Vintage... use or don't use?

[humber burns]

My AD is just starting to really take over and I'm starting to think about trying to get my hands on some vintage DEs. Just out of curiosity I wanted to get a consensus: How many of you collector guys actually use your vintage DEs on a regular basis?

 

[Pureslab]

I sure do .......

The vintage Gillette Tech and New Heads give outstanding shaves IMO

 

[fidjit]

Depends on how you term a collector.

I'm not a collector to display or to have mint razors, yet in 3 months I've accumulated a number of them, so I assume I'm a collector

I have used them all at least once and my main razor is an near mint Aristocrat #16......... I've got 4 out on the bathroom cabinet, the rest sit under the sink in a box. As I rotate in and out, they go from sink to cabinet.....

To me there's just something about using a beautifully made piece of "art" that's almost 60 years old.

YMMV

 

[mmack66]

Unless you are buying NOS razors, there isn't any reason to not shave with them.

 

[humber burns]

Ya I probably gave the wrong impression with my question. I fully plan to use whatever I buy, I was simply curious as to what other people do.

 

[Tabaliah]

I buy them to use them, and fully intend to release any that I am not using back into the wild.

..michael

 

[huntmol]

Yep, use 'em! Some guys here are collectors but I buy razors for one reason and one reason only - to shave!

 

[knlgskr]

usemallatime, that'syihavem, 2uzem.

 

[erudolph]

Me too, I use them...

 

[Luc]

I exclusively use vintage razors. I tried modern Merkur, they are all right but I prefer vintage Gillettes. I also love my Hoffritz...

For the straights, I was thinking of getting a Dovo eventually but I like the old one too...

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

 

[Topgumby]

I use a vintage razor every day, rotating through several Techs, Slims, a Fatboy, several flavors of Super Speeds, a couple NEWs, a Bostonian, an Old Type, an Aristocrat, a Sheraton, a couple Schick Injectors, a Chinese Flying Eagle, and a Senator. I think that's all.

I'm looking forward to trying a Super Adjustable, a Big Fellow, and the Krona. There are other Gillettes I'd like to use before I kick the bucket, and then there are always those Gems I've been resisting so far...

One of these days I may even get around to trying a modern razor.

 

[thirdeye]

All I use is vintage razors but I will not use the many that I have collected which are in excellent/fine or better condition. What I have done is buy doubles. This way I can shave with the ones I want to, try every other one that I own a dup to and enjoy them without touching my nice ones. Not the cheapest way to do it but then again degrading an NOS Mint razor as a collector is a shame.

 

[SRock]

Another vote for:

Buy A Dup!......

I think just like Ray...

 

[dpm802]

The last five vintage razors I've purchased have gone unused ... they are an Aristocrat, a Tech Ranger, a Fatboy, a Rolls, and a G2000. About $125 worth of money, and far too many hours spent hunting for them, just to sit in the closet.

Once I realized that I'm buying razors and not getting any use out of them, I stopped buying vintage razors ... and I stick to the four Merkurs I own that actually get some face-time.

I may go back to buying vintage razors someday. I like to collect them, but it will have to wait until I have more time, more money, and a place to display them properly.

 

[Mr. Igg]

I also only use vintage razors; i.e., I don't own any modern ones, and those I own, I use.

 

[spinyeel]

I have collected a lot of razors in the last twelve months,and have used all of them at least once.I will be selling off a heap of them soon,now that I have settled on my favourite shavers.Not surprisingly,the cheaper,less glamorous razors are the best whisker whacker's. Some of the more serious collectors on the shaving sites don't even use D/E or S/E razors.That's why they never post about shaving.

 

[saltypete]

I have a growing collection of vintage razors, some of them cost me a lot of money but I bought them be used. There is a real pleasure in admiring an object that is 50, 60, 100 years old but I find even greater pleasure in using that object for what it was designed to do.

Pete

 

[Colphax]

I like to use the razors I acquire, and so far, I've only bought one truly "vintage" razor, my birth year/quarter Gillette Super Adjustable, although I was given a couple of my grandfather's razors.

I'm also persnickety about the condition of the razors I want, so truly mint or NOS razors might actually get used by me. Thankfully, the replating efforts of Bob's Razor Works and Pureslab have kept me from making the "pure" collectors swear and clutch their chests so far

 

[scottish steve]

I think you'll know which ones should be used and shouldn't. There are plenty of "user" Techs and Superspeeds around, but if you get one in the cdtn that's just been sold on the b/s/t in-box e.g., it might be better to use it once and save it for posterity. I think in a few decades, a brand-new HD Rocket will be of such superior workmanship, it'll have to be seen by our children for them to believe it.

 

[Jason T.]

I bought a Gillette Fatboy that is about 60 years old, but I bought it to use it. I got it because I wanted a razor that is TTO and adjustable and a neat size, not some overblown hunk of metal like the Vision.