Show off your Straights!

I don't have th pic anymore but if you look at my avatar you'll see all of them.

If you want a bigger picture just let me know and I'll take another one.

My two straights (Whipped Dog blemished vintage on left; Ralf Aust on right):

I have expanded my arsenal of straights since the picture I posted above last month. Here's my collection as it stands now:

I have expanded my arsenal of straights since the picture I posted above last month. Here's my collection as it stands now:

Nice! What are the new ones?

The first two on the right with the lighter scales I got a month ago when I started with straights (Ralf Aust 5/8 hollow-round, Whipped Dog unseen 4/8 extra hollow-barber notch).

The new ones starting from the front left with the dark scales are:

- 11/16 full hollow, square point. This is an antique store find - has no tang stamp or identifying mark of any kind. Wish I knew what brand it is. Cleaned up nicely and shaves great. Honed it up myself. Really like the scales on it. At $13 dollars, this one was a steal;

- 6/8 near wedge, barbers point. This one came from a guy on fleaBay. "Napoleon" made by John & William Ragg & Sons, Sheffield, apparently in 1860s time period. Because of the near wedge and smile on it, I sent it to Whipped Dog for honing. I just shaved with it earlier today for the first time and I can't stop faceturbating. It is, in a word, fantastic.

- 7/8 Filarmonica 14, Doble Temple, half hollow, square point. Bought it from Waveflow here on DFS. This appears to be 1970s vintage NOS. This one is the crown jewel of the lot. Shaved with it twice so far and it twice gave me a BBS result. Although officially a 7/8, it is just a hair short of an inch wide. Was a little worried about the size of it, but turns out it shaves like a dream. I like that it can hold in its hollow ALL of the lather from a complete pass of both my face and neck. Shaving with this razor is like driving a Ferrari.

Needless to say, the RAD bug has bit me good.

Great finds, congratulations and enjoy!

Alright, I touched up all but 1 of my blades today, so I figured I would take a picture of the stones I used and the razors. I didn't work on the BJ Eyer because the bevel isnt set yet, and I have some try-out stones coming from a facebook stone passaround, so I'm saving it for them.

Plus, I have at least 5 more razors coming next week, so I wanted to document the current crop before I start working on the next batch and seeing what I keep and what I pass along...


Starting at the top and moving down, left to right, row by row:

Allegheny Instruments Corp. 5/8 near wedge & Simmons Hardware "President" 5/8 wedge
BJ Eyer "Challenge Razor" 6/8 wedge & WP Plato "Janice" 5/8 full hollow
Taylor Eye Witness 5/8 quarter hollow & JR Torrey 5/8 full hollow
Roger's XY Quality 6/8 full hollow

The Allegheny and Simmons are my 2 favorite razors right now. Both are fantastic shavers, and both are wearing 1-piece scales I made out of teak.

The BJ Eyer is not shaving at the moment. The bevel isn't quite set, yet, but it's scales were falling apart so I put it in a set I made out of Bubinga wood. Not quite happy with them, so they will be changed again soon.

The Taylor Eye Witness was my first antique store purchase, and I never could get it quite right until today. It had a frown that I was not skilled enough to recognize or deal with, but with some great guidance from members here, I have finally managed to get this razor to pop the arm hairs the way it should. It will get a real test shave this evening.

The Roger's was the most expensive antique store razor I've bought. I paid more than I wanted to, but it took a wicked edge quite easily and quickly earned a spot in my rotation.

All 5 of the above were purchased from the same local antique shop.

The Plato I picked up "sigh unseen" from WhippedDog.com. The Torrey I acquired here in a trade. Both are good shavers, though I favor the Torrey and keep it in rotation more often than the Plato.

Next week I should see another nice mix of vintage razors to work on that could double my collection...or move along to someone else...we shall see what, exactly, comes in...

Oh, almost forgot! The stones...on the left is an unknown hard natural stone that I used with water for a while, but I recently discovered that it works VERY well with mineral oil, so that is what I use on it, now. It might be a hard Arkansas stone, but I am really not sure. On the right is my Imperia la Roccia 15k. For touching up, I do about 50-ish laps on the oil stone, clean the blade really well with hot, soapy water, then about 15-20 laps on the ILR. After the ILR, I go about 50 laps with iron oxide on a balsa strop followed by about 50 laps on a linen strop. The edge feels very soft but very sharp. It seems to be a decent combination, but it will probably change as my honing techniques improve...

The scales on your razors look great!

Robert Williams 8/8s