Thread: What is your favorite razor?

Every few years we like to ask this question.

It's pretty open ended so maybe its a DE or even (God forbid) an electric. Pictures of course are always welcome.

So why is it your favorite? Maybe the gems encrusting it or maybe it belonged to you Grandpappy or maybe it's a fantastic shaver or maybe you got it for a song or maybe you just like the way it looks or just maybe there is some fantastic story surrounding it that we all need to know about.

Mine is a Boker Damascus 5/8s. It's rare and looks great and shaves super.

My favourite razor doesn't have a fantastic backstory and it's not a valuable razor but it's a great shaver and I am really pleased when it comes up in my rotation.

When I first started with a straight I only had one razor and a shavette to use when my razor had to be sent out.

Mike (Outback) offered to send me a razor so I would have a spare instead of that shavette. I was amazed at his generosity toward a complete stranger that had just joined the forum.

He actually sent me four very shave ready razors and wouldn't even let me send him the cost of his shipping.

One of the razors was an Artist, a smiler. I thought nothing at the time but gratitude and to be fair I thought it was blunt because it didn't feel very sharp when I shaved with it.

Now I know how to shave and understand shave ready. That Artist is my absolute favourite razor.

It is like shaving with a lead pipe as Mike would say, it is so smooth that it feels like I'm shaving with the spine but it does indeed shave beautifully and always gives me a BBS shave without really trying.

I don't know if it was the way it was honed or if it's because it's a smiler but I love that edge and don't have anything to match it, wish all my razors could feel like that.

I haven't even needed to refresh it yet because it only gets used once every two weeks but I hope it feels so good just because it's a smiler, sooner or later I will have to hone it and i really don't want to lose that awesome edge.

My favorite is the one I inherited from my father which I believe he got from his father. I have others that are fancier or older or better shavers or more valuable but this one has the sentimental value. Add to that that he gave it to me while he was still alive as he did with a number of other things. I thought that was a very wise thing on his part. He gave to me and my brothers the things he wanted us to have. Likely it was because what he saw in the business he apprenticed me in as a boy. In the locksmith business you see the most disgusting behavior from people fighting over things that dont belong to them in the first place like a bunch of vultures. It's enough to make you sick. It is one of a few razor related heirlooms of his I have and the one I learned to straight shave with. I miss him so much.
Anyway, it is a J. A. Henckels 401.

My favourite is always changing, and often is whichever has the best edge at the moment. For a while it was a 5/8 Gotta, for a while a 6/8 Bengall, for a while a 6/8 Ontario Cutlery. I typically prefer Sheffield steel, but in the last year I've been really, really enjoying American steel and have gone down a bit of a rabbit hole. Currently, my favourite is a tie between two Wade & Butchers, both of which I lightly restored and finished on my Aiiwatani: the Celebrated Hollow Ground, and a frameback.

My favorite pair, 7/8 Kropp, rescaled in emerald green translucent:


This is the razor I'm most attached to:

The heal helps me clean up the rather deep impressions under my jaw and valleys on both sides of my throat.
The point gets those pesky little hairs beside my nostrils.
Other the fore-mentioned reasons, it’s a sexy little beast that’s nice to look at, and definitely keeps me on my toes.

That is a scary/beautiful razor. Have you ever been tempted to round that point a bit?

Got this for quite cheap at a flea market. It’s a heavy grind 7/8 near wedge with lovely cast steel.

It takes a great edge that seems to last and last and I don’t even feel the stubble falling off when I use it

The horn scales are a bit beat up with a crack in one that I stabilized with CA. Seems to add to the overall feel of the razor.

Originally Posted by DZEC

That is a scary/beautiful razor. Have you ever been tempted to round that point a bit?

No, It's no different than shaving with an acute square point. Having three earlobes doesn't bother me.