Thread: My first straight razor purchase

With no markings on the blades I would suspect they are not of a high quality but I could be wrong, I was wrong once before.

Very interesting! As you no doubt surmised, these do not look
at all like `antiques'. Nor is the blade profile something I'm
familiar with... hopefully it is to someone else!

- Scott

The scales on the white one look like some sort of acrylic to me.

In terms of getting them honed, I do agree with Jimmy. A lack of makers marks or any blade markings may be a sign that they are not good quality blades and wont be good to shave with.

That said, the only way to be sure is to send them to a pro to have them honed..! If you have a look in the classifieds here you'll see a whole load of very experienced honemeisters to send these blades off to.

Good luck and keep us posted!

These look a lot like the dreaded Pakistani blades to me. I'd just get another straight to start with and forget about these. Good thing they were cheap, not much of a loss there

With this grind these look like a $10 thrown away, but I can only see pictures.
And yes, if you plan to use them you'll very likely need to have them honed, if that can be done at all that is.

I'm with Gugi on this. While they look very attractive they also look like modern manufactured based on the style and grind of the blade, the pins and/or lack of visible pins and the scale design. Without mfg markings it is near impossible to rate how long the edge will last but the odds are low. They may make good box cutters or letter openers though if they are not shave quality razors. The only real way to know is to end them to a hone mister for an edge, if you want to gamble some more. The best option is to buy a quality shave ready razor from a reputable vendor and go at straight shaving in proper form.

Good luck

I know I don't have near the amount of experience with razors as some of our other posters here. But I find the best way to judge the quality of knives is the way they're held together. It's hard to tell from the photograph, but the pins in the first razor look like they are a bit cheap and cut slightly into the scale material. I wouldn't think a decent razor would have this because it could cause a cracked scale. But then again, I'm new to this as well.

Originally Posted by Joed

I'm with Gugi on this. While they look very attractive they also look like modern manufactured based on the style and grind of the blade, the pins and/or lack of visible pins and the scale design. Without mfg markings it is near impossible to rate how long the edge will last but the odds are low. They may make good box cutters or letter openers though if they are not shave quality razors. The only real way to know is to end them to a hone mister for an edge, if you want to gamble some more. The best option is to buy a quality shave ready razor from a reputable vendor and go at straight shaving in proper form.

Good luck

Great advice.
Sorry to say, I think these are more like RLO's (razor like objects) than real shavers.

I agree with the others. If you look closely, especially at the heel were the stabilizing pieces would be, it looks like the bevels were stamped into these blades, not ground. I wonder if they are even heat treated?