Thread: First straight razor, Ralf Aust or Revisor

Originally Posted by RobinK

Thing is, I have never been able to maintain a honemeister/connoisseur edge for more than three shaves. After that, it would have been "back to the hones". I am, however, lazy, and get perfectly acceptable shaves with a shave ready razor. Think "SE blade after four shaves". Not killer, but still smooth.

Don't want to argue the semantics of what various words mean to different people.

Thing is there really is no consistency between people on what they find as shave ready in a razor. What may be perfectly acceptable to one may not be to another. For me the way an SE blade feels after 4 shaves on my face might be different than after 4 shaves on an others. It is the users opinion that counts as to whether a razor is shave ready or not. That is regardless of whether the maker feels it is as they are not the user.

If I don't like the way a razor shaves on receiving it there is no problem as I simply hone it to my satisfaction. My hone job, although it satisfies me, may not satisfy others. It's the nature of the beast.

Bob

'Honemeister' and 'honester' are also in my mental bin of abhorrent terms/phrases/words along with ARS's "tru-honing" (yes, the spelling mistake was intentional) and other such claptrap.

I used to resell Thomas's Revisors, and always honed them myself, even though the edge was pretty damn decent in the first place. In all the hundreds of razors I got from Thomas, only one was truly blunt but it was a simple thing to correct this, and one had a bent blade - Thomas took it back immediately.

I used to speak with him some years back, and he struck me as being a very kind, great-hearted man. Not many of those left in the world, these days.

You are acting like a moderator with your closing comments Robin, or am I missing something? Your monicker says you are a 'senior member' just like a lot of us - except we do not take it upon ourselves to quote SRP policy....

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by RobinK

Given that hepatitis b viruses can survive for up to seven days, a "shave tested" razor is the last thing I want. Even more so if the person shave testing them does a lot of shave testing using razors sent to them quite recently.

If your that paranoid about contracting pathogens use chlorhexidine or any other appropriate antiseptic I would be more worried about whats living on your strop.

Originally Posted by RobinK

Given that hepatitis b viruses can survive for up to seven days, a "shave tested" razor is the last thing I want. Even more so if the person shave testing them does a lot of shave testing using razors sent to them quite recently.

We are, if I may add, wildly off topic by now. Maybe this particular subject ought to be discussed separately.

I believe razors would be disinfected after being shave tested

Tom: So I have been honing quite a few razors now and have my system down but I want to get a smoother edge what should I do.

SRP: Well Tom what are you using now and how are you using them

Tom: Well I set my bevels on a 1k grit Platen grinder and I just slightly lift the edge so I don't damage the beautiful spine work on the razors, then I move to either a Coticule with slurry or my Grey Hone to finish.. Then strop on a bench strop.. I like to keep things simple

SRP: Well I have heard on some people doing it that way, but you have to understand that you are actually setting a "Pre-Bevel" then moving almost straight to finishing.. How often do you dress the Platen stone ?
Also you do understand that you are essentially "Back Honing" this pre-bevel which creates a near serrated condition on the edge that is going to have to be removed.. Standard push strokes using an X pattern on a 1k Hone or using heavy slurry with your Coticule can achieve this.. But you will need to get to a nice EVEN smooth bevel set point before you are going to get a really smooth edge..
You are actually making this harder because you have introduced two separate angles from lifting the spine, that is actually going to need to be honed out anyway or the very edge of the razors will be rather rough...

Tom: Well my razors are sharp enough to shave, and many people like them.

SRP: Sharp and Smooth are actually two aspects of honing a SR they are interconnected as a Smooth edge does have to be Sharp.. But are separate because a Sharp edge might not be Smooth again think about a Serrated knife edge "Very sharp but you wouldn't want to shave with it"..
That ragged edge you are creating by back-honing the pre-bevel on a Platen and using a higher angle doing it has to be gently honed out and evened up.. You are going to be hard pressed to do that by simply using some slurry on a Coticule and calling it good.. What angle are you using when on the Coticule ??

Tom: This is way to complicated you guys are crazy I don't have time to do all that



And so it goes

Neill is spot on in my personal experience. I've had the pleasure if meeting Thomas and his family in person, and they are dedicated even by German standards. Incredibly generous and hospitable, too. Which is why I feel it necessary to stress what Neil quite rightly said. I have handled about two dozen Revisor razors, both NOS (ie razors made decades ago which were mint, wrapped in oil paper, never used) and new production. The new ones were every bit as good as the NOS ones out of the box. Absolutely no need for me to refine the factory edges, because the Kronenbergs are far more competent than I when it comes to anything cutthroat razor.

So, we have one documented incident with a sub par finished Revisor, Neil's first hand experience with a tremendously low rate of duds - I think we should leave it at that. SRP has always had a policy of discouraging libellous allegations made against manufacturers and vendors, and I think that is something that sets it apart from certain other forums.

And no, I am not paranoid. Anyone shaving with a large amount of used blades runs a significant risk of contracting diseases. There is a WHO report about occurrences of chronic hepatitis in Turkish barbers somewhere on the Internet, and it speaks for itself (yes, Turkey is a higher risk country than the US, no that does not make my argument invalid, the risk is still relevant).

And Neil, I am not acting like a moderator in the slightest. Being German, I like things nice and orderly. One thread, one topic.

I have bought three Revisors from the kronenbergs. Great service and great people but don't count on shaving without honing. They simply are not ready. The bevel is set but they are not finished like I want. On a second note I bought two ralph Austs also and neither were what I call shave ready. Unless I know the seller really well, I always figure on honing

If I were the OP I think by now I would have run for the hills and bought and electric razor.

Again.

I have seen no libelous allegation in this thread. I made it clear that I found this problem on ONLY TWO Revisor razors. I made no claim that it extended beyond that. I provided visual proof of what I received for one of them.

It is apparent that the edge is folded over. This was most likely due to the power honing that subsequent honing with a coticule or "grey stone" did not touch or correct.

It is apparent that the edge is not straight. It does not take artisanal or connoisseur honing (sorry Neil) to set the bevel far enough to make a straight edge. However, in my limited experience with "factory edges," I do not expect a good or even shave-able edge from any razor maker.

To be clear, I was not in any way criticizing Revisor. I simply wanted beginners to know that this is what they may get when they buy ANY razor with a "factory edge."

Some time soon I will take my 3, or 4, or 6, or 10 hone progression, or just a coticule, or a Swaty, or whatever I feel like, and make that Revisor into the awesome shaver I know it can be.

Dear Lord. Libelous allegations? Saying that a razor's edge was sub par is like saying batteries not included.