I am the "professional" honer who honed the razors. I shave tested both razors and they shaved just fine. The Engels razor had a severe frown that I had to remove and I confess that is did not shave as well as other Engels razors I have honed. For that reason, I re-honed it three times trying to get more out of it. It did shave just fine, but it did not shave as well as I had expected for an Engels razor.

I can assure you that both razors left me shave ready. That term is misused on eBay and can have different connotations even here. For that reason, all I can tell you is that both razors easily shaved me comfortably and with none of the irritation that you experienced. There is virtually no chance that the HHT would have passed in your hands however, because both razor were oiled.