Tell me about these, historians!

[Walker]

When i first got into straight razor shaving i said i woild never buy any ebay razors and wouldn't hone my own because of the cost involved in hones....6 hones later and now a new Dremel i want to try a little polishing, honing, and then shaving. I just bought these off of ebay. Can anyone tell me about them and if they were a good bargain? I belive i have heard of Keen Cutters but not the Chief.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140457022091&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130433649397&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

[SliceOfLife]

Neither are a famous maker as far as I know, but to be honest, pretty much all vintages are great shavers. It's all about the honing and stropping (and shaving technique of course). So I'd base value on condition and style (blade grind, depth, handle type, etc). You paid on the low end of fair for the yellow handled razor and mid end of fair for the black handled one.

The old German steel imported and hollow ground (the type the yellow one is) are some of my favorite razors, but I am not fond of that scale type. The black handled one looks like a similar style but a bit more recent and it has had a much more thorough restoration done to it.

 

[Walker]

Thanks Ian. I wanted to start out slow by just polishing and then honing before really getting down and dirty with the process of restoration. Maybe they will turn out to be ok shavers, if not i can always play around with razor modification lol.

 

[natchez]

Thanks Ian. I wanted to start out slow by just polishing and then honing before really getting down and dirty with the process of restoration. Maybe they will turn out to be ok shavers, if not i can always play around with razor modification lol.

Both those razors look like would be just fine for learning to hone. If you are lucky they are flat, if not you will learning to rock and roll the strokes. Good luck and let us know how you make out.