Quote Originally Posted by treydampier View Post
I just tend to hold professional companies selling premium products to a much higher standard than I would someone who does this as a hobby.
That's fair enough, but when an ineperienced user buys a shave-ready razor and doesn't get the results he expects, it becomes awkward. If he names the place he bought from it can be seen as criticism (which he may not be qualified to give.) But if he withholds that info it makes it harder to give him good advice. Maybe the best balance is just to say "I bought a shave-ready razor from one of the suppliers recommended here on SRD." The name can always be dropped in later once more facts are known.

I, for example, bought a shave-ready razor after honing another one myself. (I didn't buy from one of the big names here.) I was hoping the shave-ready blade would be much better than the one I did myself, so I could learn what to aim for. I was a bit disappointed to find it was not significantly different to what I already had. The hone patterns were neater under a microscope, but shave quality was much the same. I wanted to post here asking for feedback, but I decided against it. I figured my own honing had reached a decent level even if it took me some time to get the results.

Maybe on these forums the benefits of a shave-ready blade are overstated slightly. As good as these honemeisters are, we shouldn't treat their work as magical. That is putting unfair pressure on them. At the end of the day all we should ask of them is to create a sharp edge on the blade, free of flaws. It isn't rocket surgery, as they say. It is great that these skilled people are here to do such a great job and show us what to aim for ourselves, but let's not get carried away as if blades they sharpen can scare whiskers off at a distance.