Saying Hello and Looking for Recommendations

[TheRinger]

Hello everyone.
Been a lurker on here for over a year and finally decided to make an account.
I live in the United States West Coast and I'm 32 years old.
I've recently decided to start a collection of premium safety razors after reading many forum discussions on the HardWare.

I first started with the Viking's Blade Godfather (I know the history of the product with Baili and such) moved on to their Emperor Augustus (an adjustable) then after finding this forum decided to try the Feather. This forum heavily influenced me to try the premium and more expensive razors.

Since I had been using a Feather As-D2 for over a year and found no problem with it as it was much better than what I had previously been using I started focusing more on Soaps and After Shaves. Recently however, curiosity got the better of me after reading more on hardware (again on this forum as a lurker) and I purchased a polished Blackland Blackbird and realized how much I had been missing after shaving today. In other words, I realized the Feather As-D2 as amazing at it was is still nothing more than "bargain basement" quality when it comes to Premium Razors. I had already decided on purchasing the rest of the Blackland Models (Even pre-ordered the Tradere) in the coming months but was wondering if there were other Premium Razors I had been missing out on.

So here are the companies I've been looking at purchasing a razor from for part of my collection after Blackland:

Charcoal Goods - Seems to be short on stock
Karve Shaving
Timeless
Rex Supply
Paradigm Shaveware - Seems they're always sold out

I prefer American or Canadian Made, but will settle for manufacture in other countries as long as it's not from China (It's due to political reasons with Hong Kong) which basically takes OneBlade and even the RockWell Model T off the list (Though I've heard the 6S is still not manufactured in China but will have to research it more). Also I'm looking at other materials beyond Stainless Steel because well... Stainless is all I currently use... well except for the semi-brass Viking Emperor which I don't really use anymore though it looks nice.

I kind of have concern about Brass Changing color, if anyone has experience with it or pictures of how it changes I'd like to see it.

Sorry for such a long introductory/advice post.

As a Newbie I'm looking for any suggestions or recommendations
Thank you in advance

 

[Sabre]

Buy a NOS mint Schick Krona and save your money for the finest soaps, creams, after shaves, balms, bath soaps and EDT's. I spent 90% of money on soaps and creams, the rest I just wasted...

 

[TheRinger]

Buy a NOS mint Schick Krona and save your money for the finest soaps, creams, after shaves, balms, bath soaps and EDT's. I spent 90% of money on soaps and creams, the rest I just wasted...

My cupboard is full of soaps and aftershaves.. I have over a hundred of them...which is why I started looking at Razors hahaha

 

[Sabre]

My cupboard is full of soaps and aftershaves.. I have over a hundred of them...which is why I started looking at Razors hahaha

I have over 400 and bought 20 in the last month, there is always more to buy.


PS

Welcome, you can tell I am the warm and friendly type...

 

[TheRinger]

I would say the biggest concern I have with buying more soap and aftershave is that I have so much that has to be used and consumed. With Razors on the other hand, they're supposed to last a life time if taken care of well so once a part of the collection they're permanent.

I still buy the latest Tallow and Steel Limited edition though since it's my favorite of all the ones I've tried. I've found my taste in soap to be similar to most on the forum though as I had WK and BM on my tops. Didn't really like the Martin De Candre as much as I thought I would considering it cost nearly 80 dollars for one tub (though it was filled to the brim).

I think the only ones I haven't tried yet is Oaken Labs and a few of the newer ones like Gingari Man.

 

[Sabre]

I would say the biggest concern I have with buying more soap and aftershave is that I have so much that has to be used and consumed. With Razors on the other hand, they're supposed to last a life time if taken care of well so once a part of the collection they're permanent.

I still buy the latest Tallow and Steel Limited edition though since it's my favorite of all the ones I've tried. I've found my taste in soap to be similar to most on the forum though as I had WK and BM on my tops. Didn't really like the Martin De Candre as much as I thought I would considering it cost nearly 80 dollars for one tub (though it was filled to the brim).

I think the only ones I haven't tried yet is Oaken Labs and a few of the newer ones like Gingari Man.

I wait until the artisans are commercial.
You can never have too many obscure Eastern European shaving creams ask Malocchio.

 

[JCarr]

Looks like you're no stranger to the rabbit hole. Welcome, comrade! Welcome!

 

[TheRinger]

I wait until the artisans are commercial.
You can never have too many obscure Eastern European shaving creams ask Malocchio.

Okay I have never heard of Malocchio before

Looks like you're no stranger to the rabbit hole. Welcome, comrade! Welcome!

Yes, the rabbit hole is very, very, deep...

And thanks for the welcome.

 

[ajkel64]

Welcome to the forum and thanks for checking in with us. @malocchio is a member of the forum who is the King of Creams.

 

[TheRinger]

Welcome to the forum and thanks for checking in with us. @malocchio is a member of the forum who is the King of Creams.

King of Creams?
Sounds like a title that took a long time to get haha.

is there a King of Razors?

 

[Invicta]

Welcome to B&B.

 

[sdimartino]

No premium razor collection would be complete without a Merkur Progress and a Merkur Futur. My two favorite razors.

 

[Tomo]

If you are looking for somewhere to blow your money Wolfman will be happy to take a sizable chunk for one of their titanium offerings.

 

[TheRinger]

No premium razor collection would be complete without a Merkur Progress and a Merkur Futur. My two favorite razors.

You know I was never actually fond of the way the Merkur's look but then again I also never actually tried one. They've got a good price point at below 100 dollars so I'll put it on my secondary list after the Ridiculously Pricey list is done, Thanks for the suggestion

If you are looking for somewhere to blow your money Wolfman will be happy to take a sizable chunk for one of their titanium offerings.

I think the Wolfman is too premium for me haha.
It looks like they're only doing custom email orders right now and wait time is a year. Main reason I didn't include them on the list.

Paradigm Shaveware might come off the list as well if I am not able to obtain one from their website in a year (goal is to buy direct from source and not reseller if it's made in America or Canada).

 

[malocchio]

Hello TheRinger..... my thanks for the compliments in this thread !....I know the situation, you have enough soap and cream for maybe 20 years , right ?... My only advice is not to neglect the cheaper creams, many are as good as British creams costing far more...There are fantastic creams from Egypt, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus , Palestine and many , many more places you would never think had high quality creams. Low cost , high satisfaction ...

 

[TheRinger]

Hello TheRinger..... my thanks for the compliments in this thread !....I know the situation, you have enough soap and cream for maybe 20 years , right ?... My only advice is not to neglect the cheaper creams, many are as good as British creams costing far more...There are fantastic creams from Egypt, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus , Palestine and many , many more places you would never think had high quality creams. Low cost , high satisfaction ...

You know I haven't really gone so much into creams. Before converting to wet shaving, I first started with the Art of Shaving, which looking back at it wasn't really all that great along with the cartridge Mach 3 razors they sold (as they're owned by P&G and part of Gillette).

Before I went exclusively with Artisan Shave soaps I actually tried a few other creams: Viking's Blade, Alonzo's Oil (which is made in Britain but sold stateside and quite obscure I might add), and Taylor of old Bond Street.

To be honest the creams all felt kind of the same to me, like there's not much difference in lathering and the result was the same... until I accidentally bought a cream from Moon Soaps called the Amaretti Special and found it Amazing. Still hesitant to try creams now because it's hard to find one I like.

Would you consider the "croaps" from Murphy and McNeil a Cream? I can't seem to make that work for me when I lather it... I guess when I'll have to take a look at more creams later on but the one I do want to try is Castle Forbes (when my cupboard is a little more empty).

Yeah I still have more soap and after shave than I know what to do with haha

 

[dmshaver]

Welcome! Another excellent American made razor is Haircut & Shave Co. They have a couple of outstanding premium razors.

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[benos]

Welcome! If you're looking to expand your collection of high end razors, you absolutely have to try a Timeless. One of the smoothest razors there is.

 

[TheRinger]

Welcome! Another excellent American made razor is Haircut & Shave Co. They have a couple of outstanding premium razors.

Until I saw this forum post I had never heard of them, they must be pretty small. I assume you own a few? LoL 17-4 is the one that looks pretty nice but it's sold out. Will keep them in mind.

Welcome to the forum !!

Thanks Bud!

Welcome! If you're looking to expand your collection of high end razors, you absolutely have to try a Timeless. One of the smoothest razors there is.

I have the Timeless Titanium next on my list, really love the scalloped design in the pictures. It looks like it's a heavier razor based on the handle but I guess I'll find out once I buy it.

I'm assuming you have one you shave with everyday?