Thumbs up for LarryAndro and his budget straight razor kits

[Spivey]

Larry's GREAT. He is very quick to respond to questions and very careful with his answers.

I bought a Henckels from him about 2 weeks ago and it is SMOOTH and very easy to shave with. Larry's site, reputation and prices are really what pushed me over the edge into straight shaving and I am having a blast!

 

[edwardtan]

Has anyone from Canada purchased a razor from Larry before? Just wondering how much extra charges are going to be tagged on. Hate to have an $85 brokerage fee slapped onto a $35 razor

 

[kwigibocity]

Has anyone from Canada purchased a razor from Larry before? Just wondering how much extra charges are going to be tagged on. Hate to have an $85 brokerage fee slapped onto a $35 razor

That's not going to happen on used blade outfits...we've sold old blades to Canada many times and only recall customers getting hit with a few bucks duty, and intermittently at that.

 

[LarryAndro]

Whenever I ship international, including Canada, I have had similar acceptable results. Only once was a buyer slapped with an exorbitant charge, and that was a razor shipped to England.

 

[Hair apparent]

Has anyone from Canada purchased a razor from Larry before? Just wondering how much extra charges are going to be tagged on. Hate to have an $85 brokerage fee slapped onto a $35 razor

As long as goods are shipped by the pst office, the most you will get charged is a $5.00 processing fee and whatever taxes and duties are applicable. If it ship via courier, such as UPS, they will charge you the $85.00 brokerage fee.
As you can track a shipment from the post office, there is no need to pay UPS.

 

[edwardtan]

i notice that the poor man strop kit includes 2 abrasive pastes. are these sufficient for mantaining a keen edge or is a barber hone still needed?

Thanks

 

[LarryAndro]

Depending on factors such as metal characteristics, whisker toughness, shave frequency, shave and stropping technique you can maintain a shave ready edge on a razor with just a leather strop (without abrasives) for a few weeks, a month or maybe more. But, eventually, the untreated leather strop just doesn't resharpen the blade effectively.

When the leather strop loses effectiveness, you would use something with abrasives like the Poor Man strop kit. The kit includes a piece of balsa wood treated with 0.3 micron chromium oxide (green) and 0.1 micron ferrous oxide (red) on the sides. Strop a few passes on the green side, followed by a few passes on the red side, followed by maybe 20-30 passes on untreated leather and you are back in business in most instances.

After use of the balsa with abrasives, you can shave and strop with the leather only for awhile again. When the leather doesn't sufficiently resharpen, use the Poor Man strop kit again.

After some time, and this is highly variable, even the balsa with abrasives won't work. That is because of excessive rounding of the edge from leather stropping and balsa stropping. At that point, you will need to rehone the razor on a hone to reset the bevel back to a V shape. (Stropping slowly rounds the V shape into a sharp pointed U shape.)

The Poor Man strop kit significantly increases the amount of time you can use a straight razor before it needs to be honed.

 

[edwardtan]

Larry is it true you don't charge extra for shipping to international locations? How can you afford to eat?

 

[LarryAndro]

Larry is it true you don't charge extra for shipping to international locations? How can you afford to eat?

The prices on www.WhippedDog.com are the same for both CONUS and international, and include postage. Before I make the sale, I let international buyers know that I will send them a proof of mailing message from US Postal Service, but if the package is lost the loss is borne by the buyer. So, in essence, the buyer buys their own insurance!

Sending to international sites this way costs about $1 more per straight razor and about $2-$3 more for heavier items like barbers hones.

True, I don't make as much for international sales. But, I hate hassle! I love simplicity. And, doing it all as one price has an elegance that I like.

Believe me! I make money at what I am doing. This is a labor of love to go sappy. But, I make money also, enough I am happy. And, I believe the buyers are happy also. Not a bad way for all of us.

 

[RainmanJS]

I must add my experience. I heard about Larry on someone's shave journal, checked it out, and decided to go for it. Boy am I glad I did. Larry was quick to respond, quick to ship, and even gave me a little lagniappe. It's like in order to make sure you feel you're getting your money's worth, he gives you a little more than your money's worth. That is a business ethic I just don't see often, and I will continue to order from Larry.