Thread: Your 1st Straight Razor

Originally Posted by RMC_SS_LDO

My 1st was a beautiful Drees purchased from Mike Ratliff here on the B/S/T.

Glad I went with an offering from the folks here. I have since purchased a number of razors from eBay and I established the bench-mark early making clear comparisons much easier!

v/r

Allen

I'm glad you like that one, it was/is a razor I really liked.

My first was a 5/8 Wester Brothers De-Fi spike that I found on E-bay. I was extremely lucky that it had a good bevel, and the Norvell Shapleigh barber hone I bought off E-bay was able to get it shave ready. (although nowhere near as sharp as I like my blades now.)

I bought two ,one dovo all stainless steel and one dovo special tortoise.
I also bought a blue belgianbrocken (25x9cm) to hone them.
My strop is dovo juchten. It was not cheap but it works so well, I do not regret my choice.
Both are great shavers and they worked well out of the box.But after my first hone they are super.
I like the "special" better because the handle is lighter than the stainlessteel one,it gives the knife a better balance. it is also easier to hone a non stainless knife . I think one of these is a good start.

Originally Posted by gugi

unknown english brand - chip-a-way, and takes nice edge. i also like the looks of it - has the barber's notch

Simmons used the ChipAway brand which supposedly originated with Herman Meier who operated out of St. Louis in the 1850s

[edit: well, I think the Meier chipaway may be a different chipaway. oh well.]

Got a picture?

Is it this one?

Hmmm,

I got my first razor sometime in the late 1960s - a 5/8 Black Diamond from either Hegener's or Bowdin's Barber Supply in Minneapolis, MN. I still have it, somewhere. It's in one to those safe places that defy immediate access and it's there because I have graduated to larger razors - 7/8 seems to work the best for me now. Apparently the older more I get, the lazier more I become and the wider blade seems to be a bit less fussy about angles of attack, etc.

My first was a 5/8 full hollow square point Torrey in faux tortoise that I bought right here in the old BST from Izlat.

My first (and only) is an old Genco B2. Ten bucks at an antique store. It had problems like a rusted blade and ruined handles, but it fixed up nicely.



Phillip

Nice, what kind of wood are the scales?

I am probably amongst the majority when it comes to the reasons that influenced me in the purchase of my first razor:

1. I like to purchase new. So my first razor was a Dovo Best Value 6/8 in blond scales.
2. In retrospect, I am not too fond of 5/8th blades since I have big hands the 6/8th and wider blades complement well.
3. The razor was honed by a professional; that meant more time for me to spend learning how to shave and not worry about a dull blade.
4. It was reasonably priced.

Now days, I am eye-balling a 8/8 I just need to acquire a lip lopper.

My first was a C-Mon I bought for 20 bucks after picking up an Omega brush and soap kit that kicked off this journey.

It had one major spot of pitting and some other minor areas. The scales looked bad. I also nabbed a barbers hone and managed to get it kinda, sorta, almost, sharpish enough for a decently bad shave. It would cut whiskers, just not very well.

After a year of DE shaving I decided to restore the C-Mon and have it honed by a pro. The scales polished up very well.

It's still the razor I use since I don't see any reason to by a new one.

My first razor was a 6/8, round point, Blonde Dovo.
The first razor I purchased was a H.R. Boker, style 387.

nate