Thread: My Definition of a Custom Razor

Originally Posted by UKRob

Mike _ refer you to posts#5 and #36 - what is your verdict?

My verdict is that you are 100% spot on

With reference to post #5 The mastro Livi is custom because it was made specifically for you (bespoke, maybe not but custom for sure). Post #36 hits the nail on the head again, if it hasn't been made specifically for you then its not custom. It just so happens that you share the same thoughts as the man himself hehe

Originally Posted by mike1011

I think its pretty straight forward and don't see what the confusion is. The word "custom" in this context is defined as "something made by someone for a specific person". Anything that lies outside of this definition IS NOT custom, period.

If someone asked me to make a razor for them, that razor (or in this case because I would be making it, an RSO) would be custom. If Mr Heart hand makes a razor and then sticks it in his shop to sell, then its NOT a custom razor it is a handmade razor!

Anything claiming to be a custom made razor, that lies outside the definition of custom is pure and simple marketing hype intended to make something more appealing to a buyer.

At the end of the day we can't simply choose to redefine a definition to suit our own needs, imagine what would happen if people decided to make up their own meaning for words. A banana is a banana, we can't start calling apples bananas simply because we like the sound of banana. The same applies to the word custom.

Logical, concise, and compelling.

Who the hell let this guy in here?

Though this does serve (to me anyway) to illustrate how in the time I've become interested in straight shaving I've accepted a rather loose interpretation an idea without really pinning it down.

I blame you people for not having this rigidly defined before my arrival, and for my subsequent lemming like behavior.

Also: I love banana pie. With guerrilla ice cream. I DO WHAT I WANT! <runs at speed in a little circle throwing grass and feces into the air>

Originally Posted by entropy1049

Logical, concise, and compelling.

Who the hell let this guy in here?

Yeah, exactly ....... we don't want that around here ........

Originally Posted by entropy1049

Logical, concise, and compelling.

Who the hell let this guy in here?

Crikey Mike - you're a bit slow on the uptake...

Originally Posted by BobH

To me a custom razor, or any other custom product, is made at my request to my specifications by a single artisan....

Originally Posted by GC7

This is my definition as well. Custom made to my specifications and design...

Originally Posted by Bruno

Imo, custom means made specifically for a specific customer requirement. ..

Originally Posted by guitstik

...you need to sit down with an artisan and have a completely new razor designed and built from scratch ...

There's more of the same, not only here but in Phoenix's thread. What gives, brother? It's not just that the name "Mike" does it for you, perchance?

Regards,
Neil

I still contend that "custom" is anything that falls outside of the purview of the mass produced factory razor. A "hand made" razor or a "custom" razor are one and the same. It is nice to be able to sit down and hash out with an artisan the specific details of a razor that you would like built to your specifications but, by the same time and token, a razor that has been crafted by the same artisan with no other criteria but to suite his own tastes is still a "custom" razor. There are several craftsmen here that have done just that and I have lusted after the work they have done. For instance, Bruno just recently posted a razor that he crafted with no particular buyer for that I would love to have had. In deed I made a comment to that effect and Bruno contacted me asking if I would like to buy it, unfortunately my funds were low at the time. The point being, that razor was just as "custom" as any that I might have made specifically for me. How many of you that hold the opinion that a razor must be made in cooperation between artisan and buyer actually own a razor that falls into that category? If the answer is 100% of you then I postulate that you are trying to narrow the definition of custom to protect your investment and hold on to that exclusivity that comes with owning a "custom" as YOU define it.

Ok , then all vintage razors even though made in mass production are custom seeing as they were all handmade. Just my two cents !! But I'll just stick with my bespoke razors just so there is no misunderstanding. Anything else I have is now custom,, that way I can gain some ground on Birnardo on the custom front!!!!!! Tc

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Crikey Mike - you're a bit slow on the uptake...

Story of my life Neil...

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Anything else I have is now custom,, that way I can gain some ground on Birnardo on the custom front!!!!!! Tc

It's gonna take a full court press to muster enough members to usurp Birnandos fleet...

Birnando is to custom razors what Phrank is to W&B FBU's and 10pups is to DD's.

Exclusivity - now that is interesting. Unfortunately, I do not fall into that group so I have nothing to defend.

However, in other disciplines the degree of value a collector places on an item is in direct proportion to the artist and how exclusive the work is. Take paintings, sculptures, old masters, etc, many of which were made to customers requirements, others that were made just to please the artist.

You don't often hear them called 'artisans' or their work 'artisanal' (UGH!) or 'custom' or 'customised' yet they fulfill all the requirements of what we are talking about.

In the end analysis we either go by defined guidelines or make something up to suit ourselves, who cares one way or the other?

I am in total accord with those that maintain that things are 'elastic', with those who maintain that custom does not mean what it says in the dictionary and those who insist on using incorrect means of comparison. By that I don't mean that I agree, only that I am taking my own viewpoint and sticking to it. At which point I have to say that the subject is well and truly done to death for me and that I can't find anything more to be got from it (for quite a while, to be honest), so this is my last look-in at the subject.

Continue to agree or disagree - it wouldn't be a very exciting world if we all got on and agreed with each other all the time, would it. Vive le difference, as they say...

Adieu,
Neil