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Question about vintage straight razors

I was in an antique store and they had a mess of straight razors for $25 each. $20 with discount. When I inquired, the owner said "You can't shave with them". What did he mean by that?
 

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I was in an antique store and they had a mess of straight razors for $25 each. $20 with discount. When I inquired, the owner said "You can't shave with them". What did he mean by that?
It’s likely those blades have not been honed in years and no way would remove whispers.
Depending on their condition they would need to be cleaned up a bit and then put to stones to hone a really shave ready edge
If you could give us the names of those razors we could advise you if restorations are worth it.
 
"What did he mean"

Going out on a limb, but he likely just doesn't know anything about straight razors other than they're very old and nobody uses them, he likely assumes they're for decoration only. Probably "you can't shave with them" seems self evident to him like a tire from the 30s self evidently can't be driven on.

Regardless, buy them, they appear to have decent condition, they're cheap, just skip any with rust all the way to the edge or big chips, or if so much of the edge is worn away that it's half an inch or less from spine to edge.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
He probably said you can't shave with them because he tried to shave with them, and not being shave ready, and with no knowledge of straight shaving, he failed. And so, he assumed that you would likewise fail, because since he couldn't do it, it can't be done.

Steel is steel. If those are proper razors and not RSO's, and they are not cracked or super heavily pitted, then they can most likely be made shave ready. Learning how to shave in the manly way should not be a big deal, now that you are on a good straight shaving forum.

I am surprised you didn't pick up at least one of them. Go out for a burger and a couple of beers, and there went your $25 right there. Far better to have a nice vintage razor. Post some pics, and let's see what you're looking at.
 
Just the kind of guy I like to buy from…

If you go back, do so quick, looks like the top brown marbled razor may be a cell rot candidate. If so, it will eat every razor in the case. That scale design is notorious for Cell Rot. The bottom of the pivot looks well rusted.

Note the rust on the wedge pin of the razor directly below it. (Red Arrow)

Assuming no rust or chips, offer $60 for the lot and go from there, leave the cell rot. If you can get them for $10 apiece great, if not “Cherry Pick” the best and shoot for $10-20. A good vintage razor will perform better than most new “factory” razors except for a few small makers.

Or take a photo of each razor for advise on best to buy. I advise a lot of guys I hone for, they text photos. One guy recently bought 6 near pristine Henckles Friodur razors for $100. They cleaned and honed up nicely. If he had to go back, they would be gone.

The trick to negotiating is, the one that can walk away, has ALL the power, sometimes you just have to pay up. No harm in asking.
razors2b.jpg


Tons of great vintage razors hidden in plain sight in Antique stores. Pro Tip, take a small, bright flashlight and pocket magnifier.
 
Even a razor as rusted as this can be cleaned up but does take some effort. Before.
Since I'm new to this, I only feel mildly stupid asking this. How would you clean a sr up like this?
Steel wool on the hollow parts? Cola? Honing or polish it with something like a Dremel?
I've come across razors looking like that and felt a Tetanus feaver coming up. What a wonderfully restoration, very cool!
 

Legion

Staff member
Since I'm new to this, I only feel mildly stupid asking this. How would you clean a sr up like this?
Steel wool on the hollow parts? Cola? Honing or polish it with something like a Dremel?
I've come across razors looking like that and felt a Tetanus feaver coming up. What a wonderfully restoration, very cool!
Check out the restoration stickies, but the safest for a beginner is to use wet/dry sandpaper and elbow grease. Once you remove the pitting to your level of satisfaction, keep going with progressively finer paper to remove the scratches.

Though I suspect the razor pictured was done with compound on a buffer. But that's a bit more advanced, and prone to disaster.
 
Since I'm new to this, I only feel mildly stupid asking this. How would you clean a sr up like this?
Steel wool on the hollow parts? Cola? Honing or polish it with something like a Dremel?
I've come across razors looking like that and felt a Tetanus feaver coming up. What a wonderfully restoration, very cool!

Watch this thread. You will learn a lot.

I normally do what @Legion says. Manually using wet/dry sandpaper with WD40 followed by Mothers polish. I normally use 100, 240, 400, 800, 1200 and 2000 grit. If the razor is heavily rusted/pitted, I start with 100. If lightly rusted, 240 or 400. I do a lot of the sanding by wrapping the sandpaper around a wine cork. For the faces of the blade, I first sand parallel with the edge and then perpendicular to the edge for each grit.
 
Watch this thread. You will learn a lot.

I normally do what @Legion says. Manually using wet/dry sandpaper with WD40 followed by Mothers polish. I normally use 100, 240, 400, 800, 1200 and 2000 grit. If the razor is heavily rusted/pitted, I start with 100. If lightly rusted, 240 or 400. I do a lot of the sanding by wrapping the sandpaper around a wine cork. For the faces of the blade, I first sand parallel with the edge and then perpendicular to the edge for each grit.
I get sanding parallel to the edge, with the sandpaper wrapped around a wine cork. I've been using dowel lengths, but I want to try cork.

Having trouble forming a mental picture of how best to manage sanding perpendicular to the edge, though. How do you do it? It seems like a great idea, since you'd be able to tell when you had properly addressed the scratches from the prior grit, but all I can picture is awkward motions that would destroy the edge and the honing guide, or constantly dislodge any tape I might have put in place to protect them.
 
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