Thread: Keep it NOS or hone and shave?

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Yeah, Right. Let's see the NOS Reaper! Oh! It's a 'Grime" Reaper. Makes a difference!

One is a razor and one is a cleaner

Originally Posted by jfk742

Hard to say without pics and what not...

It's just weird!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

It's just weird!

Is that your word if the day Tom "weird".

Originally Posted by edhewitt

Is that your word if the day Tom "weird".

Weird, man! Totally weird!

I would shave and hone any NOS razor until it was NES (Non Existent Stock).

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Weird, man! Totally weird!

are you feeling a bit weirded out yet or are you just getting your weird on, if you can get your weird on can you get it off, and if you do would your weird enjoy it?

speaking of weird, weird sisters is a book by terry pratchett, one of the discworld books, I have just picked one up a few days ago and am enjoying it immensely, its not weird sisters though.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

are you feeling a bit weirded out yet or are you just getting your weird on, if you can get your weird on can you get it off, and if you do would your weird enjoy it?

speaking of weird, weird sisters is a book by terry pratchett, one of the discworld books, I have just picked one up a few days ago and am enjoying it immensely, its not weird sisters though.

I dunno, Ed. It's all just weird. All I know, Man!

NOS Gold Dollar Huh tc

Almost every razor I've ever owned is or was NOS I would assess the edge even the best vintage makers may need a few laps on your finishing stone strop and use it, don't see the point in looking at a beautiful functional object like a razor and not using it, what do they say about a woodlore bushcraft knife If you don't use it the blade spirit becomes weak and eventually it will die the more you use it the blade spirit becomes stronger same for the razor.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Is a razor NOS if it has been removed from a sealed box & what are the defining parameters

Originally Posted by edhewitt

You got your stirring stick out there didn't you os

It is a valid question though. As far as I know, there is no one dictionary definition of NOS that is universally agreed upon. But let's take a look at this:

Originally Posted by "Business Definition for: NOS" by Barron's Educational Series, through Wikipedia

New old stock (NOS), also backronymed as "new on the shelf" or "new off the shelf,"[citation needed] refers to obsolete equipment, or original parts (components) for obsolete equipment, that have never been sold at retail

According to this definition, it depends from whom you bought it. If the seller was a private person, NOS; if bought from a store (digital or not) i.e. through retail, not NOS. It says absolutely nothing about the physical state. According to this definition, the NOS razor could exchange hands a dozen times, all private persons, three of them hone it, all of them shave with it a dozen times each, one gets rust on them, the twelfth buffs it up - still NOS, because it has never been sold in retail.

I know that, most likely, these owners when they sell it would not refer to it as NOS. But going by the above definition, it would be. To me, it seems more like a sales pitch than anything else, and I know people use it to mean "mint/as new condition". Or "mint/as new condition, the way it was when it left the manufacturer, untouched, unretailed". Or something else. I find it confusing and unclear, really.

If it is in unused condition, why not simply say, unequivocally that an item is in "unused condition", meaning it has never been used? Ever. In any way. Untouched. Why use an ambivalent term that sounds very much like a salesman buzzword to me? Same goes for "mint". "Mint condition", according to the Cambridge Dictionary, means "perfect, as if new", while "mint" is only used as "Mint stamps and coins, etc. have not been used". Although if someone says a razor is "mint", I assume it is as it left the factory; but then again, "in mint condition" I would interpret as looking like new.

These are things that matter to some (serious) collectors. Also, people use these terms (NOS, mint) to justify (high) asking prices. I know this discussion has been had a million times over in as many places, without reaching a consensus. I find it strange that they get thrown around so casually, the lack of consensus only adds to that. Why use such an ambivalent word?