The Best Straight Razor ~ Quality Stainless Steel ~ Will Never Rust - Black on Black Handle and Foldable Blade for a Sleek Professional Look - Get a Quality Barber Shave at Home

I purchased this razor for a 7 month deployment I decided to buy straight razor because is was one of the cheapest straight razors that you could get for what it was. I purchased and Strop and some fine buffing paste and watch countless videos on the internet before buying this and I'm so happy that I did. 1). So about me and how i use this razor, I am currently active duty Navy and as i mentioned above i purchased this razor the 7 month deployment that I as about to complete. I shave EVERY SINGLE DAY witch is important to know so you can understand how often this razor is used for the quality it is. when I first received this razor it was shave ready I did give it a couple passes on the strop that I applied the Extra fine buffing paste to and worked through both sides of a 3" leather strop before the first shave just to make sure it was good to go and I tell you it was the closest shave I have ever had! 2). So on deployment I did not have access to a honing block or any other sharpening stone except for my leather strop with the green buffing paste that was applied to one of the sides. I find that I can use this razor twice between having to run it on the strop it still has the same sharp pull free stroke as it did the first time that I put it to my face. 3). So after use for 8 months the black paint on the edge and the back of the blade has come of due to the stropping but the rest of it is still there. The case does it's job keeping the razor protected and there is zero sign of rust or corrosion witch was a concern of mine because i knew that I wouldn't be able to let it air dry I simply blow the water off wipe it with a towel and put it into my shaving bag witch is simply a cheap cosmetic bag you can buy form amazon or Walmart that holds my Pre shave oil, soap, brush, after shave balm, and the razor itself. 4). some people on here said it gave them bumps or it wasn't sharp this that and another but it comes down to making sure the blade is ready for you to shave before you put it to your face and making sure that you are shaving properly, you might not think so but the pre shave oil, the soap that you use and how well you keep your' blade has I'd say 90% impact on your personal experience. If you have no idea what I am talking about there is a ton of free information on the web on wet shaving, stropping, and taking care of your blade and I urge you to simply google any question that you have and a person that is more knowledgeable about wet shaving most likely has a video on the subject. SUMMARY: I recommend this to anyone that wants a quality blade for the price point. It got me through a 7 month deployment without needing to be re-honed and the weight feels nice. not too heavy but not light and cheap feeling like the safety razors that have the interchangeable blades. If you are looking for your first real straight razor this is the blade for you because if you turn out not to like it or like wet shaving you can either return it or give it to a friend and at the end of the day it's still a quality blade that holds a wicked edge and gets an military inspection close shave every time!

First off, the service was exceptional. As good as any I have experienced: they send three emails, which many companies do now. But when I had a small issue with the razor my emails were replied to promptly and the issue was resolved promptly and fairly. Now about the razor. Keep in mind that this is one of the few blades between the Gold Dollars and the Dovos in terms of price, and I think this razor hits the sweet spot. The blade is solid. It is stainless steel, which means two things to me: no rust but you have to strop it more. I've tempted the fates and put it away without oil since I got it and not a spot of rust or discoloration (this is not the case with my carbon razor)—the black coating helps here too, plus it looks cool. The jimps are subtle like a smooth file but definitely adequate. Stropping the blade easy even though the blade is not a straight profile but a smiled one (which means the edge has a bit of a belly or curve). This profile is less common in a straight razor and takes a bit of getting used to. I find it is taking the most practice in the harder, tight places like around the mouth and at first I would miss a few spots. Now I am getting used to the smiled edge and it SHAVES GREAT. Baby's derrière smooth and no unwarranted nicks. The design is COOL. Period. The handle is very sturdy, no cheap plastic scales. However it is a bit heavy for my tastes, I would love it if the walls of the scales were slightly thinner to make it lighter. This may take getting used to for some, but I found it no hindrance. The action on the handle is loose as you begin to open it and as you close it, but if you take care it's no problem. As you open it more it becomes stiffer. I found this actually makes it easier to strop. So overall I really like the handle, seems like this ought to last for decades, if not longer.

Pre-sharpened, though i did still have to strop it a few laps as i shave both my neck and head. Good weight and smooth construction. Came in a nice leather zip case inside of a soft velvet drawstring pouch with a good layer of oil on the blade to protect it (wash before using). Very solid razor for someone not looking to spend over $100. Also bought in conjunction with the velvet forge strop, for a $20 strop it does the job albeit light and thin feeling. Great starter set.

Before anyone wonders why it's a woman's name and think's this is a fake review. When my prime expired I noticed amazon jacked the price up to $99 a year. There was no point in both my wife and I having prime accounts at that price so I let mine expire and just use her account. That being said I normally don't leave reviews anymore since it's her account but in this case because of the exceptional service I felt I needed to. Out of curiosity I was wondering what amazon had in the way of straight razors. I expected to find Gold Dollar brand, which they have plenty of, but as I kept scrolling I saw this one. At first it caught my attention because it stood out from the rest as far as looks. I didn't really "read" the reviews (I still havent) but I did speed read a couple to see if anything caught my eye at a glance. I noticed "life time honing". I immediately thought of my favorite cigar cutter Xikar. I've had my original one for 16 years now. They also stand behind their product and offer life time sharpening. So when I read that I sort of impulsed purchased. It was worth it!!! If you're new to using a straight razor and looking for a good jumping in point. This would be it. You can easily spend $150 and up for a straight razor. Or as little as $20. But do you really want to put your face through that? If you're just looking for a new razor to add to your collection, again, you can't go wrong here. You might notice a little more weight on the handle compared to others. But it's not a big deal. The razor is fantastic, the price is fair, the customer service is exceptional and best of all. As I stated above. Life time honing. If you have any questions or issues Nathane from velvet Forge will make sure you're taken care of. This company is fantastic when it comes to standing behind their product. Regards Anthony

I waited almost a year for the price to drop, which it did to $60 (dropped to $50 around Christmas) to buy this blade. I'm a bargain shopper without a doubt, want quality, period. Maybe I got a lemon?? My review: This blade was NOT shave sharp, I had to take it to a wet stone (Shapton 8,000 grit, got a mirror finish on it now). As a side note, if you're in shape like myself and have a very curvy face it will take you some time getting used to the angles etc.(no turkey neck).I would be content with this blade except 1 MAJOR flaw.. The blade edge IS NOT strait, which is the only thing that really matters on a strait razor! The tip of the blade AS WELL AS the bottom have been ground down past the rest of the blade... In other words i can only sharpen the middle of the blade because it's the only part that hits my brand new sharpening stone, or I can take lots of metal off trying to even it out.. Also there is a slight chunk missing from the spine (middle) so it does not touch the stone when sharpening (side with V.F.) and still has the black coating on it where it should be ground down on the spine. This really sucks and makes it near impossible to sharpen the tip (precisely) which I do my fine lining and detail work with. Shaving with the blade having major differences in sharpening angles; not an easy task, not cool. Also, the blade opens far too easy and if you don't pick it up carefully you will slice your finger open. It stays open and had a firmness on the hinge, but that completely disappears when it's closed. I now keep it open to prevent accidental swinging of the blade/handle after drying it. Honestly this seems like an awesome blade, I like the asthetics/ergonomics of it etc but because they had a novice sharpener or someone was in a rush, I'm upset this blade cost me even a dollar. The steel seems to be decent, we'll see if it rusts or not, I will keep updating as i go. I probably would buy another if I didn't have this experience. If velvet forge is reading, contact me. Thanks, hope this helps people.

Going into this I read some reviews saying it wasn't sharp enough, so I was kinda sketchy. I picked it up at the post office today and just had to check the sharpness, so I tested it on my arm. It did a very nice job so I took it home and decided to test it out on 3 day old facial hair. It was spectacular. It did an even better job than my 280 dollar razor from the art of shaving. It came in an awesome carrying pouch with a little bag. It was pre oiled to protect it. Definitely a fan of this and it looks pretty awesome! It's a more modern style razor that has that tactical look. I would highly recommend it and you just can't beat the price. The one thing I did notice is that it is decently built but the only flaw I think it has is how easy the blade comes out of the scales, I can hold it upside down by the scales with the spine down and it will open but only slightly. An all around good razor!

Allow me to introduce myself. I am someone who knows about these things. So listen listen to me Linda. I ignored all the reviews that said the blade arrived warped and dull. Please listen to me Linda when I say this. It will arrive dull. The blade will have defects. I could see with my naked eye that the edge was not cut at a consistent angle and it was over sharpened in the middle which scalloped the blade just so slightly.The blade was sharp enough to cut hairs on my arm with only slight pulling so I hiked up my skirt and struck it against my man mane. I was so surprised that there was no pulling at all! There was no pulling because for whatever reason the razor was not cutting my bristle, it was merely scraping over the hair. I wiped my thumb across it after a few passes and there was 1 or 2 pieces of hair on it... which I can only assume fell over from laughter. My first instinct was to blast the Velvet Forge customer service team and return the blade post haste, but then I convinced myself that I had only paid about $60 for this blade and I wanted to see what it could do after a good hand sharpening. FIRST I put it across a very nice 800 grit stone until the edge was even and the bevel was corrected. I then honed it on 3000, 6000, and 10,000 grit stones respectively. At this point, the edge was visibly better and it gleamed in the light with a perfect mirror finish. I was quite pleased with it. The pulling was completely gone when I tested it on a few unsuspecting arm hairs so I hit it against a strop with some green buffing compound about 60 more times just to be sure it was as sharp as I was going to humanly achieve. After inspecting the edge with my loupe it was very nice indeed and I decided to try it again. On the second time around the blade actually trimmed my whiskers! but, not as close as one would expect from a straight razor. It took several passes and stubble was still left. After only shaving half my face I could feel the pull getting much worse so I inspected the edge with the loupe again. The blade was micro-serrated and badly damaged. My hair actually chipped the edge which renders this "razor" useless. I am no engineer, but I have decades of experience sharpening metal objects... and my gut tells me the grade of steel they used to... "forge" this blade? is not up to the challenge. It looks like to me a low-grade stainless steel stamped and ground out. There was virtually no metal left on my stones while I was sharpening which is a common characteristic of this type of stainless steel. This also makes me wonder if the blade was properly tempered and quenched. This product is nothing more than a RSO (razor shaped object) and should not be used by anyone. I wanted so badly for this razor to be worth its weight. The idea of an affordable quality low maintenance razor excited me and I gave it more than a sporting chance.

I'm overseas, so I am not gonna be commenting on the amount of time it took to get here (being fair, mail only comes in every two weeks). This blade is pretty nice, to say the least. The construction of the straight razor is fairly solid, there is great retention on the blade by the handle, and the entire thing has a very natural in hand feel when wielding it. The only thing I will complain about (hence only 4 stars) is that the blade is sharp, but not really sharp enough to shave with. Nothing a little honing can't fix, but I'd expect a shave ready straight razor to have a very sharp edge right out of the box. UPDATE: after having this razor for 6 months, it's started to disappoint me a tad. Razor blade became dull rather fast, and not that it's to the point where it won't cut hair, NO amount of sharpening seems to help it regain it's cutting edge. I really wanted to love this razor, but at this point it's nothing short of a novelty piece that sits on my bathroom counter.