Portland Razors and Nate's Straights

Lusting over the Portland "Sprite" or possibly a made to order from Nate, anyone have some opinions on these?

I've not shaved with either, but I prefer the look of Nate's razors.

I have a PRC Hydra and really, really like it! I usually go for full or extra full hollows, so in that sense it’s the black sheep of my razor collection. That razor is pretty special to me because a year or two ago I went down and hung out with Scott and Hunter, the Portland Razor guys. They taught me how to lap my coti, (in the bathroom sink of the space where they were working at the time!) I do have to say that it’s given me a little bit of difficulty in the honing department, but that could be because of my lack of expertise in honing quarter hollow ground razors. It really is a nice quiet cutter though, and their strop is my daily strop for all my razors.

Lmarkow said:

I've not shaved with either, but I prefer the look of Nate's razors.

Click to expand...

Agree 100%

[emoji115] put me down too.


~Royce

I have one Nates and 2 PRC (1 custom, 1 leviathan). They a re actually pretty hard to compare at the end of the day because they really are totally different aesthetically.

Here are my impressions. $ for $ you probably get a little better value out of a PRC razor. The edges are good, the craftsmanship is certainly there technically. Good stuff.

For a Nate's you pay a little bit more, and the fit and finish overall reflect that. The extreme detail work is there from the perfectly even tiny bevel to every edge being perfectly rounded, sanded, finished, etc. It's just a level up in craftsmanship in my opinion.

So I want to take nothing away from PRC, as I think they are fantastic. Nate's are just more "refined."

Just ordered a custom Kraken from Portland, I can't wait!

I've got a Nate's. fit and finish are superb. it shaves as well as anything. I"m happy with it. that he offers free honing to the original owner is also a nice touch.

I don't have PRC, and not a huge fan of the way the tang looks, but... I haven't held one in hand either.

I have a custom scale PRC Phoenix. I like the blade size and shape. I am not thrilled with how thick the tang is, but at this point I'm not going to have them modify it.

Thanks for the input guys. Only one thing for me to do.........BOTH

I should have mentioned my phoenix is 7/8
I'm not sure if tangs are thinner for lower blade widths from PRC
Good luck.

That's a beautiful razor! I'm glad I went with the 6/8 though lol..

I have 3 PRC razors. I prefer heavier razors with a thick grind, PRC is a great match for me. All the razors are beautifully finished, take and hold a great edge. I never tried a Nate's razor so I can't comment. PRC was great to work with customizing my razors.

I have a PRC razor and I'm quite happy with it. I think the quality is there for the price. Like mentioned you pay more for Nate's, but you probably get a more refined blade like mentioned. It really depends, once you get custom scales with PRC or a 7/8 or 8/8 the price jumps up quite a bit. I think their lower priced models are a great price for someone getting into straights and wants a custom hand made razor. Scott was great to deal with.

I think that what I am about to say is no longer valid as I think PRC has changed the stock steel that they make their razors with. I have a stock Kraken from PRC, and I have two 11/16, 1/4 ground from Nate. I will second everything that people have said about the fit and finish going to Nate. But the price point is larger as well. The only complaint I have about the Kraken is that he sharpened the old steel stock razors with 2 pieces of tape in order to achieve the bevel angle. This puts me in a bit of a predicament as I prefer to sharpen razors with no tape at all. This is the only way to ensure that the bevel does not become more obtuse with repeated honings over the life of the razor. I fear that if I hone the Kraken with no tape, the bevel will become too acute and not hold up. When I first got my Kraken, it fell off the stand while I was taking pictures of it, and I put a good ding in the edge. I had not even shaved with it yet. I did hone this out with 2 pieces of tape, so hopefully it will have reduced the width of the blade enough that I can now go to no tape without too much problem. I'll have to take some precise measurements to see where I am at. Long story short, I made the razor adequately shave-able, but I have not used it since because of this confusion about where to go with it. It is a well made razor for the price though. Just not in the same league as a Nate's Straight.



Now that PRC uses thicker steel as stock, this should no longer be a problem. Over the weekend I re-set the bevel on my Nate's Straight without the use of tape. He hones his razors (as do most, if not all, razor makers) using one piece of tape. I had refreshed this edge on a couple of occasions with finishing stones using tape, but it was time to get the bevel set using a bareback spine. I love both of my razors from Nate. Very clean designs, and very functional razors. First shave this morning on my re-set bevel was superb. If you can afford the Nate's Straight, my recommendation would be to go that route. But the PRC should work well for you as well.

I'm glad thread the PRC folks fixed the stock issue. I know tape "fixes" it, but . . . .

One other honing anecdote...

Nate's takes 1 layer of tape, as he mentions.
My new design PRC leviathan took two layers of tape for me to hone. The tape they use must be a bit thicker than what I am using.

I ordered a PRC Sprite, and asked them to do the initial honing without tape, and they got right back to me starting that that was no problem.

@McVeyMac I'd be very interested in the Spine thickness and hypotenuse measurements.

I too had PRC set my (new design) bevel without tape, thinking that would make it easier on my end in terms of touchup, but I haven't been able to figure it out! I do all my honing, from bevel to finish without tape, but work with mostly full and extra-full hollows, so it could be user error on my end. Maybe I'll just have to go down there and ask them, on behalf of all of us! Darn, a trip to the razor factory!