Thread: To save, or shave... that is the question.

Originally Posted by JBHoren

"Amortization" -- but be careful: your wife'll use it as a rationalization, too.

riiiiiiiiiiight, good thinkin'. Thanks for the tip guv'nor.

X

I think that if you buy something, it makes perfect sense to use it, though from a true collectors point of view I can appreciate the need to keep an object in pristine condition with a mostly "hands off" attitude.

Personally for me, I use what I buy and I am not a collector.

That said, I would love to "collect" more razors

When I buy (or get) something valuable I tend to switch on the 'french way' mode. Most of the times this works great! You just master the thing/situation/person or you learn by default.
But sometimes not! The day before yesterday I received a very nice Henckels Twin Works (which I paid for twice the price I was planning to - but thats another story which is told in the ebay section of this fantastic website (although this is not really another story (off topic...) as I was in the 'french way'-mode while bidding on the damn thing too)-). Well I received that Henckels (cost me over 90 dollar - excl shipping) and without digging into the materia of restoring a razor I just pulled out a can of carlack-cleaner out off the barn and went ahead with my dremel (on highest speed) to whipe of some of the little uneven (former) rustspots...
It didn't take long to burn into the metal!
After the shock I became very calm and (as it was my day off) I spend the next 5 hours handpolishing the blade with the same carlackcleaner. AND IT WENT GREAT. All of the blade became very clean of spots and shiny and beautifull. BUTT....
As I found out later during the many hours of handpolishing: I seemed to have accidentally hit the blade with the metal-turning part of the dremel while torturing the blade with my dremel. In the first place I saw nothing... but while handpolishing I saw (and this really made me sick in the stomach) there appeared a big (about 4mm) crack in the blade.

Afterall... (honing this over-expensive razor seemed to be very easy) And I already have had two really great shaves from this razor... and although the crack isn't bothering the stiffness of the blade so far... I'm still uncertain about the future.

So: 'no french way in the near future when handling razors'. But collecting and be accurate and precious? NO. Its for shaving!

OK, here it goes:

I am not sure many and very expensive razors can make you that happy. If they can - more power to you. For me - when you die, you die. Having 10 Dama razors and having used them daily - that's good, but probably not that much, in the final analysis. Hopefully, there is something else / more.

Dying with $ in the bank - nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with that! The idea that you have to spend all you can / have seems too consumerist for me, and irresponsible. Spending a lot rarely does bring longer-term happiness. You spend the $ - say on a car, and in several years understand you did not really need this car that much. I'm sure it's the same with razors, among other things. Also, for example, I have kids. Maybe they need the $ more than I need a Maestro. Heck, I am paying private school for 2 kids every month. This comes to quite a bit... more than any Damas I have seen. Am I sorry I am doing this? No.

BTW, I don't collect and use what I have...

Just wanted to provide a different perspective

Cheers
Ivo

Well… I got into str8 shaving less than a year ago, and I've already got terminal RAD. I've purchased some absolutely beautiful razors, and I've purchased a few real clunkers. I've overpaid, and I've gotten a couple nice bargains.

Generally speaking, I buy stuff to use it, not put it in a display case and gawk at it. On the other hand, there are some things that I think have a certain intrinsic, in some cases almost visceral or emotional value for future generations such that that they deserve to be preserved in some form or fashion.

For example… I have a wonderful 7 year-old son. He’s the joy of my life and instantly became my reason for being put on this whacky planet the moment he popped out and cried like Pavarotti on a bad acid trip… I have, of late, been gathering up a few things and putting them in a safety deposit box for him when he gets older. My first ever “real” watch (a nice but modest steel Rolex)… a new Mont Blanc fountain pen… his paternal Grandfather’s first set of drafting instruments… a mint Canon AE-1 film SLR…

Why do I mention this stuff here? Because I’m actually considering buying a really nice, rare, maybe hand-made razor (like a Livi damascus, or a commissioned Bill Ellis), and adding it to that collection. Because I wonder when he comes of age if razors of that quality and artistic beauty will still be available. I hope so, and I think there’s a good chance they will be, but – I guess I’m hoping that in time he’ll develop an appreciation for things that have value precisely because they are functional, and beautifully engineered – not because they were designated by some auctioneer or collector to be implicitly valuable artifacts…

Of course, if I’m still kicking – and shaving – when the time comes to hand that razor over to him, he’s gonna have to arm wrestle me for it first, ‘cause I’ll be dying to shave with it! And I hope I can pry the automated plasma fusion laser-guided nano-shave-bot away from him and convince him to give it a try…

Everything I buy I buy for using and I try to get the very best I can afford. I've come to be of the opinion that improving the quality of life is easiest done by purging all the junk and replacing it with select items of the highest quality. I'd rather have one really good tool than a dozen just like it of inferior quality.

But if they never get used, then why care what the quality is? They might as well be made of plastic an just painted to look like the real thing if they're not to be used. But... that's my opinion. Collectors are probably into this for other reasons than just for shaving.