Honester Recognition

[richmondesi]

With the rapid growth of the straight razor community, there has also been an increase of guys becoming interested in honing. There are a lot of guys with established reputations in the straight razor scene. This thread is not designed to be a place to compare edges from different honemeisters. This is a thread to give recognition to anyone who you feel like has provided you with a well honed razor.

Please, in your recognition, provide information concerning the razor you sent, your experience as a straight razor user (to provide perspective), the turn around time, the packaging, and any POSITIVE feedback ONLY. While feedback on any honesmeister is welcome, the idea of this thread is to provide some of the lesser known guys with any recognition that you feel appropriate.

Also, please refrain from mentioning any prior dissatisfied experiences or talking negatively about any other honemeisters. Please remain positive in giving praise to any deserving gent. Thanks!

 

[richmondesi]

Anybody want to heap praise on a deserving young honester?

 

[gone down south]

Oh geez, I've been reading this as "more honest" recognition all day!

 

[lamontqsanford]

I will start by saying Leighton has honed every one of my razors. I am completely satisified with his honing and will continue to use him in the future. I started straight shaving about 2 months ago and luckily it was a very short learning curve for me. However, a couple of my razors, a Dovo Special and a TI Special Coiffeur were not sharp enough and pulled a lot. I sent them off to Leigthon and he returned them promptly. I would say turn around from me shipping to getting them back was a weeks time frame. His packaging is just fine with me. He oils the razors, places them in bags and properly boxes them for a safe return I am happy to say that I can now use these 2 straights in my daily rotation. Hopefully he can work some of vodoo magic on the Dubl Duck I just sent him.

 

[Leche]

Alex (Fnord5) honed and rescaled my Kama 5/8 with custom Bolivian Rosewood scales made by him. The edge was sharp and smooth and performs well. The scales are gorgeous, the pinning was clean giving the razor good action and centering on the scales. The razor was secured in its box, wrapped tightly in bubble wrap for protection. Highly recommend him. Quick turn around time too.

 

[Roshambo]

I just received a razor in the mail from Ray Habyan, I sent the razor to him for honing, I could not shave with it all prior to his honing, now it shaves like its cutting through butter, I am extremely satisfied, his customer service was above reproach, he even ground out a burr on the razor tip, smoothed it out, and polished it, all free of charge as I am a new member.
The blade was wrapped carefully in wrap and a padded envelope, it was well oiled and ready to shave with right out of the envelope.

Ray is also a patriot, He offered to hone all of my blades for free in the future because of the fact that I am Active Duty Military, I salute you Ray.

 

[leighton]

It would be most helpful if you also let us know if you've tried anyone else's honing. Also important to know how experienced you are.

My addition to this thread is forthcoming. Razor needs to arrive first.

 

[gollum83]

Not that he needs any more accolades, but Ray Habyan, AKA Ray-man, does a fine job honing razors, or at least to a guy that's been at straight razor shaving off-and-on for four months, give-or-take. My razor came back, shave-ready and oiled, very quickly. It was well-wrapped in a bubble-wrap envelope. To boot, he seems quite approachable. All in all, I was and still am quite pleased with his work. I still have yet to try anyone else, but I'll try to rectify that here in the near future as I have a blade or two that needs honing.

And Paul, nice idea, my friend. This is a very good way to give some recognition and drum up some business for the up-coming-honester and lesser-knowns.

 

[richmondesi]

I have tried another's honing. I didn't want to compare to avoid negativity.

Thank you for that. But please, include whether this is the first honing experience that you've had or not (just for frame of reference).. Thanks for your contribution to the thread.

 

[lamontqsanford]

I have also experienced bad hone jobs. For the sake of the thread I won't mention names or rant too much. The 2 razors that Leighton honed for me, Dove and Thiers Issard, were previously honed by someone else. I shaved with them both before and after Leighton honed them. For comparison I would have to say that the first person that honed them didn't have them close to shave ready.

 

[leighton]

I have also experienced bad hone jobs. For the sake of the thread I won't mention names or rant too much. The 2 razors that Leighton honed for me, Dove and Thiers Issard, were previously honed by someone else. I shaved with them both before and after Leighton honed them. For comparison I would have to say that the first person that honed them didn't have them close to shave ready.

Thats not quite true. They shaved.

Ok, review of the previous honing on Lamont's razor. It was good. I won't lie, it was a lot better than some other people's. But those people don't hang a shingle out and offer honing services either. Have I tried someone else's honing that is better? Honestly, not anyone's that charges (bought a few razors from random people that shaved great for me right from the get-go and I never bothered to touch them up). On my scale of shave readiness it was definitely above acceptable, but not up to my ridiculously high standard. Can't give a full review because I only spot tested it to check if Lamont was crazy or something... (I still think its possible )

Anyway, the point of the story is that you should ask the senior members before you hand over your money. Or maybe the point of the story is that you shouldn't trust your friends to warn you . . .

edit:
@ Iron J. Thanks for that. Makes your review carry more weight.

 

[lamontqsanford]

Thats not quite true. They shaved.

Ok, review of the previous honing on Lamont's razor. It was good. I won't lie, it was a lot better than some other people's. But those people don't hang a shingle out and offer honing services either. Have I tried someone else's honing that is better? Honestly, not anyone's that charges (bought a few razors from random people that shaved great for me right from the get-go and I never bothered to touch them up). On my scale of shave readiness it was definitely above acceptable, but not up to my ridiculously high standard. Can't give a full review because I only spot tested it to check if Tracy was crazy or something... (I still think its possible )

Anyway, the point of the story is that you should ask the senior members before you hand over your money. Or maybe the point of the story is that you shouldn't trust your friends to warn you . . .

edit:
@ Iron J. Thanks for that. Makes your review carry more weight.

Crazy, possible Picky, definately.

I guess my point is this. I see most that most guys hone in the range of $15-25. I assume this is the going rate. The first person to hone the Dovo and the TI charged $20 each. Leighton charges me the same. I don't think this is an outrageous price or I wouldn't pay it. Now, Leighton mentions that the job wasn't bad, but just not up to his standards. Could I shave with them before I sent them to Leigton? Yes. Was the shave ok? Yes. But the point is that Leighton used his high standard to hone the razors and they now shave exceptionally good. I know that Leighton is pretty picky and has the microscopic gadgets. I like to refer to it as his vodoo. I can't say for certain but the "other" person probably had as many, if not more, gadgets and hones and yet the time wasn't put in to make it perfect. I didn't spend $150 on a razor to have it honed marginally.

 

[Bacchus]

I sent three razors to Leighton, the one that was honed just on the stones is my favorite and I welcome his high standards. Very nice, I'll be sending more razors to him when I need to

 

[chess1]

I have also experienced bad hone jobs. For the sake of the thread I won't mention names or rant too much. The 2 razors that Leighton honed for me, Dove and Thiers Issard, were previously honed by someone else. I shaved with them both before and after Leighton honed them. For comparison I would have to say that the first person that honed them didn't have them close to shave ready.

I would like to ask you
Did You let the honer to know you are not satisfied his honing Job?
If yes what was his response ?
thank You

 

[Bayamontate]

Not that he needs any more accolades, but Ray Habyan, AKA Ray-man, does a fine job honing razors, or at least to a guy that's been at straight razor shaving off-and-on for four months, give-or-take. My razor came back, shave-ready and oiled, very quickly. It was well-wrapped in a bubble-wrap envelope. To boot, he seems quite approachable. All in all, I was and still am quite pleased with his work. I still have yet to try anyone else, but I'll try to rectify that here in the near future as I have a blade or two that needs honing.

And Paul, nice idea, my friend. This is a very good way to give some recognition and drum up some business for the up-coming-honester and lesser-knowns.

+1, Ray did a great job on my Dovo Special. I will definitely use him again.

 

[richmondesi]

I would like to ask you
Did You let the honer to know you are not satisfied his honing Job?
If yes what was his response ?
thank You

Excellent question. Thanks for asking that.

 

[richmondesi]

I have also experienced bad hone jobs. For the sake of the thread I won't mention names or rant too much. The 2 razors that Leighton honed for me, Dove and Thiers Issard, were previously honed by someone else. I shaved with them both before and after Leighton honed them. For comparison I would have to say that the first person that honed them didn't have them close to shave ready.

Crazy, possible Picky, definately.

I guess my point is this. I see most that most guys hone in the range of $15-25. I assume this is the going rate. The first person to hone the Dovo and the TI charged $20 each. Leighton charges me the same. I don't think this is an outrageous price or I wouldn't pay it. Now, Leighton mentions that the job wasn't bad, but just not up to his standards. Could I shave with them before I sent them to Leigton? Yes. Was the shave ok? Yes. But the point is that Leighton used his high standard to hone the razors and they now shave exceptionally good. I know that Leighton is pretty picky and has the microscopic gadgets. I like to refer to it as his vodoo. I can't say for certain but the "other" person probably had as many, if not more, gadgets and hones and yet the time wasn't put in to make it perfect. I didn't spend $150 on a razor to have it honed marginally.

Not to be overly persnickety: in your first post, you said that the first person didn't get the razor "close to shave ready", but in the second post, you said it shaved and the shaves were OK. This thread isn't intended to compare honing jobs. It's sole purpose is to report good experiences without interjecting negativity towards others and their work. The point of letting us know if you've had other honing done is to give the readers a chance to get a peek into your frame of reference when recommending the honer as being good. I'm not picking on you, but this could turn into a he's better than him kind of situation, and that's not at all what I want (AT ALL).

I've got the utmost respect for the well known and established honemeisters, and I hope that this is only used as a tool to get a little recognition of good work being done by whomever. Thanks

 

[lamontqsanford]

Not to be overly persnickety: in your first post, you said that the first person didn't get the razor "close to shave ready", but in the second post, you said it shaved and the shaves were OK. This thread isn't intended to compare honing jobs. It's sole purpose is to report good experiences without interjecting negativity towards others and their work. The point of letting us know if you've had other honing done is to give the readers a chance to get a peek into your frame of reference when recommending the honer as being good. I'm not picking on you, but this could turn into a he's better than him kind of situation, and that's not at all what I want (AT ALL).

I've got the utmost respect for the well known and established honemeisters, and I hope that this is only used as a tool to get a little recognition of good work being done by whomever. Thanks

Point taken Paul. I apologize and shouldn't have ranted about a bad experience.

 

[lamontqsanford]

Excellent question. Thanks for asking that.

So as to not talk bad or to go off on another rant I pm'ed the asker of the question his answer. My answer would have led to names due to the situation and I didn't want that in the thread.

 

[richmondesi]

So as to not talk bad or to go off on another rant I pm'ed the asker of the question his answer. My answer would have led to names due to the situation and I didn't want that in the thread.

Good choice