Which razor do you enjoy shaving with more, a vintage, modern, or custom, and why?
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Which razor do you enjoy shaving with more, a vintage, modern, or custom, and why?
I don't own a custom and only one modern SR. The other 30+ are vintage so I will say I enjoy using a vintage SR more at this time. I like to put old things with a bit of history to them back into service. Other than that I imagine they all will shave just as well if the edges are equally sharp.
Bob
1. vintage: good quality steel , most have good grind gobs. Massive variety of grinds, sizes embellishments.
2. Custom: I have tried a few customs, some were pretty decent some were not good at all. Depends on the maker you can get some really good pieces.
3. Current production: IMO due to demand requiring high volume production and possibly not highly qualified personnel there are QC issues. Of the new production brands, I like Ralf Aust the best, consistent grind and ease of honing.
Same here.Quote:
Originally Posted by BobH
Modern SRs are nice but I for some reason seem to prefer vintage
Currently I have many vintage razors, 2 new production TI dreadnought razors, and a custom bruno razor. I wouldn't say that I like any more than the other. Once a certain level of quality is met, they all do what they were designed to do. I will say my custom takes a very, very nice edge and it has had the most use recently. I do have an iwasaki western tamahagane on the way, and that might change things up a lot!
I like Vintage as well, but i recently went with a Custom Mastro Livi. I am not trying to impress anyone,or brag, but this is a great piece of workmanship and gives a super shave.
I have used a number of vintage razors and suffice to say that they were all good shavers. I have used 2 customs and liked one far more than the other.
I think vintage (assuming it isn't a dog) will be a safe bet whereas customs are going to be as good as the maker.
My current stable contains 2 vintage and one custom. If I had to pick one as a daily shaver I would lean to the vintage razors as the custom is not as easy to use.
From an enjoyment point of view I would probably pick my custom due to the fact that it fulfills my aesthetic needs.
I love the vintage. From 100 the 200 years old.
I like vintage, if in very fine condition. They are not always very old. Most of my Friodurs date from the mid 20th century. There are lots of them around, just be patient and selective. The cost of restoration of a well worn razor may equal or exceed the added cost of a little used razor.
I have never tried custom.
I have sold all my moderns, so cant include those...
But I have a couple of customs and lots of vintage.
I get into moods, though, where I like shaving with my customs... then I will flip back to vintage for a while (usually longer then the customs)... then back to the customs again. Especially my Nate Zowada.
But right now, I am in a vintage phase... I am bouncing between a pre 1880 W&B shorty and a Filarmonica #14 shorty.
Why? Who knows. I'm an Aquarian... That is my story, and I am stickin' too it.
I've been truly enjoying my Dovo Best 6/8 as of late as my daily driver. A real solid performer.. I do bring out a vintage Boker 6/8 on occasions. Modern and Vintage German steel for me. :) YMMV
I think this can be answered as , if the grind and steel + the man behind the hone are right they all shave well. I mean heck even a GD can be made to shave( tongue in cheek) the ugliest razor vintage or not rusted everywhere but the edge will give a shave, so it really is personal preference which is one of the great aspects of shaving this way.
So as for me I have two vintage in the rotation, both happen to be American steel out of New York and they will take an edge as far as can go, I love to shave with them, and I now have 9 customs. 3 of them get used more than all the others. Why? Personal preference, they do not shave better than my vintage. They shave as well. Ok now that may be as clear as mud. Tc
Vintage straight razors all the way, I have a few modern production razors, quite nice, but to me, the feel and experience is a universe apart.
One thing I read here that I found amusing and has stuck with me, is that many of the vintage and antique razors that survive today obviously made is past a long quality control period, as, how did the OP phrase it, "otherwise those razors would have been turned into buttons or something....":D
I love vintage, and I have quit a few of them, and I have 1 new TI. They are all good shavers, but my preferance is vintage, because of the history. Back in the day they shaved with a straight, or did't shave at all. So my way of thinking since thats all they had to shave with the makers did alot of work to make the blades the best they could to make it a better shave!!
Realize that all *can* be crap and no group is perfect. It boils down to "You pays your moneys and you takes your choices".
I own vintage, vintage restored, new and custom.... Most of mine are restored vintage, just because it worked out that way. I have found that a good razor is a good razor, no matter it's source.
Vintage and restored vintage are my favourite users at the moment... The new and custom come out to play once in a while, when I feel guilty about ignoring them.
My all time favourite razor... a plain ol' Clauss Special 47, probably 1960s vintage, quite tarnished, wonky scales and some hone wear. It was my first straight razor, found for less than $15 at a local antique shop, and it was the razor I used to teach myself how to hone. I finally sent it to Glen to get new scales and he even cleaned up the blade a bit, just to make it look a little prettier. I'm waiting for it right now, it should be back in my hands this week.
It comes down to what a person likes, there is no difference in shaving as long as the razor is well made and honed correctly. Old steels may require a different approach to honing vs more modern steels that can be harder, as in Coticule vs Synthetic etc. and it's why many of us spend a great deal of our time and money trying to figure it out.
Regards
Christian aka
Kaptain "Run whatcha brung, ya can't shave with a razor you haven't got" Zero
My favorite so far is my vintage Germania Cutlery Works. Not by much, my new Dovo is a close second. But the curved blade of the GCW razor gets into some nooks and crannies easier than the straight blade of the Dovo. I'm leaning toward vintage blades as favorites at the moment. They're more cost efficient, and there are more blade profiles to experiment with.
I prefer vintage I have a few new and custom but always go to the vintage. But I do have a new one that holds its own against vintage. Can't remember the name right now but a member that past (Bella) helped me get one.
I just like the feel and use of a straight so it has no bearing on me whether it is a vintage (which I own none); modern; or slightly modified modern to my liking razor. As long as they shave well and are well made that is my criteria. I guess to a big degree I am a utilitarian type personality shaver.
Going backward, where does one cross the line from modern to vintage? From vintage to antique (not even mentioned by the OP)? Most of my "vintage" razors are modern when compared to my oldest 6 or 7!
I have all three, and prefer vintage razors the best as long as they are not warped. Good steel that is easy to maintain, and the added bonus of the history behind them are the push factors for me!
I like both new and vintage, I lean more to vintage because for myself nothing replaces the euphoria of incorporating a great quality str8 razor maker from another time in history back into a functioning piece again today. I just don't think anything can replace that kind of bonding with the past for me, and at the same time I also appreciate the shave from new also, ( never owned a custom razor ).
Scott
i think the work quality, 100 years ago, on straight razor are higher than modern age.. there was more competitiveness in production.
I prefer vintage one because when use it i think about its history and owner.... this thing give me something special.
There is also a good modern razors , produced in new kind of inox steel (like cpm35vn by duo medusa that I used), that are interesting...
Custom razors? i don't know this words....sorry for my vocabulary :D :D
Well at this point I have only vintage and 2 modern razors. The modern are dove best quality and they shave well. My others are all vintage that I bought off this site. I am very new at this so it saves me a lot of money buying vintage. I am glad I have I have found out what I like in size and grind with out spending a ton of money. MY favorite has been a Mandrin 6/8 excellent shaver and a NIcol also a excellent razor. Both are probably 90 plus years old.
I do want to but a Bismark vintage next and a Boker Edelwiss next. If the razors shave great who cares of it is new or vintage.
All I have right now is a modern. I have put some thought into the difference. The following is speculation based on manufacturing and demand in general. I would figure Vintage is the best quality but it should be easier to make a good razor now but it will require a bigger market to really move in that direction.
I think that straight razor manufacturing like many other old processes have seen better days but there is hope. Right now we have amazing advances in technology and for the last 80 years or so many of those have replaced more manual or less convenient ways of doing things. Before the 50s or so straight razors were king. I imagine that it would be about like cell phone companies now. Lot's of people making ones that work and constant pushing forward with better processes and methods to make a better or more attractive product to get ahead of the vast field of competition. After about the 50s or so the straight razor became the flip phone of their generation. Probably does the primary job better but doesn't have as many bells and whistles and takes a little longer for the full process. Some of the top of the field probably hung around longer than most and some may still be cranking them out. Though, even the top of the field slowed innovation most likely. What we are seeing now is a fairly small but noticeable enough to create a bit of a niche market, return to some of the old technologies. Straight razor shaving hasn't moved a whole lot in 60 years but metalwork methods and materials have somewhat. As these small niches of DIY and Retro ways of doing things start to grow for various reasons it attracts a large variety of players. Since it is easier now to put out a workable product, or even great ones there is potential for new innovation in quality and a vast decrease of expense in moderns as money starts coming back in. On the other hand there was a lot more pressure and incentive to make a truly great product.
All that said I think that millennials are starting to rediscover mechanical technology and older more interesting ways of doing things. As that increases we could see incredible modern razors being produced but I think as far as straight razors go it is still fairly small. For now I would say Vintage would be gold especially between the 20s and 60s. New razor technologies threatened Straight Razor dominance. I would imagine that competition drove some pretty impressive razors. By the 60s I would imagine that money would have slowed their flow for straight razors and they would have stagnated maybe even started to decline.
I imagine that right now there are some making interesting new blades but they are pretty expensive. There are probably several using mass production techniques to make pretty unimaginative razors based mainly off old designs and stamped out. There is great potential though for some really interesting things to come but it will depend on how extensively old school shaving catches on.
Although I own a few custom razors which in fact shave extremely well plus the grinding and workmanship and materials are superb, but If I had to choose my vintage Japanese razors would win hands down can't get enough of them.
I've used vintage, modern and customs, most all have shaved as well as the next. As long as you can put an edge on one it should shave well. My current favorite is a 6/8 Ralf Aust.
This might sound strange, but how is Vintage define compared to antique razors?
Thanks
My Iwasaki kamisori is vintage in design, modern in that it's currently produced & custom in that it's hand made by 2 guys in their workshop :)
I am not sure, with cars isn't is something like 25 and 50 years or something.Quote:
Originally Posted by hasstar
I would imagine that all 3 of my Henckels would be classified as modern as well as my Hayashi, therefore, not owning a custom nor a vintage, I won't be able to comment.
I do aspire to owning a custom but the way our exchange rate is headed, that might take longer than I envisage.
A vintage is probably extremely hard to come buy locally and would have to be purchased overseas.
I only own vintage, some antiques. I agree that the history behind them adds something to what they are, as well as the exquisite craftsmanship displayed in some of them.
However, I have borrowed and used two modern razors, a Ralf Aust and a Revisor. I hesitate to call them "modern production" because they are made very much in the same way as a Solingen razor made 75 years ago and they showed the same level of craftsmanship as, say my Herman Mehl, Swedish Bengall, C.V. Heljestrand or Edaco. What I really liked about those razors is the fact that they are "living" pieces of history by craftsmen keeping the past alive, both by what they make (cut-throats) as well as how they are made.
Customs...I have seen a few I liked the look of (literally a few) but I never owned or used any. For me, no matter how nice a razor, it's still a tool. And I cannot justify paying that much for a tool. Also, a custom would have to be of the utmost quality to be comparable to a Revisor or Aust, as these are highly refined with impeccable grinds and finishes.
So I am tied between vintage and modern "production". Really, I consider them to be actually quite close in matters of what they are and how they were made, as well as being on opposite sides of the same coin where history is concerned; to me there hardly is a difference between the two (I don't include entry level Dovo's though - they are most definitely modern production in the full sense of the word, and not nearly half as attractive because of that).