Thread: Extremely disappointed in new, honed TI

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!