Favorite Vintage Straight?

what r some of the good vintage razors out there on ebay?/..5/8 round?

 

I love my Boker King Cutter. I got lucky and found one for a good price that arrived darn near shave ready.

 

Not really "vintage" but if you can find a Wapencia, they are dang nice. They come with stainless steel scales, but I had Glen rescale mine in green. The one on the left is the W&B I traded to Dimitry and the one on the left is a Torrey Glen gave to me for the price of honing when he told me that "The Rattler" I sent him for honing was toast.

 

Most of the vintage straight razors on eBay are going to be 5/8 square points, anything else requires some searching. I'm a big fan of the Union Cutlery razors, Union Cutlery is the company that would become Ka-Bar and they're readily available at excellent prices. If you scavenge through the auctions a bit you'll be able to find a few really nice razors, but it's probably a better idea to buy from a reputable restorer that way your razor will be guaranteed to be in good condition and shave ready. Here are a few links:

http://www.maggardrazors.com/index.php/product-category/straight-razors-shavettes/

http://www.whippeddog.com/products/find/straight-razors-1/page:1

http://razoremporium.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7

http://www.bobsrazors.com/shop/cata...kk7ik&shop_param=shop_overview_pager=1&cid=1&

 

I like the larger blades. My favorites are Bartmann's, but they are terribly expensive on ebay and don't show up that often. My next favorite is the Dovo from the Fritz Bracht era. ERN's can be had for less and are very nice and usually have the round point. Look up ERN Crown and Sword. Very nice edges.

 

I thought I'd throw up a couple of vids on eBay/vintage hunting. Lynn Abrams (founder of the straightrazorplace.com forums) discusses vintage razors & eBay finds/pitfalls in the videos below. The clips are from the World of Straight Razor Shaving DVD & were uploaded by SRP.

 

thk you for the replys lots of good info,, thk u much

 

I'd be reluctant to put a brand name down. If the razor is well made (no manufacturing flaws) with good steel your well on your way to a fine shaving razor.

Late edit: Just about any vintage German, English, French, Swedish, American and Japanese razor have the potential for being good. I've had good luck with Hardware store brand razors too.

 

Excellent point. Razorburn, there are some brands of (new) razors that many have found to be of consistently poor quality. For example the edge on some will crumble when honing. These sometimes masquerade as vintage or "Solingen-made" on eBay: Brands of Straight Razors to Avoid

 

The only straight I have is a W&B 4/8". It needs polished, but other than that, it's a fantastic shaver. It has a barber's notch on it too.

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/here-is-my-baby-pics.31957/

 

Here's my favorite. 13/16 Hoffritz Barbers King.

 

Here's a photo of my Bartmann 89 15/16 High Class Extra Manganese steel.

 

Here's my Bartmann 504 High Class Best Silver Steel 15/16 with a worked spine.

 

My Dovo Fritz Bracht 15/16 Dovo Favorit. Fritz Bracht led Dovo from 1940 to 1953 and produced some of the best Dovo's ever. I much prefer this to any modern Dovo's.

 

I like Theirs-Issard, Dubl Duck, and J.A Henckels, it’s hard to pick between them: if I had to choose I’d go with Dubl Duck: even though I like the logo on the Henckels too but the edge on my Special No.1 is the smoothest

 

I’m still getting used to my INOX Friodur, my answer might change in the near future lol. I also want to get a RED IMP

 

I have a USMC K-BAR, didn’t know that

 

That’s a looker,

 

I can see why