A Surprisingly Good & Inexpensive Straight Razor.
I’m a 60+ guy that’s been shaving with a straight razor for about 2 years now. Straight razor shaving is an adventure as well as a manly art that, once mastered, will put the polish on your masculine ego.
I currently own eight straight razors of various styles and vintages. I search eBay and the Internet on a regular basis to acquaint myself with the various styles, manufacturers and prices of straight razors.
I came across this straight razor and was attracted by the appearance as well as the inexpensive cost. It was fairly well photographed by the vendor and so gave a pretty good idea what was being offered. Overall, I find this SR appealing to the eye. The “Spanish Point” style of the blade was something I, as a novice, have not tried. It’s a little trickier to use than a more rounded blade so rookies beware! Your experience may be more sanguine than you had hoped for.
The blade is full-hollow ground which makes it super thin and light. The vendor states in the description that it is made of carbon steel but having no experience in metallurgy I’ll have to take him at his word. Vintage straight razors are commonly made of carbon steel and it seems, by far, to be preferred over stainless steel. The etching (?) on the blade “Cutthroat Gents” is attractive and appealed to me. There are no maker’s marks on the tang, no indication of where or by whom they were manufactured. No matter. “Made in China” would be a pretty good guess.
The scales are a “pearlized” plastic material purported to be “Italian”. Who knows? Again, I’ll take the vendor’s word for it...I don’t care where they came from, they look nice enough. The scale’s pinning could have been a little fancier for my tastes but they’re ok, does the job of securely holding the scales together.
Okay, so I’ll give it a A- on appearance and price but those aren’t worth a damned if it doesn’t shave well! So here’s my observation on the matter. It arrived sharp but not “shave-ready” sharp. I really didn’t expect it to. Even we’ll known manufacturers of renowned straight razors don’t sharpen their blades to shave-ready sharpness. This, dear customer, is left up to you to do. If you have any SR honing skills then you will finish the edge to your satisfaction. If you don’t hone your own razors then you will have to send your razor out to someone who does.
If you try to shave with this SR “as is” you will be disappointed! It will not shave you well (if at all) and you may think it’s junk and you wasted $20 bucks. Get it well and properly honed and you may have a different (hopefully better) opinion. Unless of course you are new at straight razor shaving and your technique sucks and you cut your face to ribbons! But that, my friends, is a different matter.
Taking a chance, I plunked down the $20 and ordered this SR. If it did not live up to my expectations, at worst I would have been disappointed and out a lousy 20 bucks. It was worth a shot. So I sent away for it and it arrived in my mailbox quickly. From the envelope I could tell that Amazon had a hand in this.
Being the kind of guy that likes to be as self-reliant as possible in most matters, I had previously purchased the necessary honing stones to hone my own razors. A 3000/8000 grit combination stone ($30) and a 12000 grit finishing stone ($90) and I’m set for life. You can purchase more stones and pay a ton of money for them (jnats!) but you don’t have to.
I honed this straight razor on my finishing stone and, with time, patience and perseverance, I was able to put a highly polished, super-sharp edge on this inexpensive razor. I finished the job with a thorough stropping, first on pasted canvas then on leather...man, that cutting edge gleamed! And the razor shaved like a champ!
My beard is only moderately heavy and I usually shave every two or three days. I was pleased with the outcome of my shave and so, all in all, I am pleased with this purchase. It was a small gamble but it paid off (this time). I have made this razor a part of my regular rotation. This worked out for me. Your experience, for one reason or another, may differ. If I does, I hope it is for the better and not the worse. Good luck to all you “manly men” who choose to shave with a straight razor...you’re “a cut” above the rest!
Uncle Dano
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