Looking for a first straight at a low price

[Lereas]

I saw this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/Shave-Ready-Str...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item335da1f966

Any thoughts on that? I'd probably prefer something more vintage, but I will someday be getting my grandfather-in-law's straight he got when he moved from ukraine to the US, so I can look forward to that.

I'm not sure where the bidding on this will go, but I'm basically looking to get a reasonably good straight for less than 30 dollars so I can try it out without spending a lot.


I suppose I may as well be a free-loading bum and also just ask here: is there the remote possibilty that one of you has a spare straight that you're willing to just send me for the pure pleasure of knowing it has a good home? I've been DE shaving for 6 years or so and want to give a straight a try, but I'm simply not at a point where I can make an investment for something I don't know I'm going to like. I can promise that if I don't want/use it, I'll send it back, as well. ...hey, I'll never know if I don't ask, right?

 

[Gafer]

I would suggest contacting brother LarryAndro here. He has a website:http://www.whippeddog.com/. I've found him to be very helpful and his prices can't be beat. While the razors he sells are not things to put in a display case they are certainly serviceable shave ready razors. He also sells inexpensive, simple strops, pasted strops, hones and brushes - everything a beginner needs. He sold me my "starter" set and I'm not sorry. For LarryAndro!

 

[Navig8tor]

+ 1 on Larry. He is a great guy to deal with and gives newbies a lot of info to help them out.

 

[taffy]

I cant comment on that razor, though there is a us e bayer selling golden dollars very cheap through auction, around $6-12 at the moment and they are shave ready, though there is a lot of talk about a gd, but i have used one and found it fine.

 

[Will P.C.]

I would suggest a Dovo Best Quality from Straight Razor Designs. Excellent razor and honed by the best.

If I had to do it all over again, I would buy this razor instead of buying a vintage razor from somebody who claims it is shave ready but is not.

If you don't like it, sell it. You will not lose much money

http://www.straightrazordesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=44&products_id=859

 

[mouscacha]

I would suggest a Dovo Best Quality from Straight Razor Designs. Excellent razor and honed by the best.

If I had to do it all over again, I would buy this razor instead of buying a vintage razor from somebody who claims it is shave ready but is not.

If you don't like it, sell it. You will not lose much money

http://www.straightrazordesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=44&products_id=859

+1

I started with the tortoise and strop set in March and now I have 5 razors. haha!!!

 

[Blue_2]

I would suggest a Dovo Best Quality from Straight Razor Designs. Excellent razor and honed by the best.

If I had to do it all over again, I would buy this razor instead of buying a vintage razor from somebody who claims it is shave ready but is not.

If you don't like it, sell it. You will not lose much money

http://www.straightrazordesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=44&products_id=859

I also agree here. It just takes some variables completely out of the equation leaving you with just shaving and stropping. Learning to wet shave is tough enough, str8 shaving is another ball of wax, and stropping takes practice too. There's no need to bring the uncertainty of "Is this razor dull, or is it my technique?" With a new Dovo honed by a honemeister there's no question.


Side note: No offense intended to Larry. I have never met or had any dealings with him.

 

[taffy]

.

If I had to do it all over again, I would buy this razor instead of buying a vintage razor from somebody who claims it is shave ready but is not.

If you don't like it, sell it. You will not lose much money

http://www.straightrazordesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=44&products_id=859

This is good advice

 

[Gafer]

I would suggest a Dovo Best Quality from Straight Razor Designs. Excellent razor and honed by the best.

If I had to do it all over again, I would buy this razor instead of buying a vintage razor from somebody who claims it is shave ready but is not.

If you don't like it, sell it. You will not lose much money

http://www.straightrazordesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=44&products_id=859

Well, when I first read this I took it as a slam on a number of those great B&B'ers around here that DO provide shave ready vintage razors. Clearly that wasn't the intend. In addition, as I've thought about it when you buy vintage from someone you've never met, you won't really have any certainty on what you're getting aside from endorsements from others around here.

Now, I've embarked on lots of hobbies in my life (sailing, photography, guitar etc.) and the one thing these all had in common was "gear". If I learned anything from these it is you shouldn't ever "cheap out" on your gear. Then again, buying top-of-the-line when you're a newbie at anything is equally useless. That is, the best gear won't necessarily provide you with the best results however, cheap gear will likely become a hindrance to you developing your skills.

So, back to the question of the STR8. If you're really on a budget, my opinion is for LarryAndro. I don't believe there's a cheaper more reliable way to get into this. However, if you want certainty in terms of what you're getting and you can push your budget up a bit then clearly, a STR8 from Straight Razor Designs is the most reliable route - you can be POSITIVE you're getting a razor that has been honed and stropped by "THE guy". It's akin to buying a car from Carroll Shelby I suppose.

 

[Hayden]

Ill give you the reasons why I went with Larry.
1. He will answer any and all questions you have(without making fun of the dumb ones)
2. You get a good razor honed and cheap
3. Its nice to have a second razor to practice honing on when you decide to get that expensive one.
4. Hes not expensive, so if you dont like straights your not out much.
5. Once again HE WILL ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS lol

 

[LarryAndro]

Thanks for the positive statements about my razors and service. No statements were taken negatively by me. And, in fact, I agree with every statement made above. Even the statements suggesting some other buying route than my razors.

I try to entice newbies into the straight razor waters. Once there, they tend to move up to nicer things than mine. (The shave ready edge of my razors is top notch. I try to save newbies money at every other turn.)

Which points out the wisdom of what someone above said. If you are on a strict budget, if you haven't tried straights because of expense, my razors provide an option. (There are others here selling equally quality, and affordable razors.) If you can swing a few extra dollars, I think it makes all the sense in the world to jump to equipment that provides quality shaves AND looks nice.

As to answering all the "dumb" questions, I believe this forum is full of guys who are quite willing and able, at great length, to mentor. Kudos to everyone here!

 

[bandit82ta]

++ for http://www.whippeddog.com/ (Larry Andro)

My first razor wasn't from Larry but once I tried the vintage from Larry's I really got a smooth shave and his included info pack really has some great ideas which furthered my stropping a good bit faster then I was on my own.

 

[ouch]

I have to say that one of the downsides of the increasing popularity of this hobby is the almost complete disappearance of inexpensive entry level razors. You can still find the occasional bargain, but I've seen way too many razors in need of a partial to complete restoration offered for over $50. Just a few short years ago, you could buy a nicely restored blade for little over half that, and get a decent shaver for under $20. I believe those days are gone, and it's the newbie who suffers the most.

I bought razors that showed almost no sign of use for as little as $15, but I don't expect to ever be able to do that again.

 

[woodturner]

Thanks for the positive statements about my razors and service. No statements were taken negatively by me. And, in fact, I agree with every statement made above. Even the statements suggesting some other buying route than my razors.

I try to entice newbies into the straight razor waters. Once there, they tend to move up to nicer things than mine. (The shave ready edge of my razors is top notch. I try to save newbies money at every other turn.)

Which points out the wisdom of what someone above said. If you are on a strict budget, if you haven't tried straights because of expense, my razors provide an option. (There are others here selling equally quality, and affordable razors.) If you can swing a few extra dollars, I think it makes all the sense in the world to jump to equipment that provides quality shaves AND looks nice.

As to answering all the "dumb" questions, I believe this forum is full of guys who are quite willing and able, at great length, to mentor. Kudos to everyone here!

Larry was kind enough to send me a PIF and am very grateful. While I initially had questions about trust, Larry tactfully put those fears to rest. Now that I've started to use my str8 I wouldn't hesitate to buy more stuff from him and hope to shortly.

 

[Lereas]

Larry was kind enough to send me a PIF and am very grateful. While I initially had questions about trust, Larry tactfully put those fears to rest. Now that I've started to use my str8 I wouldn't hesitate to buy more stuff from him and hope to shortly.

I've seen PIF a few times around...what's that?

 

[LarryAndro]

Here's the full explanation of PIF...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_Forward

In brief, "Paying it forward" means the recipient of a favor does a favor for a third party rather than paying the favor back.

 

[taffy]

The advice Larry gave me was worth the product alone, i may have cheesed him off with the amount of mail i sent him, but he always replied.

 

[Will P.C.]

Well, when I first read this I took it as a slam on a number of those great B&B'ers around here that DO provide shave ready vintage razors. Clearly that wasn't the intend. In addition, as I've thought about it when you buy vintage from someone you've never met, you won't really have any certainty on what you're getting aside from endorsements from others around here.

Now, I've embarked on lots of hobbies in my life (sailing, photography, guitar etc.) and the one thing these all had in common was "gear". If I learned anything from these it is you shouldn't ever "cheap out" on your gear. Then again, buying top-of-the-line when you're a newbie at anything is equally useless. That is, the best gear won't necessarily provide you with the best results however, cheap gear will likely become a hindrance to you developing your skills.

So, back to the question of the STR8. If you're really on a budget, my opinion is for LarryAndro. I don't believe there's a cheaper more reliable way to get into this. However, if you want certainty in terms of what you're getting and you can push your budget up a bit then clearly, a STR8 from Straight Razor Designs is the most reliable route - you can be POSITIVE you're getting a razor that has been honed and stropped by "THE guy". It's akin to buying a car from Carroll Shelby I suppose.

I am simply sharing my experience. When I started out, I had bought a few razors from the classifieds here that didn't shave. I was trying to save some money and it ended up biting me in the a**. Some good questions to ask when buying a razor from someone you don't know or even someone you do, but is listing it as shave ready is

When was this razor last honed? Was it honed to sell?
Who honed it?
Have you used it since it has been honed? if yes, how many times?
How long have you been using straights?

I see this sometimes "Razor was honed by Lynn Abrams and I have used it 4-5 times and decided straights weren't for me." "I consider it shave ready."

The seller could have messed up the edge stropping after the first shave and the razor could be dull.

Another common line is "Razor will shave me, I will consider it shave ready then" This is pretty vague and doesn't tell you much

The Dovo Best Quality is a nice razor and it will come honed by the best. This is a major factor as so many guys have no idea if their razor was honed correctly since shaving is difficult at first. This option leaves you with no questions that your razor is sharp.

 

[Lereas]

Here's the full explanation of PIF...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_Forward

In brief, "Paying it forward" means the recipient of a favor does a favor for a third party rather than paying the favor back.

Aha! I saw that when I put PIF into Wikipedia before and thought that could be it, but I wasn't positive and didn't want to make assumptions since it could me something totally different here

Thank you for the explanation, and I apologize in advance if I, sometime in the future, bug the crap out of you asking about straights


As a total aside, I mentioned my BBS shave with my Merkur Hefty on facebook and got two people who asked me about wetshaving, both of which I referred here and messaged asking them what questions they have. Maybe I've found some new converts!

 

[Gafer]

I am simply sharing my experience. When I started out, I had bought a few razors from the classifieds here that didn't shave. I was trying to save some money and it ended up biting me in the a**. Some good questions to ask when buying a razor from someone you don't know or even someone you do, but is listing it as shave ready is

When was this razor last honed? Was it honed to sell?
Who honed it?
Have you used it since it has been honed? if yes, how many times?
How long have you been using straights?

I see this sometimes "Razor was honed by Lynn Abrams and I have used it 4-5 times and decided straights weren't for me." "I consider it shave ready."

The seller could have messed up the edge stropping after the first shave and the razor could be dull.

Another common line is "Razor will shave me, I will consider it shave ready then" This is pretty vague and doesn't tell you much

The Dovo Best Quality is a nice razor and it will come honed by the best. This is a major factor as so many guys have no idea if their razor was honed correctly since shaving is difficult at first. This option leaves you with no questions that your razor is sharp.

No disagreement from me whatsoever. Particularly your points about verifying the events that have occurred to cause the seller to conclude it's "shave ready". You also made a good point which I echo, poor equipment will bite you and you'll regret it.