RSO received as a gift

[JellyJar]

My lovely wife thought she had found a great gift to give me...opened the package and pulled out a leather sheath with a straight sticking out. The tang was pattern welded steel. Oooh! what have we here? Pulled it out and thought the pattern in the steel was cool. Handle was interesting, around 3/4 of an inch thick at the spacer. Hmmm , balance was really off...oh and the spine was super thin (a little less than 0.10"). Started looking closer and noticed an area of the bevel at the tip was blue from excessive heat and an unfilled gap was between the handle and the liner. The wood spacer was significantly longer at the bottom than the top...?...Oh, that's what's keeping the blade from going through the scales







I could get this knife sharp, but it will never shave, and every time you close it the tip will be dulled by the spacer.

Hated to disappoint her, but this needs to go back. I emailed the vendor to see about them honoring the 30 day return policy.

Worst thing is their product description talks about improving your shave experience with an heirloom razor.

[Gasman]

Its the tbought that counts when it comes to family. My wife has never bought me a razor. Even a RSO.

[Kees]

Its the tbought that counts when it comes to family. My wife has never bought me a razor. Even a RSO.

I was going to say that. You can keep it on your desk as a very interesting letter opener and conversation starter.

[JellyJar]

Absolutely agree, and loved the idea. She was pretty irritated with the vendor and the way they promoted the item.

[DZEC]

I very nearly bought one of those “Damascus” RSOs a couple of years ago. The price was so low for a true Damascus razor that I pm’ed the vendor and asked how he could sell a real razor for the price he had posted. He was honest and replied that it was not a useable razor, but was only for show. I appreciated his honesty, but was disappointed that information was not in the eBay listing.

[CrescentCityRazors]

I very nearly bought one of those “Damascus” RSOs a couple of years ago. The price was so low for a true Damascus razor that I pm’ed the vendor and asked how he could sell a real razor for the price he had posted. He was honest and replied that it was not a useable razor, but was only for show. I appreciated his honesty, but was disappointed that information was not in the eBay listing.

A usable pattern welded steel razor COULD be made cheaply where labor is cheap. However, first, two things would need to happen. First, the maker would have to truly care about the quality and functionality of his product. Second, some knowledgeable razor smith would have to go out of his way to spend a few weeks with the $5/day workers teaching them the fundamentals of metallurgy and specifically razor making. Oh and a third one. You still need good steel to start with, before making up the billet stock.

You almost never see an RSO with a correct bevel angle. They are always either too skinny or too fat. Usually too skinny. 1/8" mild steel bar stock is pretty darn cheap, when you only need a 6" piece to make a RSO. 1/8" thick stock will barely make a 4/8 razor if you don't want it too skinny. Move up to 3/16" stock finished to dimension and you can easily do a 5/8 or even a 6/8 if you really push it. The thing is, they sell all the RSO's they can make. So they keep making them, out of ignorance, lack of knowledge, lack of skill, or I don't know... some form of shave Jihad? Bring down the hated Western Infidel Satans by selling them junk steel and telling them it will give them great old style barber shaves!

Not only should you not let someone who does not shave with a straight razor hone yours, but likewise you should not let someone who does not shave with a straight razor sell you one. Most of the villagers in Pakistan do not shave with anything at all, I am thinking.

As for the Damascus steel, if you look at the toe end of the spine, you will probably not see any pattern there. If you do, try hitting it with a random orbit sander and 150, 400, and 1k sandpaper. Now dip the toe end in vinegar or Ospho, or just brush some on. Rinse. Buff with metal polish. See if any pattern shows up. Sometimes you get a real chuckle out of discovering that the pattern of the Damascus is just etched into the junk steel.

Presently, I think the only makers of usable razors in the under $20 category are in China. And there are a lot of RSO's from there as well.

[Steve56]

Frame it and hang it on the bathroom wall for decoration?

[JellyJar]

If it had been a $20 RSO I'd seriously consider the decoration route, but it was close to 5X that amount. Too much $ for a fancy dust collector IMO.

[Johntoad57]

Tough situation there Jelly! If that's not a catch 22, I don't know what one is. I sure hope everything works out so that you achieve a win / win solution!

[JellyJar]

So this little saga is near its end and I must say things worked out nicely. Kind of a win/win/win.

My wife was probably more mad at the company than I was, so returning it wasn't an issue.

Contacted the company and got a return shipping label. Boxed it up and USPS tracking showed they received it within the 30 day window. All good so far...and then crickets.

No response at all, ignored e-mails etc.

Contacted our credit card company and sent them screen shots of the date of purchase and USPS tracking. They needed to contact the company and give them a couple of months to respond. The company never responded so we were given the refund

Now for the really cool part:
My wife wanted to get me an heirloom razor I could hand down to my son. I've been lusting after a Koraat semi-custom for a while and made the pitch to use the refund plus some of my toy fund to get a Koraat my son and I picked out together. She liked the idea and my son is on board. I'm never leaving that woman, she totally rocks!

Might be a little bit before we decide on a final design, but that'll just add to the excitement.