buying a straight razor

J

Jared Stenoien

Joined
Dec 4, 2005
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Anyone know of someone who could make me a very simple straight razor? I don't want anything fancy, carbon steel blade and probably micarta for the handle. Also about how much would that run me?
 
Why would you want to have one made?

(I just bought a hand forged and hand ground razor for 15 bucks. It's about 50 years old but is in great shape. )
 
Jared Stenoien said:
I guess mainly because I don't know where I'd find a decent quality one.
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I am also thinking about buying a straight razor. Is there anything wrong with the quality of the Dovo and Thiers Issard straight razors that are readily available through the various internet sources?
 
Novice me, but I would guess they would be great. I got my wife to grab mine while she was antiqueing in Luling, Texas. I told her to get a good blade and not worry about the rest. She came back home with a Clauss made in Freemont, Ohio for $15. I checked the edge with a loup and there were no chips. I sharpened it on a Spyderco ultrafine benchstone and then stropped on CrO loaded paper on glass. I praticed on side burns a few times and then did the full monty last night.
 
matt321 said:
Novice me, but I would guess they would be great. I got my wife to grab mine while she was antiqueing in Luling, Texas. I told her to get a good blade and not worry about the rest. She came back home with a Clauss made in Freemont, Ohio for $15. I checked the edge with a loup and there were no chips. I sharpened it on a Spyderco ultrafine benchstone and then stropped on CrO loaded paper on glass. I praticed on side burns a few times and then did the full monty last night.
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Others have said that Clauss razors are known for good quality. It is Fremont, O. and the blades were made in Germany.
 
Jared Stenoien said:
I guess mainly because I don't know where I'd find a decent quality one.
Click to expand...

guyfalks said:
I am also thinking about buying a straight razor. Is there anything wrong with the quality of the Dovo and Thiers Issard straight razors that are readily available through the various internet sources?
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The Dovo's are good. I have a couple. Thiers Issard also has a good reputation but I can't speak from experience on those.

Good old razors can be found on e-bay and in antique shops, often for around $10. Any old razor made in the US, England, or Germany is probably good quality. My everyday shavers are old Spauldings and they outshave any new ones I've ever bought.

Stay away from new razors that cost $10 though, or anything from Pakistan.
 
You DO NOT WANT Micarta for the handle material. The cloth, linen or paper used in Micarta laminate absorbs and retains water. It would be like sandwiching a (thin) carbon blade between 2 wet towels.

Stick with bone, wood or plastic/resin for handle material.
 
It took about 5 minutes with a strop, unpasted. for touch ups i use a barber hone and/or a pasted strop. The ones you get from open_razor are strop ready and just shave! these are possibly the easiest razors i've seen to keep sharp.
 
CWL said:
You DO NOT WANT Micarta for the handle material. The cloth, linen or paper used in Micarta laminate absorbs and retains water. It would be like sandwiching a (thin) carbon blade between 2 wet towels.

Stick with bone, wood or plastic/resin for handle material.
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Are you sure about this? One of the main selling points of Micarta is that it is pretty much impervious to liquids. There is paper/linen in it, but it is impregnated with resin at a high pressure, so the liquids can't get past the surface. At least, that's the way that I heard it...

That said, there are some really pretty DOVO's with Micarta that I have my eye on... :D
 
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