MD Barber Straights

[Ice-Man]

I stand corrected my bad, I just see the red star as I did not open the picture up to see but now looking you are correct.

thats the california state flag

You are correct see post 14

 

[Staggers and Jags]

You are correct see post 14

do you think these razor can be honed to use?

 

[Slash McCoy]

do you think these razor can be honed to use?

I doubt it, but if you really want to know, give it a shot and then let the rest of us know. Then buy a proper shave ready, treetopping whisker whacking razor from a vendor known and respected on this or any other razor forum, and find out what it's all about.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Yes, just like Ralf Aust and Revisor use. Very bad sign.

Indeed it is a bad sign. However my only Revisor has a proper wedge.

 

[Slash McCoy]

A Gold Dollar, properly set up and honed, will be a good shaver but it won't ever beat a vintage Eskilstuna blade.

No argument from me! Swedish razors are way better than Gold Dollars. If I could buy 100 Eskilstuna razors for $250 plus shipping to US, I would never have started messing with the GDs.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Agree with the above comments. You are in Sweden, stick to some good old Swedish razors and avoid this kind of crap.
The star is just part of the flag of California.

View attachment 1347241

The star looks kinda like the North Korean one, doesn't it? <EDIT> My bad... I think I meant the North Vietnamese one. Or these days, the plain old whole Vietnamese one. I scored some ball caps there, last time I was in Saigon, er, I mean, Ho Chi Minh City.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Given that you have a Heljestrand and a Berg, and I have both, I promise you that the MD razor will not come close to what you have. They will be worlds apart in quality. I think you will be throwing $35 away.

Totally with you. That's two primo brands there. I wouldn't bother with any mystery razors, if I had a Heljy and a Berg anchoring the rotation. Why not try a Bismarck, if you want something different? It won't be nearly as much a step down, and the Bismarck is a very hand-friendly razor. For vintage, see if you can score a vintage American razor like a Genco Ace or a Union Spike. Cheap as dirt, good steel, even if it isn't quite up there with best Swedish. There are some darn good western style straights made in Japan, too.

 

[rbscebu]

@Hak.1963 for the money, you should seriously consider a Titan ACRM-2 T.H.60 or a Gold Dollar with timber scales suggested by @Slash McCoy. At least it is a quality that is known to hone well to truly shave-ready.

Alternatively, you could always take one for the team and report back to us with your findings on the MD.

 

[Hak.1963]

I don't think I will get a razor from them.
It's been a while since I send them an email with questions regarding their knifes and where they are manufactured, and if they really arte made from carbon steel.
They have not responded yet, that is a red flag for me

I have a small collection of old, but good, knifes.
A few Heljestrand's, a Kikuboshi, a Sheffield Giant, a Järnbolaget (Eskilstuna Sweden) and a few J.A Hellberg.
I was just curious to see if you actually can buy a quality knife for that price in USA.
From all the responses I have received in this thread I now know you can't

 

[Steve56]

Yes, just like Ralf Aust and Revisor use. Very bad sign.

Maybe Alfredo or another scale maker can post, but whether you use a tapered wedge or a spacer, or a wedge with almost invisible taper, seems to depend on the material.

Flexible materials will need a tapered wedge; horn, ivory, plastics/composition, etc. Rigid materials, most dense woods, bone, etc will need a spacer or a minimally tapered wedge. Obviously if you had glass scales, you could not use a wedge because glass doesn’t flex much.

 

[rbscebu]

Maybe Alfredo or another scale maker can post, but whether you use a tapered wedge or a spacer, or a wedge with almost invisible taper, seems to depend on the material.

Flexible materials will need a tapered wedge; horn, ivory, plastics/composition, etc. Rigid materials, most dense woods, bone, etc will need a spacer or a minimally tapered wedge. Obviously if you had glass scales, you could not use a wedge because glass doesn’t flex much.

You could be correct. The only SR that I have that has a wedge (of lead) has ivory scales. All my others are of timber, bone, ABS plastic and steel. All of those have parallel spacers.

 

[Steve56]

And to add some further speculation, the tang needs to be tapered if the wedge tapers and the scales ‘flexible’.

If you use dense wood or bone, you don’t need to taper the wedge or tang. Can anyone say ‘cheaper’?

 

[Steve56]

You could be correct.

I’ve thought the same about you, lol! BTW, I am a retired engineer.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I made this mistake on my first set of wood scales. Made a nice tapered wedge and didn't take the rigidity of the wood into account.

 

[CongaJon]

@Darth Scandalous , you just need to take another 1/8" off. They'll flex!

 

[Darth Scandalous]

@Darth Scandalous , you just need to take another 1/8" off. They'll flex!

View attachment 1376694

If I recall they were 1/8" to begin with . But the white oak isn't as flexy and I didn't take much off them.