Thread: Vintage vs modern straights?

I can validate Jimmy's point about old steels. Unfortunately that "study" was here and gone fairly quickly and has others have pointed out, if the razor removes hair, the metal doesn't have a great deal of influence.

Modern metallurgy has developed alloys that are interesting in their refinement. For the day and knowledge they had, the old steel makers did very well producing a pure product that anyone making razors was willing to use. The analysis Joel got shows that the alloys were very clean steels, basically a carbon iron alloy with very little else in it. Modern steel production has refined the use of stain resistance and toughness while retaining good hardness characteristics but the steel ladles also get used for making rebar and construction or fabrication materials too. My best friend had to change his heat treatment regimen because the steel he ordered "met specifications" but contained so many tiny percentages of odd elements. The steel company didn't care about Californium because they didn't rise to the level of changing specs. In the end, we know more than "vintage" smiths, but have a different potential set of problems because of the industrial scale applied today.

If the edge geometry and honing are good, the blade will shave hair. Still a blade with a story, like the Roosevelt blade, wow, that gets my attention...more than being made from unobtainium.

If I might add to the original question and state, it's not just the shaving tool but the skill set that comes with a vintage blade. Bit of time travel in a sense when we can reach a 100+ years into the past, bring forth tools and knowledge to create a present day experience. Pretty damn awesome!

I would like to put a plug in for vintage Revisors. I have 5 or 6 and there ain't a bad one in the bunch..............

Originally Posted by mrsell63

I would like to put a plug in for vintage Revisors. I have 5 or 6 and there ain't a bad one in the bunch..............

Some weeks back, I asked good Obie to recommend me a third razor and he told me to visit the Revisor site. Admittedly, I spent more time in their vintage section vs their current production offerings.

When I first started I bought 2 new Dovo's. One lower end and one upper end, the difference was the scales. I have sold the upper and the lower end is getting sent to the give away guy (Str8razor) as soon as I get back from vacation. The only modern razor I will own after that is a Hart (don't really care for it) and a portland razor that I have not received yet. Out of 25 to 30 razors they are all vintage except those 2.

Something about using a razor that is 30-100 years old that can't be replaced. My personal take is vintage all the way. I like looking at the customs but I don't really care for all the crazy scales and blade designs so I avoid the as well. I like my razors very plain so vintage suites me well.

Little bit of extra info. I bought the Dovo's from SRD and they shaved just fine.

I have nothing but Vintage. I really like my smiling Sheffields.

Don't even know what a new razor is like. Never honed one, never shaved with one. In the near future I will have one of Silverloafs Kamisoris. Can't wait to try a razor that's never been on someone else's face before.

I think I read on the Revisor site that in the heydays of straight razor production there were 700 razor manufacturers in the Solingen area. Competition therefore was fierce and only the best could survive leaving no place for bad razors. The exact composition of the steel may not have been known by the makers but they knew how to get the best out of the steel they had. Science vs craftmanship.