Thread: Advice on razors?

Originally Posted by fccexpert

One caution on the Red Imp; These razors are notorious for having a spike point that will get you if you are not very careful how you use them. They are great shavers, but they demand respect.

I bought my first str8 from my barber back around 1960. It's a Hess with a spike point, and when he honed it for me he suggested that I should let him draw the point down the hone a couple of times to chamfer it. This is what most barbers did with their spike points, and rounding off the point just a little has made a lot of difference in not having it dig in and leave scratches.

Originally Posted by fritz

I bought my first str8 from my barber back around 1960. It's a Hess with a spike point, and when he honed it for me he suggested that I should let him draw the point down the hone a couple of times to chamfer it. This is what most barbers did with their spike points, and rounding off the point just a little has made a lot of difference in not having it dig in and leave scratches.

Heretic !!!!! Somebody get a rope........................

Commonly referred to as "neutering the spike"

I have a Mcpherson, you can see it here, the top one. It took an absolutely stunning edge. A little big for me, though.



I would say the edge is as good as those on my favorites, one of those is the Wilkinson at the bottom - and that takes some matching. That one is looking a little sorry for it's self though, and if it's out of your price range it's almost certainly too much.