Thread: When Did You Start Selling Your Razors?

Hello, Alembic:

I have a modest collection of 22 razors. Although all are fine razors, and some of them great, I don't use every one. I might as well have another gentleman enjoy them. In the coming weeks I'll probably trim my collection to only the razors I really like, maybe about 12.

Regards,
Obie

Originally Posted by BeBerlin

I sell the ones I do not use myself. And I borrow some I do not like but which are good beginner razors to complete strangers from here. So far, all have come back in one piece

I love the spirit. I have loaned a couple out also, and I would loan out more.

Originally Posted by Obie

Hello, Alembic:

I have a modest collection of 22 razors. Although all are fine razors, and some of them great, I don't use every one. I might as well have another gentleman enjoy them. In the coming weeks I'll probably trim my collection to only the razors I really like, maybe about 12.

Regards,
Obie

Hi Obie,

So how long did you have 22 before you said "I can live with only the ones I really like"?

David

Originally Posted by leadduck

I will let you know when it happens.

That's what I'm afraid of.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I started collecting straight razors in the 1980s. I started with great enthusiasm once the bug bit me. I was up to about 200 of the things and had begun to get more discriminating. I looked at my collection/accumulation and weeded out all but about 25 and sold the rest to other collectors. This was back when you could find most for relatively cheap.

Fast forward to the last few years. I sold all but two of the 25 I kept on ebay. This stimulated a friend to get into wet shaving. His interest renewed mine and I found myself buying old DEs. History repeated itself ,those who do not learn the lessons, and I am back up to a couple of hundred straight razors. I've sold most of the DEs except for maybe fifty.

I started out with great enthusiasm again and then became more discriminating. The good part about becoming more discriminating is that I only buy better razors and the bad part is that they tend to cost more. I will eventually thin the herd of pieces that are in lesser condition than I go for now and/or pieces that I just don't have that great an attachment to.

What I think you have to watch out for is the "action syndrome". If you have the collecting bug it can be more about the action than the item. When you get to the point where you know every mailman and UPS or FedEx driver on your route by their first name there may be a problem.

That is some story. I am pretty sure I would be looking for a new place to live if I hit the 200 mark.

But I have never seen something that can be so beautiful, artistic, graceful, practical, ingenious and useful all at once for a price that is generally this low (not a DD Reaper). And that is the main appeal with the action of the bug hunt secondary.

Hmmmm - I'm not helping myself here.

Originally Posted by Alembic

Hi Obie,

So how long did you have 22 before you said "I can live with only the ones I really like"?

David

Hello, David:

Thanks for your note.

The decision to trim my modest collection has built gradually. My two latest razors, a Dubl Duck which I received as a gift last week, and a Revisor which is on the way from Germany, have brought my collection to 22.

Several razors I wanted to sell within the first week. Although they were quality razors, the feel of them in my hands wasn't quite right. Unlike, say, the Filarmonica 13, which I loved from the first shave and continue to love more and more. Or the Wacker 6/8" 1st Edition Sheffield, which was a soul mate from the moment I opened the box and now we're lovers, so to speak.

To give you an example, the Dovo "Renaissance" felt uncomfortable in my hands from the first shave. This was, what, two years ago? It's a fine razor, with many fans. The same thing with the "Bergischer Lowe." Boker's "King Cutter." Thiers-Issard's "Dos Festonne" with white bone scales. Wacker's 6/8" "Antik." And so on. My discomfort with them is more intangible than anything else and that's why it has taken all this time to finally decide on their future.

In the world of straight razor shaving, as you well know, we deal with a lot of intangibles. That's why the only answer I can give you is that my decision to sell them has been building over time, even though some razors felt wrong for me from the first shave and some after many shaves.

Regards,
Obie

I do not really need 58 day set. Quality over quantity, I would rather have 10 bliss to use razors than 30 'pretty good shave' razors. So you end up trying a lot and keeping a few. Although I do have a minimum standard. I would never sell a sub par razor. Then there is the custom razor world. Once it drags you in, it is hard to get out.

I'm still in acquisition mod I have sold a few off to fund other projects but it's not something I set out to do. When I do sell ones off it's because I'm not crazy about them for some reason. Currently that reason is size issues. I don't like small thin razors, I have trouble shaving with them. So they are piling up to be sold soon.

I've divested myself from quite of few of my razors recently. Keeping choice pieces, etc.

I found that I'm not a collector in the truest sense of the word. Meaning, given the time, effort and keeping your eyes and ears open all the time for a good lead on a collection, etc all the things necessary to build a large collection does not interest me. Nor does amassing a large collection of razors in the hundreds or thousands. To be clear, for those that do aspire to such heights, IMO, huzzah. It's just not for me.

I'm wondering if at some point I'll pick a small handful out for use, giving to my sons when they come of age and truly be a 100% straight razor user with no real collection. I'm not there yet.

Chris L