Recently, I got more interested in stainless steel straight razors and almost naturally stumbled across posts about Friodurs.
Most comments were positive, but one comment stood out where someone who hones professionally was quoted as saying that he does not touch Friodurs.
I believe that stainless razors don't need to be inferior; I have two near identical Austs, one carbon steel and one stainless, and I am hard pressed to tell the difference when shaving.
Several month back, I found a new old stock a 5/8 Friodur and it works like a charm. Easy to hone and fun to shave with.
On a more recent flight to Vienna, Austria, I visited a shop that specializes in knifes and razors and bought an unused 6/8 Friodur and this one seems worlds apart from my earlier one. Shaves were mediocre and the razor did not take well to my honing attempts.
To equal the playing field, I had them both sharpened by a renown straight razor specialist, who commented in an e-mail that newer Friodurs neither hone well, nor shave well.
After both razors came back, I shaved this morning with the newer one and the result was average at best.
If the old ones were great and the new ones are dubious; at about what time did Friodurs loose their attractiveness?
Straight shavers often talk about Friodurs as one (generally desirable) group of SS straight razors, but maybe we need to differentiate.
But then again, to a lesser degree that may apply to many long-established straight razor names.
Most comments were positive, but one comment stood out where someone who hones professionally was quoted as saying that he does not touch Friodurs.
I believe that stainless razors don't need to be inferior; I have two near identical Austs, one carbon steel and one stainless, and I am hard pressed to tell the difference when shaving.
Several month back, I found a new old stock a 5/8 Friodur and it works like a charm. Easy to hone and fun to shave with.
On a more recent flight to Vienna, Austria, I visited a shop that specializes in knifes and razors and bought an unused 6/8 Friodur and this one seems worlds apart from my earlier one. Shaves were mediocre and the razor did not take well to my honing attempts.
To equal the playing field, I had them both sharpened by a renown straight razor specialist, who commented in an e-mail that newer Friodurs neither hone well, nor shave well.
After both razors came back, I shaved this morning with the newer one and the result was average at best.
If the old ones were great and the new ones are dubious; at about what time did Friodurs loose their attractiveness?
Straight shavers often talk about Friodurs as one (generally desirable) group of SS straight razors, but maybe we need to differentiate.
But then again, to a lesser degree that may apply to many long-established straight razor names.
