Thread: Ralf Aust vs Filarmonica vs Dorko vs Other vintages.

Thank you both. Having to hone my razors is not a problem for me, I have to do it once in a while so I can wait the right moment to do it and I like to do it. The problem is when I'm working hard (programming) and my beard start to tingle and I'd like to shave but do not have much time to do it or my brain is too focused and I just forget about the whole thing until I have to cut the beard with paper scisors just to avoid the tingling and nothing more (I work at home so I don't care very much how it looks). So by complementing the carbon steel Ralf Aust (7/8 double hollow, it's very nice) with another stailess steel razor at least I won't have to thoroughly dry, oil and save the razor which is the annoying part for me when I'm too busy and can easily forget to properly do it on time. If I leave the shaving kit next to the toothbrush, and I don't have to remove the oil, and then dry it, re-oil it and save in a drawer in my room, chances are I'll use it more. Don't know exactly why but my CS razor starts to rust very easily so I have to take a lot of care to avoid it. As for the stropping I do a few passes in the palm of my hand so it's not very much of a problem I think. Maybe I'll get a strop too, I don't think it's going to be problem to use it.

Also I'm buying a Wahl cordless detailer so if I'm too focused in my work I'll just remove the whole beard with that. If I have a little more time I'll finish with the stainless steel razor, this combination at least will save me from having to leather twice, I have three soaps and all of them dry very fast. In cases where I have more time I'll just do the entire shave with either the stainless steel or the carbon steel razor. Don't know if this is going to work, never used a clipper/trimmer before. I can leave feedback if anybody is interested.

Btw, I know stainless steel is not 100% rust resistant. Can I leave it in the bathroom or it will rust? Maybe inside the original box or a bigger one with silica gel?

Originally Posted by usu

.... If I leave the shaving kit next to the toothbrush, and I don't have to remove the oil, and then dry it, re-oil it and save in a drawer in my room, chances are I'll use it more. Don't know exactly why but my CS razor starts to rust very easy so I have to take a lot of care to avoid it. As for the stropping I do a few passes in the palm of my hand so it's not very much of a problem I think. Maybe I'll get a strop too, don't think it's going to be problem to use it.

Also I'm buying a Wahl cordless detailer so if I'm too focused in my work I'll just remove the beard with that. If I have a little more time I'll finish with the stainless steel razor (This combination at least will save me from having to leather twice), or if I have more time just do the entire shave with either the stainless steel or the carbon steel razor. Don't know if this is going to work, never used a clipper/trimmer before. I can leave feedback if anybody is interested.

Btw, I know stainless steel is not 100% rust resistant. Can I leave it in the bathroom or it will rust? Maybe inside the original box or a bigger one with silica gel?

Allow me just a few comments:

As mentioned before, in your situation there is no real advantage in buying a vintage stainless steel razor, let alone a Gold Dollar - a brand that is known for poor quality control.

Keeping a stainless steel razor in a well ventilated bathroom will probably have no ill effects on the razor, but neither is it a recommended practice.
Until I retired five months ago, I was based less than 1 km from the sea in a location with high humidity where summer temperatures regularly reach 42ºC and above. After shaving and drying the outside and area between the scales of the (carbon steel or stainless) razor that I had used that day, I left the razor in the bathroom to dry for 24 hrs before replacing it. Before placing the razor into one of the razor storage cases in my study, I would treat it with Ballistol oil. As I have >70 razors it would take some time before I would use the saem razor again, but Ballistol worked very well during the storage period and corrosion was never an issue for me. If not Ballistol, closer to the U.S. you may be able to find Tuf Glide in a 4 oz spray bottle that serves the same purpose.

For me, palm stropping works for the initial stropping of replaceable blades of my Feather AC DX razors, but I doubt that in the long run it will perform adequately for straight razors.
Thus I consider a good strop essential.
To minimize expense a simple Herold loom strop might do, but my preference is a French-made Strop-it Supex 77 paddle strop (with exchangeable plattens) and a Norwegian-made 3” Scrupleworks oil-tanned Horween horsehide strop.
Kind of Eurocentric choice and not necessarily easy to find, but I found that these strops worked better for me than anything I picked up from North America or Japan (meaning Kanayama Cordovan strops).

Regarding a bread trimmer, I recently bought a (cordless) Braun BT7220 that comes with two adapters, allowing you to mow down any bread growth down to between 0,5 and 20 mm (adjustable in 0,5 mm increments). A straight razor should make short shrift of a full grown beard, but if time is of the essence you could easily maintain a presentable 3-day stubble with such a bread trimmer.


Good luck....


B.

Originally Posted by beluga

Allow me just a few comments:

As mentioned before, in your situation there is no real advantage in buying a vintage stainless steel razor, let alone a Gold Dollar - a brand that is known for poor quality control.

Thank you, but seriously If i cant get rid of the ultra-meticulous drying and oiling step of the carbon steel, I thinks it's good enogh for me to use it more often. Thank you anyway but I'm still going for the dorko 8/8 stainless steel. I'm not always THAT busy so even if it do not makes things much easier, it would be nice to have it. I'm also going for the filarmonica (carbon steel), the price was fine and it's a beautiful one so maybe I won't have another chance of getting one in the future.

Keeping a stainless steel razor in a well ventilated bathroom will probably have no ill effects on the razor, but neither is it a recommended practice.
Until I retired five months ago, I was based less than 1 km from the sea in a location with high humidity where summer temperatures regularly reach 42ºC and above. After shaving and drying the outside and area between the scales of the (carbon steel or stainless) razor that I had used that day, I left the razor in the bathroom to dry for 24 hrs before replacing it. Before placing the razor into one of the razor storage cases in my study, I would treat it with Ballistol oil. As I have >70 razors it would take some time before I would use the saem razor again, but Ballistol worked very well during the storage period and corrosion was never an issue for me. If not Ballistol, closer to the U.S. you may be able to find Tuf Glide in a 4 oz spray bottle that serves the same purpose.

For me, palm stropping works for the initial stropping of replaceable blades of my Feather AC DX razors, but I doubt that in the long run it will perform adequately for straight razors.
Thus I consider a good strop essential.
To minimize expense a simple Herold loom strop might do, but my preference is a French-made Strop-it Supex 77 paddle strop (with exchangeable plattens) and a Norwegian-made 3” Scrupleworks oil-tanned Horween horsehide strop.
Kind of Eurocentric choice and not necessarily easy to find, but I found that these strops worked better for me than anything I picked up from North America or Japan (meaning Kanayama Cordovan strops).

All of this is very useful. Maybe a spray oil is the solution (I do it with the finger..). But still the whole rusting thing makes me nervous, once I forgot to wipe the drops for some minutes and now it has some dark spots :/. I was needing advice on strops, thank you.

Regarding a bread trimmer, I recently bought a (cordless) Braun BT7220 that comes with two adapters, allowing you to mow down any bread growth down to between 0,5 and 20 mm (adjustable in 0,5 mm increments). A straight razor should make short shrift of a full grown beard, but if time is of the essence you could easily maintain a presentable 3-day stubble with such a bread trimmer.

I have been searching information on trimmers, as I understand the good ones which can give a close shave are the ones capable of zero gap alignment. This leaves most models outside except the BabyLiss pro, Wahl detailer, Andis t-outliner, and maybe some other more rare models. Even the good Gamma absolute hitter (also capable of zero-gap) seems to be worse than the others when it comes to close-shaving, based on reviews. I think the better ones could give closer than 0,5 and that would be very easy to finish with a single light pass of a straight razor if needed. Also I think those models should be the most durable as they are intended for professional use.

I never oil. No need. I dry with a towel after the shave and set it aside until the next day. No real work.

There's three razors I won't touch. Anything that's a RSO, Made in Pakistan, or a gold dollar. Though there are others, those three are the most common.

I've got hundreds of different razors, all shave great.
How well a razor shaves, in comparison to others, all depends on the hand that hones it, what stone or how it was finished, and the hand that wields it during the shave.

That's my story...yep, stickin with it, too.!

I'm not so sure the benefit of a Gold Dollar being easier upkeep is either true or, if it is, really worth the trade-offs. In my opinion, the real value in a Gold Dollar lies in when you're learning to hone or restore and you can afford to really mess around and screw things up.

Anything other than a razor you actually want to shave with is a waste of money; save it, and put it into something you really want. Any of the ones you suggest will be great, but I think I'd actually suggest just using your Ralf Aust.

Thanks, I know gold dollars are crap but many people seems to have good shaves with them after removing the stabilizer and making a new edge. I was thinking of getting one because they are very cheap even here, some local sellers bought them in bulk. In contrast to buy a Dovo I have to apply this formula: 1.95 * (price + international_shipping) * 75 so a 100 U$D razor becomes 18.000 AR$, a pile of money.

Thankfully for me, because of covid and our bad economy some people started to locally sell their vintages at reasonable prices, those are definitelly worth spending more than 900AR$ for a gold dollar. But still I had to convince myself.

I just tried the Wahl detailer. It definitelly shaves closer after zero gapping, of course it's not as good as a straight razor but it did a god job improving a two day beard on my first use, then I can barely improve that with a braun series 3 foil shaver. Although It was very agresive on the neck area, maybe I have to better learn to use it or leave just a bit of a gap to make it smoother. With the factory adjustment it leaved hairs at 0.5, maybe a little bit less.

Originally Posted by Gasman

I never oil. No need. I dry with a towel after the shave and set it aside until the next day. No real work.

Are you talking of carbon steel or stainless steel? I tried just cleaning drying and saving the razor in my room within the original box without oiling but I had bad results doing that. Maybe because my razor already had those little dark rusty spots so maybe they started to re-rust more easily. I don't remember very well how it went, but It was bad and I just started to meticulously dry, oil and save my razor every time and this makes it unpractical as I also have to clean the oil before each use. Not a problem when life is peaceful and there is plenty of time but too annoying otherwise when even having to shave or take a bath seems barely possible.

Any Razor!
I dont oil any of them and I have over 200 razors. Vintage from all types. From late 1700s to late 1900s. I keep my razors in this chest...



Living in Colorado I have lower moisture in the air compared to your area I would bet. But still. I gave up oiling or waxing or any treatment as I found it not needed.
as they say...
YMMV

You can make or buy a felt lined wood box. A old machinist trick to protect very valuable precision tools. It creates a micro climate you can store your carbon steel tools in high humidity environments. Just dry it and put it away for the next use.