Thread: Don't be wasteful–buy used

But what of true NOS?

I currently have and use several.

Now I will admit I favor 6/8ths - 13/16ths heavy hollow ground razors. Most of these are Solingen blades by default (a Le Grelot an exception). I llike a particular model of Friedour in particular (if you have a 13/16ths 72 1/2 stamped on the shank rather than the tang send me a PM). And I'm not above liking heavy half hollows like the Livi New grinds or an older TI Super Gnome.

"New", as in a Livi New Grind, or custom (of which I currently use ten) are (obviously) just fine in my book.

I do have vintage American blades, and they are very good. But, and this is a conditioned but, they don't fit my preferred blade profile.

Ya gotta know what you like. Debates about new or vintage are just noise in my opinion.

Now, finding what you truly like can be a very long process. DD Wonderedges are great razors. But I sold mine. Too light. Clauss makes some great razors. Too light. Watervilles? Fantastic shavers. Too small and too light. I'd love to find a 6/8ths or larger Waterville hollow ground, but it seems there were none.

If it does not meet my blade profile preference, new or vintage, I stay away.

So it seems to me that the premise is faulty. Its not new or used. Its what works for you with your preferred blade profile.

there are several good reliable sellers on here and a few other websites that offer very useable shave ready vintage pieces at a good price

i agree with the others that buying old means you may be buying un-usable...

hopefully a couple of the ones i got recently will hone up well

Originally Posted by daflorc

If you do a minimum of research it shouldnt be hard to find a shave ready, old razor..

Shave ready ? I don't think so. If you do a minimum of research you are likely to end up with junk or something that will cost you the price of a new razor to restore... Unless you do the restoration yourself.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Shave ready ? I don't think so. If you do a minimum of research you are likely to end up with junk or something that will cost you the price of a new razor to restore... Unless you do the restoration yourself.

^^^ what he said.

Since getting into this razor restoration business I've bought ~15 razors in the $15-$35 price range.
5 were bargains, 5 needed extensive work to restore and 5 were disappointing although only one was outright junk.

Getting yourself set up for razor restoration isn't all that cheap either.

As for sharpening, I've spent $250+ on stones and strops and I'm a chef and already had a full range of stones from 400 up to 6K.

Originally Posted by daflorc

I had not thought about the warping issue. I would think ebay sellers would be careful to mislabel an auction to avoid getting negative feedback. I personally would never buy a razor that I couldn't see every aspect of in pictures, and that wasn't well-described.

Unless you are buying a razor from people like SRP members and the like on Ebay, in all fairness they would not even have the ability to make a warping diagnosis. This is the chance you take. Out of say 100 razors I bought from anonomous vendors on Ebay, about 5 of them have warps in them. I can't see warps from pictures either and some are only obvious when the razor hits the stone.

Why buy new? Well, One day, a long long time ago, all of the vintage razors we use today were new. If new razors are not bought, noone will have any desire to keep making them as there will be no money in it. If production of straight razors stops, then way down the road, there will not be any vintage razors for our great, great, great, great...grand kids to learn to use. It is simple...keep the tradition alive!!

When I first started using a straight razor, I had to overcome my initial aversion to using something on my own face which may have drawn blood on who knows who and sat in a drawer for who knows how long. A new razor would not have presented me with the same aversion, although my fears were based more on ignorance than reality. hmm, isn't that often the case...

Originally Posted by Hawkeye5

Now I will admit I favor 6/8ths - 13/16ths heavy hollow ground razors.

I would love to see your razor collection, we seem to agree in taste... although I am currently leaning towards the 7/8th - 15/16th.

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

Probably because the vast majority of vintage razors take a lot of work to get to being "just as good or better." I can tell you as a fact that the prices you see in the classifieds are artificially low-- held down by charity and the love of the sport-- and that the guys who take old razors and make them useable don't make even close to minimum wage on their efforts.

In order for there to be enough to go around, there needs to be a new-stock market to fuel the vintage restoration market, which rides on the margins of the retail business.

Oh yes this. When I think of the hours I put into the few restorations I've done, I have to think that the majority of the restorations being sold on SRP are being almost given away. Personally I value my time more than the $5 an hour it would take for those sales, but I admire the guys who love the game enough to do it.

What I consider a waste is the money I've spent on razors that looked a lot better in pictures then they did when I got them in my hand.

If you are new to this and considering buying through other channels then known dealers, wait until you know what to look for and what to avoid. And even then it is a crapshoot.