Thread: Thieres-Issard Quality Control!!!!!!!

Ok, got some photos. Would be interested in what you guys think. First picture displays the warp (note the gap on the left while the blade is flat on the right), the second is just a picture from the end, not showing anything in partucular, and the third is of the laser etching on the historical blank.

JimmyH, the bend is along the other axis, imagine trying to bend a plastic rule, along one axis it would be impossible, along the other (like the bend you make when flicking stuff) it's easy, the bend on this razor is the second one.

More knowledgeable guys than me can chip in with what could be done to correct that blade but my inclination would be to return it. That second picture is a horrible warp and simply wrong. Must admit that I first thought you were being a bit picky wanting shave ready from the box but for a new razor, you're not being picky, that's just not on. Contact the vendor.

edit That's not on for any razor, new, vintage or otherwise edit

This type of event really irritates me. I know we don't live in a perfect world, far from it but this is all to common an occurence. How many new straight razor shavers would even know that the blade was at fault.

Your picture shows that there is a slight bend in the spine of the blade and it is therefore faulty.

From what I remember, the cutting bevel and initial edge are set at the factory by laying the blade flat on a spinning hone. If you leave it long enough on the hone, the metal would cut and self correct. The cutting bevel however would be uneven in its width. I think the factory fully understands the issue, because the blanks they use will on occasion have a twist in them. The problem is that that the final honing work is undertaken late in the production process, making it expensive to reject a blade that has not been spotted so late.

Whatever, while you may be able to find fore giveness for being sold a pup, I'm sure I wouldn't be so understanding. Your professionalism in sending an engineers report is just wonderful.

Make sure you let them know the time trouble, cost, inconvenience and upset that your purchase of their products has put you to.

Incidentally, surely the vendor should send the blades to Thiers Issard at their expense. Otherwise please tell me what he takes a profit for.

Originally Posted by Almax9633

Surely I should not have to hone a new razor costing £190, also the amount of honing required would be ridiculious to say the least as we are talking nearly a 1/4mm of curvature (smile) towards each end of the blade. I cannot see how this can be repaired with honing unless one is prepaired to remove a great deal of the blade. At the same time the blade may get worse as you travel up the blade. The Thiers Issard blade is like wafer thin almost all the way up to the spine as it is a singing blade.

Is it reasonable to expect a user to hone away from taking it out of the box, had the blade been flat then I might have considered a light honing but this puppy is going to take a lot of honing to correct if it all.

Hate to disappoint, but you should expect to hone most new straight razors, price notwithstanding. To further disappoint you, two things: 1. TI has notoriously spotty quality control and 2. TIs can be a little fickle to hone. So, to finish on a positive note, once you get them shaving well, TIs shave with the best of them.

Ok, so can we say that the general consenus is that my blade (if not Alex's) is not acceptable?

Jimmy, I agree with you about learning stuff via rectifying faults, I bought a £7 Kropp off eBay to do this with

I also have a Royal Enfield diesel bike that supplies the same learning curve

(I am married by the way and strictly hetrosexual)

I'm glad you put this disclaimer. Often the fellows that complain about Thiers-Issard's quality control are not "strictly" heterosexual. I mean, they're pretty firm about it, but not strict.

Originally Posted by ProfessorChaos!

Hate to disappoint, but you should expect to hone most new straight razors, price notwithstanding. To further disappoint you, two things: 1. TI has notoriously spotty quality control and 2. TIs can be a little fickle to hone. So, to finish on a positive note, once you get them shaving well, TIs shave with the best of them.

Then why do they put a piece of paper in the sealed box it comes in stating it is ready to shave out of the box! Fair enough it ain't but still, surely they would be better not stating in the instructions the razor is indeed ready to shave. Surely if they had done their job properly then the most it should need is a strop, can they not hone properly at Thiers-Issard that the customer needs to do it for them. If they had tried to hone it properly they would have indeed noticed the problem with the twisted blade immediately.

Its the same story all over. Its costs money to have someone hand hone a razor to perfection and they will not spend the time to do that. maybe if people stopped buying their razors they would change but apparently they can't make em fast enough and that's another part of the problem. So from their perspective why should they change. Maybe everyone here should write them a letter.

I recently bought 2 thiers that both had issue's .I had to post them both back to Thiers & David LLyod took care of them for me .In the end they where both replaced with 2 excellent razors & David informed me that Thiers take any problems with their razors very seriously. They have had some issues in the past & they are trying very hard to address these.I can only say that in the end the outcome in my case was good & Iam impressed with their backup & I would buy another razor from them after the positive response to my own problems.
Send the razors back to the vendor you got them from dont hone them & i am sure your problem will be dealt with.
i hope this helps .Paul

Here is a picture the other razor clearly showing the this blade is also warped. To be honest if I cannot get a quick return date from Thiers-Issard, as I am told they will have to manufacture new razors then I am just going to ask for a full refund.