First shave with a Rolls Razor

[Danricgro]

I recently won a really nice Rolls Razor set on eBay. Hone and strop are nearly perfect, two blades in great shape, what appears to be a leather covered case in like new condition and full set of instructions. Got it for $25 with shipping. Did I do ok?

Anyway I ran one of the blades about one hundred strokes over the hone and another hundred over the strop than gave it a try. The shave was very smooth, I used short strokes and tried to strech my skin as best I could. Got a DFS shave in three passes with, across, and against the grain. I might have been able to go for BBS but didn't want to push it. My skin felt great afterwords, the alum block told me there was very little irritation, when I splashed on some Brut there was no sting. This thing will deffinetly be my weekend shaver.

 

[GoVegan]

Thanks for that review. I was actually wondering what it would be like to shave with one of those and they can still be found in good condition fairly cheap.

 

[RocketMan]

Congrats on getting in a shave with a Rolls!! Great shaver - a must for all to try.

 

[skipnord]

I had a Rolls when I was in the Army in the 50's. Great shaves, very seldom blood. Just picked one up on the Bay a few weeks ago. The strop is shot, so I need to make a new one - looking forward to taking it for a ride in the near future. Glad to see you had a good experience with yours! Since yours was all there and in working condition, I'd say you did fine on the price.

 

[Danricgro]

I had a Rolls when I was in the Army in the 50's. Great shaves, very seldom blood. Just picked one up on the Bay a few weeks ago. The strop is shot, so I need to make a new one - looking forward to taking it for a ride in the near future. Glad to see you had a good experience with yours! Since yours was all there and in working condition, I'd say you did fine on the price.

Thanks, I am pretty new to all of this so I wasn't sure if I paid a decent price or not.

 

[DerFly]

Mine should arrive from an auction purchase by mid next week. I'll be following this thread with interest to see how you guys go.

Cheers,
DF

 

[Ski-Patroller]

I just got a NOS Rolls for $36. I'm trying to decide wether to use it, or keep it NOS. It is a 1947 Imperial.

 

[Slash McCoy]

$25 for a rolls in the condition you say, with extra blade, is a pretty decent price, yeah.

I bought a bunch of Rolls razors a couple months ago, figuring that if I bid low on a lot of them, I would get a few of them at the lowest possible price; and that if I got a few of them, I would be able to mix and match parts and end up with one really really nice one. Well, instead I ended up with a BUNCH of them, most in shaving condition, a couple pristine. Only a couple of broken hones and one unsalvageable strop, one that came without shaving handle or blade (!) and I ended up giving a bunch of them away and keeping the three best ones for my own use. So now I got three nice ones, one that was mint that I just had to shave with once so no longer mint, one in a "traveler" case, two spare blades, yadda yadda. As far as safety razors go, the Rolls is a fantastic shaver once you get the hang of it. I would like to have a bigger shave handle, but it handles decently. The minimal blade guard actually does a nice job. And no blades in the trash. Green shave! Win/win.

I still prefer a good straight, but the Rolls is something special, and I break it out once in a while for a nice change, or to impress visitors, because it is an attention getter.