathers razors. I dont know what they are, if they are any good or what to use.

While I sharpen things a lot, usually knives, workshop tools I think I will get it professionally honed to get an idea what I need to do to it in the future. Which one though? I assume they are all much the same, all sheffield steel except the rusty one at the top, made in germany.

My thoughts would be I could choose any of the ones in good shape and I should be OK. Just in case I will list them in case some very knowledgable chap could advise one above another!

Top to bottom,
rusty german made called 'the Seotsnood razor'
Omris B.Johnson and Co, sheffield england - "johnsons metropolitan' on the blade
Handsworth razor sheffield england - 'The H.R.C No1' on blade
Norton cooperative cutlery (something), sheffield england 'Norton A22' on blade
Sandserson bros and newbould sheffield 'saben high speed tool steel' on blade.


Any tips appreciated!
Thanks,
Jason

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/...2sh/razors.JPG

Except the rusty one, those are lovely blades and look like they are in excellent condition! The bottom two look like the best ones to me, as they have no visible spots at or near the edge.

I suggest you send one out to hone and hone the other one yourself. That way, you can easily compare the difference and have a good reference for shave-readiness.
Note that honing knives and tools is completely different from honing razors. In fact, you may want to clean up the rusty razor with steel polish and practise a bit on that one first. It's easy to give the spine a lot of hone wear, and these razors have little to none so far. You can also consider taping the spine with one layer of electrical insulation tape.
As for a hone, I suggest the Norton 4k/8k combo, there's a lot of information around here and they have proven themselves as great razor hones.


Good luck and enjoy!

Thanks Laurens, the two bottoms ones do look good.

I agree with you and that was my plan to get one honed professionally so I knew where I had to aim. Practicing on the rusty one is a good idea :)