Vintage Straight Razors
- Thread starter NorrisB
- Start date
Pretty much any vintage razor of any brand will turn into a great shaver. Simple as that.
Large chips, rust (unless you feel like becoming a restorer), cracks are a no go.
Other than that, go get something you like the look of.
Large chips, rust (unless you feel like becoming a restorer), cracks are a no go.
Other than that, go get something you like the look of.
I simply love Vintage, nothing wrong with new but I love using something that has history, I would say post up in BST but not enough post for that but you could visit the hobbyist/vendor sections and look to buy a "Shave Ready" razor
Read through some of the posts in the resto forum - gives a great idea of what can be done and what is either undoable or best left to the expert chaps.
Anything Sheffield or Solingen are usually good razors. Sometimes you can pick up one for $15-$20 at an antique store if you're lucky
If you're going to try to clean it up and shave with it, I think the condition of the blade is probably more important than the brand.
As a newbie myself, relatively new to shaving with it, and honing my own razors, I can tell you I've had success looking at ones to make sure the edge looked straight, not over honed (worn out) without rust or pitting.
Having said that I'm glad I started on a shave ready razor I got from someone else (whipped dog straights) before I tried to clean up and hone an ebay razor. The learning curve for knowing how to shave *and* figuring out how to sharpen a razor would be a bit steep if trying to do both at once. I'm glad I figured out what a "nice" straight shave feels like (even if I don't always accomplish it!) before trying to sharpen a razor myself..
As a newbie myself, relatively new to shaving with it, and honing my own razors, I can tell you I've had success looking at ones to make sure the edge looked straight, not over honed (worn out) without rust or pitting.
Having said that I'm glad I started on a shave ready razor I got from someone else (whipped dog straights) before I tried to clean up and hone an ebay razor. The learning curve for knowing how to shave *and* figuring out how to sharpen a razor would be a bit steep if trying to do both at once. I'm glad I figured out what a "nice" straight shave feels like (even if I don't always accomplish it!) before trying to sharpen a razor myself..
