Thread: Brand New Hart Custom Blade abnormalities...would you return?

Originally Posted by bran

E1049...every Hart razor, standard or artisan line, has the makers stamp on it. As far as I know this has been common knowledge since Hart started. You said you like yours, I don't understand how knowing that different men make Hart razors makes it inferior. As I mentioned, they are stamped/etched with the makers mark.

I too have a Robert Williams SRP LE. It is a great razor for an amazing price compared to what you would pay for a RW elsewhere. Unless you buy another SRP LE, you will never find another priced anywhere close to a Hart.

As you said, it has been a week...and it has here as well. I just choose to give them the opportunity to make it right. It doesn't matter to me when it was produced. I like the razor and want it like it should be for new...the rest is just useless info that will not improve my shave.

Hi bran-
First, I must point out that I never said that Hart Steel Razors were inferior. I apologize if the post led anyone to this impression as it was carefully worded to specifically not make this implication. It simply makes them less attractive to me by the nature of the business model.

I guess I had kind of a romantic notion of 10 people or so in a common shop facility, located in the good ol' US of A (where we haven't had any large manufacturer of straights in this country since Genco by my best guess) walking over to a barrel, pulling out a length of steel, and using common tooling, making a blank and finally, producing a finished razor, as opposed to a business entity announcing a marque, and soliciting privateers to sail under their flag.

Like I said, I love mine, simply because it's a well made razor that delivers a great shave and behaves itself on the hones. But personally, if I want a razor not made in a single facility with employees who show up for work in the morning in a common location, talk about razor stuff together at lunch, have W-2's instead of 1099's, and communally take pride in working together for their company's standing in the world of straight razor manufacturers, I'd prefer to seek out somebody who is working for their own marque.

And yes, RW is giving us all a price break on the SRP Custom. I should use a different example, though the RW SRP Custom is still I believe a pertinent example. How about Koraat blades? I've owned one. A damned fine blade. Maybe 75 or 100 bucks more than the Hart, but a hell of a lot of razor for that 100 bucks. Or our own Bruno's Snail Forge Razors? There are a host of others.

When I purchased mine, I didn't much care about the details of Harts businesses model, and if I didn't already own one, I would without hesitation add one to my stable. But, having one, I won't be buying any more. I'm not going chasing down Harts with individual artisan's initials on the tang.

I hope your week gets better. I'm sure HSR will make sure your blade is soon looking the cat's pajamas and giving you great shaves. I know mine does, and it looks great doing it.