Thread: Extremely disappointed in new, honed TI

Apparently the vendor's listing erroneously stated it was professionally-honed; they've offered to fix it at no charge, so all's well that ends well. Impressed with the service.

Pretty shocked expensive razors can arrive from manufacturers essentially entirely un-shave-ready, but perhaps they can't spend so much labor time on the honing part of the process.

Well then that's that! I wouldn't be too surprised, most of the manufacturers don't hone by hand...the razors leave the factory after being ground, and sharpened on a belt or wheel, but not hand honed, simply because of time and effort constraints. Let us know how it shaves once you get the razor back!

Keep us updated please.. it is important for us to hear how things go after you get it back to see what we can learn technique wise, and to contrast your experience of non shave ready vs shave ready on the TI singing blade.

You should be fine when you get it back. My first straight was a TI fresh from the factory. I learned to shave with it. Oh my it hurt. Couldn't believe it when I got my first shave ready vintage. So smooth. Three or four months later, got the TI up to speed and it's a great little shaver now. (Still prefer my vintages though.)

Update; I got the TI back from Lynn a week ago.

The TI's a fine little shaver. The scale pin's tension is noticeably better controlled than the non-singing stainless Dovo (that Lynn also honed, because I bonked it into the faucet). I love the sealed wood scale, which is much more refined than the Dovo-feels better in your hand the Dovo's 'dry' ebony.

After a half dozen or more shaves with the singing razor, I do notice its differences from the Dovo.

I've made an analogy that the straight's kind of like a dance partner; after awhile with it, you sense-from the razor's reactions-whether you should increase/decrease angle or pressure, if your skin wasn't wet enough or taut enough, etc. In 2.5 months on the straight, I feel like I've come to understand this "horse whispering" from blade to hand rather well.

In this sense, the TI's a superior communicator than non-singing Dovo. It requires a shallower incidence angle than the Dovo (to me, certainly <2 heel widths).

It is a more pliant blade, making it better than the Dovo at shaving the areas of my face of which I'm still not up to par with an experience bladesman (my chin, my neck immediately around my chin, above/aside the upper lips, and the neck/jawline on the non-dominant-eye side [left] of my face). It traces along those areas rather well. To be fair, in either event (Dovo or TI) the areas where I do a relatively poor job w/ straight vs double edge safeties is only going to meaningfully improve with experience, not with choosing one straight over another. I used to have similar problems with the straights on the dominant eye side of my face along the jawline and the neck area near my earlobe, and I've overcome that.

On my cheeks and most of my neck, I get a more comfortable and ultimately superior shave with the straight than the Merkur/Gillette DEs. I have faith, for now, that I'll one day be able to say the same for my whole face.

I don't nick myself with either blade now. To be frank, I find with the straight that the most difficult part is getting a good look @ what you're about to do-it'd be so much simpler if I could view myself from outside my body, without my darn hand holding the blade getting in the way of my eyes!

Thanks for following up, that is a helpful review of your experiences

Originally Posted by kwigibocity

I don't nick myself with either blade now. To be frank, I find with the straight that the most difficult part is getting a good look @ what you're about to do-it'd be so much simpler if I could view myself from outside my body, without my darn hand holding the blade getting in the way of my eyes!

Congrats. Getting a feel for the feedback makes a huge difference. As for sight challenges, try looking sideways though progressive eyeglasses