Hobby/Collection or RAD?

[BlkKnight]

Hi Guys,

My question is - When does a hobby become RAD - or are they one in the same?

I have a goal in mind to try and obtain one of every (mainstream) Gillette between the '30s > '80s to appreciate while I'm here & to hand down the family when I'm not.

Hopefully the razors will appreciate in value (OK not massively. . . ) during my lifetime, and more so in the future.

Having just I've just started my collection (of now 5 Gillette's) I can see the compulsion to buy shinier / better razors very compelling.

Trying to keep the peace with SWMBO, how do you guys manage your collection? Do you have a limit on the razors you own or sell duplicates?

I'm interested to see how you guys manage.

J

 

[bythbook]

good question!

But why start at the '30s?

Why not start at the beginning?

One of each. (And then, one of each in every metal/plating, of course. And one of each in every metal/plating/case. And... and... and....)

Sorry, I don't have any answers - and I've asked this question too. See: collection theory

But - in my experience/life: collector's mentality = acquisition disorder = obsession

I suppose my Sweetie prefers this to the Live Ordnance Collection I was planning before I started wetshaving.

Have fun!

 

[DavyRay]

The secret is to go slow. Acquire only decent examples of the razors you want to collect. Use them, as well. This way, you collect value without the obsession factor.

 

[bythbook]

The secret is to go slow. Acquire only decent examples of the razors you want to collect. Use them, as well. This way, you collect value without the obsession factor.

this is seriously good advice.


One thing I encountered - I'd often buy a lot in order to pull one particular piece... that leads to piles of... stuff! ...that don't fit into the collection.


One of the beauties of my "collection" is that it's a working collection! I use everything. One warning (from experience): Razors may lead to brushes leads to soaps leads to colognes leads to aftershaves.... Gods help you if you get into straights! (Now those guys are obsessive....)

 

[maxman]

I found collecting razors difficult because I want to use them.
so as much as I'd like to have a big collection of minty razors, I don't want to invest in stuff that I can't turn around and use.
I have done that on a few occasions where it won't matter.
My 60's era Aristocrat is mint. That's OK, because I have a Slim that I can use.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have them all mint, but again, I'd have to have a second collection to use.
I just don't have the money to do that.

 

[johnmrson]

I started off buying a few DE's because I liked the way they shaved differently. I'm also a history buff and loved the fact that each razor was a little functional piece of history. It really just snowballed on from there. My current collection is now well over 300 counting DE's, SE's, injectors and straights. I really love shaving with them but the reality is I can't shave with them all anymore. I've got probably 90%+ of all the Gillette DE's and about the same with Schicks. I've still got a few holes in the collection but as they turn up I'll try and buy them. I recently sold off a few duplicates as I really needed the room. Where will it end? I don't really know. Straights are my new RAD and there's a hell of alot of different ones of them.

 

[mdunn]

i buy not because i need them to shave with, but just because i want them. its a hobby for me, especially doing a fair bit of resto work

 

[LukeDuke]

As far as keeping the peace with SWMBO goes, so far she cannot recognize the differences between razors. To her, they all look the same. "A razor is a razor is a razor" from her standpoint. For me, that is a very good thing. My RAD can run wild, my collection can remain out of her sight, and she thinks I only have one or two razors.

 

[peacefrog33756]

Over the years I have accumulated a great many razors, brushes, scuttles, etc., and have sold or abandoned very few. I began looking through my shaving 'chest' yesterday and was amazed at the number of straights and newer DE's I have. I'll never use all I have, and I confronted myself with the inevitability of selling/giving away some items, but they all have a very nostalgic and sentimental appeal for me, so there's the rub. My RAD was very gradual.

 

[ackvil]

I originally had one razor - the same one that is in my rotation - and then went crazy and acquired 7 more - not a lot by many standards. However, I found that some of them did not perform well - so I sold a few and a few are in storage. I now only use three.

However, the only time RAD strikes its ugly head is when I hear a great review of the Pils razor!

Now soaps and creams - that is another matter!

 

[BlkKnight]

Cheers for your thoughts.

Yes, slowing down & only acquiring pristine examples is the way forward.

I'm going to donate one of my slims to my Dad and see if he'll take up the new hobby.

 

[Legion]

I started buying different razors because the enablers on this forum kept talking up different models and I wanted to try them for myself. Then I bought spares of the models I liked. Then spares for the spares...

Now I have sold off all my duplicates and I am trying to just keep one example of each razor that takes my fancy. I am a long way off from owning all the razors I am interested in, though.

I am really fighting the straight razor RAD too. That way madness lies.

 

[DFrancis]

RAD is when you need multiples of everything right now, collecting is when you can wait for each razor you have in mind to own.