Thread: Chinese Double Arrow

it's peculiar to me that some people report poor quality of the blade on the double arrow while kenrup has been using them for his starter sets, purchasing them at different times, and reports no problems with any of them. i understand that quality control could be an issue, but were that the problem, i would expect kenrup to have eventually stumbled on to a bad razor.

ken, care to weigh in on this? could your honing process/skill explain your successes with this razor?

Originally Posted by ragamuffin74

it's peculiar to me that some people report poor quality of the blade on the double arrow while kenrup has been using them for his starter sets, purchasing them at different times, and reports no problems with any of them. i understand that quality control could be an issue, but were that the problem, i would expect kenrup to have eventually stumbled on to a bad razor.

ken, care to weigh in on this? could your honing process/skill explain your successes with this razor?

I've not had a bad blade yet. However, the quality control is pretty poor for these razors. Lately, I have had to repin all of them to get the scales to align. The original pins have been cut to long and not finished. Every pin has been bent. The steel is very good. Under a microscope, they look better then some of the new German razors ($60-$70 range) that I'm getting from clients to hone. Before I resell them, I have repined, smoothed out the scale edges and honed them. I would venture to say I'm close to or at the 100 mark for dealing with these razors. I firmly believe that these are a better razor to learn to str8 shave then a taking a chance on an eBay junker or flea market special.

I believe the confusion comes from the black handled Chinese razor that actually has crossed arrows stamped on the tang. These are junk, they also cost more.

Originally Posted by Kenrup

I believe the confusion comes from the black handled Chinese razor that actually has crossed arrows stamped on the tang. These are junk, they also cost more.

Interesting. Which is the real Double Arrow?

Just got mine in the mail today from Stamps222 (Marek). One scale is bent and actually looks a little longer than the other, but the razor closes fine and the scales are tight so I don't mind. (Wasn't celluloid was the "cheap plastic" of its day before "cheap plastic" was invented?) It's actually sharper than I expected, though definitely not shave-ready (had trouble getting hairs off my arm with it). The blade is actually a bit over 6/8 (like 25/32) from spine to edge.

The razor has no markings on the blade or tang, as others have mentioned. Funny we call these "Double Arrow" even though there isn't one! How do we know that's what they actually are? As someone else mentioned there are two Chinese characters inside each of the scales -- the only marks on it anywhere -- I will see if I can find someone who can translate them. I hope it doesn't say, "Crummy, cheap razor to export to Americans who don't know any better"!

I bought one from Stamps. Got it in the mail day before yesterday. It honed up very easily, and gave me a great shave! It has a nice feel to it.


Yes, I replaced the scales. They're pretty bad.

Good price, and an excellent razor for that price. $13.00 shipped

Steve

I really like mine, I had to put a bit of CS in the bottom of the scales to keep them together and it got uneven hone wear on the spine when i honed it up but other than that is a nice razor with cheap scales...It shaved pretty well too. 13 bucks shipped is worth it for some one new or looking for an inexpensive razor.

you could make a real cheap 7 day set if you wanted, just put new scales on them and your good...

I have a tentative translation for the characters inside the scales from someone who has been studying Chinese for a year or two (not a native speaker or reader). He says they mean something like "gold yuan" or "gold coin". So they don't say "double arrow" after all.

I'll try to paste the characters here, but I don't know if they will make it through the post editor:
金元
If anyone else here reads Chinese, can you confirm this translation?

Edit: After I posted this, I realized that my translator said the words in Mandarin are "jin yuan." Now I suspect this might be a transliteration of "Genuine". So these should probably be referred to as the "Genuine" Chinese razor.

FYI...Stamps222 has more of these for sale on ebay.
Just bought 2 myself. Will let ya know when they arrive.

I own one of these from Stamps. I love it . It gives a better shave then the much more expensive brand names that I own and I own quite a few brand name razors. Did I get a fluke razor from him? "maybe". I would buy another if this one was lost. Honing is a breeze also.

Originally Posted by ragamuffin74

Interesting. Which is the real Double Arrow?

The "real" Double Arrow is the black handled Chinese piece of junk. The good razor is the white handled one from stamps222.