Looking for some good brands of straights

Hi all,

I was wondering if you guys could suggest a few makes of straight razors to look for on eBay. I'd like to pick up a straight razor but knowing nothing about them I don't want to waste money on a piece of junk. Looking to spend around $100.

Thanks.

Patrick

It's easier to tell you what to avoid. Stay away from any new razor with a buy-it-now price of less than $80. This means zeepk, mehaz, sanguine, master, etc. The only new production razors that are of good quality are made by Dovo and Thiers-Issard, and you're unlikely to see any of them new on ebay.

If this is your first razor and you really are inexperienced, then I'd say avoid ebay - you're unlikely to have a good experience, and you need to start with a honed razor. Especially since for $100 you can get a nice new Dovo or TI, honed by Lynn Abrams, and mailed to your door. www.classicshaving.com. Get the honing service (Lynn) - new razors are not sharp enough from the factory.

Well, the short answer is to skip e-bay and go over to the buy/sell forum at SRP ... or here at B&B although straights seem to make only rare appearances here by comparison.

Or get a DOVO tortoise at vintage blades http://www.vintagebladesllc.com/vshop/xcart/product.php?productid=77&cat=132&page=1

Or this Filarmonica ... http://www.classicshaving.com/catalog/item/1523551/1555127.htm

If you really want to shop e-bay, there are so many pitfalls besides getting the right brands ... like the quality (or lack thereof) of the razor. IMHO, eBay is best for two things: either spending big bucks on a 'hot' discontinued razor in great condition (Wonderedge, Henckels, and so forth) or getting a (hopefully decent-shape cheap-o under $30 for some (or a lot) of restoration work.

If you still want to go that route, as a starting point, look for razors that specify either 'sheffield' or 'solingen' steel. They're not the only good razors out there, but you're likely to do okay. Hope that helps.

Ok. Looks like I will avoid trying to find a razor on eBay. The razors on classicshaving.com look very nice at some very nice prices.

I have a Puma brand razor that I purchased some time ago but it needs some work...the blade moves very freely when you open it and it is not sharpened. Who and where would you guys suggest I contact to have this repaired?

Thanks.
Patrick

Pumas are one of the best razors made, and if it's in good condition it's well worth spending some money on getting it fixed up.

Loose pins are no big deal - you can tighten the pin yourself. Take a tablespoon or a small hammer and place the pin on something hard (like another hammer) and tap at it until it tightens up. If you're hitting it with a small hammer be careful to just tap lightly at it, or you will bend the pin.

As for honing you probably want to send it to Lynn Abrams. He goes by adjustme69 on this forum and over at straightrazorplace. He'd probably be willing to tighten the pin up for you as well if you asked nicely. I think he charges $20 for honing but I'm not certain.

Hi all,

I've attached a few pictures of my Puma razor. I was wondering if this razor is capable of being restored and if so, would it be worth it.

Thanks.
Patrick

I would say that you should at least be able to have it honed to a shave ready condition by the pictures. It might not be a looker but puma razors are made of great steel so it should shave very well if properly honed.

Our restoration experts may disagree, but to my untrained eye that looks like it will clean up quite nicely.

I, too, have an untrained eye which seems to give voice to a mindless tongue. Here it goes again: I'll betcha that honing will take care of almost all the rust on the blade. Untrained eye further says that most contagion appears to be on the spine where the hone should catch it and there appears to be a few dots on the edge bevel, which also should go with honing.

I just tried to hone a practice razor myself which was similarly afflicted and got rid of all the appearance problems. Now if I can only get it to shave as good as it looks.

Growing a beard was really much easier, Bruce

I think I will contact Lynn to see if he is willing to do the work. Is he on this forum?

Patrick

Ponyplayer,

Yes he is. Check the members list for Lynn.

ahem. not all ebayers supply rubbish and not all razors under $80 are crap either. I'll match a SR Boker I just sold with anything you got.

mparker762 said:

Stay away from any new razor with a buy-it-now price of less than $80.

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The Invisible Edge said:

ahem. not all ebayers supply rubbish and not all razors under $80 are crap either. I'll match a SR Boker I just sold with anything you got.

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There's been a rumor that Boker was thinking of restarting production - was it one of those or was it a vintage one?

One of my best razors is a mint Clauss that I got for $15. But there are very few *new* razors on ebay for less than $80 that are any good. The current production C-Mons aren't too bad at that price, as are the other low-end Dovos, but these are the exceptions that prove the rule. But I can't in good conscience send a newbie off to ebay where shiny new pakistanis masquerading as solingens dominate the listings.

That's fair enough and I appreciate your concern, it's just that it is hard enough to gain any sort of business reputation - particularly on eBay - without someone making such a wide brushstroke against eBay traders. And as for the amount, do forgive me - I think in Sterling not dollars and saw it as '£80' - hance my reply!

Honing will not take care of the rust on that blade anywhere other than on the spine or edge.

Lynn does a great job honing. I had him hone several for me before I became proficient honing myself.

Get some MAAS and a rag and polish all that rust off before you send it to be honed.

mparker762 said:

But I can't in good conscience send a newbie off to ebay where shiny new pakistanis masquerading as solingens dominate the listings.

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Do you have examples or proof of that?

Do a search for "new straight razor". Count the number of listings for new razors. Count the number of listings with the word "zeepk" "mehaz" "bass" "master" "Kreigar" "rattler" or "venus" in them.

I just did this on ebay US and got 88 hits. Of these, the following razors advertised as new or near-new looked ok:

Sperry Alexander (vintage, has "new" in description, likely vintage because of the 1890's scales)
Red Imp (vintage, has "new" in description)
Imperial (vintage in ok condition, hit search because it has "New York" engraved on it)
Perfecta (not new, some corrosion)
Puma still in wrapper, looks like new old stock to me
Thuringen hone

There were various disposable-blade devices that are probably ok for the price, and three Kamisori's that are iffy at best - Lynn, Randy, and Bill Ellis evaluated these a year or so ago and had a bad impression. But overall I'd say that's a pretty poor percentage of quality "new" straight razors out of 88.

Opinions vary on this sort of thing, of course.

Edit: I just counted the iffy-to-junk non-disposable blade razors: 65, including 3 Kamisoris. If you take out the 3 Kamisoris that's 62 pakistani letter-openers and 5 non-pakistani razors that are likely good-to-excellent. And 3 Kamisoris, current status unknown.

I have a great Kamisori letter opener that I got off ebay before I joined SRP and found out about them

I went through about 50 or so razors on ebay before I found the one that is now my go-to daily shaver. Some of them I felt were just projects that I'll eventually get around to working on, a few I thought had great potential to be great shavers in general. YMMV of course, but somehow I managed to rein in my RAD in fairly short order.

JonEdangerousli said:

I have a great Kamisori letter opener that I got off ebay before I joined here and found out about them

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HMMM...... True they can be a bit of a trial to hone but when they're done they're OK. Certainly not letter openers (my finger will attest to that). The Paladin blade is almost identical to the Cyril Salter, by the way. Re that Boker that I mentioned earlier - it was a vintage Red Injun.

The one thing that beats me is just WHY is steel made in Pakistan so crap? I mean, it can't ALL be, surely? THis is the sub-continent that (arguably) gave us Damascus steel! And to say that the Chinese can't make steel is pure bunk. Perhaps they just have bigger plans than to turn out a few bits of razor steel - like total economic world domination by 2025 maybe!