Thread: The exact sort of razor you shouldn't buy.

The seller had photographed this in such a way that the hone wear wasn't fully apparent, but there are plenty of other reasons I shouldn't have bought it.

Those faux-tortoise scales for instance. That type is regularly made of celluloid (which the seller thought it was -- or bakelite), and celluloid scales with clear yellow parts are Not Good. It's been buffed, which you can tell by the lack of darkening in the blade-face etching. Even without seeing the taper, the hone line is wide on one side, narrow on the other and varies considerably along the length.

This was not a good candidate for a workable razor. Definitely not one for an attractive razor.



I noticed that the pitting on the blade happened in two types. Fully random and patterned where the blade touches the scales, meaning where moisture collected. It did not have any relationship to the pattern on the scales. That means the scales were probably not celluloid. Which meant they're probably lucite, dating the razor to some point after 1933. That was why I jumped on it. I figured that if nothing else the scales would be nice for another razor.



I've always admired how the Bengall logo has more or less remained unchanged since the 1770's.



Oh boy. There was a picture like this on the auction, but I couldn't be sure if it was perspective distortion or, as turns out to be the case, significant hone wear. There's even a bit of a frown in the middle.



Things are not quite what they appear, however. It seems to me like the blade was specifically modified to taper down like that. The spine tapers with it, and while the bevel is fairly wide and uneven, it is not what I'd expect from incompetent honing. The blade lays perfectly flat on the hone and doesn't require anything but simple X-strokes.



It look a lot of work to get that far into the spine. When I got it, the scratch pattern on those big flattened hone lines was very fine, like you'd expect to see off a quality finishing hone.

With all of that in mind I taped up the spine (habit), gave it a little bit of 8k to wake up the edge and then some quality time on one of my C-Nat hones. The blade took an edge like it had been waiting in line.

I've not had a chance to shave with it yet. I fully expect it to be a superb shaver, and definitely one of my go-to travel razors.

I'm glad are still able to use it. I got a Bengall from eBay and it is in great shape but will not set a bevel to save it's life. It keeps crumbling!

It might work well for trimming nose hairs.

Voidmonster --
Are you saying that you were lulled by some "trick" or deceptive photography on the seller's part? Honest question w/no offence intended.

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

Voidmonster --
Are you saying that you were lulled by some "trick" or deceptive photography on the seller's part? Honest question w/no offence intended.

No, I'm saying I knew I was buying a razor that had a very good chance of having potentially fatal problems. The seller photographed the blade showing the hone wear, but I misinterpreted it as perspective.

In short, this was a gamble that paid off in a usable but not desirable razor, which is exactly the kind I want with me while traveling. And all indications are that it'll be a VERY nice razor to shave with. Just ugly.

Thanks, Voidmonster. Like I posted, I meant no offence.

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

Thanks, Voidmonster. Like I posted, I meant no offence.

None taken at all!

My goal here was to make clear my thought-process on buying a razor like this, and how I'd gone right but also how I'd gone wrong. Image interpretation is always tricky. The more examples, the easier it gets!

Bad luck!

I have seen an awful lot of razors with that shape to the blade - hone wear getting wider towards the tip and the blade diminishing in width. Interestingly, they all came from pro-barber shops. I wonder what the significance is? Laziness? In a hurry? Teaching a lot of new recruits? Getting repeatedly 'dinged' near the tip. Who knows?!

Regards,
neil

This one, I could swear, was done that way on purpose. The point of the spine has been whittled down to keep the bevel largely even along the length. One of my thoughts while honing it was that the reshaping was possibly done to compensate for a chip in the blade, but I really wonder if it wasn't to accommodate mustache trimming or some such. The lovely thing here is that the razor honed and shaves wonderfully.

Honestly, I have not bought a blade yet for it's beauty. I have only bought vintage blades for shaving purposes. I have some that have turned out to be beautiful, but the intent is to shave with them. You got a razor that shaves well... That's all I would ask of it. But then again, I am not a collector, just a hobbyist.