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Review of GemStar Customs Honing Service

Greetings Everyone,
I recently received my SR back from Glen at GemStar Customs and I thought I'd share my experience for anyone seeking out a honemeister.

TL;DR
  • This is a non-sponsored review for a honing service of which I paid full price.
  • Glen was always quick to respond to all emails and inquiries with a professional yet friendly tone. This includes questions after he had already received payment ad shipped the SR back to me.
  • I sent Glen a new, yet problematic razor which I had previously gotten professionally honed twice with no success!
  • He was able to correctly identify all geometry issues and make the necessary corrections prior to the actual honing.
  • The end result was a stupid sharp razor that passed the HHT with ease, yet it felt like I was shaving with a stick of butter on my face due to how smooth it felt compared to how it was sent in.
  • The razor came back with a letter outlining all of the steps he took as well as which finishing stone he used to finalize the edge.
  • Glen's honing service was fairly priced to begin with, and given the results I would say it was worth every penny and then some.
Here is a link to Glen's site if you're interested:GemStarCustoms.com

I'll be providing a more in-depth review as well as a copy of the letter in a future follow-up post.
Thanks to all who read this!
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
Glen has an advantage over most of us, and that’s he’s honed an immense number of razors over many years. No matter how smart you are, or think you are, nothing takes the place of the experience gained by honing thousands or tems of thousands of razors and having to figure out all of the problems that you encounter.
 
The razor came back with a letter outlining all of the steps he took as well as which finishing stone he used to finalize the edge.

can you share this info and what razor it was, really interesting

Im glad he was able to get you shaving with it again.
 
Unfortunately I'm unable to find the letter I had received with my newly honed razor. I've searched everywhere for it.
But to answer your inquiry as best as I can:
The razor was a BRAND-NEW 5/8 Full Hollow Dovo Best Quality w/ Black Acrylic Scales.

The scales cracked during my very first shave, so I sent it to a honing service to get new G10 scales and hone the blade to be shave ready.

The blade came back looking and feeling good until I tried shaving with it..constantly tugged and very uncomfortable. Not unlike shaving a one week growth with a cartridge razor.

I contacted the honing service and they explained it might be the shave angle and how it's different then a shavette...In my head I was thinking that although that may be true, I shouldn't have to pull n' pinch off the hairs between the razor and my skin. They did however agree to take the razor back and give it a second look. This second time around took forever and I was never given any updates throughout the process.

I eventually found GemStar Cust. Everything was straight forward from the get go including pricing and any questions that I had.

What impressed me about the letter was that it included what needed to be fixed, the type of finishing stone used, and the fact that he instructed me not to strop the razor before shaving since he already had as well as performed a test shave and the sterilized/stropped again. This was to make sure the quality of the blade was not affected by any outside factors prior to first client use. Which I thought was key in diagnosing/preventing any further issues. Needless to say the shave was great and I have stropped and used it since then with the same results.

I don't recall exactly what was wrong the the blade other than the stabilizer had to be re-ground? I also don't remember the type of finishing stone. But that's basically it.
 
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