Thread: "Shave Ready" in the Classifieds

Over the past year, I have bought a handful of shave ready razors in the Classifieds. Of course, with the exception of the more reputable, for lack of a better word, members, many of these were, again, for lack of a better description, of a lower level of shave readiness. Some pulled and were uncomfortable shavers, some required resetting the bevel.

Personally, I don't mind, and when buying from folks I don't know so well, I have learned to factor that into the price. My concern, however, is for the newbie following the oft-heard advice to buy his first shave ready vintage at SRP.

I know that there is now a reputation rating. Actually, I just learned what those little green dots are 5 minutes ago. Despite being here daily. I am afraid that the new members' first impulse is to go by the title "senior member" which may be misleading.

Ben had made a suggestion for a grading system for shavereadiness. While that is a good idea, the question is who will proclaim the grading? The seller's rating is subjective, as is the newbie buyer's. As you know, the latter will almost always have the knee jerk reaction to think the razor is not sharp enough.

My humble suggeston is that a board be set up of say, 5 members who are acknowledged honemeisters, preferably those who provide honing services professionally. Before a seller is allowed to sell shave ready razors, the seller has to send in at least one razor per blade type he intends to sell (mainly hollow ground or wedge) to one member of the board. If it passes, only then can he be allowed to sell his razors as shave ready. Of course one can always sell them as non-shave ready without going through this process.

I think we need to hold ourselves to a higher level of accountablility compared to the other forums' Classifieds, as most come here not only for information, but to buy their first razor. The last thing we want is for people to be turned off from straight shaving because of starting out with improper equipment WE provided.