Thread: Famous Double Arrow straight razor. Sharp as a...razor.

Well not so much straight away, but with a little time on the hone and strop, it cuts like a laser beam. After reading about them here and at TSD, i thought i'd take a chance. Fellas (and ladies), it's well worth the $9 US. Replace the supercrappy plastic scales and cheap pins and you will have yourself a damn fine razor. Just my 2 cents.

i like mine! Some day ill replace the scales and make it look as good as it shaves

Is there a link to go with that reccomendation??

They're up on ebay; if you search for "famous double arrow" it should come up. Happy hunting!

Famous Double Arrow straight razor. Sharp as a...razor. - eBay (item 220251849014 end time Jul-06-08 16:31:18 PDT)

remember: scales BAD!, blade can be made quite GOOD!

Also look for "stamps" ...he's the usual source for those and Wapi's

They are amazing for the money aren't they?

I got one on the bay after reading the posts here. Mine came from someone in Poland )no chance of the Revenue men grabbing money from me as they are part of the EC!)

As they say, crappy scales but the blade! I'm not the best at honing but I spent no more than five minutes on an old barber hone whilst watching the telly and that blade is EVIL!

I have quite a bit of quality hardwood around as I make knives so I think it's time I tried rescaling!

Highly recommended!

Gareth

I don't get it, guys... I thought Double-Arrows were supposed to be the chinese Zeepks! I read somewhere (newbie related info...) that those were no-no razors...
Anybody care to explain it to me? Maybe I'm confused...

Thanks!

I 've bought 8 of those, for experimental purposes.

The steel alloy, hardening and tempering is good. They take a great edge that seems to last as good as any carbon steel Dovo or other A-brand razor.
The grind is ok. Some have minimal unevenness, but nothing so severe that it conflicts with sharpening. None of my 8 shows any warp.
They are between 6/8" and 7/8" and have a smiling curve at the edge.

The blades are finished very sparingly: the tip of the spine has a hard edge, that can leave a scratch at the strop. The tang has hard edges too. Both issues are easily resolved with a small piece of 600 or finer sandpaper, or with a multiform coticule slipstone (that's how I did it).

While honing, the shoulder of the blade hits the side of the hone at a point where the heel is not entirely resting on the hone. Starting the stroke from a slight diagonal position, resolves this issue.

They scales are total crap. They are flimsy. They are sloppy attached and touch the blade while closing.

Stamps22 told me that there are other "Double Arrows" out there, that are not related to those he sells.

Bart.

i bought one off ebay, stropped it on CRO, then leather, very happy with results for the price paid