Good Straight Razor Brands
At present there are only three companies producing razors - Dovo, Thiers-Issard, and Böker. However there are still many vintage razors in good used (sometimes even new) condition, from companies no longer in the straight-razor business, that are fairly available and have a reputation to be consistently of good quality. Some popular brands are:
- Böker[1]
- Cadman & Sons
- Clauss
- Dorko
- Dovo
- Dubl Duck
- Filarmonica
- Genco
- Geneva
- Henckels
- Joseph Rodgers
- King
- Maher & Grosh
- Puma
- Revisor
- Robeson
- Shumate
- Thiers-Issard
- Torrey
- W. Greaves & Son
- Wade & Butcher
- Wostenholm
Most vintage razors that were forged in Germany, England, France, Sweden, Italy and the USA, are considered good blades.
Razors marked "Solingen" that were actually forged in Solingen are good blades.
There are currently two brands of NOS razor that are currently fairly inexpensive and are reported to be of good quality - the Chinese Double Arrow and the Polish Wapienica. As a word of caution people have reported some quality control issues (warping of the Double Arrow scales in particular) with these razors and some find that the weight of the stainless steel scales of the Wapienica razors make them unbalanced and harder to use.