Has anyone purchased directly from Ralf Aust? What was your experience?
Ralf Aust SR
- Thread starter JoeScho
- Start date
I believe that many of us have.
Myself, I have about 30 of his razors and most were bought directly from him.
He has a reputation for making excellent razors at a good price point and, within limitations, you can even ask him to make a razor based on your ideas by combining elements that he already uses. (e.g. combining a particular type of scale material with a particular razor model, asking for less common scale materials that he may not have listed on his site, or making a 7-day set with the week days engraved, etc.)
My first straight razor was a ⅝ Aust and suffered all sorts of mistakes and blunders that a beginner makes and yet that razors serves me many years later still as if it were new.
In short, you can’t go wrong with an Aust if you need a solid mid-priced razor.
B.
Very positive. I don't use the 5/8 a lot anymore, but that has less to do with the razor and more to do with me preferring more weight and a stiffer blade.
It shaved well with the out of the box edge and was very easy to refine for my taste and maintain, because it is absolutely straight.
Feels leagues above the TI and Dovo razors I own tbh.
It shaved well with the out of the box edge and was very easy to refine for my taste and maintain, because it is absolutely straight.
Feels leagues above the TI and Dovo razors I own tbh.
My experience has been mixed. The blades themselves are nicely finished. Unfortunately half of them have been warped. Some custom details did not arrive as ordered i.e. jimping. There are nice options for scales materials but the construction is basic with flat spacers instead of wedges. I have not been overly impressed with these. Always ordered direct.
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
I have ordered directly from Ralf a few years ago. It was a ready-made. No problems.
I later ordered a custom-made from Steve Colling in Proserpine, Queensland Australia. The same quality as Ralf but much better pricing with Steve. Steve and Ralf use the same blanks for their SRs.
I had a somewhat similar experience in a way.
My first Ralf Aust was ordered directly from his website. It arrived about a week after without receiving a tracking number.
Out of the box, the razor was looking amazing, the scales were flawless (besides the spacer, I prefer a wedge) and the steel did not have any visual defects, if we ignore the etching (we would have to be nitpicking to complain about the etching). Was a tiny bit warped but nothing uncommon.
I stropped the blade and started to shave. It would barely cut, even when applying pressure. I gave up and under magnification the bevel seemed to be set. So I tried to hone it. The moment it went on the stones, it felt different than any other razor I have ever honed. It would not take an edge easily and after one or two full strokes on the face, it would get blunt. I did try to hone it a couple of times from bevel set all the way to finishing. I got the same results every time. Then I took a file and I roughly checked the hardness, it was definitely softer close to the edge when comparing to the spine.
Never had issues honing other blades, so this one is definitely an outlier for me.
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- Thread starter
- #7
I have to say the man is quick. I ordered the other at about 3:30 PM Eastern and got a UPS label email about 7:30 PM. But unfortunately its sitting in Germany for the last 2 days with no movement.
- Thread starter
- #8
Do I need to touch it up when it comes or can I just clean and strop it?
I only have Aust razor. The one I got just needed some light finishing work.
I have learned not to accept any razor as shave ready unless specifically warranted.
I ordered mine direct while in London and was very pleased in the communication, response time, and overall end-result.
Bear in mind at the time this was only my second straight razor, but I still use it often in regular rotation today without it requiring additional attention of my other straights.
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rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
Both my Aust and Colling SRs shaved reasonably well as received. My required edge standard was more crispy keen so I put each of them through a full diamond pasted balsa strop progression before their next shaves.
With yours, try shaving with it as received and after a stropping on clean leather. That may be all you need. I would however recommend that you put together a set of diamond pasted balsa strops; 0.5μm, 0.25μm and 0.1μm. With those pasted balsa strops, you will probably never have to hone your Aust/Colling again.
His razors are more shave ready than most others and you could shave with them out of the box, but I still take his razors to a progression from 8,000 grit onwards (in my case, followed by 10,000 and then 20,000) to get them where I want them to be.
You could do a test shave before, but I suspect that your experience will mirror mine.
B.
- Thread starter
- #13
So following up, my 6/8 Ralf Aust arrived today from Germany!!
French crown point with ram horn scales. Going to give it a spin on Sunday!!
French crown point with ram horn scales. Going to give it a spin on Sunday!!
Lovely looking razor!
If this is going to be your first, or one of your first, straight shaves, I'd recomend muting the point. You won't damage the razor at all, and you will make it slightly more forgiving of operator errors. Ralf ships them with quite a toe, and if you're not careful, it will slice...
If this is going to be your first, or one of your first, straight shaves, I'd recomend muting the point. You won't damage the razor at all, and you will make it slightly more forgiving of operator errors. Ralf ships them with quite a toe, and if you're not careful, it will slice...
I got my RA from Maggard's. I asked Brad to hone it for me (no charge). The shaves are quite comfortable and HHT is through the roof!
- Thread starter
- #16
I can’t wait to try mine! I’ll see then if it needs honing
Yeah, my Colling shaves better than my other razors as a rule. The quality is definitely there and the price was very good.
- Thread starter
- #18
Not my first, but I still do that with my other french points. Too easy to forget the point is there.
I have these and a few others. All have been flawless.
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