The Big, Merged, Master Shaving Thread

[HTRN]

Sounds like alot, don't it?

Until you realize that's a onetime, upfront price. Now compare it to somebody who shaves everyday, using a Mach3 blade, and gets 3 uses. Roughly 240 bucks a year in cartridges.


HTRN

[308Mike]

Sounds like alot, don't it?

Until you realize that's a onetime, upfront price. Now compare it to somebody who shaves everyday, using a Mach3 blade, and gets 3 uses. Roughly 240 bucks a year in cartridges.

And a straight razor of comparable use would last HOW LONG?

[Jered]

Do straight razors last pretty much forever?

[mekender]

Sounds like alot, don't it?

Until you realize that's a onetime, upfront price. Now compare it to somebody who shaves everyday, using a Mach3 blade, and gets 3 uses. Roughly 240 bucks a year in cartridges.


HTRN

my mach 3 blades last for more than 6 months. the trick is to make sure you dry the blades out so they dont rust when you are done... they are stainless steel, against your face and hair, they will not dull... you just have to make sure to get the chemicals and water off that will cause them to dull up.

I have actually heard of people using Bic disposables and an air compressor to dry them off... they can last most of a year on one razor with no problems.

http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownote ... /31/12606/

http://razorpro.net/index.htm

[Mud_Dog]

Sounds like alot, don't it?

Until you realize that's a onetime, upfront price. Now compare it to somebody who shaves everyday, using a Mach3 blade, and gets 3 uses. Roughly 240 bucks a year in cartridges.


HTRN

my mach 3 blades last for more than 6 months. the trick is to make sure you dry the blades out so they dont rust when you are done... they are stainless steel, against your face and hair, they will not dull... you just have to make sure to get the chemicals and water off that will cause them to dull up.

I have actually heard of people using Bic disposables and an air compressor to dry them off... they can last most of a year on one razor with no problems.

http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownote ... /31/12606/

http://razorpro.net/index.htm

Or you could just use good 'ol WD-40...

[SeekHer]

Sounds like alot, don't it?

Until you realize that's a onetime, upfront price. Now compare it to somebody who shaves everyday, using a Mach3 blade, and gets 3 uses. Roughly 240 bucks a year in cartridges. :shock:

And a straight razor of comparable use would last HOW LONG? :mrgreen:

Do straight razors last pretty much forever?

I think it was 1936 when my Uncles Schmuel (Sam) and Leibel (Lou) started their barber shop and they sold the building and the business in 1976…Lou died 1970 and Sam kept it going till he retired--when it was sold…Each had worked at another barber shop for about four or five years before hand…

They each started with two razors and when they first started they would have, each, shaved maybe thirty people a day, six days a week and of course it tapered off and at the end; then they might not shave twenty people in a month combined…they acquired a couple more razors over the years, maybe a new one every ten years or so and you’d see the four or five of them in the jar with the blue water that held the combs…I got one of the razors and one the horsehide chair strops when they closed down and other then being a little thinner and not as high as when new, it was perfect in all ways…I still have the razor, the strop ripped apart at the seams and it just hasn’t enough body to be re-sewn but you can still run a knife over it if you’re careful…

My point is that they would have shaved, let’s say 150 people a week for at least 15 years (1951), maybe 70 a week for the next 15 years (1966) and 10 people a week for the last 10 years…Last 10 years the razors where used more for cutting hair then shaving but still being used--remember the razor cut! It would amount to 176,800 shaves and if divided by three razors it amounts to 58,933 shaves and 44,200 for four razors or combined 51, 561 shaves for the life of the still serviceable straight razor…It would take you, shaving daily that is, about 141 years to reach that number of shaves…

The answer to your question is yes they do last a long time!

With the following Caveat: That is if you take care of them; strop before and after a shave, sharpen every few months (as needed) on proper Japanese water stones (my uncles used glass), dry them off, store them closed so the tips won’t chip or crack and your grandkids, grandkids could still be using them…That said, I’d never pay $300 for a straight razor let alone $1,300 for the Damascus one, especially since I don’t shave…

[308Mike]

Unfortunately, I'm a person who loves his sleep. If you wake me up wrong, it's a good way to start a fight first thing in the morning (it wouldn't be the first time I was dreaming of fighting a suspect).

So, between loving my sleep and how much time I have to get ready for work, (laying my stuff out the night before), there's no way I'd have time to enjoy such a shave every morning before work - weekends only. But it sounds damn enticing!

I'd need a starting point.

[rightisright]

I see shaving as something that needs to be done, like a chore. I don't enjoy loading my dishwasher just as I don't enjoy shaving.

Hell, if they make lasering the follicles cheaper in the next few years, I may consider it

[308Mike]

SeekHer, if you had to recommend one to someone who's used to being in a hurry in the morning, except on weekends, what would you recommend as an initial investment for using a straight razor so they can get comfortable with it (and increase it's usage over time)?

[Bob K]

Mike,

I just did a quick search. Dovo razors appear to start in the $70-80 range. Dovo are perfectly acceptable razors (I own & have used several).

If there is a decent cutlery shop in your town, ask if they have any unclaimed repairs (razors, if excessively honed may require regrinding). You may be able to pick up a used razor for the cost of the repair.

Back in the day, the two best cutlery shops in Chicago would call me whenever they accumulated a dozen or so unclaimed repairs. I always took all of them, and traded off the ones I didn't want at knife shows.

Best to start with a 5/8 size (5/8" blade width ... razors are traditionally sized in eighth inch increments). Easiest to handle for the novice.

At one time or another, all the better German cutlers made razors. And, going back probably 100 years, there were some very fine razors made in England. Wade & Butcher come to mind.

And remember to budget for a good strop.