I picked this TI Hospital Le Grelot For Tough Beards a while back and finally got it in the other day. I hated the original scales so I made some new ones out of a snake wood chunk I had here. I went with a one piece snakewood look, the wood has a few checks but all stable. The blade had a small chip in the edge I pulled out and now it shaves very dreamy It was a nightmare to hone and took over an hr,the steel is super rigid but yet super smooth.