Thread: What is your definition of a custom razor?

I guess there are just degrees of customization. Likely pretty hard to get a true one off razor that is never to be repeated.

Bob

Originally Posted by Utopian

Charlie Lewis, my hero, makes artisanal razors. His own imagination yields his unique and personal designs. He makes what he wants to make, and they are put up for sale for whomever wants to buy them.

I would still consider them Custom Razors. True, certain things may carry over from one design to the next (a particular thumb notch, or jimps), but it is essentially a one-off item. That it appeals to someone enough for them to buy it is not relevant to the uniqueness of the piece.

My mind has been sent into a whirlwind of chaos after reading this thread. As a visual artist for more than 60 years, first as a studio artist and now a fabric artist, I have to say how content I am by never having to distinguish between artisanal and custom. I've never had to produce a painting based on customer input. That would be akin to doing a paint by numbers kit. I've never sewn a wall hanging based on a customer's color preferences. That would be calling me a tailor.

By my definition an Artisan produces a fairly standard product of his/her design, modifying it via natural variations in production (ex: ceramist making shaver's scuttles - no two alike but still the same.) That is the artisanal part of their process. Modifying said product to a customer's specifications, whether in clay or metal then that makes it a unique and customized item despite it superficially looking like similar products.

A razor that has been altered from it's original state, or a homemade (non-production) razor that has been built to look unique to others.

Lets just inject the word Bespoke to further complicate things.

The best descriptive synonym I found for custom made is Made to Order. Doesn't sound as cool but is less confusing.

Nowhere in dictionaries have I found the words unique, handmade, quality or non production in the definition.

As a result of this discussion the next time I go to a fast food drive through I am going to ask for no pickles on my burger so I can tell everyone that I had a custom made burger for lunch!

Originally Posted by 32t

The best descriptive synonym I found for custom made is Made to Order. Doesn't sound as cool but is less confusing.

Nowhere in dictionaries have I found the words unique, handmade, quality or non production in the definition.

As a result of this discussion the next time I go to a fast food drive through I am going to ask for no pickles on my burger so I can tell everyone that I had a custom made burger for lunch!

No, you did not!

The burger was a mass produced pattie, you just left the pickles off!

Now, if you had instructed the baker to make a one off bun, in the shape of a pyramid for example, filled it with a one-off meat pattie made from divers and rarely encountered animals and cooked it on a red hot meteorite that had just landed on the great ice mass and flattened a polar bear in doing so then had it instantaneously sent to you via the Starship Enterprise's transporter, that would be one hell of a burger.

Pickles? Schmickles!

Regards,
Neil

I wonder if we can get 20 pages on this subject matter????

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

No, you did not!

The burger was a mass produced pattie, you just left the pickles off!

Now, if you had instructed the baker to make a one off bun, in the shape of a pyramid for example, filled it with a one-off meat pattie made from divers and rarely encountered animals and cooked it on a red hot meteorite that had just landed on the great ice mass and flattened a polar bear in doing so then had it instantaneously sent to you via the Starship Enterprise's transporter, that would be one hell of a burger.

Pickles? Schmickles!

Regards,
Neil

I beg to differ.

From Merriam Webster

Full Definition of CUSTOM-MADE

: made to individual specifications <custom–made clothing>

Synonymsbespoke (also bespoken), custom, customized, custom-tailored, made-to-order, tailored,tailor-made

Nowhere in any definition that I have found says that my order has to be one of a kind or doesn't use mass produced parts.

I could order 50 burgers with mass produced patties and buns, ketchup, mustard, lettuce but no pickles and they all would be custom made.

I used to think similar to you but the more I have looked I see that I was wrong.

The last time we went round and round with this and didn't resolve anything. Custom means different things to different folks. To me it means made to order simple as that. Whether it looks like another or not is immaterial. Whether it's unique or not is a quality that is part of the ordering process.