Just out of curiosity what razor do you prefer?
Mine is a old 5/8 hollow ground ERN.
It’s not the best looking but its my best shaver.
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Just out of curiosity what razor do you prefer?
Mine is a old 5/8 hollow ground ERN.
It’s not the best looking but its my best shaver.
Some days is 7/8 Wacker Round Point.
Other days it's a 4/8 Wosty.
And a few in between where it's a 5/8 Shumate Barber, or 4/8 W&B Special.
Then there are the days in between those days..... :)
My favorrite are my le grelots.
Shave like a dream and stubble just falls off my face when I use it. Loved my first one so much that I got another two and sold every other razor I had.
Some days it's a 7/8 Double Duck #1, some days its a Hart Steel, some days it's a Juste Judicato 1/4 hollow, some days it's an old W&B wedge, some days... well you see where this is headed.
Go figures, mine is a ERN Ator 5/8 shoulderless. That thing is wicked!
My favorite razor is usually whatever on I use on any given day. Today it happened to be a Dubl Duck Goldedge.:)
That is a tough question to answer. I would have to answer by favorite per era. 1750-80 G. Smith, and another with an untraceable trademark. They were hidden in a house built in 1740, and redicovered about 4 years ago. The Smith is mint, and a shaver!
1800-35 Lisbon, made by one of the Warburtons. This is in my regular rotation. 1850's, hands down, Wade & Butcher barbers use. Guessing around 1900 for Heljestrand, of any size. 1920 George Korn. Not sure where Thiers Issard fits in- but it does.
But honestly, this is so unfair to hundreds of other great razors. If many people answer this query, you will get many different answers. Further, I doubt anybody with more than a dozen razors will be able to pick just one.
Each razor, depending on ones' level of obsession, is unique unto itself. To compare it with another type is sorta not really possible- the apples and oranges thing.
Ed
quicknicker
It is hard to pick a favorite. Of course the ducks always shave great, especially the Wonderedge. Fily's are awesome, Puma, and My Livi New grinds.
I don't have a large enough collection yet to have issues finding a favorite. My JR Torrey (just under 5/8) shaves like a dream...
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...al-scales.html
The last few shaves has been my new Hart.
Before that, a nice Helje that I bought off of a forum member.
A Festonne and Dovo 55 before those.
My collection has bloomed to 20 or so razors...so I revisit my "favorite" every few days.
I have a Red Imp that i'll get on the hones soon, and that will probably be my next favorite.
Code
Blademen,
That is a tough one to answer as others have said !
I have a real soft spot for my Genco Fluid Steel, my 'tatty Puma', and my Dovo Best (a real workhorse).
Have fun !
Best regards
Russ
My favorite is a mint condition cast steel blade from the 1700s. I don't have one unfortunately, but if I did I'm sure it would be my favorite.
E.Decker Master Barber, 4/8, would keep an edge through an atomic blast and glides through hair, then my 6/8 crown and sword, a nice big hollow ground when I feel like a big piece of steel against my face.
regards
Alex
I cant answer that..! :D
I love them all, really I do, and its the variety between them that keeps this all interesting to me.
Its the same with my stones. Someone asked the other day about what set to get, and I was like "Shapton... No, Naniwa.... No, wait, Shapton..." And then theres all the finishers...
Too many razors, too many hones, not enough time or money! :D
Yep, that seems to be the case for me. I've only got 7 shave-ready razors, so I'm guaranteed to use each one every week. I like having the variety without having to figure out which razor to use. Monday? 6/8 Wosty pipe for L. Herder. Friday? 5/8 Anchor in really cool yellow and black mottled celluloid scales.
But I've got a 6/8 Sprock in ivory that I'm sending off to gssixgun for a vintage restore. Trouble on the way . . .
My favorite razor is not my best shaver. I like it and will never part with it because it was a gift. Passed from my stepfather to me and he got it from his grandfather. It's a simple black scaled Henry Sears and Son's 5/8 spike point. It has very little hone wear but blade is stained and not the best looking razor I own. I have thought about polishing it up, but there is no rust and I like it the way it is. I have several razors that are great shavers and look ten times better than the Sears but it's still my favorite.
Gentlemen:
In the idiosyncratic world of the straight razor, the word "favorite" proves inadequate. Some of our members here have several hundred straight razors out of which a favorite, I am sure, is difficult to choose. And on what day of the week? With my modest collection of 25 razors I find the choice impossible to make. What razor is my favorite I don't know.
That's why in these circumstances I prefer to use the word "prefer" over "favorite," because it proves more legitimate in conveying my feeling toward my razors. Which ones I "prefer" suits me better.
Four Wackers, two of which are the wedge set, are glorious in every way, from the way they sit in my hands to the way they shave. I feel the same about the three Le Grelots, one a 1/4 hollow, and would never choose one over the others. My Filarmoncia 13 is lovely — and a part of me.
And before I forget, I have a 4/8" Wostenholm Spanish point that I consider priceless. It's the one I use for travel. Is it my "favorite" razor? No, of course not. Rather, it is one of my preferred razors. So is the 5/8" Revisor Gold with plastic scales and beautiful blade etching. Also a simple 5/8" Boker King Cutter with plastic scales — it's a sweet shaver and one of the preferred.
I prefer these over two new 6/8" Revisors, a beautiful Thiers-Issard "Dos Festonne," several 5/8" Thiers-Issards with fancy scales, a Dubl Duck "Pearlduck" and an assortment of other modern and vintage razors. Oh, sure, they are good shavers, but not my preferred razors.
So there you have it, gentlemen: I don't have a "favorite" razor, but I prefer some over the others.
Regards,
Obie
My top five:
5/8 Westenholm "Original Pipe Razor"
6/8 Thiers-Issard Le Grolet
6/8 Hart Steel
5/8 Dovo Black Micarta
6/8 Heljestrand No. 6
If someone put a gun to my head and made me choose, I'd choose the 13/16ths Friodurs. I have much more expensive or nicer looking razors, but it is just very difficult to beat a vintage Friodur.
http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/a...riodurPair.jpg
The biggest mistake in my shaving life was when I sold a W.S. Brown straight razor. The biggest break in my life was when the guy returned it. ("I don't have sufficient dexterity.") So, I shaved with it and that was a year and a half ago. Once every 8 or 10 shaves, I will use another razor. But, most of the time...that 6/8 W.S. Brown!
As an aside, I have never seen any other razor labeled that way. Who knows who made it and so on!
Hey Larry, you want to sell that w.s brown!!! Just joking... My favorite that I call my work horse is my Simmons it just feels so nice in my hand and facial hair jumps off my face when it see's me stropping the blade.a close second is my meat chopper Bengall
:) You don't joke about things like that, Mr Hammondd2000, whatever your name is. Hey, Mr Hammond, want to sell your first born or your wedding ring? :)
The year was about 1980. The wife and I were driving Hwy 124 between Harrisburg and Fayette, Missouri. We were listening to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini for the first time. At one point in the concerto, Ol Rachi dropped all those minor and odd sounding chords and went into a straight forward major chord-dominated - Forgive my description; I'm basically a Missouri hillbilly who likes classical music, along with Led Zepellin - section. We were stunned! It was so beautiful.
Usually, before one knows whether they like a song, one has to listen to it several times. Give it time to grow on you. Not with Rachmaninoff's Pananini Rhapsody.
And, not with Ol Lar's W.S. Brown straight razor!
Well,if you put my feet to the fire, i would have my 7/8 KAMA Square point in my hand,wicked smooth!!!
When I'm using my Torrey, my Dovo, my Revisor or my Diamondine, it's my Torrey, my Dovo, my Revisor or my Diamondine. But at the end of the day, the one I always go back to as my hands down favorite is my Wade & Butcher. The Brits really know how to make a blade.
My all time favorite has to be my Joseph Rodgers. If it's good enough for the king of England, it's good enough for me!
Overall I'm an American Steel guy, but my best shaver is a Henckels Platinum 401. Not perfect cosmetically ,but she's scary sharp and wicked smooth.
ERN #829, DD special#1.... out of the hundreds laying about those are the two i have shaved with nearly every day for over a year.... they just feel so good... the cases for the Livi's, Zowadas Williams and all other customs just get dusted anymore
My collection of customs. I can't really pick one over the others.
Difficult to choose between 5/8 Bengall and 5/8 B.B Wells, both supplied by SRP members.
Mind you, after about four weeks of straight shaving they are the only razors I have tried yet.
Maybe when the Le Grelot arrives I might change my mind.
I agree, my Platinum is the razor I shave with. I like smaller blades, easier to maneouver. Do you know when they were made? I've heard anywhere from between 1910 and 20
Any one that's sharp and in my rotation
I still like my Dovo Shavette the best. It doesn't look all that great, but when I put a fresh blade in it, it quickly reminds me that it's the sharpest straight I've got. Make a mistake with it, and it just laughs at you while you reach for the Styptic pencil.
My favorite razor is a Gebrüder Stoll Foche - Solingen 925 11/16" no other razor shaves as good except my Feather RG but that's not really a straight razor.
http://users.telenet.be/snuff/styled...3a160022-2.jpg
My Dovo 6/8 BQ.
AHHHHH, Does'nt the addiction feel GREAT!!!! My favorite rotates with the razors.
My favorite razor is a pair of EDECO extra hollow ground razors that I inherited that were bought for my grandfather by my uncle and were part of a 7 day set.
Attachment 76548
You, sir, are a lucky, lucky man to have heirloom razors in good shape. I have my great-grandfather's two razors--a Wostenholm and an Anchor--but neither is useable. The Wosty has a SERIOUS frown, and the Anchor has a crack in the toe about 1/4" from the edge that runs about 1/3 the length of the blade :(
I do have his strop, though, which looks to be in good shape once I get it cleaned up :)
I'd say which ever one I use on a given day. However, like Obie, I prefer some more than others.
At the moment, it's my C.V. Heljestrand No. 23, 11/16 half hollow, since that is at this my smoothest and closest shaver. My third self-honed razor, BBS in one pass with touch ups. Shaved with it once, and after I get through my pile of restorations and to-be-honed razors, it'll probably be another one.
I'm guessing either my stubtail Bengall or C.V. Heljestrand MK 31. Or my Klas Törnblom faux frameback in ivory, etc. etc.