Thread: Chinese Double Arrow

I haven't read much about these. Anyone with any experience with them - good or bad?

I have a Chinese Double Arrow that I ordered from our esteemed Polish friend (don't ask me to remember his name now), and it is in my shaving rotation. It's actually the largest razor I have, so I have to remember to keep the angles right on my face, but that's not a problem. It also has a nice smiling profile, which I *love*.

After reading about the Tim Zowada microbevel idea for razors, I slapped a couple of pieces of electrical tape on the spine and honed it up, stropped it up (pasted diamond and newspaper) and give it the old shave... it was even sharper and smoother than before.

Mine has no stamping on the tang like some of the older Double Arrow razors. The scales are embarrassing plastic, but they open and close without hitting anything and they serve their purpose. They do not have a storied history like TIs, Dovos, Wade and Butchers, Robesons, Filomarnicas, etc, but I read recently that someone bought one 20 years ago, didn't use it for awhile, then recently brought it out of mothballs to get some wicked awesome shaves. I didn't realize they've been around even that long.

I love my Double Arrow razor. Would I buy another one? (If I needed another new razor) an unqualified yes, especially given the price... but it helps if you like honing... if I got one that wasn't sharpened correctly, I might get frustrated at the whole endeavour, but I had great success with mine "out of the box".

I purchased 2 from the same source, and the 2 I recieved were from an inferior batch.
It is my understanding that there is a great deal of inconsistencies in the supply, so you could get a decent razor, or you could get an ugly Zeepk.

I bought several of these, Ray, from the same seller, and each has provided excellent shaves. Like Paulo mentioned, the scales are cheapo, but the unmarked blade is a big 6/8" hollow and honing was easy.

Dan

Thanks, guys. Seems like there is quite a bit of variability in quality.

Mike, did your razors have white scales. I remember reading one member (Kenrup?) saying the black scaled ones were no better than Zeepks but the white handled ones were actually quite good.

Luckily, Wojtek posted some more stamped wapi's - I think my odds are better rolling the dice on those. For now.

Originally Posted by RayG

Thanks, guys. Seems like there is quite a bit of variability in quality.

Mike, did your razors have white scales. I remember reading one member (Kenrup?) saying the black scaled ones were no better than Zeepks but the white handled ones were actually quite good.

Luckily, Wojtek posted some more stamped wapi's - I think my odds are better rolling the dice on those. For now.

Yeah mine were the white handled ones, and they were no better than Zeepks...
For the price you can't go wrong, but you might need to buy 5 to get 2 workable razors.

I have one in black scales with a makers mark stamped tang in a 7/8 round point that I just picked up for a few bucks. The blade is straight and level, I will have to see how it works before I drop it in new scales.

Originally Posted by RayG

I haven't read much about these. Anyone with any experience with them - good or bad?

I honed one up for someone a few weeks ago and rescaled it, from a country not well known for quality blades it honed really easy, developed no nicks and shaved remarkably well in my opinion. If this was your starter razor i would say you could do alot worse, im not an advocate of them i was merely surprised by the shave I got.

My tuppence worth, simon

This is my first straight razor. I bought it on eBay from stamps222, and I just started using it after getting Kenrup to hone it for me. He was able to put a very good edge on it. I have nothing to compare it to, but I'm very pleased. Considering the price I paid on eBay, this razor is an insane bargain. The only negative thing I'd have to say is that the scales are bad. When I received the razor they were horribly misaligned. The edge didn't contact the scales, but it was still darn ugly. I will eventually get them rescaled, but it works for now.

All in all, if this is the only razor I ever own, I wouldn't regret it.

I have one Double Arrow razor and it's been very difficult to hone. At $13 shipped it's not an expensive gamble but I'll stick to the Wapis.