I have really just gotten into straight razors in the past year. Now I am creeping up close to forty blades. If you wouldn’t mind divulging the information, how many blades do you guys have? This is horribly addicting.
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I have really just gotten into straight razors in the past year. Now I am creeping up close to forty blades. If you wouldn’t mind divulging the information, how many blades do you guys have? This is horribly addicting.
Welcome to the club. This is normal behavior.
I think I am still in quantity over quality mode.
I know of a couple members with over a thousand blades. One with 3K+!
~Richard
I have 8 in my rotation and one in my travel.
I avoid RAD by buying razors. Clean and polish and hone and resell. That way I get to shave with many different razors without the cost.
I only have 8 usable ones and three that really aren't. Slow and steady wins the race! Except at this rate I am never going to hit the 3K mentioned by Geezer!
Yea, I have way too many to be able to justify as needed for shaving but man collecting is fun too.
Bob
Make that accumulating instead of collecting
What condition are those blades in?
Oh well...when i was in London, in Picadilly acade i stumbled across a barber shop...owned by an old barber...he still ran the shop.
Also had a pritty big collection of vintage English and Spanish blades...he said over 1000...and from what i saw there i belive him...shelves full of blades...BUT and here is wher the twist is...every one i asked about he knew the story:))....most english blades were realy old and in exceptional condition...most of them ivory and tortoise shel or carved scales...lots of 7 day sets...nothing cheap looking....the spanish razors were Filarmonicas...i stopped counting at @ 70+i guess there were @ 100 filas there including @ 20 or more EPBD....i think i saw a few Solingen razors but he specificaly said Solingen razors were not his favorite...
Me for instance i'm not obsessed by numbers...i always tried to test as many blades and manufacturers i could. I was lucky doing restores for ppl on the local forum and abroad...got to test lots of blades this way and used the funds to get what i loved most from what i tested...
I have @ 30 NOS or mint rare/high value blades in my personal reserve i rarely use...most of them are only honed once to test the geometry and shave.
Then there's the rotation razors...@ 10-15 blades i use every day....and those are subjected to trade/sale regulations:))
I wouldnt know what to do with more razors...hell...it takes me @ 1 hour to check and oil the reserve razors once every 3 months-4 months. I had more at one time near 100 total but i honestly hated the quantity thing and sold most of them and bought nicer / more collectible stuff.
60+ for me. But like was said im still im quantity mode. I need to do like bouschie and sell of some. But then i wouldn't have as many. Its a horrible circle. Got to have more! Still have 12 that need work that i havent touched yet.
I seen a pic or two from one of our members that had plastic tubs full of razors.
Only 16 or so razors here, so I’m probably an oddball.
I haven't gotten an official count in a while but last count was most of my blades which was 200-250, then I did some purchasing and a little selling but likely took in far more than I sold. Then the past two months I've purchased another 90 so far. I don't purchase razors in usable condition, only ones in need of restoration, which is the current condition of the vast majority of what I own. That figure should be somewhere north of 300, but I also have dozens of custom blades of my own that I am not counting.
Been up to 30 or so in the past.
Now that we are downsizing, I'm left with 2 Germans, 2 French, 4 Americans, and 2 Japanese.
I choose quality over quantity.
I've got quite a number, but most of them are eBay beaters. Thing that reassures me is that I've only been using three of them over the past six months, and before that, it was another three for around six months. So it seems that I could get by with only three.
I have been straight razor shaving for 3 months, and still have only one razor, and a coticule, and a TM strop. Essentially, this is enough to keep me going indefinitely. I can certainly see where one could go all in, and acquire many more than necessary, as they are very cool tools, and can be addictive. I'm in my sixties, and have collected guitars and motorcycles over the years, so I have a little control over acquisition disorder, lol. I am thinking of picking up another razor, but taking my time to get the one that will stop me at two.
Best of luck in trying to curb your purchasing! As a collector of many things, you must surely know the best intentions are left behind when one sees another shiny object.
~15 i think. i'm more of a user than a collector. i own what i like and want to use..quality vs. quantity..yadda yadda.
sure...i have a card i think...
Carlo Anichini if i remember correctly.
The shop is at the left side when you enter from Jermyn Street.
Piccadilly Arcade.
I had one razor which I used for maybe a year until I needed to learn to hone, then got another one as a backup and said to myself that I'd never be a collector. Now I've got maybe 200 that I have kept after careful curation out of the (not actually sure here) maybe 1000-3000 that have passed through my hands. I keep a personal catalogue of the ones I have let go for research information; I often miss the ones I have let go, but I try to keep the total number in check. The collecting has since branched out into all the peripheral stuff. I've been picking up 17th-19th century documents, directories, books, etc. These are great for research purposes as well as just having them for historical value.
Believe I have 40 to 50 and maybe half or a few more are shave ready.
Close to 200 in shaving condition, others in the ta do box.
Attachment 278730:beer2:
Out of all the storyes here, this one made me smile, stop and think for a moment.
It made me realise that i'm not the only one that takes pictures and catalogues his past razors...and makes me feel less of a geek:))
Sometimes i look trough the pics and i realise...damn..how stupid was i to let that one go:))...
I stopped counting at @ 600 restored razors a few years ago...never counted the ones i just took in for honing...never even photo documented them...but it has been quite te experience getting to restore/hone and shave test all those blades/steels/grinds and geometryes...it made colecting a helluw a lot easier for me...like buying a fragrance when you have all the testers available:)
30-40 I estimate, never really counted but my inbreed thriftiness keeps me from buying every thing i see. Always pick them up if they are a good deal or if they are bigger than 6/8s (and still a good deal). Only have three new razors, it's much more affordable to buy vintage. Still holding out to find a cheap Thuri in the wild as i know i'll never buy one at the price they are worth (but that's another subject).:)
Thanks for the answers. I like buying things that look like junk and making them nice again. Razors are cheaper than guns, and I don’t mind if I were to mess up a 12 dollar blade. I don’t buy on eBay though, I don’t want the temptation of all of that eye candy. I get enough “razor porn” looking at all the great stuff that you guys share.
I have about 70 razors, and I use them all in rotation.
My buying habits have drastically changed though. At first I wanted everything that looked good. I've gotten way more fussy as time passes. Mostly what interests my now are total customs. That means that I'm buying way less but spending much more.
Pete <:-}
I don't honestly know or care.
I see 14 sitting here..............
I've been around on this rock for a while and my rules of life have always been quality over quantity. In all of my hobbies. Guns, don't own any junk, motorcycles I've never had more than 3 so that us a lot less than I could have but then again I only buy the really great ones, tools, buy nice and. Not buy what. Need not just buy it cause I don't have it. It's been the same with razors, I now have 13, it was 14. 10 customs, my vintage are prime examples, and 2 were gifts so they mean more to me than new. Now don't ask about brushes. Tc
I've got over 30 but I'm selling around half of them. Money would be better spent on other things right now.
oops! Just did a quick look thru all the boxes at home, did a little counting.......647 so far, didn't bother counting cracked blades that need to be tossed. Still some more blades tucked away at my other shop, maybe a couple dozen at most..... I think.
As far as quality vs quantity, I always try to buy the best quality of quantity I can find, and make sure that what I'm purchasing can be turned into quality if it isn't there yet. Like some of these Attachment 278737Attachment 278738Attachment 278739Attachment 278740Attachment 278741
I have not counted the buggers. They reproduce too fast!:D
I can safely say I have 'scads'.
I believe I have found some, Oz! Seems to be working! :)
If you need me to I can fix that problem for you Tom, and for a very low fee.
I have not counted either. More than I use and less than I want.
Some come and go others are more long term residence.
Hi, I'm Michael and I'm an...............owner of 36................razor boxes! :o
Each box has a log with honing progression for the razors inside. I haven't counted the total.
All shave ready, I use them all but the rotation is obviously big......
I have another dozen or so razors currently in the workshop in various stages of restoration.
https://i.imgur.com/o4EyCbG.jpg
Here's what the box labels currently say (determined mainly by the size of the boxes and of my shelves):
Heljestrand NOS
Heljestrand hollow
Heljestrand half hollow
Heljestrand wedge
SSA
Swedish Bengall (Borlänge maskinaffair)
Berg
Swedish misc NOS
Swedish misc other
Henckels hollow
Henckels wedge
Henckels Friodur
Giesen & Forsthoff/Timor
Schulze
Dovo
Wacker
Puma
Solingen other NOS
Solingen other hollow
Solingen other wedge
Le Grelot
Le Grelot 7-day
Thiers Issard
France others NOS
France others hollow
France old wedges
Wostenholme 7-day
Gardiner 7-day
Sheffield NOS
Sheffield Tier 1
Sheffield other hollow
Sheffield other wedge
Japan
Belgium (mainly other countries for Belgian cutlery retailers)
Customs
Other countries (Spain, USA, Hungary, Poland - a future development area for me!)