You might also consider vintage razors, a lot of them are brass and they've stood the test of time to get this far.
Alternatively, if what you really want is machined stainless you can probably get it for that price from dscosmetic or yaqi on AliExpress. They have many models so it'd be worth searching out some reviews.
I'm unsurprised to see an overlap between meditation and straight razor appreciation. After all, using, honing and stropping my straights are some of my favourite meditations though I still try to keep a more formal practice.
Thanks for sharing! I must admit, I was slow to come around to this way of thinking, one soap (Williams), one brush (house brand badger), one razor (Merkur 38c) for years but then I tried a straight razor and that all went out the window so on top of the comprehensive arsenal of straights I have a whole spectrum of soap, various DE new and old (even a few vintage blades), Gem razors, injectors (the twin blades from Japan are amazing), a lather catcher, Rolls, and a Wilkinson Dunhill where I hone the blades (pretty much the same as the Pall Mall). And today I tried this new giant tub of unscented soap I bought for some bizarre reason.
Very glad for the chill low key hobby, I think my favourite part is the utter lack of urgency, and as a bonus my kitchen knives have never been this well maintained. Plus theoretically I can recoup most of the (not life changing) money if I ever have need of it and the stuff is small, it'd all fit in an unremarkable box so I don't really see any downside.
My one-pass few-variables shaves continue. Kismet blades are nice, this went better but maybe it was the soap--my Canadian MdC tribute showed up quickly (snagged one of the last two they had at amazon) and wow, the tub was so full it didn't quite close. Needed to add water as I unexpectedly loaded a sizable amount of soap, I think I expected it to load slower being so hard. Very slick, and very unscented unlike MWF which I find stronger than I expected (though unobjectionable).
I think I saw someone complaining that the B-20 has rounded corners and barely hits the posts on their injector so it might be perfect for a shavette.
Which gap do you have for the WR4?
Thanks, this is way, WAY faster.
I am selling some interesting straight razors over on Reddit as that's where the audience is but I really appreciate the community here and the idea of federation. So I'd totally give you guys a 5% discount (and another 5% if I recognise you and we work out a trade or some way you can pay me without my covering paypal fees). They're also just a neat and varied bunch of razors that I think are also worth a bit of show-and-tell (won't be too sad if I wind up hanging onto them for a while yet).
(I first sought approval for this unusual use of the thread.)
I'm really enthusiastic about the idea of community controlled platforms so I prefer to engage here rather than Reddit but am selling some razors over there due to the larger audience. We don't seem to have a community sales thread in this sub though, so which would be the most appropriate thread if I wanted to link that and offer Lemmy users a discount? Maybe the show & tell could be broadened to also including showing what we have on offer? Edit: wound up posting this comment
Been feeling a bit ill and frustrated by some sort of persistent low grade coldvid. At some point I check the mail and a couple Kismet blades for my Weck from @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social were there! Thanks again. Wasn't quite feeling up to it until last shave a couple days ago I used the blade that was in there, a Fromm according to the spine (but perhaps a decade or more older as it came with the Weck in a lot). And today I tried the Kismet.
Really enjoyed that shave. Been a while since I'd used one of my shavettes or a pasted blade and I do enjoy the extra bump in sharpness, help me be really present with it and use a tight angle with a vanishingly light touch. However it came with a tiny weeper that sort of highlighted two pores, easly dealt with by alum but still, tsk, thats unusual with my less lasery natural edges, especially WtG. Managed AtG without adding to that and overally pretty happy with this blade. And the Weck generally, glad I didn't let it go when I was thinking pfff I have straights. It's a good benchmark and something to strive for with pasted edges.
...though I also saw why I haven't been back to this much since getting a few JNATs, definitely ended up with a bit more in the way of ingrowns.
Today I gave the Kismet a try and had a similar result (weeper moved though and had a twin this time). Also WtG because I decided I'd leave off AtG for fewer ingrowns although the extra sharpness is definitely appreciated there so it was tempting. Overall I really enjoyed it and consider it a resounding success because that was a fresh blade with nearly the comfort of one with 3 shaves on it and I didn't even palm strop it (On that note: @DaveWave94@sub.wetshaving.social you might consider palm stropping for fresh GEM blades, I find it helps those in particular quite a bit for me).
Overall though I think I mainly like the Weck: it wasn't hugely better than the vintage(ish) Fromm so I might try the current ones when I eventually use these up as I think there are more options for me to source those. Kismet was probably my favourite new-blade-in-a-shavette though I think the Captain Titan Mild AC comes close.
Er, to make this more SoTD I guess I should point out I was using DG Darkfall and a 23mm Muhle STF.
Curious to hear how the honing goes, some say the steel is noticeably different and I've seen a fair few pictures with crazy looking bevels that imply a challenging geometry. My only TIs have been vintage and fairly straight so I've yet to explore these.
Oh the Kismet blades arrived, thanks again! Recently did a control shave with what I had in there and will try it next.
Coooooool. Thanks for sharing.