Extremely Dissapointed

[jag613]

I finnaly jumped on the boat and ordered myself a straight razor from "will not name vender" 9 days ago, it came today. I had my stones lapped ready to go, CrOX strop pasted ready to go, and my plain leather strop set and ready.
I tested the blade initially by shaving my armhair and it performed pretty well so I took it to my arashiyama 6k then to my naniwa super 10k then strop and shave. I admit it was my first shave and my technique is lacking, but the shave was terrible. My lather was rich, used J.M. Fraser original, I know my honing technique is good, my previous hobby was japanese kitchen knives which were shave quality sharp.
So i settled for the crappy shave and took the razor to the stones again thinking maybe i hadn't taken enough passes, so i place the razor on the stone and there it was, the razor was sitting on my stone and I saw that the edge was curved "****". I shelled out $350 bones for a Thiers Issard and this is what I get? I am surprised it made it from the manufacturer like this and even more surprised that the vendor didn't even care to check to see if everything was ok with this razor. My last time purchasing from this guy

 

[SliceOfLife]

Why don't you post pics of what you're describing. "Edge was curved" can mean a lot of different things.

 

[jag613]

i wish i could, all i have is a camera phone and the curve is to minimal to be picked up by it

i mean that when lookking down at the edge with the edge up and spine down, you can see the blade at the front cm or so is curved to the right, so the blade doesn't get full contact when sharpening one side and on the other side only the heel and tip get contact on the stone.

 

[Luc]

+1 to Ian's comment

If you have have a smiling blade, that's ok. If the blade is twisted, that's a problem. Some can hone their first razors with good results but if you want to get all the chances on your side, it's better to get it to a honemeister.

I don't want to pour more oil on the fire but getting a vintage blade to start with is usually heaps cheaper.

 

[SliceOfLife]

i wish i could, all i have is a camera phone and the curve is to minimal to be picked up by it

i mean that when lookking down at the edge with the edge up and spine down, you can see the blade at the front cm or so is curved to the right, so the blade doesn't get full contact when sharpening one side and on the other side only the heel and tip get contact on the stone.

That sounds like a curved blade. I'd be pissed too. And I'd be returning it. It's not any kind of damage, it's a manufacturing flaw, so unless the seller is ripping you off plain and simple, a return shouldn't be a problem.

 

[jag613]

It is twisted or curved, not smiling. I purchased it from an online retailer and i have sent him an email, it just sucks having to wait! And as to what you're saying Luc, i'm one of those guys who prefers to buy one of something really nice rather than more of not as nice.

 

[cswann1]

Dang. I've been considering a TI blade but this is bad news.

Since I recently started looking into old-school shaving, I've read lot of stories about new production blades not passing muster.


Which is why I chose a refurbed vintage blade for my first.


To me this speaks of the modern plague of corporate greed. " Profits first...customer satisfaction last" seems to be the norm today. It makes me sad

 

[Luc]

It is twisted or curved, not smiling. I purchased it from an online retailer and i have sent him an email, it just sucks having to wait! And as to what you're saying Luc, i'm one of those guys who prefers to buy one of something really nice rather than more of not as nice.

As Ian said, you should be able to return it for another one or get your money back as that's a problem from Thier-Issard directly. If you don't get anything from the seller, I would suggest contacting TI directly.

As for not as nice razors, you can get restored razors for around the same price... Best of luck!

 

[jag613]

Well yeah you are right Luc some of those puppies are nice and expensive, but you were talking about gettin a cheaper vintage one earlier anywho currentlylol i feel like i'd be satisfied with just one str8 i'm sure the seller will fix the problem, thanks all!

 

[domino]

In that price range I would be upset too. Pack it up and return it. You should not have to "fix" something new.

 

[kg4ghn]

I'm not saying this is what happened here, not at all.

But honing a straight is different than sharpening a kitchen knife. Knowing how to do one doesn't automatically make you good at doing the other. Personally I would have ordered a shave ready straight to get a baseline with and then gotten into the honing. There is a big enough learning curve just learning to shave with a straight.

Once again, I am not saying this is what happened to your razor, and I would be sending it back too.

 

[Luc]

Well yeah you are right Luc some of those puppies are nice and expensive, but you were talking about gettin a cheaper vintage one earlier anywho currentlylol i feel like i'd be satisfied with just one str8 i'm sure the seller will fix the problem, thanks all!

Yes, I'm with you, specially for that price. Good luck!

Also, if you can make it with just one straight you will be my new hero!

 

[Blue58]

Well yeah you are right Luc some of those puppies are nice and expensive, but you were talking about gettin a cheaper vintage one earlier anywho currentlylol i feel like i'd be satisfied with just one str8 i'm sure the seller will fix the problem, thanks all!

I can certainly understand your anger and frustration about this straight, But if the vendor is a member of B&B then I am sure you will not have any problem with getting a replacement quickly. If nothing else I am reasonable sure that Thiers Issard will be happy to replace the razor and will expedite it as promptly as possible.

 

[jag613]

I'm not saying this is what happened here, not at all.

But honing a straight is different than sharpening a kitchen knife. Knowing how to do one doesn't automatically make you good at doing the other. Personally I would have ordered a shave ready straight to get a baseline with and then gotten into the honing. There is a big enough learning curve just learning to shave with a straight.

Once again, I am not saying this is what happened to your razor, and I would be sending it back too.

I do know there is a difference and i took care to do some research before I began honing, slightly different but that slight bit makes the difference between shaveable and not

 

[wedwards]

holy crap man, so this was your first honing attempt and it didnt go perfectly?? and you expected more??

i used a straight razor for probaby 6 months before i tried to hone my first blade, and even then it took a lot of attempts before it was anywhere near good.

if your phone camera cant identify the blade issue, it cant be that bad. seriously, send it out to someone for opinion and fresh honing.

 

[RF1963]

A few thoughts:

1. At that price I would have expected my new TI to arrive shave ready, (ie finished by the vendor)

2. It "performed pretty well" when you tried it on your arm

3. When you put blade to face it was "terrible"

I know full well there is a difference between arm hair and facial hair however between points 2 and 3 you honed the blade. I find it hard to believe that TI quality control wouldn't have picked this fault up. If it arrived in a box with some sort of TI seal of assurance intact you really can't blame the vendor (no-one has x-ray vision) and if the seal was broken I'd assume the vendor brought the blade to "shave readiness", in which case I'd expect the vendor to have identified the fault.

 

[johnmrson]

No new razor leaves the factory in a shave ready state. They are sharp but not sharp enough to shave. Some online retailers offer a honing service whrn you buy a new razor from them but you pay for it.
Honong a razor is very very different to honing a knife. If it was the first time you've honed a razor, I would be surprised if you were able to put an edge on it sufficient enough to shave with. As for the twist, unless I see the the razor, I can't comment one way or the other but hopefully it's something you can sort out with the seller.

 

[luvmysuper]

No new razor leaves the factory in a shave ready state. They are sharp but not sharp enough to shave. Some online retailers offer a honing service whrn you buy a new razor from them but you pay for it.
Honing a razor is very very different to honing a knife. If it was the first time you've honed a razor, I would be surprised if you were able to put an edge on it sufficient enough to shave with. As for the twist, unless I see the the razor, I can't comment one way or the other but hopefully it's something you can sort out with the seller.

+1

You can hone a knife so that it is capable of cutting arm hair and still not be ready to shave with.
Testing your honing on arm hair is a pretty early stage in the razor honing process.
I've got several razors sitting in a box waiting for restorative work that will shave arm hair, but they have a hideous edge for face shaving.

 

[Woodash]

Was the razor sold as being shave-ready, and if so, why did you hone it? Just curious....

If the blade is really curved/warped, one option might be to try to get the vendor agree to pick the tab for an evaluation and/or honing from an independent honemeister. At least you'll have some impartial input and can make a plan from there.

 

[EL Alamein]

One caution here: if the TI was an historical model then I don't think the warp or twist will have been removed. I've seen quite a few historical models with this including one of my own. I speculate that they only finish these pieces - not correct any errors from a manufacturing process that was abandoned nearly a century ago. I would think they could fix the warp but chose not to out of deference to their historical status. I think they just grind them and polish them. I have no first hand knowledge though so take it as speculation from just seeing a lot of these over the years. The historical blanks seem to exhibit a lot of variance, much more than the new models.

It is quite possible to hone and maintain these warped blades though one just needs to use a narrow hone. Many hones were narrow a century ago so slight warping was probably not considered to be a big deal. They probably regarded it as a character trait! I have no problems maintaining my warped blade on a narrow coticule.

OTOH if this is a new forging from their surgical steel and it's warped then yes, that would surprise me. I haven't seen any new forgings come through with warped blades yet and I've done quite a few. Could just be my luck though so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. What I've seen though is that the new forgings are usually poker straight.

Hope that helps.

Chris