rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
For me, I have bought 54 new traditional SRs and one only has been truly shave ready as received. The honer must have had an off day. The rest all required some work before I could satisfactorily shave with them.
How many new traditional SRs have you bought and how many were shave-ready to your standard as received?
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A couple. My Koraat was shave ready by any standard but I prefer a natural edge so I put my own on it. A NOS Sistrum (still in the cellophane) was pretty good but had a couple micro chips in the edge near the heel. Had two or three other razors that were sold as NOS and probably were, that needed just a little work. Two Heljestrands and a Hoshi Tombo.
I gather by "Traditional" you mean old or vintage straights. A better question would be "How many traditional SR's you have bought and how many were even capable of being made shave ready?
My purchasing habit has slowed down a bit over the last 6 months but overall I have probably bought about 30 razors. None of them were shave ready. How many were capable of being made shave ready, about 7 or 8!!!
You just wouldn't believe some of the crap I have bought. Most of them looked ok in the pictures on Flea-Bay but when I opened up the mail, they were in a very sorry state. Quite a few had been butchered with grinders etc, to be fair to myself, quite often it was the edge that was missing although a couple had half the spine missing also.
Most, however, had bad geometry.
The good ones didn't take much effort to get going and are in my daily rotation.
cheers
Andrew
My purchasing habit has slowed down a bit over the last 6 months but overall I have probably bought about 30 razors. None of them were shave ready. How many were capable of being made shave ready, about 7 or 8!!!
You just wouldn't believe some of the crap I have bought. Most of them looked ok in the pictures on Flea-Bay but when I opened up the mail, they were in a very sorry state. Quite a few had been butchered with grinders etc, to be fair to myself, quite often it was the edge that was missing although a couple had half the spine missing also.
Most, however, had bad geometry.
The good ones didn't take much effort to get going and are in my daily rotation.
cheers
Andrew
Shave ready is so personal that it is difficult to state categorically that a razor is objectively so. I have only bought two new straights, a Koraat and a Ralf Aust, and I would consider both close enough to be shave ready for most people, but I have no doubt that some would have felt some disappointment with the Aust, and maybe even the Koraat.
I don't know how many I have bought.... A lot.
I can count the ones I would consider passably shave ready on one hand, and they were all vintage razors restored and honed by members here.
I have never bought a razor new or off ebay that claimed to be shave ready that I thought really was.
If I buy a razor, regardless of the source, I buy it with the assumption I will need to hone it. That's fine. That's why I bought all those hones.
I can count the ones I would consider passably shave ready on one hand, and they were all vintage razors restored and honed by members here.
I have never bought a razor new or off ebay that claimed to be shave ready that I thought really was.
If I buy a razor, regardless of the source, I buy it with the assumption I will need to hone it. That's fine. That's why I bought all those hones.
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rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
No. By traditional I mean new, not vintage, SRs that don't use a replaceable blade (like shavette types do).
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rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
So were the Aust and Koraat received shave-ready to your acceptable standard?
I did not consider my new Aust shave-ready to my standard as received. I have not had the pleasure or budget to indulge in shaving with a new Koraat.
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To be fair to Ralf, I was still very new to straight shaving, so I would probably attribute any deficiencies to my technique. The Koraat was definitely shave ready.
I have purchased about 22 traditional straight razors. My two Koraats were ok, but could definitely be improved. My Rigarazor was good and a vintage Puma I bought on ebay had a nice edge on it.
I have bought a few razors too and unless from custom makers or reliable member-forum buys, I didnt receive nor hadn’t expected a shave ready razor.
the last time I bought a more ‘widely available‘ brand new, such as dovo or thiers, the vendors included honing as an option which I took up. I’m thinking about 2014 maybe.
now I would expect to hone it myself - and probably would anyway with what I like.
the last time I bought a more ‘widely available‘ brand new, such as dovo or thiers, the vendors included honing as an option which I took up. I’m thinking about 2014 maybe.
now I would expect to hone it myself - and probably would anyway with what I like.
1 out of 7
Ralf Aust - No
Ralf Aust - No
Ralf Aust - No
Thiers Issard - No
Le Grelot - No
Böker - No
Koraat - Yes
Ralf Aust - No
Ralf Aust - No
Ralf Aust - No
Thiers Issard - No
Le Grelot - No
Böker - No
Koraat - Yes
If the bevel set is 90% of the work that goes into a straight razors edge, most of my new razors where close to 90% shave ready. It usually only takes me 5 to 10 minutes to take the factory edge to where i need it to be, unless i need to correct the geometry, which does happen.
The last Dovo's and Boker razor i got only needed some finishing work.
If there was an option that you could get a razor that did not have a bevel at all i would chose that. Then i could have allot more steel to work with.
The new Dovo 5/8 razors actually have a smaller bade width then the older models, just to satisfy the customers who value the straight line over a slightly uneven one.
The last Dovo's and Boker razor i got only needed some finishing work.
If there was an option that you could get a razor that did not have a bevel at all i would chose that. Then i could have allot more steel to work with.
The new Dovo 5/8 razors actually have a smaller bade width then the older models, just to satisfy the customers who value the straight line over a slightly uneven one.
I don't know if I've ever bought a razor that wasn't either honed by the guy who made it or honed by the store I bought it from, so they have all been usable.
Do I reset the bevel anyway and put them through a progression? You bet. I've merely "tried" the edge as received, except my first straight razor but at that point I didn't hone yet.
edit- haha oh god I forgot about a Gold Dollar that I eventually ruined. It was so dull I probably could have licked the edge. Luckily I have good impulse control.
Do I reset the bevel anyway and put them through a progression? You bet. I've merely "tried" the edge as received, except my first straight razor but at that point I didn't hone yet.
edit- haha oh god I forgot about a Gold Dollar that I eventually ruined. It was so dull I probably could have licked the edge. Luckily I have good impulse control.
Hmmh, is “none” a valid answer?
The Austs I could shave with, but they were not quite to my desired level.
B.
The Austs I could shave with, but they were not quite to my desired level.
B.
I had to reply because my answer is so contrary to what seems to be the norm. I stopped having vendors hone my razors because I was never satisfied with the result. I’ve since ordered a Boker, Ralf Aust, and two Dovos. The Ralf Aust and a Dovo Natural are both great, and have only been stropped and maintained on pasted balsa.
This is an edge inspection i did of one of my newest Boker razors.
This is not an exception, this is actually one of the better factory edges i have received.
All four of my boker razors looked like this. I only have one Ralf Aust, it was not better.
The same story goes for TI and Dovo razors. Most of them looked worse then this under high magnification.
This Boker had "small" chips and burrs. However, it passed the HHT with ease.
Stropping this on something like balsa will round off the chips and if you are lucky not extend the burr any further.
We all have our preferences.
After inspection edges from Dovo, TI, Ralf Aust and Boker, i can say with confidence that this is quite typical of what you will get.
In my opining these needs honing. If you don't have access to any magnification, the easiest approach is to do a quick bevel set, and progress from there. It looks bad, but with a extra hollow ground razor it does not take much to get you a good edge.
So i would say that most factory edges come with a set bevel, but i would not give them credit for much more.
My 1k edges actually look much better then this.
This is not an exception, this is actually one of the better factory edges i have received.
All four of my boker razors looked like this. I only have one Ralf Aust, it was not better.
The same story goes for TI and Dovo razors. Most of them looked worse then this under high magnification.
This Boker had "small" chips and burrs. However, it passed the HHT with ease.
Stropping this on something like balsa will round off the chips and if you are lucky not extend the burr any further.
We all have our preferences.
After inspection edges from Dovo, TI, Ralf Aust and Boker, i can say with confidence that this is quite typical of what you will get.
In my opining these needs honing. If you don't have access to any magnification, the easiest approach is to do a quick bevel set, and progress from there. It looks bad, but with a extra hollow ground razor it does not take much to get you a good edge.
So i would say that most factory edges come with a set bevel, but i would not give them credit for much more.
My 1k edges actually look much better then this.
My Rigarazor was shave ready for me. I have kept it up with diamond balsa and still shaves well.
The only other new razors I have bought were gold dollars.
I have a few Heljestrands which could be NOS, but they were open when they arrived. They needed touching up before being usable.
The only other new razors I have bought were gold dollars.
I have a few Heljestrands which could be NOS, but they were open when they arrived. They needed touching up before being usable.
I've bought two brand new, and inexpensive straight razors, a Leymiga -- was ok out of the box, and a Gold Dollar -- I checked the Gold Dollar with a microscope first thing and though sold "shave ready" had burrs on the edge that would have done damage.
I also have a number of vintage razors, but the two new ones are my main razors.. the Gold Dollar being my preferred razor.
I also have a number of vintage razors, but the two new ones are my main razors.. the Gold Dollar being my preferred razor.
I have three traditional SR's in my collection and upon delivery they were:
Gold Dollar, purchaced from Razoremporium, was given modifications that they deemed "most needed",whatever those were and was made "shave ready by them, . However it was blunt on arrival, thus required a honing to make it pass a hht, but on the credit side the blade geometry was good. It is currently waiting for me to save up the money for a Dremmel so that I can convert it into a shorty as I damaged it.
John Heiffor 6/8 near wedge x2, purchaced from Ebay and required honing to pass a hht. Geometry wise one has slightly more hone wear on the heal and they were both smiling, they both still are a bit, but it is now a lot less pronounced. Both are still going strong, allough they may soon require a return to the stones.
Gold Dollar, purchaced from Razoremporium, was given modifications that they deemed "most needed",whatever those were and was made "shave ready by them, . However it was blunt on arrival, thus required a honing to make it pass a hht, but on the credit side the blade geometry was good. It is currently waiting for me to save up the money for a Dremmel so that I can convert it into a shorty as I damaged it.
John Heiffor 6/8 near wedge x2, purchaced from Ebay and required honing to pass a hht. Geometry wise one has slightly more hone wear on the heal and they were both smiling, they both still are a bit, but it is now a lot less pronounced. Both are still going strong, allough they may soon require a return to the stones.
0/3
One TI which was sort of shaving, but with extreme tugging.
One Dovo which was also only sort of shaving, but at least better than the TI.
One Gold Dollar which was so crooked that I'm still thinking on what to do with it. The grind starts 2-3mm higher on one side.
One TI which was sort of shaving, but with extreme tugging.
One Dovo which was also only sort of shaving, but at least better than the TI.
One Gold Dollar which was so crooked that I'm still thinking on what to do with it. The grind starts 2-3mm higher on one side.
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