Thread: Why aren't old razors shave-ready?

I've gotten a few off Eboy that were shave ready. However age and time in storage are very much against it.

I was very naive when I first started and I was so psyched to start I stropped up my ebay blade and what do you know? It shave quite well. I sent it out to get honed though and it came back quite a bit better so...

Yes you might get lucky on an NOS or old barber razor 1% of the time.

Another say, 5% of the time it might be sharp enough to shave, but I guarantee you there is a world of difference between "sharp enough to shave" and "shave ready".

Bootstrap

It does happen occasionally - of the twenty-nine vintage razors I own, two came to me shaving sharp - but as other members have said, on most time and wear take their toll. And just as well, say I. Getting them sharp is part of the fun.

Goshawk

Originally Posted by goshawk

Getting them sharp is part of the fun.

ALL OF THE FUN.

I can but shave once a day, and I collecting is see-it-buy-it-have-it-done, but honing you can do as much as you want, whenever you want and justifies the seeing, buying, and having.

You've got your answers already. Just to add a razor (Taylor's Eye Witness) that came from a barber. I cleaned it up, looked at the bevel, thought, not much needed there, I'll take it to the coticule. That was all I used, in under fifteen minutes. I kid you not, the little beauty almost honed itself.

If that had been the first I'd honed I'd have thought, "What's all the fuss? You can teach a Baboon with a opposable thumbs to do that." Some really are easier than others.

I've gotten some razors that have indeed turned up shave ready, even though they were not advertised as such. Yup, poor storage, dinging the edge, maybe it wasn't sharp when it was put away etc are all good answers.

Maybe some are used for alternate purposes (box openers or kitchen knives or whatever) by people who don't value straights for what they are. Maybe someone thumbs the edge or tries to cut various materials to test the sharpness and damages the edge in doing so.

Shave ready is a statement by the seller that it is "shave ready".
Commonly it is "shave ready" because the seller honed or had
the razor honed. i.e. The seller knows the condition of the blade.

All other razors are simply unknown. Like Schrödinger's cat
you do not know until you open the box and check.