There are worse things than Friodur razors to be undecided about.
Best Straight you ever shaved with?
- Thread starter Badkarma
- Start date
I find the perfect razor every time I finish a great shave.
I think it’s my filarmonica 13... after I learned to hone it gives a fantastic shave every time.
But very close seconds are the Boker Arbolito, Ralf Aust, Koraat, Filarmonica 14 and my first ever straight, a Dovo Palisander.
But very close seconds are the Boker Arbolito, Ralf Aust, Koraat, Filarmonica 14 and my first ever straight, a Dovo Palisander.
Heljes prob my favorite. Close runner ups are Pumas, Bengall, and dubl duck.
A lot of my best shaving razors are framebacks.
My best shaving razor is always the next one.
A few of my razors.These are which are in use at the moment.
They all have been honed to give a great shave.
But what I've experienced over the last decade is that old Solingen made blades are the best.
I got two or three new Dovos for instance but they aren't ad good as the vintage ones.
My china blades give even a smoother shave than my new Dovos.
But most of it depends on honing.
The middle one I bought a week ago.
Old Solingen razor.Don't know the brand but man does it give a good shave.
They all have been honed to give a great shave.
But what I've experienced over the last decade is that old Solingen made blades are the best.
I got two or three new Dovos for instance but they aren't ad good as the vintage ones.
My china blades give even a smoother shave than my new Dovos.
But most of it depends on honing.
The middle one I bought a week ago.
Old Solingen razor.Don't know the brand but man does it give a good shave.
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- Thread starter
- #28
Very nice. Thank you for sharing.
I found I pretty consistently like hollows with narrow bevel angles. The heaviest among my favorites is a Filarmonica 14, the lightest is a “Case’s ace” by Genco. Daily drivers are a 13/16” Kinfolks, and a group of 6/8” Robeson Shuredge hollows that I’d say are medium size/weight with a narrow bevel angle and a singing hollow grind.
Heljestrand
Here’s a video of my best straight razor in my collection! My 6/8 grind in Hamburg made in Germany restored by a good friend of mine.
I own 4 modern Dovo's and many more vintage Solingen razors. My observation is that modern Dovo carbon steel is on par with the vintage steels.
a Properly honed new Dovo, even the BQ's will perform exceptional. The only difference I noticed is that the BQ5/8 with the swedish steel takes more effort to get ready, but once sharp also performs exceptional.
I never had a Chinese razor out perform any Dovo razor, you cant compare the steel quality IMO.
I own quite a few razors from inexpensive Gold Dollars up through an expensive Bluesman Blade san mai pattern custom blade. Some are new, some date to the 19th century. As long as the blade take a good edge, I can get a great shave. However, I do have some preferences:
1. I prefer 6/8" and 7/8" width blades. Narrower blades do not have the mass needed to plow through my beard.
2. I prefer full hollow, extra hollow and bellied hollow grinds that sing as they slice through my coarse beard. They shave well, but do require frequent refreshing.
3. I prefer blades without thumb notches. I know some folks love thumb notches, but with my large hands and arthritic fingers, the notches make it harder to hone and strop the blades.
4. I like harder steels such as the TI Carbonsong C135. They are more difficult to hone, but hold their edge a little longer so the overall maintenance effort is similar.
5. I like standard 2 3/4" length blades. Longer blades are harder to hone and strop and shorty blades take longer to get the job done.
6. A smiling blade is slightly harder to hone than a straight one, but there is no difference in the shave quality.
7. I have various point styles: square, round, French, Spanish, and Irish. Either one works just fine.
8. I have scales that are celluloid, rubber, micarta, G10, bone, horn, wood, and acrylic. As long as they are properly made, they work fine.
1. I prefer 6/8" and 7/8" width blades. Narrower blades do not have the mass needed to plow through my beard.
2. I prefer full hollow, extra hollow and bellied hollow grinds that sing as they slice through my coarse beard. They shave well, but do require frequent refreshing.
3. I prefer blades without thumb notches. I know some folks love thumb notches, but with my large hands and arthritic fingers, the notches make it harder to hone and strop the blades.
4. I like harder steels such as the TI Carbonsong C135. They are more difficult to hone, but hold their edge a little longer so the overall maintenance effort is similar.
5. I like standard 2 3/4" length blades. Longer blades are harder to hone and strop and shorty blades take longer to get the job done.
6. A smiling blade is slightly harder to hone than a straight one, but there is no difference in the shave quality.
7. I have various point styles: square, round, French, Spanish, and Irish. Either one works just fine.
8. I have scales that are celluloid, rubber, micarta, G10, bone, horn, wood, and acrylic. As long as they are properly made, they work fine.
@RayClem What do you use to maintain your bone and horn scales from drying out and becoming brittle. I understand oils is no good and will discolor the bone.
For my bone and horn scales I clean them with mild soap and water and then soak them overnight in a zip lock bag with some neatsfoot oil. Neatsfoot oil is made from the shin bones of cows.
Horn and bone are both porous, so you have to be careful not to stain them. As has already been mentioned, neatsfoot oil works well to preserve horn scales as cow hooves and horn are similar materials.
As for bone, the most important thing is to keep it away from acids. Clean it with a mild detergent like Dawn. A paste of baking soda would also work.
- Thread starter
- #37
Thank you. This is some great information. I guess my question is brand or make. Which shave the best and why.
You need to test some different grinds and decide which you’re leaning towards, and then ask a more specific question like “what are the best wide blades, very hollow ground, with no stabilizer, and harder than average possibly stainless steel?” And then you’ll have a shopping list that won’t produce any duds for you.
I say this because IMO the magic in the shave is more grind than steel... but the steel is still noticeable if you’re honing to the limits of keen. For example I personally don’t think there’s any magic in the Filarmonica steel, it seems fairly average solingen to me. I’d put a Filarmonica 14 up against any normal Solingen razor any day in shave quality though, because the grind is just great. If you don’t like hollow grinds though and you love heavy Sheffield choppers... you might think a Filly is disappointing and any ~$40 wide Sheffield wedge is better. Either way, you probably don’t want to start off with a $1200 shopping list of drastically different razors and end up regretting or re-selling 3/4 of them.
- Thread starter
- #39
That is some sound advice. Thank you
Something that may be interesting to look at is the Robeson shur edge line. They had a number designation for at least 30 different grind and temper blades and they were supposed to be whatever Robeson thought was ideal for a given beard and skin type. IDK if a lot of them are marketing hype or what, but the 16F300 “for heavy beard, tender skin” is spot on for me and right in line with the other blades I like and I’d say I’m medium/heavy beard and tender skin.
