Thread: Looking for a Value

Hello all,

Hope this is ok to post here. I'm a longtime Double Edge Wet Shaver looking at getting into Straight razors as well.

I have a chance to get these three razors locally for $250 and the seller is telling me they are really good vintage razors (all shave ready) but I just don't know my straights well enough to know if this is a decent deal or not.

Does $250 sound like a fair price to pay?

Sorry for the poor quality pics but they are all I have.

cvav8or

Sorry, forum rules don't allow valuations but I think the asking price is too strong.

You can find many vintage razors that are shave ready here in the classifieds at fair prices. Also check out whipped dog razors or straight razor designs to name just a few quality vendors

they are worth what you would pay but its hard to tell from the pics ,, looks like their scuffed up a bit by trying to get them cleaned up,, as to shave ready , I wouldn't bet on it unless he shaves with a straight hisself ,, just look them over real good before you spend that much,, there are some very nice razors that are shave ready that you can get for less good luck tc

As already stated I cannot say anything about the money part. In general nobody would bother to take the time to put three pins on a cheap and if you use the search function on each of the brands you will find a bunch of information on the makers.

Originally Posted by johnmrson

Sorry, forum rules don't allow valuations but I think the asking price is too strong.

True but I think you could find one for way less than your quote!!!

Welcome!

Yes, we don't allow valuations, but may be you don't need to get three razors off the bat. What you need to get is a good quality strop - since you're already shaving with DE you have everything else already, and good amount of experience.

The main difference with straight razors is that you don't have the head of the DE razor rested on your skin to set up the angle of the blade, rather you set that up yourself. You should aim for something like 30 degrees, which means the spine should be about one and a half-two spine widths above your skin (on the flat parts, with curves you adjust accordingly).

If your seller is trustworthy and has experience, you're probably good - since he is local to you the best option would be to get a hands-on lesson in stropping, shaving, and honing/touch-up (for down the road). If that's not possible, perhaps you can find somebody else local, I know we have a number of members in that area.

As a beginner, it can be really hard to determine if a razor is actually "shave ready." If the razors are not shave ready, you would either need someone to hone them for you or hone them yourself. If you were to hone the razor yourself, you would be looking in investing at least $100-150 in hones, not to mention the time and appreciable learning curve the honing entails.

There are many guides and posts on this forum about what constitutes shave ready. For me, I use arm hair as a bench mark. To me, a razor is shave ready if it (1) can easily and comfortable dry shave and clear hair in a small area on the palm side of my forearm and (2) cut hanging arm hairs with relative ease.

Now, if you were to buy any of those razors, you should inspect them first and test out if those razors can dry shave a small patch of skin and cut hanging hair. If none of the razors appear shave ready, I would re-evaluate the price you would be willing to pay for the razors. You would have to factor in the extra cost of getting the razors shave ready. You can search the classifieds on this forum to get a sense of the prices vendors charge for honing.

In the best case scenario -- where all 3 razors seemed shave ready -- I would ask the seller if he would be willing to sell you just 1 of the razors. See if he could take $83.33 for one razor. Looking at the three razors you posted, I do not recognize the first two brands. The third -- the Boker King Cutter -- is a well-regarded blade. If I were to get 1, everything else equal, I would get the Boker.

Now, if none of the blades were shave ready, you might look elsewhere. If you look around on the classifieds or on Ebay (make sure it is a trusted seller with stellar feedback), you should have no problem finding a shave-ready razor for $100 or less.