Thread: Livi vs. Wacker

Originally Posted by John Crowley

I don't know if it is true or not but I have heard that some of the old masters are being coaxed out of retirement to make razors for a while. With the economy the way it is in Germany - pretty much like ours - they are probably happy to get the phone call.

That would be nice, perhaps they could teach youngsters a thing or two about razor making.

Originally Posted by Big Red

That's an easy choice, Chandler!!!!!! look for more pictures of his work. are wacker's custom? I thought he just reground other people's blades. definitely not a livi. I can't afford any of them, but for real style? come on guys, livi's, once in a while one looks good, but overall, most of the scales look the same, and they don't look to me to be very often that great. I love chandlers, Bill Ellis work is great too, but personality wise Joe seems more friendly. josh earls stuff is good, I love some of his acid finishes. Butch does some good work too. if your grandpa isn't in a hurry might wait and see what Alex (Philadelph) turns out, he's a real perfectionist. I'm sure his stuff will be awesome.

Red

Wacker grinds forged blade blanks. Some are new Old Stock and some are ones he is forging himself. He doesn't "regrind" anything. The blanks are all the same steel for the most part. The old companies each had their own die sets at the foundry which had Made in Solingen, Germany and a hand hammered die for the shank with their company logo.

I have both of these razors, the Livi and the quarter hollow Wacker. Both are great shavers, if you can afford it, get both, you will not regret it! Juan.

The Livi Regrinds are actually new razors. Mastro Livi initially found an old stock of unfinished blades and he did the final grind and heat treat on them. He called them regrinds I believe because of the language difference. Typically when we think of regrinds we think of an old razor that is reground and brought back to use. These have only been around the last couple years.

The majority of the custom work Mastro Livi does are his own forgings and designs although lately he has been using forged steel from both the Bergamo and Silvano families in Italy. Both old and well respected families there known for their craftsmanship in forging metals.

Bergamo just did one where they forged a high carbon onto a damascus and it turned out really cool. The top of the razor is damascus and the bottom 1/4 including the edge is high carbon. Mastro Livi is known for trying new approaches like this. He was the first to make razors from Takeda Steel too, I believe. The san mai steels are also very cool and shave very well.

I have always enjoyed the way Mastro Livi experiments with things like placing the MOP into the razor itself and bringing back the MOP and Ivory into the razor shanks.

Lynn

I think it's cool there are now a few makers to choose from. Nobody is going to make everyone happy, and if you think we makers don't take inspiration from each other to keep trying to improve what we offer, you're a fool. I really liked a lot of the Livis I saw at this year's get-together, and lot of the other custom work, too, like Spazola's. I try to take inspiration from everywhere. Oldblades had a couple killer old factory blades from which I'm going to incorporate some design features. Every maker offers something different, and while I appreciate people saying nice things about my work, I think every one of us has something to offer, and I, for one, can't wait to see what's next!

Well, this thread has been my undoing. As I posted earlier, I have the quarter hollow wacker, and really like it a lot. Nice contrast to my full hollow Dovo. The only idea buzzing around my head was, gee, would a 1/2 hollow razor give me the best of both worlds? Fortunately (for my pocketbook), I have not really been able to find a 1/2 hollow razor. Until this thread highlighed these Livi's where 1/2....

I could only hold out so long. Just ordered a Livi today...

-Chief