Thread: Which stainless to buy?

In reference to my recent post about benefits of stainless razors, I finally decided to buy a stainless.

I've been looking for a vintage Henckels Friodur in Ebay, but the prices are bit off of my budget for NOS and mint-condition razors.

I had impression earlier that Thiers-Issard makes stainless razors but I guess this was a misunderstanding, since I haven't actually found a single stainless produced by them.

Anyway, I'm looking at these modern razors, all priced under 130 EUR (about $180):

Dovo All Stainless:
Groot aanbod aan scheermateriaal in De Messenwinkel - DOVO - Mat roestvrijstaal -5/8

Dovo, unknown model (says "Best Class", #43 inprinted on the razor, or something, but I cannot quite identify this). The price is too good to be true since it comes with a Dovo strop:
DOVO Rasiermesser Setangebot 2-teilig Edelstahl -

Revisor 6/8 stainless (their only stainless model to my knowledge). This looks cool, but perhaps a little too cool for my preference. I prefer solid, all-steel razor, a'la Wapienica.
6/8

Which one would you recommend? Are there perhaps other obvious candidates that I missed?

Might I make this recommendation? A little more than your looking to spend, but it's a heck of a razor:

7/8 Henckels Friodur Square Point - black plastic : Shaving Shop - luxury classic wet shaving products - straight razors

Neither of the Dovo razors is stainless, just the scales on them are. Do not buy a razor with steel scales because it's extremely unbalanced.
The stainless blade that Dovo makes is numbered 41.

Look for a vintage Hess 44 as well, they are easier to find than other stainless razors like dubl duck or c-mon

Thanks for the answers, guys!

I forgot to mention I'm located in Finland, EU, so ordering from USA means I have to pay VAT and customs on top to the price of the razor. In the case of that $239.99 Henckels, I would pay bit over 90 bucks extra, not counting postage (!) That Henckels looks terrific, though!

Are you sure only the scales of the Dovos I mentioned are inox? That's not what the product information says. I know this is the case with Wapienica, though. What comes to the unbalanced handles, you are probably right: I love my Wapienica as a shaver but it certainly is extremely unbalanced.

I'll keep an eye of the vintage razors you recommended. Hopefully Ebay of UK or Germany will give me some results one day.

Yes, I'm sure

Hess is an american company and even though their razors were made in Germany it's probably harder to find them in europe. I find them smoother than Friodurs though. You should be able to find Friodurs in europe, probably in Germany, that's were the US sellers get them from, and few years ago there was a guy, I think his ebay name was manyrazor who had them on a regular basis. Those were not the vintage ones though, the grind is a bit different and they're lighter, they're the same as the shavingshop. Get a vintage one if you find it in your price range.
I think I had a george butler stainless, the only stainless out of sheffield I've seen - very nice shaver too, but may be rather hard to find too.

BTW stainless puma - among the worst stainless I've tried.

If you jump onto ebay Germany and type rasiermesser rostfrei into the search area, you'll get some good options from Dovo, Puma and Burgvogel Solingen. I had a great stainless a couple of years ago that I picked up on ebay US. It was just branded as Rust Less. It took a great edge.

I can recommend this seller.

If you want a pristine Henckels Friodur he has them. Some have hone wear that doesn't show well in the photos but nothing too serious. When they say it is sharpened by a specialist, believe it. Mine is the keenest razor I own.

If you think you don't want to wait for delivery from Japan, I didn't.
YMMV.

gugi: Thanks, I'll take your advice on those modern Dovos. It seems that manyrazor has Friodur 5/8 for $139 (free shipping) in Ebay: Straight Razor J A Henckels Twinwork Stainless | eBay. Only problem here is that this is from 70s, as you indicated, not true vintage if I understand correctly.

I also bumped into these in Revisor's site, the price is around $130 for both, any opinions on these?
Carl Schlieber: Messer der Woche
Alcoso Solingen: Messer der Woche

Hart: Thanks, I sent PM to japannippon if he can deliver the cheapest razor shave-ready (it is currently not shave-ready according to the item description). The price is so good that I think I could take it despite the customs and taxes.

Note that the one from jappannippon is a 4/8. I am not aware of how to date the friodurs by years, so if manyrazor knows that his are from the 70s that shouldn't discourage you - the ones from the guys who don't know may be from the 70s or the 80s or the 60s.

Carl Schliepper is very good brand, but I am not familiar with their stainless.

My order of preference would be the one from manyrazor, then the ones from revisor and lastly something from jappannippon but not the small one. Looking at the picture from Hart the tip looks very strange - may be just the lighting and really bad perspective but based on that picture I wouldn't buy the razor, unless I can verify that the hone wear at the tip is the same as at the heel.

Of course, if you can find trustworthy comparison between friodurs and a stainless schlepper the later may be a better choice.

If you make the assumption that all the stainless razors are in good condition with no defects, I personally would not think there is much difference in quality from any of the well known Solingen brands. I have a Hess, a Friodur, a Schulze and a Herder stainless razor. All these stainless razors shave well and appear to be quality blades.

Bob