Thread: First straight razor, Ralf Aust or Revisor

Well since I can only speak from experience I will. I have recently purchased a new revisor from Thomas and I have to say that it was, by most definitions, shave ready. It delivered a BBS shave in two passes which is a feat that many of my "shave ready" razors from others have failed to do. I have purchased new Dovo razors that were miserably dull with their factory edge. I have received two blades from honemeisters that were shave ready but still fell considerably short of the keeness and smoothness of my Revisor from Thomas. I was so impressed with the edge I actually PM'ed him to ask him what stones he used. Imagine my surprise when I learned it was a coticule and not a 4-5 hone progression. I was equally surprised it wasn't a Guangxi or Thuringen too. (Those that know me will understand that). I intitially bought a Revisor after reading a few posts here about how impressed people were with the edge.

As for customer service, Thomas and his family went out of their way to ensure that everything went smoothly and it did. I would, and will, buy another Revisor from their shop in Germany without hesitation. I appreciate what Thomas and his family bring to this art in that they invested a lot of money and time to keep some new production razors on the market along with employing people with some knowledge that may have otherwise been lost.

Ah yes, these " shave-ready" discussions can often turn into pissing competitions... Citius - Altius - Acutus.

I do not have experience with Revisor, but I did recently purchase a 7/8 Aust. It came directly for Herr Aust and came shave-ready. But alas, the OCD in me still managed to find that the razor needed a tad more. A few licks on the coticule and a good stropping did the trick. To put it simply, if a grade of 10 is where I like my edge to be, I received an 8 and it took very little to bring it up a few notches.

With respect to "connaisseur" edges, I agree with Robin. Let us assume a beginner receives a razor with an edge graded at 10. Like many beginners, there is a good chance his edge maintenance will be lacking. A few stropping mistakes, poor drying, and his grade 10 edge can quickly be a 7 by his next shave.

I have seen the Roo strops in person and yes, paper thin in my book and as a newbie you will more than likely nick it or worse take a slice out and you are toast! I would stick to a nice 3" latigo type and go very slow at first while stropping.......in fact, get someone to show you in person the correct way to do it. It will save a big headache!

As far as the two razors............I have never heard of a Revisor but I have two RA's and for good reason. Lynn here hones them to a so sharp of a condition it is a pleasurable shave and the coupon to get a free re-hone is a plus. Being a newbie you will certainly taken them up on that offer until you either make local contacts of members here that hone to do for you or you invest in stones and do it yourself. I will say that it is impossible to me to have str8's and not learn the art of honing for sure. I watched many videos of Lynn and Glenn here and even my local razor friends like Joe and Richard at local meets do it and explain the process. I have gotten pretty good at maintaining my razors from doing so. Just need to more than likely add a Thuringian stone to the mix and be complete.

Good luck if you have not decided yet............I did not read through all the post, just your original post.

Thanks, everyone. I chose Ralf Aust. Not necessarily because it is better. But the margin of error is probably lower because it is made by one person. Also SRD carries them. Which means I don't have to wait for it to get here from Germany and it is honed already. Not to mention that I prefer the look of RA. The one I chose is model 1692. Snakewood scales, French Point, and sculptured spine. It is a beauty. It was offered only through STD and apparently they only had couple of them because it is now out of stock. The first shave went fine. No problem except some burning; mostly the chin area. I did at least 10 passes for that! For the second one I waited a few days in order for my skin to recover. It went much better. No burning except the chin area. I am slowly but surely learning the proper technique. Few more shaves and no more burning. Since I am a confident, cocky SOB I went ahead with the Kangaroo strop. For its other side I don't like canvas. So I went with wool. Much more expensive but it is worth it. I use it untreated and I think it is superb. I stropped on the roo the other day without any problem. Yes it is very thin. But also it is one of the toughest. It will last many years as long as you do it nice and slow.

I love my Ralf Aust. When I started, my chin was a nice red color for a couple weeks. It now shaves very effortlessly. You will get there shortly. Let your hands and face tell you when you are ready to start something new and do not rush, it will come.

Most of all, enjoy.

Modaresi- I just bought the same one a couple weeks ago. Its a gorgeous razor, especially the scales. I was originally going to get the horn scales version but the snakewood slithered to me in my dreams and bit me so that's what I went with. I noticed that it was sold out shortly after so maybe you and I bought the last two. I'm enjoying it a lot, although I'm still getting used to the full hollow grind. I'm used to shaving with 1/4 hollow like my Hart Steel axe, so its a completely different feel. Kind of like a finely tuned sport car vs a monster truck (not that I've ever driven either one). Congrats on the razor.
Matt