Thread: Szco

Hello all,

I'm a total newbie, both to this forum and straight razor shaving in general. I recently became interested in straight razors and, in my pre-research excitement, I bought a very cheap SZCO razor (pakistan). I also bought a strop.

While I was waiting for it to arrive in the mail, I did some research and realized that Pakistan blades are pieces of crap. However, when it finally did arrive, I decided to try and give it some kind of edge anyway (not to use, just for practice). I spent a long time honing it on a vintage "Boss Barber" stone that I happened to have and stropping it. No matter how hard I try, I can't get this blade to be even remotely sharp.

What I'm wondering is whether or not it's at all possible to get these Pakistani blades sharp. In other words, is it the blade's poor quality or my lack of technique/proper equipment that's the problem? I'm hoping that this is simply a hopeless blade and that I won't have the same frustrations when I get a nicer razor.


Thanks!

You may be able to get one "knife sharp", but more than likely you will not be able to get it to "razor sharp". One other thing, you are trying to set a bevel with a finishing stone...
Scott

While most of us here agree that all Paki blades are cheap crap, you could use it to practice your honing and stropping.
Personally i believe that if all Paki blades were totally useless, nobody would sell them either. There must be about hundreds of Paki razors in eBay alone. Some buy them and they all can't be ignorant first time testers. There must be some people is Pakistan that still use these blades for shaving (although majority people there use probably Mach 3 blades, thanks to globalization).
I'm not saying that Paki blades were good. Even if you can get it sharp it wont probably keep the edge for long. I've never had a Paki blade, but we've seen people shaving with axe or kitchen knife in Utube, Paki blades cannot be much worse.
Just my 2c.

Let me elaborate more. Many of us will work on setting a bevel in the 1K range & progress thru 4K, 8K, finisher, leather. There are many variables to setting a bevel and honing, but the three stones listed are usually a minimum. You can get by with a norton 4k/8k as a bare minimum. When we mention that we recommend learning on a "bay" razor we mean a cheaper "good" razor but one that may be a tad rusted or need scales that you can get in the 10-30 dollar range. This way if you ruin it learning to hone, it doesn't hurt the pocketbook too bad. Learning on a new $200-400 razor and ruining the blade would be hard for me to take & most others.

I would HIGHLY recommend two things: Lynn's video & reading some/all of the wiki articles on honing BEFORE you touch another razor to a hone.

The only thing they're good for maybe is technique. I'd argue that it's pointless to evaluate how well you're stropping and honing on an edge that is inconsistent at best.

Originally Posted by halexander92

What I'm wondering is whether or not it's at all possible to get these Pakistani blades sharp. In other words, is it the blade's poor quality or my lack of technique/proper equipment that's the problem? I'm hoping that this is simply a hopeless blade and that I won't have the same frustrations when I get a nicer razor.
Thanks!

It is possible to hone 'some' pakistani razors. I successfully put an edge on one for sh!ts & giggles but it crumbled on the first pass.
Your technique & equipment is likely not up to the task but those things can be adjusted whereas the blade can't. A good vintage or even a new production razor will be like chalk & cheese to your current one.
The razor you have would be good for practising stropping & honing technique but still the results will tell you very little. Look at it as developing dexterity & muscle memory.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

Steer clear of them I reckon.