Thread: RAD

Let's talk about RAD. Razor Acquisition Disorder. We all joke around about it & it's all good, we have our fun. But..........for all you new members & current members, it can become a problem. I first got into straight razor's & found it to be a very cool hobby. It is something I can do from home plus I'm old school & I like to do things the way they did back in the day when possible. It was ok at first & still is but I never thought it would become so addicting. After a small amount of time, it consumed me. I wrote Bruno one time about making a new addition to Acronyms and Abbreviations, SAD: Strop Acquisition Disorder. Someone else said it was Soap Acquisition Disorder but that should be SSAD, Shaving Soap Acquisition Disorder IMHO. Anyway Bruno wrote back & said these exact words because I still have the reply:
"Any AD is sad really" & he's so right!

I have never sat down & counted how many straight razor's I have plus the few DE & SE razor's I have but it is quite a bit & I have given a few away & was glad to because I like to help others out. I'm not a greedy person. I was also given one as a late Christmas present although it wasn't intended to be late & it is a very special straight razor which I named after the great member that gave it to me. I'll never get rid of it. I wrote him & told him I would do something special for him in return but he didn't want anything. Instead he said to pay it forward so I have been doing that. I'm sure some of you know who I am talking about. I call it my Bjoernar Blade. He didn't have to do it but he did & it was no doubt a very special thing, actually the only thing I got for Christmas. My mother usually does but she is now terminally ill. I won't go into that.
Back to RAD. Guy & gals, if you don't watch out, it can consume you like it did me. Oh it's fun to get newly acquired straights but it can also become a problem if you let it get out of control. I will say this. I have many & I now have a few of them I took apart because some were very cheaply priced & some might have had bad scales & others may have had bad blades so I have a lot of scales & a lot of blades plus some broken, chipped & cracked blades. I'm writing this article to give you all a heads up that it can become addictive very quickly & RAD will set in & can consume YOU! I would like to talk about eBay too because it plays a big part in this. I'm pretty experienced on eBay, been doing that ever since 2002 & I have found some good deals. I'm a buyer & seller. I also win things for a couple of friends, mainly one who does not trust having a Paypal account because he won't give out his checking account number to no one but that's irrelevant. I guess what I'm trying to say here to some of you who aren't that experienced on eBay, to please take your time & don't jump on things right away unless it is a nice razor for a great price but even those, you must look at the pics very closely & make sure you aren't going to win one with a cracked blade, bad hone wear or a huge frown. I saw one a few weeks ago & it was so plain to see, it was cracked. I wrote the seller & said it "looked like the blade was cracked" very politely. He replied with "f*ck off"! I reported him to eBay for that remark, wrong answer! He should have told me he would have another look at it or should have been appreciative but I wasn't being rude about it. His feedback was also not so good, he had watchers on it & I think it had a bid. I never checked back to see how much he got for it. Feedback is something else you want to look at because it is important! You want to buy from a person with possibly 100% feedback. Nevertheless, it is important to look at the feedback, pics & item description. Some might be good seller & may have just one negative feedback because there are problem buyers out there too. They will have all perfect feedback's except for maybe one that would have a ridiculous feedback left when it could have been avoided & I'm talking about people with a lot of feedback. Mine is 100% positive because I give a good item description & ship fast. If you are a seller like me & you have problems with people, you block 'em. I have had negatives left & I got them removed because the buyer's were being ridiculous! The last one opened a case on me because he lived out of the country & he expected me to pay for his part of the Global shipping. When eBay closed the case, he did exactly what I knew he'd do & left me a negative feedback & then on top of that, he had the audacity to open a case against me on Paypal. I called eBay & they told me once Paypal closes their case, they would remove the negative which is what happened. I then blocked him from buying from me again because people will try to buy something else from you later & will have buyers remorse wanting to leave another negative! I just wanted to warn some of you who sell on there also but to mainly tell you members looking to buy to pay close attention & don't jump into anything unless you know for sure you found a deal which I have seen a few on here do. ScienceGuy got a good deal on a John Shepherd the other day but the seller didn't know what they had or others didn't notice it in the lot it was in. Great score ScienceGuy! I don't have one of those but always wanted one. I've gotten lucky like that & was able to read what was on a blade but the pic was blurry & others I guess couldn't read it. It's the luck of the draw & you just have to be careful, especially if you aren't that experienced at it. Here is a link to razor's you want to avoid because they are cheap & made of low quality steel & most likely will not hold a good edge:

Brands of Straight Razors to Avoid - Straight Razor Place Library

This is mainly for you new members who do look on eBay for any deals but before you do, ask some of us members first like this new member, BigCatHale did:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/show-...epairable.html

If you are new & know what to look for & buy something on eBay, an antique store or flea market & you can't hone, send it out to a pro. There are some listed in the classifieds on here who will do honing for you. If you want to try, get a straight that isn't so important & start with it & send your good ones out until you can hone a nice sharp BBS edge on a straight razor. You must also have a strop & know how to use it which you can learn in the Library here:

Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Library

Below are a couple of links, one is Lynn's YouTube video's in which he shows how to hone along with many other things & the other is Glen's aka gssixgun's YouTube honing video's. Just scroll down where it says "load more" & you will see them.

https://www.youtube.com/user/LynnSAbrams/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/gssixgun/videos

I just thought I would write this article on RAD & it's effects & also about buying on eBay. I like to help & give advice when I can. I had more money about a year ago but over the years I have also accumulated things I no longer needed so I've been selling some on eBay & some on Craigslist. Beware of Craigslist too as there are many scammers out there. I have now slacked off eBay & I'm in sell mode. If I have the money & see one I might want for cheap I might get it but I have learned & I have slowed down. I have acquired some nice pieces over time but many of you I envy because my largest is only around 8/8 but I would like to be lucky enough, one of these days, to get a couple of old vintage straights with a giant meat chopper on it but as for now, I'm content. It is addicting my friends & I just want you all to be aware of this because as I mentioned before, it can become a problem because you will want every damn good deal out there & unless you won the lottery or got some sort of inheritance or similar, you just can't keep up. One other thing is if you can hone, I found it is much cheaper in the long run as long as you have your stones, lapping plates & such already, rather than these cartridge razor's w/4-5 bladed refills. Those can be costly & you get a much better, closer, smoother shave with a properly honed straight razor. I'm not knocking the older DE & SE razor's as they seem to work fine too & are inexpensive to maintain. My preference of blade I have found is the Feather blades, just FYI. Some might like other brands. Some of you know a small part of my situation & I won't go into it but just beware & take your time when looking to buy, if you can buy! Don't let it consume YOU! If you have any questions, please feel free to pm me or ask on the forum. This is the best shaving forum I know of & there are very many knowledgable members here who will help or give advice in a heartbeat. Thank you very much Lynn, SRP Founder & Chief Honemeister for making this great website possible!
Good luck my friends!