On this forum, I read some good reviews concerning Wacker razors. I looked at several of their models. Because I am a fan of both the appearance and shaving quality of silver steel blades, I decided on the 7/8" Old Sheffield 1/1 full hollow razor. One of the members here recommended Griffith Shaving Goods as a source of these razors.
The web site showed these razors as out of stock, so I emailed Matt and asked him if he knew when he might receive another shipment. At first he was not hopeful, but he emailed me back a short while later and indicated that he found one in his inventory; apparently the web site information had not bee updated properly. Since it was his last one, I asked Matt to inspect the razor to be certain there were no significant flaws. Everything looked good, so I placed my order.
Matt asked me if I wanted him to hone the razor before shipping it out. I wanted to see if Wackers come shave ready and I was confident I could fine tune the edge if needed, so I asked him to ship it without honing.
The razor arrive on Tuesday of this week. Since Monday was a postal holiday, I was not expecting it until Wednesday at the earliest.
Upon inspecting the razor I found that the black horn scales were in near-perfect condition. I had read of some issues with Wacker horn scales, but these scales were straight, the wedge was installed properly, the pins were tight and the blade closed centered between the scales. So far so good.
The blade looked good; the grind was even and well polished. The spine and bevel were even. This was listed as a 7/8" blade, but it measured an oversized 15/16". It appears to be a 1/1 full hollow grind with a barber's notch, just as advertised. The engraving was well done. Again so far so good.
I checked the edge using the thumb pad test and the three fingertip test. The edge was sharp, but did not expect it to be shave ready by my standards. Rather than honing it immediately, I chose to shave the next morning to see how it performed. It would shave WTG, but I knew I could not complete the shave. Since I was in the middle of the shave, I stropped the blade on 0.50 and 0.25 micron CBS pasted strops, on canvas, and then on leather. That got the blade sharp enough to complete my shave without any nicks or cuts, but it was not as close, or as comfortable as I hoped.
Last night I took the blade to my current finishing hone of choice, a Tsushima ocean blue stone that is the subject of a thread I started in the hones forum. I generated a slurry with my Atoma 1200. I started honing with circles and then switched to X-strokes. I finished off under running water. In about 15 minutes from start to finish, the bevel was sticking to the hone and I knew the razor was good to go. As is my custom when refreshing razors, I did 10 laps on 0.50 CBN followed by 10 laps on 0.25 CBN, 20 laps on canvas and 50 laps on leather. I shaved with the blade this morning and got a shave that ranks right up there with my best shavers. I was even able to shave ATG on my tough chin stubble, something that I only attempt with a few of my razors
Overall, I am very pleased with the Wacker Old Sheffield; both its appearance and shave quality are excellent. I am also very pleased with the excellent service provided by Matt at Griffith Shaving Goods. Hopefully, Matt will have Old Sheffields back in stock soon. If you are interested in a Wacker and are not confident of your honing abilities, I would suggest that you have the razor inspected and honed before shipment. If you do have honing skills, you should have no issue putting an excellent edge on the razor.
