Thread: Growing fond of Soviet Era Razors.

Hello all. Relatively new to straights, three months. Have found a wealth of information on here. So thought I would share my recent acquisitions from the lands of Vladamir.
All are Stiz. Two are dated. The rocket one is from 1964. Ant the sport plain one from 1971. The top two I have been shaving with for the last two months.
Started out with a ATE from Whipped dog. Then bought a Shumate cheap on the bay. To try my hand on honing. Managed to get a good edge on it with the quarter stones from Whipped Dog. Took some time and patience.
Started considering the Russians for nostalgia and cost reasons. Was in the Army in the 80's and 90's. All of our training was geared toward the soviet block threat. I can still go through the ID card deck and identify all the warsaw pact tanks,planes and vehicles.
I took me a little longer to get a good edge on the russians than the Schumate. They look to me to be half hollow ground. A little stiffer and less of a "ring" when they cut the hairs.
While I don't have much experience and few others to compare them to. I still find that I prefer the "commie" razors to the others I have. And considering that I have as much money invested in 4 of them including shipping from half way around the world. As one new Boker or Dovo. I am enjoying the quest.
Look forward to getting the two dated ones shave ready and putting them into rotation.
Also want to give thanks to this board for turning me onto Mamma bear shave soaps. Love the Lime Ice, Turkish Mocha, Cherry Tobacco. Try the 1$ samples and then get the larger amounts of what you know you like. What a great way to "test drive" them.
Hope this post helps anyone trying to decide if the want to "try" one out. Be carefull you might end up wanting more. Ken

Update. Sharpened the two bottom ones along with another that is dated 1954. First shave last night with the 54. Don't know if I'm getting better at honing. Or it is able to take a better edge than the others. It is nice and smooth. The other two in the bottom of the picture are on deck. Not disappointed in any of them.

Nice set ! Something about those Russian razors keeps calling me. Everything I see on the bay is either decrepit or more $$$ than a Duck. I almost got lucky once.

They are generally good razors. If they have a fault it is their rusting quickly but since I've renewed mine they have not rusted. They can be easy or hard to hone depending on ones experience.
They do take time to tweak them to the best edge. But once there I have not re-honed any of them over the last three years. Take them out and a couple linen to clean and 30-50 on leather and my face is happy.
Good shaves to you!
~Richard

The biggest problem with the soviet razor is inconsistency of quality. They are generally good razors and quite decent shavers. Some of them have really hard steel and it might be a challenge to hone. General rule for them - the earlier year of manufacturing (it stamped on earl) the better razor you have. In later years, like 1970-1980 razor can be real crap.

I have ome from 65 and 70 , they are very smooth shavers , but i cant makee them so sharp as my solingeen or my Kitty the steel is diferent , i guess very hard , hold an edge , but even my GD is sharper than them .
You find something in the honing or what .

Shhhh..... We don't want people to know. The hardest thing is finding one that has not been turned into a shiv.

I am still a rookie at honing. I can get consistent usable edges on them. Maybe not as sharp as others might. I am using a Norton 4k/8k then red and green paste on balsa to finish. Works fairly well. Sometimes I get a slightly better edge on one or another. Still need some work on my technique. Just like most things the initial learning curve is steep. Then it flattens out. And subsequent improvements are much smaller and gradual.

I am using Makitta 1200 grit for bevel seter , fast BBW and cotis , Dragon tongue , Slates or ceramic stones in the midle range = For finishing i use Blue green Esher , Black Lydian stone , and 2 unnoun stones that work quite well on other blades . But on this blade i ca not put a sharp edge on stone q i once do it with rusian Goi paste 3- 9microns on a leather strop. But with stones and CROX only is not working . Get sharp , i is usable but pas the test with the hair very poorly .
On the same progresion , my J.A.Henkels blades or some of Tiers issaards pops hair like krasy . The shave is one of the smoothest i have but it dos not have sharpness . STIZ 65

I've had a couple of Soviet era dud razors but most have been pretty good.