Bargain Shave-Ready Vintage Razors

The razors in this section are intended to be 'taster' razors - they are genuine vintage razors, but unlike the razors in the other section on this site they have only been superficially cleaned and minimally restored - if at all.  However, they are all honed and stropped to shave-readiness.  They vary in condition - some have pits and a lot of marks, some have just a light tarnish/patina, some are nearly mark free.  Mostly they have only a little hone wear - if hone wear is excessive it will be stated in the description of that particular razor.  In my opinion, they all shave better than the cheap new razors that are flooding the market these days.  I won't mention any names, but a list of black-balled (ie 'not to buy') razors feature on several shaving forums, such as The Straight Razor Place and Badger & Blade.

Even if you get a decent new razor, unless it has been checked by the shop owner to be shave ready it will probably give an unsatisfactory shave - even when advertised as 'shave-ready' most new razors will still need honing.  This can add quite a bit to the mark-up - from £10 - £15, or more if the razor has problems (and it is far from uncommon for brand new razors to have warps and uneven grinds that prevent them from being simply honed).  All the razors in this section are shave-ready, so you don't have to budget for any work to be done to them.  If you want to try out a vintage straight razor but do not want to risk spending a significant amount on a fully restored razor when you don't even know if you will keep it up, then this is the section for you!  You could of course take a chance and bid on a razor on one of the popular on-line auction sites - but there are many pitfalls.  The photographs are usually small and few, the lighting is usually poor and sometimes the focus is not sharp.  I give a lot of good, clear photos - they are part of the description, after all.  If you do win a razor in an auction, when you receive it will it be shave ready?  Probably not.  Will the scales be intact?  Will it have a warp in the spine?  Has the spine been worn down excessively by honing?  Is the metal still good and capable of taking an edge?  As you can see, it is a bit of a gamble, and you could end up spending a lot of money getting the razor restored, only to find that it does not shave well.

Some advice for new users: a first razor is usually chosen to be made of carbon steel (as opposed to stainless steel), have a round tip, a grind anywhere between quarter hollow and full hollow and be 9/16ths, 5/8ths or 11/16ths of an inch wide. Also, if you have a very tough or wiry beard, than the softer steel often (though not always) found in early razors (say 1900 and earlier) will not shave as well as a more modern razor (say post 1940) and a stiffer grind will probably serve better than a full hollow grind (ie quarter or half hollow).  One last point: do not expect to get a satisfactory shave straight away.  Everything has to be learned, from skin-stretching, beard preparation, razor angle, to stropping (if you have a straight razor then you must have a strop too - it has to be stropped before each use), etc.  This can take months - sometimes very many months!