As for strops, you want something that is made from quality leather. You can find them from about $35 some places. But to start, if you have a good leather belt with no studs or decoration you can even use that. Just keep it pulled out flat so you don't roll the edge.
Rule of Thumb: Stay away from new mass-made razors that are neither Dovo nor TI Define usable. You will get what you pay for. And although you can get a razor and strop on the cheap, you will find the leather difficult to flatten and use with effective results, and you will find the steel quality to be so unreliable that even after much effort you finally put an edge on it, it will not be retained for more than half a shave. JayKay is right on gatto that last link you posted is of a double arrow razor which have a history of inconsistent quality. for $10 you may get a winner and you may not! But the seller has a good history of making things right if and when the buyer is not satisfied If you want a brand new razor, you really have to shop at Dovo, TI, Boker, or custom razor makers such as Tim Zowada, Bill Ellis, etc (which will not be cheap)
You can rest assured that these razors are crap. The new brand name is "Selective"... which is pretty ironic in itself, seeing as how even if you could get one honed well enough to cut dirt, it would probably lose its edge halfway through the first pass. I've never tried shaving with one of these, but I did get a set of 3 to practice stropping and honing technique before I immersed myself into the real deal. That's pretty much all these razors are good for. And just in case you're interested, here's a close up. Sorry about the shoddy quality... and the blurry pic. :happy102
Hey, you know what? If you want to give one of these cheap-o razors a shot, just PM me and I'll PIF you one. I have 3. And like I said, I've never shaved with any of them. I'm curious to see what would happen, but I've thought the better of it thus far.
Legends say that some pretty nice strops have been found in antique stores and flea markets for precious little money. You might even be able to find one at an estate sale, but you might wear yourself out looking. The shortcut is to browse the classifieds here at TSD or to check out the selection at SRP. A used strop is just as good as a new one as long as it isn't damaged or nicked up too bad, and they tend to be a heck of a lot more wallet-friendly too. Honestly, the best resource for straight razors and such is forums such as these. Members will often give some pretty good deals to newbies and if you're lucky you might even get a PIF.
In my opinion, no, for two reasons: 1) You don't know the brand/model of the razors and if they are shave ready; 2) The whole set is 19 USD? That gives us some clues about the quality of not only the strops but also the razors. Two razors plus two strops for 19 USD? Come on!
Several of my straights have come from eBay. You don't have to avoid it, you just need to know what to look for and what to stay away from (Zeepk, Selective, Timber Rattler, etc). There's a helpful article in the SRP wiki about which razors are best avoided on eBay.
This is very true, my first straight came off E-bay from Sanguine Beauty complete with strop cost me £17 and it’s still in my rotation though some will say to avoid them the same as Zeepk and the like, out of the 90 or so straights I have about 60 have come from E-bay the rest have come from members off this site, SRP and the RazorXchange the thing with E-bay is buy from someone with a good reputation and ask questions before you bid and do a little research first on different sites for info about the different makes such as this list from Spirit of 76 http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8508 and buy from those makes you also have Steve/Blade(TSD name) at http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/ who is great to deal with but check out the Vendors Corner and the Classifieds not as many straights get sold at TSD as on other sites SRP have some don’t know about B&B as I have never been on the site, the only other thing I would say about E-bay is that very few razors come shave ready the only ones that I have received shave ready have been from sellers who are also members of the shaving forums both TSD and SRP have a list of members who sell on E-bay have a look for the lists and keep your eyes open for them on E-bay and you will get a good razor:happy088
+1 Ive got quite a few off of ebay,real good deals.I do a little work on some,but nice keepers.I just landed 2 Erik Anton Bergs,Very Nice Blades and kickin shavers when honed just right.I do all my own honing.Just be cautious of the sellers feedback.Usually sellers with good feedback back their wares.So dive in,you never know the nice stuff sometimes comes when bidders are on their toes.
After having seen this thread, I went back to Ebay and looked around (hadn't been there for a while since they changed all their fees and the feedback system) and there seemed to be more of the cheaper made stuff on there. It looks as if it is getting tougher to find the "gems" in with the junk, but the good ones can still be found. Just have to look at the listing carefully (Are the descriptions realistic? Are the pictures clear and from several different angles? Actually read the feedback and see if the comments are specific and consistent...now that you can only leave certain feedback, it's helpful to look at the comments.) Blackstangal is right, the good stuff is there, but just getting a little tougher to weed out.
There aren't a whole lot of companies making new straight razors these days. Most of the new ones on eBay are not worth the low price. Generally speaking, a straight razor isn't something you want to necessarily buy on the cheap. Unless you are buying them for honing practice or the like.
So, I just got my Double Arrow, the 9.50 "Legendary...Sharp as a Razor" one. I haven't shaved with it, but it came very close to shave ready, I think. Shaved my arm hair, has a decent feel on the TPT and TNT. I have a shave ready Kropp to compare it to, and I can definitely feel an edge there, much more than on my Tosuke. The scales are obiously cheap plastic, but the fit tightly and aren't warped. The blade was oily but not at all in bad shape. Do I think it was worth 9.50? Heck yeah. And when I learn to hone, this baby will be my first project...if I screw it up, no sweat. If I don't, I'll get a good shaver.
The only way to know if it's ready is to shave with it. Unfortunately, one way to know it isn't shave ready is to properly perform a thumbnail test with it. That test is one used to find edge damage really - you would use it to determine how dull a razor or to scan for the presence of edge undulations or chips. If a blade passes the thumbnail test then it is ready for finer sharpening and polishing, but the testing procedure itself will not allow a shave ready edge to result from it since dragging a shave ready edge across a nail will take away the sharpness it needs No matter, the double arrows do not come shave ready from stamps2222 anyway If you've got a finishing hone then that may be all you need to finish sharpening it
i will probably end up grabbing one of the arrows. no idea how good the quality of the razor is but id like to compare it to the crap ss Zeepk i first bought accidentally. my thoughts are the same in respect that its a good cheap piece to practice honing on. if it works, great. if not, there goes an hour of pay. need to start somewhere. mistakes are a great learning tool.
