Thread: Giesen & Forstohf

Could be he got a newer or even older stock one that is of better quality than the ones that has tarnished their reputation.

It is likely. I have seen several old Timors, of late, which are in fine shape. You gotta pay. They are fine as anything else, I promise.
Addy DeLuxe's are hard to see in good shape. Awesome blades!
If it is a new one, the problem seems to be a steel, and not (insurmountable) geometry. Sez it for me. If I had to try and harden a blade, I had rather use it to make wind chimes! Glad I have a few oldies..

From what I understand, the carbon content is right on the steel, just that it isn't being properly hardened and annealed.

Who knows, I don't know of any razor manufacturer that has given the specifications of the steel or the heat treatment process they use. You may see some of the custom makers use a generic tool steel alloy like say O1, or something more specialized but no big producer gives specs on their steel. TI makes a big deal of unique steel they are using, but apart from the marketing fluff the only factual thing they've said is that it has a 1.35% carbon content (I don't remember if there is even the tolerance, it may be specified as 1.1% to 1.35%, but they advertise it as carbonsong and c135).

You can find even the rare Zee-pk or Kriegar razor shaped object that can be made to shave, but that doesn't mean they aren't 99.999% of the time a piece of junk.

Is a brand that produces good razors 1% or 10% of the time a good brand worth buying? I think everybody gets to decide for themselves.

Originally Posted by bouschie

I keep reading and it seems that I must have the only modern g&f that hones well and shaves well. I honed mine on a 6k Japanese wet stone then a 12k oil stone finish on strop. It requires no more maintenance than any of my other razors. I touch them all up at the same time and get close comfortable shaves out of them all. Guess I am lucky.

Is yours a recently made one ?
I've honed a dozen or so & not one could I have started on a 6k. A lot of them start on the grinder tho the last one I did started ok on 1k. They all finally shaved well but a lot of work to get there. Still have geometry issues AFAIC.
Have had a couple come back for rehoning@ acceptable intervals 6-8 months.

Let's see, if you buy a new razor an you have to unpin it and 'harden' the blade, repine it, get it shave ready....seems like there would be a better way to put a razor in service.....what could that be?

i've got a newer generation timor 6/8 and its honed up nicely, held an edge well and shaves like a dream.
sadly, i've heard mixed reviews on these razors, which says that they are having some quality control issues that need to be dealt with. it will take some time to repair their reputation.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have to un pin the razor. I'm thinking I could incorporate some ideas from electric guitar wiring to help isolate the scales from the heat. Plus, only the edge would really need to be heated, which wouldn't take much to do.

Originally Posted by jte87

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have to un pin the razor. I'm thinking I could incorporate some ideas from electric guitar wiring to help isolate the scales from the heat. Plus, only the edge would really need to be heated, which wouldn't take much to do.

Let me get this straight. Your gonna take an already hardened and ground razor and put heat to it. This has all the earmarks for a really bad idea. Y.M.H.O.

Originally Posted by WW243

Let's see, if you buy a new razor an you have to unpin it and 'harden' the blade, repine it, get it shave ready....seems like there would be a better way to put a razor in service.....what could that be?

They don't need any hardening, they just need to be finished properly at the factory.