Sorry for the late entry regarding these but lately Ive been busy with Christmas, work and family. I have nothing materially to add to the analyses that have already been posted, I pretty much agree these razors are nothing special. I can only offer a retelling of my experience which lead to these separate examinations and postings.
When I received the first Chronik and I sat down to hone with it I was hoping for it to live up to the expectation of its reputation. I was astonished at its response to the hone and with regards to the type of edge it took. When I examined the edge under magnification it had chips all the way down the blade. I did my best to correct this and got to a point where I was comfortable trying shave with it. The shave was just awful. The face felt very sore indeed after using this. This thing was just this side of Pakistani!
I immediately began contacting other seasoned straight razor users asking them if they might be interested to take a look at this. I wanted to check myself because perhaps it was my own style or technique that did not permit this razor to take a good edge. I also stipulated that I would not share my opinion with anyone until theyve had a chance to examine the blade themselves and form their own opinions.
Well, one Chronik turned into several Chroniks and with each one a picture emerged regarding these razors they had huge variability. Well, they got packaged up and sent out. I was eager to get everyones opinion. What ensued was what youve read thus far. And sadly, my evaluations seemed to be more or less confirmed with each person that looked at them.
One thing that I did not do and which I should have done is to ask Joel to participate. For that I apologize and I hope that, Joel, youll forgive me. I dont know why I didnt just ask because doing so would certainly have afforded the opportunity for a more complete and well rounded view of this old line of razors. Joel is certainly an affable guy and Id love to take a look at his Chronik simply because the cross section that we have now points to a possible wide variation in quality that suggests an upper end equally as spectacular as its low end is abysmal - and its very plausible that Joels is the one piece of data that we need to consider before rendering a final assessment on this old brand.
So Joel, I know its a bit late and Ive been a little thoughtless but if youre willing Id like to include you in this and exchange Chroniks. Id be happy to send you these specimens to get your thoughts on them if you're ok sending yours out to me. What do you think? Im hoping that such an exchange will increase everyones knowledge of these things. I hope we can do it. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you soon.
Chris
When I received the first Chronik and I sat down to hone with it I was hoping for it to live up to the expectation of its reputation. I was astonished at its response to the hone and with regards to the type of edge it took. When I examined the edge under magnification it had chips all the way down the blade. I did my best to correct this and got to a point where I was comfortable trying shave with it. The shave was just awful. The face felt very sore indeed after using this. This thing was just this side of Pakistani!
I immediately began contacting other seasoned straight razor users asking them if they might be interested to take a look at this. I wanted to check myself because perhaps it was my own style or technique that did not permit this razor to take a good edge. I also stipulated that I would not share my opinion with anyone until theyve had a chance to examine the blade themselves and form their own opinions.
Well, one Chronik turned into several Chroniks and with each one a picture emerged regarding these razors they had huge variability. Well, they got packaged up and sent out. I was eager to get everyones opinion. What ensued was what youve read thus far. And sadly, my evaluations seemed to be more or less confirmed with each person that looked at them.
One thing that I did not do and which I should have done is to ask Joel to participate. For that I apologize and I hope that, Joel, youll forgive me. I dont know why I didnt just ask because doing so would certainly have afforded the opportunity for a more complete and well rounded view of this old line of razors. Joel is certainly an affable guy and Id love to take a look at his Chronik simply because the cross section that we have now points to a possible wide variation in quality that suggests an upper end equally as spectacular as its low end is abysmal - and its very plausible that Joels is the one piece of data that we need to consider before rendering a final assessment on this old brand.
So Joel, I know its a bit late and Ive been a little thoughtless but if youre willing Id like to include you in this and exchange Chroniks. Id be happy to send you these specimens to get your thoughts on them if you're ok sending yours out to me. What do you think? Im hoping that such an exchange will increase everyones knowledge of these things. I hope we can do it. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you soon.
Chris
Hey - someone recently posted about Plisson 
Joel too!
