Regret Free RAD

[Chesty]

Killing time in semi-retirement, my wife and I went to a movie yesterday afternoon. Tickets were $10 each and she bought popcorn for $7. On a freezing new England day, we got two hours of entertainment. On the ride home, she was giving me the usual hard time about a recent razor purchase. Driving back from a cruise, I ducked into a little antique store after lunch and picked up a 1951 Tech with a Bakelite handle in silver tone for $8.00. It has cleaned up nicely and a provided a week of really nice shaves so far.
Between researching model and date, doing the cleanup, and using the razor, I have received a good deal more than $8.00 of entertainment from that one razor. Any time I pick up one of my razors to start a new rotation, I recall the story behind it, where I bought it or who gave it to me, how much I paid ($2.00 to $35.00), and some of the facts that I have learned about it. Tidbits like the black knob SuperSpeed (birth razor) may have been created due to the need to conserve brass during the Korean war and other lore have been interesting. I sometimes try to picture who might have used my vintage razors - what were they doing in the 20's and 30's? Might some of my razors gone overseas for war or been birthday presents for teen boys? Each of them may have been daily part of the life for someone. None of that even considers that everyday, I get a great shave. Compared to a movie, it is not a bad deal. I can always put it in my will to donate the whole bunch to the B&B auction. No regrets.

 

[Laird]

I'm retired and I find it to be as reasonably priced a hobby (or interest) as anything. Model railroads? Huge money. Restoring old cars, well that was affordable for the hot rod guys of the 50's and 60's, now it's for millionaires. I've been a musician since I was in my teens in the 70's and having had my fair share of basses and amps I now only have three basses and two amps and as tools they actually earned money along the way, the "average" guy can't really afford to be a guitar collector if you're going to buy anything great. It seems we've been in a golden age of availability for at least two decades now where every variation of everything we could have an interest in is at our fingertips but incomes have not risen accordingly. Either that or because I'm not twenty anymore I'm more selective with how I spend. You can buy pretty much anything you want but if it's good quality it's almost too expensive or.... it's from the BigMart or some other mega store and it comes from offshore, the quality is terrible and you have to buy it again next summer because it's already broken. Vintage razors have a lot going for them. Not too expensive, well made, history, they don't take up much room, and other than straight razors, they don't require much maintanence or wear out and you can use them for a practical purpose. That's some pretty good check boxes there. Suits me in my retirement.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

Check out high end fly rods....

 

[Jimsr]

Laird mentioned Model Railroads. I used to be doing that, but in the past 15 years the prices have gotten unreasonably high. So I’ve basically stopped.

 

[ajkel64]

It is a reasonably cheap past time. I have collected watches (lower end), clocks (again lower end), golf clubs, some series of books and now razors. LOTH does not mind too much as I can use the razors and they do not take up to much room. Golf clubs, and mantle clocks can take up a lot of room in the shed and in the house. I am trying to downsize the golf clubs slowly.

 

[stone and strop]

It is entertaining, it exercises the mind, it is interesting and it is not so expensive in the grand scheme or at least it doesn't have to be.
I truly enjoy the same things, so even if it costs a little more it is still a good hobby and money well spent in my mind.

 

[BigJ]

+1!! RAD is a bargain compared to most any other hobby that I have had!!

 

[guitarslinger]

Rad is MUCH cheaper than:
Guns
Guitars/Amps/Pedals/microphones
Bicycles
Snowboards

I’m not sure why my blackland blackbird was such an event when I used to drop a grand on a gun/guitar/amp like it was nothing.

 

[honeycutt]

I'm retired and I find it to be as reasonably priced a hobby (or interest) as anything. Model railroads? Huge money. Restoring old cars, well that was affordable for the hot rod guys of the 50's and 60's, now it's for millionaires. I've been a musician since I was in my teens in the 70's and having had my fair share of basses and amps I now only have three basses and two amps and as tools they actually earned money along the way, the "average" guy can't really afford to be a guitar collector if you're going to buy anything great. It seems we've been in a golden age of availability for at least two decades now where every variation of everything we could have an interest in is at our fingertips but incomes have not risen accordingly. Either that or because I'm not twenty anymore I'm more selective with how I spend. You can buy pretty much anything you want but if it's good quality it's almost too expensive or.... it's from the BigMart or some other mega store and it comes from offshore, the quality is terrible and you have to buy it again next summer because it's already broken. Vintage razors have a lot going for them. Not too expensive, well made, history, they don't take up much room, and other than straight razors, they don't require much maintanence or wear out and you can use them for a practical purpose. That's some pretty good check boxes there. Suits me in my retirement.

Well sad Laird.

 

[honeycutt]

Well sad Laird.

Meant to say- well (said) Laird. My mistake.

 

[FarmerTan]

Meant to say- well (said) Laird. My mistake.

But it was funnier the first time!

 

[Twelvefret]

The RAD is gone away
The RAD is gone baby
The RAD is gone away
You know you done me wrong baby
And you'll be sorry…

 

[Shavely Manden]

Honestly, the only hobby I've dabbled in cheaper than wetshaving is cubing (i.e., Rubik's cubes and similar), and that's largely because competitive cubing is dominated by teenagers, so puzzles can only get so expensive. Like, ridiculously overpriced top-of-the-line GAN cubes are like $60, and even really nice magnetized cubes are rarely more than $25 or $35. There are exceptions (like the ridiculous Yuxin Huanglong 17x17 that goes for $750), but those tend to be unusual puzzles that nobody does competitively (for comparison, the 3x3 in the same series as that 17x17 costs about $25). And some old-timers even complain that cubes are too expensive now and lament the days when TOTL speedcubes were less than $20.

 

[pbrmhl]

This hobby is much cheaper than my others from the past. Boots, shoes, new cars (note: not classics, just a new car every couple of years), railroad grade pocket watches. And much cheaper than the most expensive one, which I never plan to try: girlfriends while married. Which often leads to even a more expensive one: former wives.

 

[ShavingPanda]

This hobby is very cheap, in comparison to others, and I enjoy that you can make a daily chore fun. You can also be pleased spending $5 or $500 on a new razor.

I wanted to start getting into watches but saw some of the price tags. So I have one nice and one decent watch.