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.

Without going into detail, I couldn't disagree more. I understand the purpose, but it seems to create a 'consumer reports' on a subjective issue. Shave ready razors with lousy prep gives lousy shaves. Not so shave ready razors give lousy shaves with great prep. Who will be the experts? Credible representations with the opportunity to return blades not shave ready may be a better tack.
IMHO.

I will add that I bought a scratchy 'shave ready razor' and it was 'shave ready' after I spent some time on the hone with it. I understand the idea, but not the solution.

Well said, Ray.

Yours are ok RayG

Not to stir the pot but I disagree also.

Where does this stop? The same thing goes for anything on the classifieds.

What I have seen from this forum has been honesty and help. Have there been known problems of "non-shave ready" razors sold here? I have not read of any issues. The newb's are continually told to deal with known honemiesters.

I am a perfect example of this. I had bought a number of razors off EBay and none were shave ready. My straight razor experience was going down the tubes. I started reading SRP and then later joined to buy a "shave ready" Hess 44 from a SRP member GROTOLORD. He is not a honemiester per se' but does know how to sharpen a razor as do most SRP members.

Rick

I think it may be beneficial to both buyer and seller. One reason I like the idea is that if it is incorporated it gives the seller of shave ready razors some credibility if a buyer starts dragging his name through the mud. Say a buyer is unhappy with a razor sold as shave ready and makes contact with the seller, that is fine. The seller can make it right or give a refund.

I have seen new shavers post on SRP about the poorly honed razor they received from noted honemiesters. While it could be the honing it is more likely the lack of technique or improper stropping..... or both. For established honemiesters this isn't a problem. Their reputation precedes them. For the newer members venturing into the honing for hire it could be an issue. "Don't buy from that guy, I heard he doesn't know what he is doing."

OTOH, a demonstration of honing ability by the seller will give the new guy some assurance that the claim the seller is making that he has the skills to hone a razor to shave ready is a valid one. If an unhappy buyer takes a gripe to the public forum the seller can at least say that he has passed muster with the selected judges of his honing ability.

BTW, I have no ax to grind. I have no plans to sell razors on the forum shave ready or otherwise. If I buy a razor from any source if I don't like the way it shaves I hone it until I do. I just happen to think it isn't a bad idea.

Hmm.... I don't think one should have to have a special certification in order to advertise as shave ready, but it could be helpful for a seller to have a little green square (or two green squares, or three, or four, etc) by his ads in the classifieds denoting the appropriate level of SRP-approved shave readiness

I like this idea of feedback. Like EBay or Amazon???
Not sure how it would be set up but it works else where and is familiar to most internet users.
Rick

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Hmm.... I don't think one should have to have a special certification in order to advertise as shave ready, but it could be helpful for a seller to have a little green square (or two green squares, or three, or four, etc) by his ads in the classifieds denoting the appropriate level of SRP-approved shave readiness

This is a tough one. I normally try to avoid posting in this type of threads but I think this one deserves some consideration as I personally have been directly affected by the lack of some sort of quality control. First of all, I do agree with Jimmy regarding the advantages for both buyer and seller of implementing some mechanism of quality control. In my very limited experience buying razors in general, and specifically in the classified section, I have mixed results. I am yet to buy a razor from the classifieds that fits the description 100% and this has not solely been the result of the seller being unable to hone or properly evaluate the condition of the razor; at least in one case, the situation was created by the USPS that damaged the razor while it was in transit. I have received razors that have arrived with cracked or dented scales and nicked blades, and at least one that was far from being in shave ready condition, although it was listed as such. With only one exception, I have been able to resolve the particular issues directly with the seller and without the need of posting about it. I am sure than in those cases, the seller did not mean to trick me or purposely misrepresent the razor, their attitude has been sufficiently clear to me. I have to say that I am grateful for the honesty of these sellers. In that instance where the seller did not offer a solution to the problem, I decided not to push the issue since I value Straight Razor Place (SRP) beyond a few measly $$$. I feel that if the seller must resort to tricks to keep my money, there is very little I can do other than not doing business with him again. The reason why these issues do not show up more often in the forum have its origin in the lack of knowledge on the part of the buyer, an interest on the seller side to preserve his reputation, a similar view as mine regarding the privilege of being a member of SRP or some combination of these.

Ray's point regarding newbies is completely valid in my opinion. If you buy your first razor from the classified and the razor is not shave ready, how do you know? Also consider that the razors offered in the classified are often used as a low budget alternatives. If they are not shave ready, they simply lose their purpose. Or better yet, as a member, I have endorsed the razors from the classified. How can I responsibly ask new members to purchase their first razors from the classified section without knowing that they are going to be fully satisfied? This is one of my concerns now that I see that my experience seems to be more common than I thought. I feel certain degree of responsibility for what I post. In the same way, I would like to ask that others, namely the sellers, approach listing in the classified with a comparable attitude and become accountable for the products that they list.

Having said that, I also have to agree that it is hard to impose quality controls to the razors listed in the classified, at least, not without increasing the prices of the razors, the load for those that would ultimately have to be in charge of performing the quality control or both. I just do not see how this could be done in reality. maybe some people would volunteer to help with this but I find it hard....

Al raz.

Perhaps the solution to this is to find a method of testing the blade that is objective and can be done by seller and buyer that doesn't rely on shaving. The shave test is the ultimate one, but that test is only useful to a newcomer if it is passed. If the test fails (a bad shave) it doesn't pinpoint the problem (could be poor sharpness, could be bad technique.)

Has anyone experimented with the edge tester sold by Razor Edge Sysytems?
http://beast.voltztech.com/~razoredge/product_info.php?cPath=26&products_id=50
http://beast.voltztech.com/~razoredge/pdf/the_edge_tester.pdf

Assuming the tests don't ruin the edge, any blade scoring 100% could probably be described as shave ready, at least on the most basic level. This method would need to be confirmed and maybe tweaked to our needs.

More importantly, is there an alternative to buying this tester, something that is cheap and widely available yet can still give consistent results?

I recall someone else mentioning the idea of slicing through a bar of soft soap (or something like that) as a way to check for nicks in the blade. That's the kind of alternative I'm thinking of, something of a suitable material that can mimic the Razor Edge Systems' tester.

A plastic Bic biro is one thought, but that is probably much too hard. Anyone got a better suggestion?