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

I would expect that when I do purchase a new straight it will need honing and polishing. I have no problem with that. In fact I would prefer to have it sharpened by one of our advertised honemeisters. However, a warped balde is not acceptable. From all the negative comments here I would hope that someone from TI is reading through them and determining that quality process is in serious need of improvements. Perhaps not. It's an imperfect world and some commercial ventures are more of the bottom line types with lip service paid to quality control and customer service. Also, when a company starts to get into financial trouble quality control and custmoer service are usually the first things to go. But based on the comments so far I would have to say that TI is not going to be on my list for purchase.

Originally Posted by dward

I would expect that when I do purchase a new straight it will need honing and polishing. I have no problem with that. In fact I would prefer to have it sharpened by one of our advertised honemeisters. However, a warped balde is not acceptable. From all the negative comments here I would hope that someone from TI is reading through them and determining that quality process is in serious need of improvements. Perhaps not. It's an imperfect world and some commercial ventures are more of the bottom line types with lip service paid to quality control and customer service. Also, when a company starts to get into financial trouble quality control and custmoer service are usually the first things to go. But based on the comments so far I would have to say that TI is not going to be on my list for purchase.

I've spoken to Almax and TI couldn't even give an approximate ETA of replacement blades, given another forum member's reported wait of 6 months or so for a new blade and TI's admitted awareness of this, Almax has gone for the refund option.

It's simply unacceptable to expect a customer to return TWO defective blades at his expense, then have to wait an unspecified period of time while TI decide what to do. If I were running a company selling similar items, I'd be giving a guaranteed turnaround of seven days from the date when the blade was recieved and found to be defective, AND I'd be offering a serious upgrade too. I understand fully that they are hand made, but they have been hand made for 200 years, that's a fair old amount of time to get it right or ask someone how to get it right!

The european retailer has been superb though, a real credit to his industry.

The first thread I read on a forum that was discussing TI quality was about three years ago and the thread then was similar to this thread.

One of the reasons for joining a shaving forum like this is to take head of these type of warnings.

I decided then not to ever purchase a TI razor.

This post has just reminded me why I don't own one and also why I have no desire to own one.

It's not as if they are inexpensive. They are very expensive.

Sorry, but it is clearly pot luck as to the quality you get out of the box.

Originally Posted by English

Sorry, but it is clearly pot luck as to the quality you get out of the box.

It's a bummer to read this. I love their razors. I just got my second this weekend. Both have been straight as my...

so I guess I've been lucky.

I've heard of TI's quality control. I own eight of them....no problems with any of them. Two of them I bought used and these shave fantastic. One is the Silverwing, and it is just awesome. The rest are a mixed bag of historical and new forgings.

Of all of them, I've had no problems with any as far as the blades are concerned. Some of the scales might be not quite pinned straight, but this in no way interferes with the opening or closing of the razor.

I've had really good luck with Classicshaving and Rasurpur.de Both places have excellent customer service, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one. Now, having said that, the next one will be a really crooked turd right out of the box.

I agree that the QC on such an expensive razor should be better than what it is.....here's hoping they get it straightened out sooner than later.

I just want to say to the many guys who have TI's which they are totally happy with, that I don't mean to put down your razors at all.

I know that there are many forum members who think the TI's are truly wonderful razors and I believe they can be and in most cases they are. I know that many experienced members having tried many makes of razors are truly satisfied by the TI product.

This however does not excuse letting the sort of quality that has been discussed above out of the factory under any circumstances.

I really hope that TI read this thread and up their quality control. It's in their own interests. It also has to be more cost effective in the long term.

It's odd - I have honed quite a few TI's and would say that on balance they are a bit more finicky than most but when they hit the edge, my god do they hit it. Warp? OK - a bit of warp is possible I guess with this new heat treatment they are getting. Too much is a no-no for sure but if you can cope with a bit of twist when honing then it's not too bad. Sure, I agree that all blades should be dead straight but if you cannot get that - even with TI's experience - where do you go? I just trimmed up a fox & rooster and that was bang-on straight and now has a demon edge. I liked it.

Originally Posted by blueprinciple

It's odd - I have honed quite a few TI's and would say that on balance they are a bit more finicky than most but when they hit the edge, my god do they hit it. Warp? OK - a bit of warp is possible I guess with this new heat treatment they are getting. Too much is a no-no for sure but if you can cope with a bit of twist when honing then it's not too bad. Sure, I agree that all blades should be dead straight but if you cannot get that - even with TI's experience - where do you go? I just trimmed up a fox & rooster and that was bang-on straight and now has a demon edge. I liked it.

The most obvious explanation is staff problems. Maybe the people who make the blades from old blanks aren't being supervised or trained sufficiently, maybe they are using the same techniques on 70 year old steel as they are on new steel but the old steel has a different content. Who knows?

Originally Posted by C utz

That's a great razor!
I had that one once, until I returned it. Mine had a chip in the edge and a crack in the scales when it arrived. You are not the first to question TI's quality control.

The blade may be warped on your razor. However, I noticed that in your picture with the razor on the CD (to show the warp of the edge), you have the heel area near the tang on the CD too. See if the edge is warped when this is off the CD and only the edge of the blade is along the CD. The reason being, sometimes the heel area (where the tang meets the blade), or the shoulder area is a little wider causing the appearance of the heel of the blade to lift. If you were to hone this razor you would actually start with the blade flat, angled back slightly, with the shoulder area off the hone....this would leave the edge flat on the hone, as you brought the blade across the hone. Angling the blade back would bring the heel forward and the shoulder area back (and off the hone). If the blade was perpendicular to the hone, the shoulder would be on the hone and the heel of the blade lifted.

I'm not sure if that all made sense.

The short and skinny of it is, don't sweat just yet. Contact the seller and let them know your concerns. You may or may not have a warped blade...but this is a common issue with razors. They are hand made so they do come with some issues, sometimes.

However in TI's defense, their razors take an amazing edge....if/when it's straight

Good luck!

C utz

I have checked, the blade is most certainly warped, on the picture it is hard to see but the blade lifts of the flat surface at both ends but is in contact in the middle. This can only be achieved through a warped blade. The spind is in full contact with the flat cd and only the weight of the blade is keeping the spine in contact with the DVD. I also have a very good eye for this sort of thing and can clearly see the curvature by the naked eye, no question it is warped. After speaking the David it seems the historical blades are the ones they are having most problems with as the french workers are very reluctant to throw warped razors away. I might also mention the other razor, apart from being warped has also got scales that are not aligned properly at the blade end, the step is around 3-4 mm.

Shocking quality control, shocking replies from david with regards to the QC and even worse no intention of asking retailers around the world to check existing stock and to return faulted goods so as to protect their reputation.

So I will be getting a refund and will never, ever buy from this company again. Once bitten twice shy, twice bitten then they can go run and jump.

FWIW I am currently sorting out the very same issue with a brand new Dovo. The first one was curved/warped, so I got a replacement one, and it has the exact same curve/warp, on the same side even.

I'm hoping that the third time is the charm...


I hava another Dovo that was/is straight as an arrow and honed up awesome. These last two have shaken my faith in Dovo quality...