@dyimages:

I've bought my fair share of shit razors, but I don't think I wasted any money. I consider it the price of a lesson learned, and as a bonus I get a practice razor... to hone, unpin, re-pin, rescale and shave the cat.

@OP

Most Solingen blades are good, in particular vintage ones. Many vintage American blades are very good too, though I find a lot of them are tagged Solingen, and without knowledge of brands you can't tell (stick around and you'll learn all about brands, and then some.) The Bokers are nice, unless the blade has been messed with and ruined. Little things make the difference between a junker and a find. Look at the edge, should be rust and chip free, though small chips are fixable. Cracks are a deal breaker. The edge should not have a frown (that is, be narrower in the center than at the ends), and the spine should have even wear.

What is acceptable to you depends on your level of skill and confidence at working on them; I've bought razors that I brought back to life myself, but I have a box full of blades that I did a rough clean on and covered in oil and am waiting to either get better at it or to have some disposable income to send them to my betters to be fixed properly. Be careful, though, because a $10 find can easily cost you several times that on restore and hone alone, even with the reasonable prices most of the craftsmen here will charge you. Don't be blinded by the possibilities unless you have the patience to build up your skills to get the job done.

And I was kidding about shaving the cat.




Marcos