I recently bought a Stahly Live Blade Razor from an antique store, and I wanted to share my impression of it. It is in exellent mechanical and cosmetic condition, tan and gold in color, and I paid $37 dollars for it.
It shaves equally well with the motor on or off, which might suggest the motor is a gimmick. On a scale of 0 to 10 with 5 being average, I would rate its performance and efficiency as an 8 or a 9 in either motor mode. In theory it is an engineering marvel, and a strong argument could be made that any serious collectior should have one in his collection. I got the best shaves with a Feather blade, and I received no cuts or nicks during one week of slow and careful daily shaving with minimal pressure. I suggest the razor is of medium aggression, slightly more aggressive than the Gillette Tech. To shave well and to shave efficiently one has to shave slowly with the Stahly Live Blade Razor, so shaving require a little extra time.
When using the motor the procedure is to let the motor and the razor do the work and do the traveling. In a way its personality is somewhat of a hybrid between an electric razor and a conventional wet shave razor. For a 4 pass shave I find I have to wind up the motor 3 times. During the second half of the running time the motor will slow down somewhat. It takes about 15 winds for the motor to be wound up tighly. It is a tiring precedure for older hands, as the winding mechanism requires considerable effort.
The main positive is that the comfort and the efficiency of the head is phenomenal with either the motor on or off. Also it is the most novel razor in my collection of about 30 DE razors.
The main negative is that the razor is heavy, bulky, and tiring to hold while shaving.
It is a nice razor to have and to use to break the monotony of shaving with a conventional double edged razor.
From memory, I believe the box said the retail price was $30 dollars, and a dollar calculator says that would be about $175 dollars in today's money. I believe the Stahly LIve blade razor was manufactured circa 1946 to 1978. For the calulation of the money I used an assumed manufacturing year from about in the middle of the manufacturing range of years.
I would be interested in the experiences and the comments of others with this unusual and very high quality razor.
It shaves equally well with the motor on or off, which might suggest the motor is a gimmick. On a scale of 0 to 10 with 5 being average, I would rate its performance and efficiency as an 8 or a 9 in either motor mode. In theory it is an engineering marvel, and a strong argument could be made that any serious collectior should have one in his collection. I got the best shaves with a Feather blade, and I received no cuts or nicks during one week of slow and careful daily shaving with minimal pressure. I suggest the razor is of medium aggression, slightly more aggressive than the Gillette Tech. To shave well and to shave efficiently one has to shave slowly with the Stahly Live Blade Razor, so shaving require a little extra time.
When using the motor the procedure is to let the motor and the razor do the work and do the traveling. In a way its personality is somewhat of a hybrid between an electric razor and a conventional wet shave razor. For a 4 pass shave I find I have to wind up the motor 3 times. During the second half of the running time the motor will slow down somewhat. It takes about 15 winds for the motor to be wound up tighly. It is a tiring precedure for older hands, as the winding mechanism requires considerable effort.
The main positive is that the comfort and the efficiency of the head is phenomenal with either the motor on or off. Also it is the most novel razor in my collection of about 30 DE razors.
The main negative is that the razor is heavy, bulky, and tiring to hold while shaving.
It is a nice razor to have and to use to break the monotony of shaving with a conventional double edged razor.
From memory, I believe the box said the retail price was $30 dollars, and a dollar calculator says that would be about $175 dollars in today's money. I believe the Stahly LIve blade razor was manufactured circa 1946 to 1978. For the calulation of the money I used an assumed manufacturing year from about in the middle of the manufacturing range of years.
I would be interested in the experiences and the comments of others with this unusual and very high quality razor.
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