Thread: Shave ready question

I'm sure this question has been asked before and I did read the posts I found but inwant s clarification on something. I got a new hart 5/8 and it comes shave ready. Will I notice a tremendous night and day difference if I send it out to get professionally honed at this point or am I better off waiting for it to dull a little and then send it? I don't want to send it with these grand expectations only to notice a negligible difference.
On that note, I found the perfectedge.com.
Any feedback there or anyone know someone in NYC who can do this? I saw reviews on some company on Madison Avenue in the city that seems unimpressive.
Thanks!

If it is shaving to your satisfaction then wait till you know the edge is wearing.

Sending it to the right honer is the big challenge. Lots of people say they can hone.

Better safe than sorry. You cannot go wrong by using Lynn, Glen, Max, etc.

Shave ready can be a relative term. I have purchased several razors that made that claim and none have been shave-ready by my standard. I have sold a few where the people emailed me back complaining that I tried to kill them with an edge that sharp.

Give it a try. If it tugs, the shave can be made better by a professional honer.

Seeing as there are not too many people selling hart Razors, and the artisans that make the razors hand hone them, you should be OK. However there have been people here and there that have felt their new Harts were not quite what they should be. As a new person, it may be hard to tell if it is your technique or the blade that is off. I would be more likely to think you will be fine until it starts to dull, which can be relatively soon for a new shaver. Both too high of an angle while shaving and a poor stropping technique can shorten the life of an edge. Give it a go!

I truly appreciate the honesty. I will try today and give it a go and see how I do. My stropping I think is ok, my shaving technique still needs practice but no stitches yet. How will I know when it's ready to send to you?

It will start to pull. When you shave, as it is cutting the whiskers, there should be some residence, but not a lot. As the edge degrades the resistance will increase and the shave will become less than comfortable, that is the time.

Hart razors are supposed to be shave ready, but you never know. I purchased one on sale right after Christmas. When I tried shaving with it right out of the box it tore up my face. I had dipped it in Barbicide and rinsed it off, but I had not even stropped the razor. When I examined the razor under a loupe, I found that the edge had microchips that caused the blood letting.

I have made many attempts at rehoning this razor. The edge will chip easily if I try to put any pressure on the hone. I finally got it where it would shave without blood loss by honing without tape and then honing again with two layers of tape to put a double bevel on the edge. The less acute edge seems to be less prone to chipping. It still does not give a close, comfortable shave, but at lease I have stopped the bleeding.

The lesson I learned is to never trust a razor to be shave ready. Always inspect the razor with a loupe before putting it against your face. I have gotten razors that were shave ready from the manufacturer, but many needed some touch-up.

I purchased a Dovo Bismark from Imperial Shaving, the brick and mortar store that is associated with SRD. Dovo claims that their razors are shave ready from the factory, but Lynn does not agree. Although my Dovo would shave OK, it was not shave ready by my standards. Lynn said he would rehone it if I sent it back, but I was able to fine-tune the edge using a finishing hone as the bevel was well set. Two other razors I have gotten got from SRD/Imperial Shaving were wonderful shavers from the start.

If you need a razor honed up, I am in Brooklyn every few weeks. Planning on being there next week, around Wed. I can bring my stones, and have it ready for you next morning. If you have more than one razor, I can just ship them to you when their done.

I bought a Aust direct and 2 from Lynn. The direct was sharp and shaved pretty good. Lynn's felt sharper and after a couple of shaves, I took the three and did 5 laps on my Escher and they performed exceptionally well. I feel there was a difference between the factory and Lynn's but the factory was shave ready just not exactly the way I like it. I had Dovo's and some other production razors I felt were sharp but not shave ready.