The shave pulled and left irritation...I really didn't want to send it back just to get re-honed, but I had to do something. I gave it the thumbnail test and the first 3/4 was smooth as could be, however the last 1/4 of the edge closest to the heel jumped and skipped more than a ballet dancer does! That's the area where I could see deep/wide scratch pattern. I had to do it 3 or 4 times again because I couldn't believe what I was seeing and feeling! End of story was I put the razor to my Naniwa SS 8k and 12k, and as suspected, the edge cleaned and shined right up for me. I will be shave testing it this evening.