Razor Meister straight Razor from Shokunin USA Review

[MajorMinceMeat]

Roughly 3 weeks ago I purchased this razor meister straight razor on eBay after oggling it for some time. They marketed this razor as made with German high-speed steel. In the three weeks that I have had this razor in my possession I have found out that it is more than likely not high speed steel. I purchased this straight razor for $35 on eBay and they sell it for a little more on the site that the company that sells them has. I have been told by people who know their stuff that these razors if they were made of high-speed steel would cost far more than that not to mention that the steel would be too hard to hone.

When I received the item they had it marketed as honed up to 20,000 grit. My analysis while shaving was that while it did cut hair it was not 20,000 grit. After a two-pass shave I proceeded to hone the razor on my 8,000 grit shapton stone and I took it to my imperia la roccia Al a Dr matt357. After honing it the edge was much better and proceeded to do a four-pass shave to BBS.

Over the past three weeks I have been shaving on that same edge and these are the things that I noticed. If you do not oil the blade even if you dry it off sufficiently it will corrode so it's best to have a bottle of baby oil on hand to coat your blade after your shave.
As for the edge roughly 3 days ago after shaving everyday the edge has started to cut me as I shave. So the edge retention is about the same as a normal straight razor.It does not seem to have any geometry issues like a gold dollar which is nice. The scales are made of resin and are fairly solid. Mine came in faux tortoise shell however, the scales were too dark to tell that they were faux tortoise shell unless you refracted it in the light.

Overall I think that this is a decent razor for the $30-$50 range and with a quick hone will be a serviceable shaver.

 

[Jim]

Thank you Greg.

 

[MajorMinceMeat]

Thank you Greg.

No problem I figured I'd take one for the team on this one and try it out.

 

[Slash McCoy]

HSS covers a lot of ground. There are several alloys that could be classified as HSS. However, they aren't necessarily good choices for making razors or other fine cutlery. I would much rather see a razor bragged as being made from generic High Carbon Steel than High Speed Steel. HSS is what you want in a drill bit or similar application.

So when a vendor or maker touts HSS, first of all I categorically reject the razor in question as unworthy of purchase. At the very least, it tells me that the maker does not actually know how to make a razor and anything he makes that is shaped like a razor is what I consider an RSO. An attempt to make something based on making it look like the real thing and not on knowledgeably and skillfully duplicating its functionality.

That's not to say you can't shave with it. Obviously, you can. Sort of like you can shave with a spoon or a pocketknife or a plane iron or an axe. If you know what you have in your hands, shaving with an RSO is stunt shaving. If you do not know what you have and you shave with it based on the seller's claims, you are just mislead. And maybe poorly shaven LOL!

Thanks for going the extra mile, and sharing your results.

 

[EspressoAndAftershave]

Thanks for that review. I've been eying one of their other models.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

Good review. Thank you.

I like to read reviews on straight razors in the straight razor forum.

The razor you reviewed caught my attention as well, but exactly for the reasons Slash McCoy stated, I was put of from buying one. Why would you need High Speed Steel to cut whiskers? No chance of friction heating the blade to the extent that it won't cut anymore. A remark like that tells me these razors are made by someone that doesn't really know anything about shaving with a straight, or they are selling to people that won't use it for shaving.