Thread: New razor, evaluate my buy.

Well, I am being a beard-model in a hairdresser, and the die and shave and cut my beard for practise.
The hairdresser uses a straight razor to shave me, and I found it very easy on my skin, so I decided to buy one.
I found a really expensive and fine one, in a shop near where I live.

It was 1600 danish kroner, about 320 US dollars. Things are more expensive here because of taxes.





Can anyone tell me if this razor is a fine brand?

Should I oil the blade or something?
I have bought hones and strops, and I have that part kind of down, for a newbie anyway.

Since my buy I have bought more razors from ebay, mosty old one, to practise honing on, and because i like them.

I also bought a brand new dovo.

What is the finest brand of razor there is on the market?

The TI's are a fine brand of razor. I like the light color scales on that one.
There is much debate about the finest brand of razor on the market. I once heard someone say that the best razor is the one that you enjoy shaving with the most.

I think what you have to determine first is what is the size, grind, and shape of razor that you enjoy the most. For example, although I have an assortment of razors, the kind I enjoy most are 6/8 or larger, 1/4 hollow to wedge grind, and spanish point (french point is a close second). Once you know where your preferences lie, you can get very nice razors from a production run or even get a little crazy and get a custom razor from one of the custom makers out there. In your part of the world, Maestro Livi makes some very nice custom razors. In the US, there are a number of fine razor makers that are booked many months in advance. I know because I have had a custom on order for four or five months... I've lost track.

Oh, one more thing. I would definitely recommend oiling your blades between uses. I use Camelia oil; I figure if it is good enough for Japanese swords, it is good enough for my razors.

Thiers Issard makes excellent razors . It may need a little honing on an 8k and/or finer grit hone in order to get a nice shaving edge . I don't know how much the shipping , and taxes would cost , but classicshaving.com has the same razor as yours , except that the scales are plastic instead of wood , for less than half of what you paid for yours .

Originally Posted by The_Pastor

What is the finest brand of razor there is on the market?

I would say the finest brand on the market is one of the custom razor makers - they all have different styles so pick the one you like best and then you can order a razor to your own specifications.

But doing so now would be rather premature - you should probably stop buying razors and start using the ones you have

Ok thx alot guys.

What does the numbers mean: "6/8, 1/4" and so on? Spanish point?

Can I use any kind of oil? I like Olive oil for my cooking , can I use that?

Man I just love all this sh*t, its so cool!

6/8 means the width of you blade is six eights of an inch wide . As for oil , I don't use it on my blades . When I finish using a razor , I rinse it off with hot tap water , dry it thorughly with cotton balls , and let it sit open and air dry for at least a few hours . If you do use oil , make sure you get all the oil off of the blade before you hone or strop it .

6/8 means the width of the blade is 6/8th of an inch (-2.54 cm)
1/4 usually means a quarter hollow, which is the grind of the blade. The thinnest blades are called full hollow, Heribert Wacker calls them 1/1 hollow. The bulkiest blades are called wedges.

The point is the shape of the toe. A Spanish point is pretty much a straight angle.

Look here: grinds
and here: points

Oblique point is also called French point, a spike point also Spanish point IIRC.

I think Kees meant to say spike=square, not spanish. If you want to see a spanish point and a custom made razor this post may be a good example.
I don't see a reason why wouldn't olive oil work as a protection - the only thing i could see as a potential drawback is staining a light absorbing material for scales, which you shouldn't have anyways.

I would steer clear of Olive oil, as it has a tendency to gum up. Better would be either mineral oil (same thing baby oil is made from, but without the fragrance) or a light sewing machine oil.
I've also used WD40 with good effect.

Enjoy your razor, Thiers-Issard are well thought of around these parts.


John P.

I'm not clear why olive oil would "gum up." I am in favor of natural oils such as olive oil instead of mineral oil as it is better for the skin and in my experience does just fine for protecting the razor. I use olive oil dissolved in isopropanol to dip all of my razors in after shaving.

I guess I disagree on another matter in that I also do not wipe it off prior to stropping as I consider it to be a means of conditioning the leather. I wouldn't want it on my canvas strop though so my normal routine is 5 passes on the leather (to remove the oil), 15-20 passes on the canvas, and then 30-50 on the leather.