Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
No worries.
Cheapshaver Forum
- Thread starter Quaznoid
- Start date
One thing I've always wondered about is the maintenance costs of straight razor equipment. It seems like people either periodically send their razors out, or have to buy paste, or a new strop because theirs got damaged, or a flattening stone, or whatever.
This isn't a criticism, I just don't have a good sense of what those costs really look like. You can also get a pack of disposable blades for pretty cheap that will last you a year to a couple of years, so there's a question that comes up of what other hidden costs might be accrued in that time period with a straight.
What I'm curious about is what someone would actually be spending on using a straight razor in a typical five year timeframe. I don't get the sense that in reality the average user doesn't spend any money on maintaining their razor in that period but am probably wrong.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
It depends on who does the maintenance. If you send it out for honing that kind of eliminates the cost advantage, and people who do so usually have two or more razors so they can use one while the other(s) are in transit. Cutting your strop and having to replace it is not a maintenance cost, it means that you haven’t learned good maintenance techniques.
My frugal friend uses a $50 10k Naniwa, 10mm thick, and a pasted strop followed by a clean leather strop. i don’t know what he uses for the paste, but balsa, linen, or denim are popular. So essentially he has $50 in more than 5 years of maintenance. But one could do without the stone and use only paste as many people do in Europe where pasted strops are more popular than finishing stones. This would involve having the razor professionally honed once then maintaining it on a pasted strop. There’s a post on B&B about Werner Breidenbach, the master grinder, who has maintained his razor for 40 years using a strop with black paste about every 7 days and has never honed it since the first time. It doesn’t get cheaper, a piece of leather and black paste. I assume that he uses a clean leather strop pre/post shaving. If you make your own pasted strop, I’d think $5-10 for many years of maintenance. Make two, one for the paste and a clean one for daily use.
If you go with a stone, you can maintain the flatness with sandpaper and a flat surface cheaply, I did so for years.
My frugal friend uses a $50 10k Naniwa, 10mm thick, and a pasted strop followed by a clean leather strop. i don’t know what he uses for the paste, but balsa, linen, or denim are popular. So essentially he has $50 in more than 5 years of maintenance. But one could do without the stone and use only paste as many people do in Europe where pasted strops are more popular than finishing stones. This would involve having the razor professionally honed once then maintaining it on a pasted strop. There’s a post on B&B about Werner Breidenbach, the master grinder, who has maintained his razor for 40 years using a strop with black paste about every 7 days and has never honed it since the first time. It doesn’t get cheaper, a piece of leather and black paste. I assume that he uses a clean leather strop pre/post shaving. If you make your own pasted strop, I’d think $5-10 for many years of maintenance. Make two, one for the paste and a clean one for daily use.
If you go with a stone, you can maintain the flatness with sandpaper and a flat surface cheaply, I did so for years.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Post #14 here:
www.badgerandblade.com
Interesting correspondence from Revisor
I just received a package from Revisor, and Sabine was kind enough to include a copy of a local newspaper article. I think this will be of interest to the group..
www.badgerandblade.com
I’m one of the lucky guys who can get 10 shaves from most DE blades, which is roughly two weeks of shaving for me. So I can use around 25-30 blades a year. A 100 pack of blades last me a long long time. When Amazon had 200 packs of SuperMax Stainless for $10 I grabbed a few. They shave fine in my old eBay Techs, and I will more than likely be buried before I finish the 600 of those blades alone, and they aren’t even the cheapest DE blades I have ever liked and used.
I have a $5 Gold Dollar SR I plan on trying to learn to hone, but it’s more from curiosity than from frugalness.
I think the spirit of things is to find what works for you. If you like shaving with SRs and you have the know-how and equipment to do that the roll with that. I you like DEs or SEs find an inexpensive way to use them.
I have a $5 Gold Dollar SR I plan on trying to learn to hone, but it’s more from curiosity than from frugalness.
I think the spirit of things is to find what works for you. If you like shaving with SRs and you have the know-how and equipment to do that the roll with that. I you like DEs or SEs find an inexpensive way to use them.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Absolutely. I think what most people want in the ‘cheap’ option is ‘the cheapest option that appeals to them’, which is not necessarily the same thing as ‘the cheapest option’. But once you qualify ‘the cheapest option’ with ‘that appeals to you’, the door’s wide open. Could be that the cheapest option that I’m satisfied with is a Wolfman, Wald Brush, and Acqua di Parma. I know people like this too. It is fun to see just how cheaply you can do something over time though.
Agreed.
I started wetshaving in 2010 when the Mach 3 carts started getting ridiculous in cost. I was shaving with them until they rusted. I picked up some inexpensive wetshaving gear and never went back to the fancy Gillette cartridge systems.
Today, I treat shaving a little differently and cost is not my only concern, but my penny pinching nature often still comes into play. I’m willing to indulge selectively, and even then it’s usually soap related.
I have a funny attitude about cheap shaves. I spend a lot on cheaper things.
I now have a ridiculous collection of vintage DE razors, but I thought them all in "user grade" condition and didn't pay excessively for any single one of them.
Blades are where I get weird. I have enough blades now to probably last the rest of my life--I buy them them in bulk and shop carefully. Paying any more than $10 per 100 for current production blades seems like a travesty. However, I'll pay a lot more for vintage blades.
It's a hobby now, so I don't feel guilty about spending some money, but I'm still cost-conscious.
I now have a ridiculous collection of vintage DE razors, but I thought them all in "user grade" condition and didn't pay excessively for any single one of them.
Blades are where I get weird. I have enough blades now to probably last the rest of my life--I buy them them in bulk and shop carefully. Paying any more than $10 per 100 for current production blades seems like a travesty. However, I'll pay a lot more for vintage blades.
It's a hobby now, so I don't feel guilty about spending some money, but I'm still cost-conscious.
I think you and I are fairly similar. I have a lot of razors, but half of them are eBay finds in the $10 range. I also have family members who shop for me in yard sales and junk stores. One of my favorite razors is an Ever Ready 1912 that came with a GEM Shovelhead that my sister found for $2 for both.
A toothbrush and hot, soapy water get many back into working condition.
One day, I'll probably get one or two of my collection replated just for vanity, but until then, these user-grade razors are plenty fine.
I'm wondering if anybody can confirm a certain cheapshaving related rumor: apparently one on the key reasons why razor blades lose sharpness is corrosion(due to contact with water). Since DE blades are conductive even when shaving with a single side it negatively affects sharpness of the other one. So, a DE blade cut in half in a razor(like YAQI Katana) allows one to get more shaves from the same blade. Common sense tells me that this important for high carbon steel blades, but can it be a big deal for stainless steel as well?
Most of the time DE blade lose sharpness through chipping and denting of the edges.
Stainless steel is corrosion resistant because it forms a passivation layer on the surface.
Water can leave some mineral deposits on the blade. If you are concerned about this, you could remove the blade after shaving, rinse, blot it dry and hang it on a magnet somewhere out of the way to dry fully.
This is certainly interesting. As far as I know stainless steel contains a lot of chromium that makes it lose toughness compared to high carbon steel at the same hardness. So, I assume that as long as one makes sure to clean and dry properly a high carbon DE blade or a straight razor they should outperform a stainless steel one(and stainless steel as a material is actually more expensive). Then probably there are only two reasons stainless dominates the market: good shelf life and a lot of people don't have patience/time to clean properly.
I don't think you can assume that carbon steel DE blades are analogous to high carbon straight razors or knives. DE blades are extremely thin, around 100 microns or less; some of the performance comes from coatings. In practice, most carbon steel DE blades are fairly dull compared to better stainless DE blades. Some people like carbon steel DE blades because they can be smooth and adequately sharp, but they aren't really high performance.
If you want to save money, it might be good to use inexpensive stainless blades like Gillette Wilkinson Sword from India ($6/100). Blades like Personna Comfort Coated might be more expensive (say $14/100) but could last longer, so they might work out cheaper. Those blades could last some people 8-10 shaves or more.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
That would seem to be the same for SR edges based on my 10x inspections.
One difference though, is that stropping a SR edge straightens out the edge and proglongs the usable edge life.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
I agree !
This is why you should look at cost per shave or cost per year, and not the price of entry.
Stainless provides many more shaves per blade. Look up razor blade history. Wilkinson Sword introduced stainless blades in 1962 and quickly picked up lots of market share as the stainless blades were good for a week or more versus carbon steel blades that lasted for sometimes only one shave due to rapid corrosion once an initial use wore off the protective coatings.
The stainless used in razor blades is a lower grade that retains plenty of hardness with enough corrosion protection for the typical blade life. Bottom line stainless dominates because it provides a much better value. This is even more true now given that stainless blades sell for pennies each and not much more than available carbon steel blades.
Regarding blade wear @NorthernSoul is correct that blades wear via microchipping when cutting hairs. Look up the 2021 MIT study on this very subject that confirmed this. In fact we posted on this study a lot when it came out. Link to one of my posts that also has a link to the actual MIT study summary below.
Article On What Causes Razor Blades To Go Dull
I found an article on Dr. Larrin Thomas' website, knifesteelnerds.com, that was written by a guest, Dr. John Verhoeven on what causes razor blades to go dull. Dr. Verhoeven studied Gillette Mach 3 blades, but this could probably give a clue as to how any blade will go dull. The article can be...
www.badgerandblade.com
Let’s see…
Wilkinson Sword Plastic Fantastic Classic. (Now a decent, mild travel companion)
ARKO soap.
Clubman Aftershave.
Omega Boar brush.
IN!
Wilkinson Sword Plastic Fantastic Classic. (Now a decent, mild travel companion)
ARKO soap.
Clubman Aftershave.
Omega Boar brush.
IN!
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
You guys are overthinking things.
Hypothetical meeting of razor blade makers:
Engineer: Here’s my presentation on steels and fabrication to make the best blades.
Accountants: We want a 3 cent blade to last three shaves, a 7 cent blade to last 7 shaves, and a 15 cent blade to last 15 shaves. That way we get the same money no matter what that choose.
Hypothetical meeting of razor blade makers:
Engineer: Here’s my presentation on steels and fabrication to make the best blades.
Accountants: We want a 3 cent blade to last three shaves, a 7 cent blade to last 7 shaves, and a 15 cent blade to last 15 shaves. That way we get the same money no matter what that choose.
I'm trying to wean my Brother off plastic fantastics and he wants a featherweight mild effort.
So...I ordered him this 21 pence razor - If he doesn't like it - he can always use it to shave the lint bobbles off his sweater !
Ordered him a Razorock Lupo Aluminium as well but it might be too feisty for him lol !
He doesn't use a brush and soap so will get him some posh shaving foam or gel and a nice frag to cheer him up !
So...I ordered him this 21 pence razor - If he doesn't like it - he can always use it to shave the lint bobbles off his sweater !
Ordered him a Razorock Lupo Aluminium as well but it might be too feisty for him lol !
He doesn't use a brush and soap so will get him some posh shaving foam or gel and a nice frag to cheer him up !
Lovely razor - might send my Brother one to get him off cartridges - Thanks for the suggestion UDShaver !
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