Thread: Why straight razors so hard to find?

Welcome to the forums. If you have an Art of Shaving store near you or within reasonable driving distance they carry TI and Dovo razors at normal retail prices. If this is your first straight there is the theory of going more economical initially to practice, and get use to it so if you find it is not your cup of tea you are not out a lot of funds. Otherwise if your heart is set on a specific razor you may want to contact vendors to see if they have an idea of when they will be getting their next shipment in and if they will contact you when it is in stock.

Good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar cutlery stores often stock straights (and DEs, for that matter) and their prices are usually closer to MSRP than Art of Shaving. The trick is to resist their offer to destroy your new razor on their knife-sharpening machine.

Originally Posted by Ecl

The trick is to resist their offer to destroy your new razor on their knife-sharpening machine.

Five years of wear and a terrible edge! What's not to like?

I think this is a good indicator of the shortage - I just checked SRD -

of 9 Boker models offered - only 2 in stock
of 4 Ralf Aust - 1 in stock
of 40 Dovos - none are listed as in stock

As a side note - I have been waiting to use an SDR gift cetificate since Christmas - got lucky and snagged one of the Boker Piccadillys they got in two weeks ago. There was a bit of a glitch with the certificate and Don was very helpful straightening out the situation. I cannont say enough good things about the guys at SRD, I hope the supply side of the equation gets fixed soon!

Originally Posted by eod7

Five years of wear and a terrible edge! What's not to like?

Knife-store edges are great... for opening letters and mixing paint. I just hate when they crack the scales by clamping the razor in a vise to file away that curved extra bit of steel that sticks out of the "handle".

Somewhere in this thread classic edge came up. I've gotten a couple of straights and some other stuff from them. Razors are shave ready and service is prompt. I have no complaints.

From Dovo's rather sad website, some numbers to ponder:

Staff: 86

Production area: 3.900 m² built up

Daily production: 1.200 scissors 900 nippers 150 open razors and shavers

Year founded: 1906, independent family concern since 1936

Markets: 120 countries Share 25% domestics, 75% export

We think of Dovo as a heavyweight, and this would make their razor department pretty small. It's easy to see how losing one key worker would disrupt output greatly, magnifying the effect of resellers keeping their inventories light.

Thread title is like a demented country song.

Thank you gentlemen, appreciate the input. I have yet to see the newest bond movie, I do know my watch forum was buzzing about the Omega he was wearing, but hadn't heard anything on the razor. I'll have to rent it tonight.

And that's sad about the Dovo guy, I'm sure they lost quite a bit of experience.

It seems classicshaving has some in stock. Anybody with issues with them?