Finding vintage straights

[soccerguy83]

Well since I missed out on a beautiful wedge yesterday on the BST, I have been looking online for other examples.

How are you guys finding your sweet vintage straights?

Searching the bay for "straight razor" returns 12.5K results.

Do you guys search based off makers, have alerts set up, or something else?

Seems to be a pretty time intensive process, of which I don't have a whole lot of extra.

 

[miguel]

i use goodwill's auction site. there is a lot less traffic and bidding usually starts around 7 dollars.
site is: shopgoodwill dot com

 

[blzrfn]

Etsy also has quite a few razors without dealing with bidding. As far as what terms to use for searching, well that all depends on what YOU want. If you don't know then a general straight razor search will work great and then filter by cheapest price to see what kind of deals you can find.

 

[Zipslack]

i use goodwill's auction site. there is a lot less traffic and bidding usually starts around 7 dollars.
site is: shopgoodwill dot com

SHUSH!! Stop telling people about GW....that's why it's hard to find deals there any more (in addition to the outrageous S&H costs)!

 

[Antique Hoosier]

SHUSH!! Stop telling people about GW....that's why it's hard to find deals there any more (in addition to the outrageous S&H costs)!

I buy other things on that site. A very fruitful endeavor, some to keep and some to resell. Never have bought shaving stuff on there.

 

[Antique Hoosier]

In your area I would visit this knife show. Often vendors bring quality straights to the shows and they are undervalued. Talk to every vendor and ask them if they have straights at the show or if they own any for sale where you can contact them in the future. I have bought hundreds this way. Here is the link to the nice show coming to your area... 2017 Annual Show | Shenandoah Valley Knife Collectors

 

[dmatcuk]

The one problem you might run into with searching by brand is you are going to miss some razors. I typically search just straight razor and scroll through when I am bored. I haven't bought much, but I have found some nice deals. I notice that searching straight razor <brand name>, some of the razors I saw just scrolling don't show up. Also, you are likely to get a better deal on something that has been identified incorrectly or generically.

I have also found some interesting deals in the "other items like this" area. When you click on an auction scroll down to the bottom and see what they are recommending. Good luck finding a wedge at a deal though. I am sure they are out there, but typically all I find are big name wedges at big prices.

 

[soccerguy83]

All, thanks for the great suggestions!

 

[Cambouis]

Apart from seven razors given to me by a very generous gentleman, and a few purchased at a flea market, all mine have come from ebay; I have at present about 70 -75 razors, all but for three Gold Dollars, old. This is absurd and I have started selling some off.

After six months I have decided on the type of razor I should like to buy in future, and the ones I have of that type are "keepers". I buy now largely by shape - I care little for makers' names - although of course I recognise that some makers made especially good razors. I have largely sided with those who say that any half-decent racent razor properly honed will provide a good shave. and I believe that they are correct!

Best wishes

C.

 

[seattleshaver]

I set the price limits, and US only as I'm too impatient to wait and then search for Wade & Butcher, 6/8.

Or just look at all the razors that are less than $20, or just all the 6/8's or whatever. It's easy to get the search down to a reasonable number.

When you have time just look at all of the auctions that are about to expire or just the "buy me now".