What Straight Razor Did You Use Today?

Beautiful razor.

.

 

Yep, that razor has the lines!

 

Going to my corner now......


I doubt that I’ll ever learn to hone right. I’m pretty much done spending. Uh.....maybe just one more shavette and one more straight. I am actually very happy for those who make the time and capital investment to learn correctly.

I avoid advising anyone to do anything other than what they are told about sharpening. No one should expect any success doing things by my methods.

Jarrod? I suppose he is still struggling in the straight razor business. I bought a couple of rocks from him ..... problem is... how would one maintain a stone surface shaped to anything but flat? He addressed that problem by having a lapping plate made. I give him credit for that. I think I heard he commissioned a couple hundred (not sure though). When they are gone, I have my doubts if there will be more. The price is up. Glad I got mine in the beginning. I’ll never sell it.

As long as it takes to initially shape a rock, I think he was nuts for selling them for what the market would bear. I think he traditionally made his living on razors, but from what I hear the bottom fell out on the market. I won’t blame him for trying to address the biggest complaint from those who abandon straights....... “all the stropping.... all the honing”. And, add in that young people shave everything but their beards nowadays by current styles.

I came to largely prefer shaving with a shavette over a straight until I started getting edges that I liked. My method is unliked, probably more because Jarrod came up with it than anything else.

I like to do as I please, others should be good shavers and just follow the crowd.

Still in my corner

 

Bill, some of your words are taken to be offensive to people that don’t need a domed hone to hone a problematic razor - and that’s most people. But we all had to learn to do that, and if you want to, you can too, don’t sell yourself short. No one has a problem with you using a domed hone, and you should not have a problem with other people not using one.

The razor market is up, not down, in fact it’s hotter than it's been since ‘Skyfall’’. Matt Griffith shovels them out the door both vintage and new, his throughput is truly impressive. A Filarmonica Especial with light wear went for $860 on eBay, Matt sold a tortoise M.K. 33 for $900. Any size 14 razor sells about as fast as it’s listed and Filarmonica 14 (at least) prices are up 20% or so in the last year. I turned down $600 for a NOS Sub Cero 14. EPBD 14s in mint condition will start about $750. Most custom razor makers have a months long waitlist including some making ‘semi-customs’. Koraat had to suspend orders to clear the backlog, Aust was slow for a short while, other dealers like Bob Keyes and Matt Griffith are doing well. Jarrod is struggling because he pisses off a lot of his customers, lol, and that’s entirely within his power to fix. And I hope that he does.

I read your posts. You contribute to the forum and I hope that you continue to do so. Your comment about the non-flat Wacker mirrors other comments from friends, and I took note. In particular a friend up the road got in 3 Wackers, all warped or something, he sent them all back unhoned. And to be fair, this isn’t just Wacker, it’s probably a QC issue with the blanks that affects many brands. But the Solingen makers simply cannot continue to turn out razors that are difficult to hone normally and not accept the return of warped, overground, and otherwise defective products. This is not a viable business model. Jarrod and his domed hones seem to be a work around to allow people with less experience to put some kind of edge on these dogs, but the real solution is for Solingen to stop sending out defective razors.

 

Regarding the sporadic flare up on these threads I propose the following: We all agree that a certain member prefers to hone using a domed stone and it works for him. Said member agrees that there is no need to continually remind everyone else about this and feign oppression by those who do not. OK?

 

Steve, you have always been gentlemanly towards me, I appreciate that. If I failed to reciprocate, I apologize. I find it pleasurable to read your posts about the neat stuff you have acquired and how you care for it.

I am pretty sure I’m not the only one around here to make use of satire.

Nobody needs domed hones, agreed. I am happy for anyone who figures out how to sharpen their own stuff, however they choose to do so, folks should not think otherwise. To say that “No one has a problem with you using a domed hone”, might be a bit of a stretch IMO.

That particular Solingen ‘dog razor’ of mine would be the main reason why I started looking around from my very popular and lapped flat Naniwa progression in the first place. The one professional honer that serviced it for me did not improve it. I really did try to hone that one the way I’m supposed to, tape and all. I was just plain no good at it.

While on the subject of ‘dog razors’ please don’t forget the French. I have a few of those too.

While the market for nice vintage and elite custom razors may be up, I’m not really their target customer.

I do enjoy my straights much more these days. Bent up or not.

 

Monday morning shave, 232 Respect Solingen. Very nice razor that reminds a little bit of CVH MK. 30 series. Splash Turnbull & Asser from Floris. Enjoy your day Sir’s.



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The razor looks great


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Have a good week


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Unrestored Filarmonica 14 Rejoneo, soap and AS were Floris 89. A Keyhole 3 did the lathering and a great shaving razor and a classic scent always make for a great shave.

 

Tuesday morning shave, Eriksson & Björklund. Eskilstuna Sweden.



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Williams & Williams shave...
John Williams “Damascus Sheffield Steel”
Brush: AP Shave Co.
Suds: 70’s Williams
Balm: Proraso Azur Lime
Plain and wonderful

Enjoy your shave.
Tom

 

Koraat 14 2.0 double bellied hollow

 

C.V. Heljestrand No 140 7/8, soap and splash were Czech and Speake 88.

 

Very nice shave with this Mappin & Webb today

Hot water preparation
Argan oil PSO
Saville Row 3824 Silvertip Badger
Castle Forbes Lavender Shaving Cream
Mappin & Webb 11/16
Castle Forbes Lavender After Shave Balm



Happy shaving - Karl

 

I just love those two little gems!


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John Engstrom Jr
Brush: AP Shave Co.
Suds: Oleo Soapworks Grand & Union
Splash: Zingari Man Unscented
Finish: DUA Fragrances Liquid Mind Control
This razor is from Little Valley, NY and my understanding is John Engstrom Jr is not a relation to Johan Engstrom. This is a 100 year old razor, as the company was only in existence from 1920-22.

The backside does say, “Formerly of Eskiltunia, Sweden”... but that is not the spelling I’m used to (Eskilstuna).

Enjoy your shave.
Tom