Thread: So what is a custom razor?

Originally Posted by poona

I bet that razor is immense. Have heard nothing but great reviews of these blades.

Wacker razors are very hard, it's a full holow(I think), but it shaves like a 1/2 hollow, no flex at all...
It isn't as smooth as my Henckels, but few razors are... I've had over 100 razors, and due to various financial and family issues, I've sold off almost all of them. The Dorko is #3 on a very short list of razors that I will not sell.
If I named my razors, my top 4 would have to be named after Greek Gods.
The Williams I ordered will be compared to these 4 when I get it, and I hope it will be comparable.
Also I made a deal with my family, that once things settle down, I will be given free reign to order several customs to replace the razors I sold...
I'm making my list
I have a Wacker, I've ordered my Williams...
TZ, Chandler, Livi, Josh Earl, Bill Ellis... Who else should I add to my list?

Oh am I going to have fun with this list...

In my rush to get the last post up, I forgot to add, I think you can get "custom" work from Maestro Livi by going through Lynn.

Pretty much everything I've seen from Joe, Robert or Bill would classify as "custom". I admit, I haven't seen it all. But, I love stealing their ideas...

I see "custom" as made to the individual end customer's specifications. It would be something different, or even just slightly modified , from the makers usual product line. Custom should not infer a difference in quality or even price. It just gives the end user the chance to spec. just what they want.

If someone wanted a razor where the only change was to do a full hollow grind, instead of the usual 1/4 hollow, that would be "custom".

Or, you can look at the work that Don has had done for him. He designed pretty much everything and had it made. That is custom too.

Tim Z.

I agree with the consensus that seems to be emerging here... I consider the stuff I'm doing right now to be hand-made, but not truly custom. I find that I prefer to work on one razor at a time, experimenting with different designs and materials.

Custom work involves people placing orders, which automatically means a waiting list. Which to me is too much pressure. I don't enjoy the process when I have 10 more people waiting in line...

As for "hand-made," I consider that to allow for the use of power tools. A human being is in the driver-seat, even if a little juice off the grid is making the work go faster.

Josh

May I suggest that it may be generally accepted, by many, that a custom razor is not necessarily a razor produced to the specific requirements of a customer. It could be a razor produced, as a one off, to the craftsmans own specifications and design.

A bespoke razor however, would be manufactured to an individuals own specifications and requirements. Two similar though totally different things IMHO.

Customer participation has nothing to do with whether a razor is custom or not. Is this a new way for someone who doesn't do any of the work to get residual credit for someone else's work? If a hobbiest/artist produces a blade he has ground to shape and a made a set of scales to fit the blade, it is custom work.


Levi - Custom work (according to some of you, all of his stuff must not be custom. You can't possibly believe every razor he has made has had imput from a customer)

For instance : 100 blades stamped by machine, then ground by machine but touched up by hand - Bench Made

Dovo - factory

If I had to define it:

"The collaboration between customer and craftsman in the execution of design elements to produce a unique piece specially for the customer, with particular importance placed on the creation of the blade"

What this means to me, in a nutshell:

-Being in communication with the craftsman is essential. (can't be a custom if you didn't have any say in the design)
-The blade has to be ground from scratch. (ie You take a piece of steel and grind away anything that doesn't look like a razor)

For inquiring minds, I would NOT consider the following to be custom:

-Buying "off the rack" (ie a TZ or Livi from classicshaving, or a JC from Lynn...these are high-end or handmade)
-Rescaling (this makes a razor "customized"...big difference)
-Regrinding (this makes a razor "restored"...big difference)
-Grinding a razor blank (makes a razor "finished"...sorry Livi)
-Spinework to an existing blade (again being customized)
-Buying someone elses custom razor! (I don't care if you paid $1200 for it, if you got it off eBay or BST, it ain't custom)

Let's break it down a little further:

You have to talk with the craftsman and say "This is what I want!" and he makes it for you. Done deal

If a maker makes a blade for his own purposes, yup it's a custom...until he sells it to someone, at which point it becomes handmade.

Those are just my thoughts

Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

That ain't the coolest looking razor I've ever seen, but it's in the top 2.

... you owe us a photo of the other one ...

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

True but don't you think most people would associate the Custom razor as the cats meow when in fact the handmade one may be more expensive, of better quality and more artistic?

I suspect that people would tend to see a custom razor as the "cat's meow", since it would be a handmade razor with the additional benefit of being made specifically to the purchaser's specifications, making it both an unique reflection of the craftsman's skills and an unique reflection of the purchaser's personality.

It'd be the difference between
(a) going to Classicshaving and buying whatever Zowada happens to be in stock, and
(b) calling up Tim Zowada and getting him to make a 33/32" bulgarian-point wedge with cloverleaf tang and dogwood scales inlaid with my family crest. (Okay, I made most of that up, but you get the idea.)

Originally Posted by Doc4

making it both an unique reflection of the craftsman's skills and an unique reflection of the purchaser's personality.

ooo i like that

Here's a nice informative post by Bill Ellis for those that have not read it.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=44443

Very good post by Bill.