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What am I looking for in a second hand straight?

ollietwo

ollietwo

Member
Courtesy of Paste and Cut, I've found that some of my hometown's antique shops keep a pretty good stock of straight razors for sale. As such, I'm looking to get one, however, I know nothing about anything when it comes to cut-throat razors. Is there anything that I should be looking out for, good or bad in a second-hand blade?
 
calling @Substance

In short,

very little to no rust on the blade
The blade needs to be flat, slight smiles are ok,
none of them are sharp, you need to send it to a professional to sharpen, or an experienced amateur.

very deep rabbit hole
 
Where are you located? What price are they asking? You might get a better price on Ebay. I picked one up for 99c and it is a good shaver and it had no rust and had been used very little. That’s usually not the case. You might be better off grabbing a blade that’s already sharp. johnmrson on eBay knows his stuff and has razors for sale often and they are shave ready. His last sale was a Le Jaguar 6/8 straight razor - shave ready for USD 38 and yes he is local, based up in Queensland currently.
 
G’day @ollietwo
try target minimal hone wear,
avoid rust and pitting especially near the edge as this will usually run deeper resulting in a loss of blade height,
straight scales are preferred but slightly warped horn scales can be corrected with a bit of heat
good steel is best as scales can always be replaced but factor this into the purchase, if a rare blade At the right price, the purchase may be worth it
 
@ollietwo you could take some pics and post them for feedback.
Aussie history, Wade & Butcher, Sheffield or Solingen are all popular, or the pretty boys etched, gold, filigree.
Lots of experienced members on the forum can provide expert advice.
 
Drop my 5c

1. Geometry. You want spine parallel to edge, otherwise it's an eternal pain to keep straight
2. Smile/frown. Slight smile is fine, any frown is not. Try to find image of new condition and see if it had any smile initially. If it didn't (and it's not a chinese razor), might hint to a problems with pt 1.
3. Cracks in the edge. Definitely a no-go, it might be way deeper than it looks.
4. Chips in the edge. Generally workable if not too deep, but easier to avoid
5. Pitting corrosion. Normally don't affect function unless close to edge (or absolutely massive), but you won't be able to get rid of it realistically.
5.5 Surface rust is normally not very hard to get rid of, but be aware if its too much of it.
6. Edge - generally not a problem if it is parallel to spine, but might take more sharpening than you'd want. Be wary of non-uniform wear, normally sharpening strip on the spine should be more or less same width along the length
7. Wear on spine. Obviously, shouldn't be boxcutter-thin. :)
 
All the above, it depends on if you want to Restore it or just get it honed and use if you just want a shaver find one with hardly no wear and no rust. Most vintage Sheffield or Solingen stamped razors are great. I always liked Sheffield wedge razors to restore there’s a bit more steel to work with.
 
@ollietwo, sounds as if this is your first straight razor (SR). If you want to actually use it rather than just look at it, limit your budget to no more than about AUD 25. Good new starter SR's can be purchased for about AUD 25 on AliExpress. Most older second-hand SR's will need at least some work plus honing. Save your time and money for a better SR later, once you have learned to at least strop and SR shave.

Almost all old and most new SR's will not come save ready, whatever the vendor says. It will need to be honed WITHOUT tape to an acceptable shave-ready standard. Done by a professional, that honing will cost you another $20 to $30 or more. Do not try and hone it yourself. Learn that skill after learning to strop and SR shave.

Best two get two SR's, preferably the same or at least very similar, and get one properly honed. While that one is away getting honed, you can practice stropping with the other. When you get the first one back from the honer, your first shave with it should without stropping. That stro[[ing should already have been done by the honer. If that blade is properly honed, you should get 50 to 100 or a lot more shaves out of that blade with just stropping about 50 to 80 laps on a clean (not pasted) leather strop before each shave.

While shaving with the first honed razor, you can start to teach yourself honing. There are two basic and three ways to hone SR's; using whetstones, using lapping films (the most economical), or a combination of both. I started with lapping films and have now progressed to a combination of both. I would not hone much more than about 30 or 40 SR's a year so I cannot justify the cost of multiple expensive whetstones. A lapping film and diamond pasted balsa strops progression system should cost you under AUD 100 and last you for 20 to 30 new razor honings.
 
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