Young Razor Co........ A defective product

Hello all,

I was sent a straight razor by one of our members to evaluate and hone if possible. I received it the day before yesterday and worked on it yesterday afternoon. It was from the Young Razor Co. and had "Chicago" etched on the front of the shank. The first impression I had of the razor was that it was a Pakistani made razor. The Gold wash in the center of the blade was poorly done and coming off. The steel was already developing black spots and the handle was poorly pinned . The plastic scales were roughly finished.

Using a 30X microscope I examined the bevel of the blade. The bevel showed an inconsistent scratch pattern. There were scatches going in multiple directions. If the razor had been honed properly the scratch pattern would have been all in one direction... angled right or left but not in multiple directions. The edge of the bevel looked rough and was a rust color.

I used an 800 grit Spyderco ceramic hone and performed 25 round trip laps then examined the bevel again. The scratch pattern did not extend for the full length of the blade. On one side of the blade the scratch pattern was missing for the mid 40 percent of the blade. On the other side of the blade the scratch pattern was just the opposite. The scratch pattern was missing on both the front and rear of the blade. This would be caused by a slightly bent blade. I tried to flatten the spine so that the bevel would extend for the full length of the blade. I performed 500 round trip laps on the hone. There was only a minimal improvement.
Further, the very edge of the blade, on those portions where the bevel extended all the way to the edge, was very rough .

At that point I stopped trying to repair the razor. It would have taken far to much time and the impression was that the steel was the same as other Pakistani razors that I have honed.
They have not been good shavers. They have a gritty, rough feel on the skin. Most unpleasent. All of the Pakistani razors have been either bent, warped or poorly ground and have required extensive work on a coarse hone just to create a bevel.

Thanks for your time,