Thread: The Razor from Hell.

I did a blog about the talking razor and though it was meant to be comical the truth is it is no joke. Over the years I've talked about what it took to get my TI Damascus shave ready. Out of the box it wouldn't shave period and as I recall a factory rep from TI said it was originally made more as a collectible and they didn't think folks would be shaving with so they weren't made shave ready. I don't know if that was true or an urban legend but what I have always known is that I fear this razor.

It took me months of off and on honing to get it working. Admittedly, this was years ago when I first started and didn't have the hones I have now or the knowledge and experience but I always knew the day had to come when it would need to be honed and that day has come. After years of use without ever needing a touch-up it now needs a touch-up. Notice I say touch-up. It still gives a great shave but the comfort factor is starting to ebb.

So at this point this little touch up has for stage one taken about 250 strokes on a .5 diamond bench strop and about equal on a .25 diamond and about 100 strokes on CrO and that was just to experiment. yea, when I test shaved I thought I noticed a minuscule improvement.

I figure before this thing gets back in the shape I want it will be well over 1000 strokes easy.

Tough steel eh?

If anyone has any words of wisdom here I'm all ears.

If the steel is tough enough to last years of use before needing a touch up then it's going to be tough as a b%tch to hone so ... with great power comes great responsibility?

Would you be better off using a stone as opposed to a bench strop, at least for the bulk of it and then finish it on the balsa strop?

The notion that I could give honing advice to the OP is about as likely as my advising Casanova about women.

That said, if I were faced with this problem, I would drop down to a Nani 10 or 12 K, then try a reliable Thuri with slurry, slowly diluting. Maybe 100 to200 strokes total , then shave. If Still no good, I would drop to an 8K unless I ran into something totally unexpected like chipping or a deteriorating edge and run itnup as above again. If still no good, I'd send it to thebigspendur.

Can you post pics? just purely because i've love to see it

Sure, here a pic:

Interesting looking edge. Looks like a massively wide bevel but I can see a much finer one there as well. Is that actually real folded steel or an etch?

Some advice that joe gave me that has worked well is that with wear resistant steel, slurry can help a lot.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Tough steel eh?

If anyone has any words of wisdom here I'm all ears.

I've got it!!! Send it to Lynn?!?!!

I'm not honing genius - but I think I see two bevels. It sort of looks like you're cutting a new bevel above the old one...
I could be totally off base, but the stabilizer seems to end in the right place for what looks to be the original bevel... the blade also apperars to have a smile, yet the (upper?) bevel seems to be arrow-straight across the blade.
Is that correct or am I seeing an optical illusion or something?