Thread: Difficulty Honing a TI

If all razors shaved wonderfully after a good honing, then we wouldn't have favourite shavers.

I think Pieter's suggestion could definitely bring up your sharpness a few notches. You should also definitely consider a pasted strop.

If you really want to know whether the razor is capable of being a better shaver that will meet your expectations, send it out to a pro. Perhaps you have squeezed all the sharpness you can get out of it and a pro honing won't add much improvement to the quality of the shave.

I personally never liked how modern TI razors shave. I find razors made of very hard steel too crisp and tuggy compared to softer steels. Many I have seen have wide and uneven bevels and I am not fond of the grind. The wider the bevel, the harder it is to get it very sharp without a few hacks.

Originally Posted by Badgister

I personally never liked how modern TI razors shave. I find razors made of very hard steel too crisp and tuggy compared to softer steels. Many I have seen have wide and uneven bevels and I am not fond of the grind. The wider the bevel, the harder it is to get it very sharp without a few hacks.

I've had the exact opposite experience. Might be that dementia runs in my family but I can't remember a modern T.I. that didn't shave exceptionally well Grinds have indeed been pretty poor but the more recent ones haven't been too bad. Talking up to 2018 . Haven't been honing this year so can't comment on those.
For me it's always been getting a proper bevel on them that was the hard part then tweaking if needed after the shave test.
Soft vs hard steels for razors would make an interesting thread on it's own, as would discussing the stones we all use for both types. I've always gravitated towards harder steels & I think over the decades my stone collection has been tailored that way.