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CarrieM and I just purchased a razor lot (not from EBay) and expect delivery soon. We will post comments and pics after they arrive. Right now I have RAD really bad waiting for them to arrive :cry: and thought you guys may be able to help get me through it until they arrive with some stories of your own. :rock:
How many of us have purchased razor lots, what did you get and how many of them did you keep?
Tell us about your razor lot buying experiences, I an eager to read about them.
Holli, you still available this weekend?? Looks like JoeD is going to need all hands on deck LOL
Yup, I can make it out for at least one day. Drop me a PM and let me know what you guys are thinking.
I can't wait to see all those blades!
Nice idea! Thanks for asking!Quote:
Originally Posted by Joed
Just small lots, here, ranging from 2 to 6 razors. I don't like to sell blades (I think I do a better work buying :p ) so I accept to purchase a lot only when I am really interested to buy a blade which comes in the lot (usually a very old Sheffield). Actually, I still have to understand what to do with the other blades of my small lots [I know, you have some suggestions for me.. like "ship everything here" :D ].
hone them up and sell them on, the money you get back will buy your next lot!
Thanks for your suggestion, Gregs656! I'll have to start to sell those extra-blades, otherwise I'm going to live in a museum! ..... :nono:
Hey, let me know if there's ever anything you don't want me to ship you ;-pQuote:
Originally Posted by clavichord
Done, my friend!
I've purchased a couple of lots. The first was a lot of 3, which included a Genco fluid steel, a very nice Fama star works, and one interesting historical relic--a Japanese "World's Fair 1893" razor. This was a home run...
Another 5 razor lot was much sketchier. I only got 2 barely restorable no-name blades and 4 sets of scales....but it was cheap.
I get so side tracked by old sheffields in lots that its not funny anymore.
Now I've installed a pre warning system to prevent my 3/8" box from overflow.
My experience with lots is that its sort of like gambling. I've gotten at least two that were complete failures that I just plain lost everything on. I've gotten a couple that had hidden gems in them too. Most of them were exactly what was described.
Well the lot arrived last Thursday and we have been cleaning and honing them ever since. This Past Saturday we had a honing marathon with Holli4pirating, JrJoed, CarrieM and myself. I believe we honed up around 12 razors in that sitting taking a break for dinner.
Special thanks to Hollie4pirating for his assistance.
CarrieM posted about half the straights here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/show-...-part-1-a.html . I expect she will post more pics when she has time.
Still looking forward to hearing more straight razor lots stories! Thanks to all that posted to help my through my RAD!
I recently bought a lot of 15 razors, to restore and resell. The auction had terrible pictures, so I was taking a gamble.
186$ shipped bought me:
henckels #16 4/8
henckels #18 5/8
3x dubl duck satin wedges
dubl duck dwarf
6/8 crown & sword
a red imp wedge
a few other random razors.... here are the pics! I've already got the majority de-scaled and starting restoring... The henckels are gonna fetch back half my money, they are doing well on the 'bay already.
a few of them have a bit of hone wear issues, but, not TOO serious I think -- I imagine this entire lot was a barber's stash -- and he surely used them. He preferred the wedges I think...they all had more hone wear!
oh, the last satinwedge has cell rot, obviously. I de-scaled it and I should be able to save the blade, it being a wedge and all. We'll see.
The scales are going in the trash..but not before I remove the inlays and see if I can't set them into a new set of wood scales for it. Looking forward to the project (will probably use one of the nicer satinwedges in that lot for the blade on the new scales!)
Very nice score! Looks like you got your money's worth. I'l study your score in better detail when I get home or tomorrow morning but looks like you have some name brands there. Love the Satin Wedges!
My best lot of 6 razors from E-Bay included a beautiful and very old 6/8 Henkels in mint condition, and a fine Waterville. The others were useable, but these two really made my day.
I have purchased a lot of 21 and a lot of approx 15, both of which I had the opportunity to personally inspect each razor.
First lot was early on in my razor interest. An antique dealer at a shop told me one of the dealers had a whole bunch of razors in awesome shape. He called the guy and handed me the cell phone. The dealer travels the midwest and played up the razors like crazy over the phone. My RAD was at it's worst and I was also the most inexperienced at that time. I finally was able to meet that dealer at that same antique shop a month or so later and was brought to a back room to view the razors (it felt almost illicit). I was excited at the thought of being able to purchase that number of razors at one time. RAD clouded my judgement and my vision. In the end I did get about 4 very nice razors with about 10 being worth very little IMO and another 6 being absolutely worthless with hairline cracks to the blades, hairline cracks through scales, etc. Overall I paid WAY WAY too much for those 21 razors ($450) and with some regret, chalked it up to my own fault of course.
The lot of 15 was from a very nice knife and gun collector who had thousands and thousands of knives, pocket knives, etc and collected some razors through time. It was a pleasure chatting with him at his place, and he and I were fair and satisfied with the amount I paid for the razors. Plus I took my time, knew MUCH more about what to look for and avoid, and got some suh-weeeet razors. Interestingly or not, most of the razors he did have were either worth very little or flat out worthless due to damage. I picked the cream of the crop.
I now approach razor lots I'm told about with much skepticism until I see what I'm getting. Remember that lot of 21? On the phone the dealer said a significant portion of razors in that lot were "mint" and similar razors he'd seen sold on Ebay for $300+. None of the razors were mint. Most were worthless like I mentioned. I take full credit for buying them that way and don't blame him. Buyer beware.
Chris L
I just got a lot where it was described as "some of the best are last." Well, it should have read "most of the worst are last." What a disappointment and probably a huge loss.
Caveat emptor rules with razor lots. If you can inspect the razors before paying, do it. If your not into gambling, look elsewhere.
Chris L and Leighton have some good stories, thanks guys. The lot we just received was sight unseen for 30 razors @ $5 each. We thought it was a good gamble. Of the lot 5 were straight out junk as far as the blades went but the scales were good for rescaling. Three more were 4/8s blades that are a bit small for my taste but would make a good starter straight for friends as a gift. The rest needed some major cleaning and a bunch had chips in the edge, flea bite size. We have the majority of them cleaned and honed, 5 with the bevel set and another 5 that are in process of setting the bevel (wedges and edge issues) that will take a while. I need to take some time for my hand to recoup. Since last Thursday I have set the bevel on about 18 razors (Two were Holli4pirating's wedges). JrJoeD and Holli finished honing around 12 - 124 of those. Oh, and My son and I finished off the SSA that came in excellent condition and shaves like silk.
ooo . . . 4/8s
big fan of small blades.
Sounds like a great lot, you should go buy a lottery ticket (du guys have the lottery?) with that kinda luck going on!
$5 per razor is cheap! Can't really go wrong unless they are all rusted beyond repair. you did great in my book. I didn't pay $5 per razor, paid a lot lot more.... :gaah:
Thanks. There wasn't any red rust but they did have varying degrees of black tarnish from none to heavy. Some had minor chips on the edge and some minor pitting on the edge. The blades that are junk had been ground back quite a bit to where the stabilizer looks to be half the original length and well into the cutting edge. A few had cracks on the scales at the spacer end and one had scales so brittle they cracked in half while I was cleaning the blade. I currently have ~ 12 cleaned and honed, ~ 7 more with the bevel set plus one in process and several more waiting to be address that need more attention than the ones I already cleaned and honed/beveled. My son will be over in a couple of weeks and I can have him take pics of the ones I finished for my database and I will also post them here. By that time I should have all of the lot worth working on finished.Quote:
Originally Posted by Leighton
Well most of the lot is all cleaned, honed up and ready for a test shave. I used the scales off one of the worn down blades as a replacement for a set that were cracked at the spacer pin. 4 more that are good for scale replacement only and two or three that look like more than average work to restore, good for a rainy day. Guess it's time to look for more straights out in the world.