Where are the inexpensive razors?

A little background first. I'm a newbie to the world of straight razor shaving. I got tired of buying the expensive cartridges for my gillette, and decided to give SR a shot. I bought an inexpensive shavette to test the waters with, and despite a lot of razor burn and a nicked up face, I really like the process and the attention needed to get a good shave.
I'm currently doing some research and stashing away money to purchase a better razor/brush/strop/soap setup.

Is it possible to get a decent quality (maybe not shave ready) straight razor for under $10.
whenever I google straight razor I keep running into these stories about people being able to find straight razors and pawn shops, or thrifts stores for $3 and less. Does that happen.

I thought I was finding bargains in the classified section on this website, but is it true? Can straight razors be bought that cheap?

There are some deals on cheap razors, but after paying for honing and shipping it's going to cost a lot more than that. Now if you can find a free honing offer that would help.

Also many razors you might see in antique malls or flea markets are inexpensive for a reason (or not), needing chips honed out of the blade, new scales to replace the broken ones, and lots of time and elbow grease to clean up the blade.
While there are deals out there, sellers are looking to eBay for pricing guides and think their trashed Boker is worth as much as a pristine shave ready Boker. Or they may be like my late mother-in-law in thinking anything old is valuable.
Now if you add a 0 behind that 3, there are decent blades to be found in the various BST forums.

Even if you somehow manage to find a decent razor for $3. Add $20 plus shipping to get it honed.

Doesnt a package of fusion blades cost more than $10?

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Originally Posted by freyguy

A little background first. I'm a newbie to the world of straight razor shaving. I got tired of buying the expensive cartridges for my gillette, and decided to give SR a shot. I bought an inexpensive shavette to test the waters with, and despite a lot of razor burn and a nicked up face, I really like the process and the attention needed to get a good shave.
I'm currently doing some research and stashing away money to purchase a better razor/brush/strop/soap setup.

Is it possible to get a decent quality (maybe not shave ready) straight razor for under $10.
whenever I google straight razor I keep running into these stories about people being able to find straight razors and pawn shops, or thrifts stores for $3 and less. Does that happen.

I thought I was finding bargains in the classified section on this website, but is it true? Can straight razors be bought that cheap?

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I have found razors for as little as $10 in antique shops, but they require more labor and materials to get them shave ready. It would actually be cheaper in the long run for you to get a shave ready razor from someone like Kenrup or SRD.

I think that with little luck you might find decent razors under 10 bucks from flea markets, but you have to recognize what is a decent razor and what is not, or is the condition of the razor worth trying to make it a good shaver.

Forget eBay for now. Straight shaving seems to become quite popular, and currently people are paying brainless amount of money for some razor brands.
I would recommend you to watch classifieds where you can still find shave ready razors with reasonable price.

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Originally Posted by TheBaron

It would actually be cheaper in the long run for you to get a shave ready razor from someone like Kenrup or SRD.

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+1. Just check the classifieds and be patient. Several folks on this forum will post good quality "starter" razors in shave-ready condition for $35 or so. If you want to spend $100+ on a brand new pre-honed razor, that's fine - but you don't need to.

A fleaBay special will run you about the same as buying a new razor when the dust settles. Figure $10-25 for a fixer-upper razor, then $40-60 to send it to someone for restoration (or time and effort spent on your own part), plus $20 for a decent honing, and you're up to the $100 you'd spend for a brand-new razor. What I'd advocate (for the newb) is to look for a good quality razor that isn't necessarily the most collectible brand. Sham, Holli, and others routinely post lower-cost shave ready razors in the classifieds here - that's where I would start.

To answer the question, "Where are the inexpensive razors?" they're in Pakistan. And they should stay there. My first straight cost me $4.00 and I threw it away after trying it a few times.

There are great buys in antique shops and flea markets and there are also crap razors there. As mentioned above straight shaving is getting popular and it is reflected on eBay by the prices. Antique shops here have been raising their prices also but not as much as eBay.

With local finds you have to invest time and travel costs. For me, I hone my own razors and if work is needed I do my own. There are still good finds in local shops if you are patient and invest a lot of time and travel into hitting the same shops over and over again. Remember, you are not the only looking for these deals.

Finding a great razor at a great price takes some combination of leg work and luck. You also have to know what you're looking for. Slart is right when he mentions that you will most likely have to pay to have your razor honed. As a result, you can save yourself time and not spend too much more if you buy a shave ready razor off the classifieds.

My opinion is for the cheapest, but still high quality starting point, visit rup razor. Ken had a starters kit with a quality checked and honed gold dollar razor and a filly strop, but on my latest visit to his site I couldnt find it. IIRC it was offered at around 60 bucks and he also has a boar brush starter set, you could be completely ready to go for around 80 bucks, that is if he still offers the razor set. I bought his filly strop to use as a beginning strop, but the more I use it the more I like it, I find myself putting off pulling my TM Latigo/linen strop out of the box and using it. I havent used the gold dollars from him but have read plenty of positive reviews around here, just make sure you dont look for one on ebay, from what I hear they are a crap shoot, and they will not be shave ready, Ken gets them picks the best fixes them up and throws away the ones not worth a s**t. It seems to me that more times than not bargains turn out to be too good to be true, that is not the case with Ken Rup's products. Good luck.

The $10 shave ready razors in mint condition are certainly out there, the problem is finding them before anybody else and recognizing them for that.
Considering that you have no experience whatsoever I'd say your chances are pretty slim and it gets smaller by the day as more people get access to them through internet.

I don't think you can realistically expect a razor made of steel that can be sharpened to hold a shaving edge to cost comparably to a shavette. The later is essentially a holder for the high quality steel blade, so the requirements for quality and precision are next to nothing.

Personally, I think buying from SRD is a great idea - you know you'll get good stuff and great service for the best price. However, also from my personal standpoint, I think buying new razors is a waste of money given the prices you can find for vintage, shave ready blades.

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Originally Posted by ChrisL

Since you have a desire to purchase more than just a razor, you're thinking of buying all that you'd need to start off, I personally wouldn't hesitate to buy the offer that you've described. I haven't looked at SRD if a few weeks, but they have a great razor honing offer and no question they would stand by their products. I don't see how you could go wrong.

Chris L

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Thats what I was thinking. I've checked quite a few sites, and they seem to have the lowest price for an all inclusive, shave ready kit. I'd certainly like to buy razors individually, but for the sake of learning the art, and beginning to refine my technique, I thought this was a great deal.

Keep in mind, they're offering a coupon for a free additional honing. That's an added value to be sure. Keep in mind, it's very easy to compromise an edge when you're learning to strop. You can use that free additional honing to your advantage regardless.

Chris L

No, I'm not at all put off by the price of the razor. Before I even considered straight razor shaving, I had quite the passion for Katanas. I was fascinated by the metallurgy, as well as the form and function of the blade. Maybe having see those prices had in some way prepared me for the straight razor prices.

I was considering the strop upgrade. Is there a major advantage? In the videos I've seen, as well as the articles I've read, The X pattern is still used on even the widest strop, so would I gain all that much from upgrading from the 2" to the 3"?

Oh and as for ebay, I didn't know much about straight razor when I started searching for one on the site, but I did know about swords, and just general shopping. My experience has taught me that if it seems too good to be true, it most likely is. Besides, if people could get a straight razor set up for $20, then there'd be a lot more people doing it.

Could you? Sure. Should you? Hmmm...

Like the others said, once you factor in shipping it out to be honed, it will cost easily as much as just buying a shave-ready vintage from the Classifieds.

Also, since this is your first experience with straights, you may not be able to tell the difference between a straight that just needs a clean-up and a honing, and one that's going to take a lot more work than that.

Even for $30, you should be able to find a razor on decent shape that's shave-ready. It may have some wear, it may not be a looker, but it'll work just dandy and you can be sure of its suitability to shaving.

As far as strops, there's no need to get all fancy. You should probably just go a starter 2" strop, so you can perfect your X-pattern without having a wider strop to get lazy on, and you won't have blown a lot of money on a strop that you're likely to nick.

My strop is only 1 1/2 inches wide and it works just fine.

Where you'll want to spend money is on soap/cream, shaving prep, and a decent brush.

The strop can be cheap, and so can the razor as long as you're sure of its quality. Check the Classifieds, RupRazor, and SRD.

I just ordered a complete wet shave set from SRD. it includes a dovo best quality, a 2" strop, a brush, a mug and soap. It's a very basic set up from all that I've been reading on this site, but it will certainly be an upgrade from my can of barbazol and my shavette.

The shavette has served me well, and I plan on continuing to use it even after I get the dovo. My favorite part of the shavette, is that whenever I'm tackling a new area of my face, or trying to work on my non dominant hand, I can just pop out the blade, and mock out the motions, and really get comfortable with them, rather then just going at it and hacking up my face.

But believe me, I did a good deal of hacking before I took that little bit of advice, and have now seen the error in my ways.