Thread: "Shave Ready" ... Yeah, Right.

Cornelius,

Well done on the shave, it gets easier from now.

The next trick is to learn to strop. I suggest you practice first with a table knife to learn how to flick the blade over on the strop without nicking it. Then do at least 100 return passes with your blade before shaving again.

I have a Wacker and I agree with you that the pins suck. The scales are not sanded or finished well and you will find the gold will rub off quickly because it is a bad plating. I have the advantage that I can hone my own razors and believe me, I think the Wacker blades are superb. So don't worry about the small stuff. Send it off for honing properly and enjoy it. It has a good chance of becoming a favorite. If it does, you can get someone to repin or rescale the blade for you. Don't worry about that sort of stuff yet. First find out how to strop.

That looks like a beautiful razor. I don't care much for the etch, but otherwise I like the down to Earth looks of the scales and the shape of the blade. They're quite hard, but they hone up great, and as English said, they're awesome shavers.

Originally Posted by English

Cornelius,

Well done on the shave, it gets easier from now.

The next trick is to learn to strop. I suggest you practice first with a table knife to learn how to flick the blade over on the strop without nicking it. Then do at least 100 return passes with your blade before shaving again.

I have a Wacker and I agree with you that the pins suck. The scales are not sanded or finished well and you will find the gold will rub off quickly because it is a bad plating. I have the advantage that I can hone my own razors and believe me, I think the Wacker blades are superb. So don't worry about the small stuff. Send it off for honing properly and enjoy it. It has a good chance of becoming a favorite. If it does, you can get someone to repin or rescale the blade for you. Don't worry about that sort of stuff yet. First find out how to strop.

Yes, I have a lot of learning to do, still: shaving, honing, stropping... I am doing ok with the soap and brush, though

Regarding the Wacker, I'm sorry to hear that the gold will wear off and that you have found similar issues with yours. I like the shape of the blade and the scales (except the finish), that's why I bought the damn thing But yes, the main thing is how good the blade is, and I'm pleased to hear that you guys think it's very good. I had considered sending it back, but it doesnt really seem worth the hassle at this price if the blade is good.

Originally Posted by Bart

That looks like a beautiful razor. I don't care much for the etch, but otherwise I like the down to Earth looks of the scales and the shape of the blade. They're quite hard, but they hone up great, and as English said, they're awesome shavers.

That doesnt sound like an easy razor to hone for a newbie. Too bad I already sent you the 3 other razors, or I would have included this one. Oh well.

Originally Posted by Cornelius

That doesnt sound like an easy razor to hone for a newbie. Too bad I already sent you the 3 other razors, or I would have included this one. Oh well.

Send it, we'll make an awesome deal, and I'll send them all back in one package.

Bart.

Originally Posted by Bart

Send it, we'll make an awesome deal, and I'll send them all back in one package.

Bart.

Alright! Thanks!

Hey Cornelius,

I'm being really picky when I say the pins suck etc. What you have to remember is that we get really picky on this forum because some of the guys can make scales and pin them to such a high standard, that to be honest, modern manufacturers can not really spend that sort of time or effort to compete.

I'v grown to love mine, just the way it is and for the record, I would have no hesitation in buying another Wacker warts an all.

Originally Posted by English

Hey Cornelius,

I'm being really picky when I say the pins suck etc. What you have to remember is that we get really picky on this forum because some of the guys can make scales and pin them to such a high standard, that to be honest, modern manufacturers can not really spend that sort of time or effort to compete.

I'm picky, too. But also realistic. I cannot expect perfection from a product made in Germany, partially by hand, for 100 euros. There have been some nice custom scales and restore jobs posted on here; I'll have to look them up again, I seem to recall that a few people offer this sort of service for others.

DISCLAIMER: These thread shows pictures of edges that were declared "shaveready". I would appreciate it if no one discloses the names of the sellers (unless the seller himself wishes to do so). It is not my intention to harm anyone's good reputation. Merely to have a general discussion about what we call shaveready and what not. All my pictures were shot before stropping.

The pictures were shot through one tube of my stereo microscope at 40X. I agreed with Cornelius to post them here, because others might find this interesting as well.
Cornelius three razors arrived at my place yesterday. He purchased some nice looking pieces!

1. A mint "Friseurwerk", with zero hone wear. Quite a puzzling razor. It looks very new, and yet the scales seem not original. The razor hits the spacer, before it fully closes. I wonder if it was rescaled at some point.

2. "The Celebrated - Sheffield Hollow Ground", with what looks like ivory scales. Could also be bone, I'm not an expert. Very little hone wear, a few stray scratches on an otherwise highly polished blade.

3. A stunning "Holeka". An impeccable and very precisely crafted blade with breathtaking snakewood scales. Zero hone wear.

I have assessed the edges with my stereo microscope, and probed the sharpness with the Thumb Pad Test and the Hanging & Arm Hair Tests, before and after a decent stropping. They all have issues and are below my personal keenness radar. Still, I believe the Friseurwerk could qualify as shaveready, but only barely, although it looks at the verge of being overhoned under the scope.



The "Celebrated Sheffield" has coarse scratches and a there are very small nicks present at the edge. It has a convexed cutting bevel, probably caused by some serious stropping on a pasted strop. It shaves my arm hair, but not very well. I don't think this one qualifies as being shaveready, unless we'd define every razor that shaves arm hair as "shaveready".




The Holeka is the least sharp of the three. Before stropping, tt shaved some armhairs, but it also skips others. After stropping things improved significantly.
Shallow chunks of the edge are missing. There's a sort of waviness to it. I've never seen something like this.



For the sake of having a beard, I test shaved with them later that night, to find out if I could confirm my observations.
During the shave, I had to heavily lean on my technique and watch my steps. On the more stubborn whiskers from the chin area, I really had to push through. It's a call that only experienced shavers can make. While still learning, most inexperienced shavers will hesitate when they feel serious pull during the shave. A not so keen razor will stall, with a high risk that the shaving direction changes into a cutting direction. A nice nick is always the result if that happens. A really sharp blade doesn't have that tendency to hang up on a hair. None of the three razors was that sharp. As I already suspected, the Holeka was the least sharp. I could not achieve a close result with it. The Celebrated Sheffield performed about the same. I had the impression it is slightly sharper, but not by much. It shaves, but I hone mine long before they fall back this far. The Friseurwerk indeed is the sharpest. It's the only razor that offered closeness during the ATG-pass. Its sharpness is at a level where I would start considering a touch-up on the hones.

Conclusion: The Friseurwerk is a close call. With some goodwill, he can pass as being shaveready. The two others will only lead to frustration for aspiring straight razor shavers. I would not call them shaveready.

Bart.

Nice job with the photos. I know it's not easy getting decent pictures holding a camera up to the tube of a stereomicroscope.

I check every razor I hone with a stereomicroscope. I consider myself adequate at honing but if any of those edges are remotely considered to be shave ready, then I do hereby immediately promote myself to HoneMeister, second class. There is no way that any razor leaving my hands would even remotely look anything like the horrors of those edges.

I thought Cornelius was simply being naive rejecting his razors based solely on the HHT, and in my opinion he was mistaken doing so. However, Bart's photos clearly show that these three razors were not up to snuff. None of them should have been called shave ready. I guess I'm a little less charitable than Bart was.

Great pics Bart. It's easy to see why HHT's were not passed.
I think that may change after you hone them