Thread: Three Honed By Lynn

Bad news is always reported and good news seems to be taken as a matter of course and goes unmentioned. Lately a couple of members have had a rough time with razors that came pre honed from various vendors. Since I have a few of the pre honed variety I decided to post my first hand impressions on them.

I bought the TI Silverwing from Classic , the NOS vintage Dovo from Vintage Blades and the Garantie Solingen from Straight Razor Desgns. All three razors were pre honed by Lynn Abrams.

The first thing I did with these when I received them was to see if they passed the HHT and all three of them cut the hair all along the blade's edge from heel to toe. Then of course following the instructions I shaved without stropping.

All three were as good as it gets in sharpness and smoothness. The Silverwing and the Solingen having a slight edge on the Dovo but only slightly. So no reflection on anyone else or what they may have received or experienced. Just how it worked out for me and I thought it deserved a mention. Aside from having three great shavers they give me a benchmark to shoot for in my own honing. Thanks to Lynn for a great job on those razors.

It's nice to hear words of praise going to well deserved efforts. I wish more people would do this when their efforts performed show.

Congratulations on the shave and acquiring three great razors.
I personally have also had a couple of razors honed by Lynn with great results... except for the one I rolled the edge on during stropping when I first started out.

thank you for an exceptional post. it is really good to hear some positive things here on prehoned razors, and don and lynn are definetly premire honers in that respect, it is all too easy to roll an edge for a beginner,

Isn't it advisable to strop before EVERY shave no matter how well honed the blade is? Thought the theory behind this was that the "teeth" of the blade when at rest for a period of time go every which way and stropping straightens these out for a smoother shave.

Perhaps this line was to discourage newbies from ruining the fresh edge with incorrect stropping?

Ah, the ceaselessness of wonders: practice something for about 30 years and a fella may just get it right. Hmmm?

I hear you brother!! I also have three razors prehoned by Lynn and they came to me superb shavers. I won't even attempt a shave without prehoning by a pro first. It makes all the difference in the world.

The answer to your point is that you are correct it is best to strop and realign the razors edge before a shave.

You are also correct that if you do not know how to hone, you can ruin a sharp razor very quickly. Just one bad incorrect stroke on a leather strop can do it.

I't a straight razor conundrum. Many people, not only new straight razor shavers, will meddle with a blade before they shave with it. It's sort of understandable because the sharpened razor is like a new toy and a razor is a very tactile instrument.

Of course if they do and the shave is not great, they only have themselves to blame.

I am not going to put words in Lynn's mouth and then quote him but .... I imagine the reason for the instructions on the Dovo box that the razor doesn't need to be stropped before you shave with it is exactly what English refers to. I wouldn't be surprised if someone unfamiliar with proper stropping technique has rolled an edge on a pre-honed razor and then, unaware that they caused the problem, complained that they didn't get a good shave out of it.

Although I have full confidence in my stropping ability I followed the instructions to better see what the shave would be like without stropping first. All three of the razors mentioned in the OP were great shaves. I normally do 50 linen and 50 leather before I shave and 10 round trips on the leather afterwards.

I had a similar experience. TI limited edition pre-sharpened to the point whenever I held it near my face the whiskers would start jumping off out of fear.

Double edge sword though as I squeegied my face with it so much that it soon started tugging so guess what...while I've honed it to the point it gets a pretty decent shave I'm afraid of turning it into a toothpick trying to duplicate Lynn's initial craftsmanship.

Soooo close and yet soooo far away.