New razor from art of shaving shave ready?

before i found this forum i bought a razor that says its shave ready. in the manual that came with it, it says shave ready... and not to strop for the first three shaves. it failed the hair test wich i know is not the most accurate test so i tried to shave against the forearm it couldnt cut hair with the grain but only against it. as far as my first shave i started slow going through a great shave prep and only using blade on cheeks until i got used to it, 4th shave i tried neck and got horrible shaving bumps on left side mostly. i sent the blade to a local knife shop who told me he sharpens razors as well but i somehow got the feeling that he used a wheel (i didnt ask) :( he gave it back and still same results. i have since stroped it very carefully 100 times
same results

is it me? more practice? or should i send blade to Lynn for pro honing and then try again with no doubts?

thanks everyone

It's not that the hanging hair test is inaccurate, it's that you have to learn how to do it and calibrate it. Randomly doing it is inaccurate, but it itself is not inaccurate.

Getting back to the razor, it has been my experience that the razors from AOS do not come shave ready. Given that the sharpness of the razor has thus far been a variable, I think your best course of action would be to eliminate that variable by sending it to a known honer. Then you'll know if it's the edge or not.

HHT test is not the most accurate test to try it. The best one is your shaving test. if your blade fails shaving test then it needs to be checked out someone who hones razors not knife shops.
Practice will help in case you are using wrong angle to shave.
Try make small strokes and find the best cutting angle if your blade still pulls etc then the best option will be send it out to honers.
check classified members services or SRP MAP. gl

I've gotten a bunch of new razors in from people who bought them at AOS and they needed to be honed. So far, I have not run into one that would shave out of the box, let alone 3 shaves with not stropping.

You can try shaving based on the advice above and see though.

Have fun,

Lynn

Start with a known baseline, a honed razor from one of our guys, then you can progress from there. I've been shaving three weeks now. I got my razor from View Profile: Maximilian - Straight Razor Place shave ready. My first shave, I had my doubts on it's sharpness. The first swipe, was like trying to push a weed-eater though bamboo. Each shave has gotten better and today was the first all face shave. I also found out today that I had been holding too high of an angle. I lowered the blade angle and the difference was night and day.

As stated many times by senior members here, " your first reaction will be to doubt the blade."
In your case, it appears that the blade may not be ready.

thanks for the advice ill send it away as soon as i can and fall back on my DE for the time being

crazy907ak,

The C135 TI blades are super shavers once the edge is dialled in.

I have two (2) and they are very nice indeed :)

They respond very well to diamond on felt for touch ups.

Good luck !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ