Dull as a Wedding Speech

Gentlemen,

Today I had the first shave with my new Thiers-Issard 5/8" Sheffield Steel razor with Snake Wood scales. The razor is a stunning beauty, but the blade was as dull as the Best Man's speech at a wedding. After three passes, two intentionally with the grain and one across, I managed only to even out my 24-hour facial stubble.

The razor was supposedly pre-sharpened. Ordinarily I give such new razors a good stropping on my high-end strop , probably 30 passes on the canvas and 50 on the leather. Against my better judgment , this one received only 15 on the canvas and 25 on the leather. Although any amount of stropping might not have helped, I can't base anything on that summation.

The first pass started at the side burn on the right side of my Hollywood face and half way down I caught myself frowning in the mirror. What on earth was going on? Almost nothing had been shaved. For a moment I even questioned whether I was using the cutting edge or the razor's back. I reviewed my razor angle: yes, it was around 30 degrees.

No matter what angle I used, the rest of the first pass was the same. Ordinarily I would switch to another razor until I found out what was wrong with the first razor. This time, however, I had only one razor with me and that was the new Thiers-Issard. I had stropped it at home. Not only that, but I somehow could not believe my new beautiful razor was this dull.

Customarily on weekdays I shave at the gym, following a 15-minute steam and extravagant preparation with great soap or cream, badger brush, and so on. Today I also chose to use a Proraso pre-shave. I rarely use pre-shaves, since they feel oily to me, including the Proraso, but for some reason I did today.

I should have quit after the first pass, but I was also curious about the dreadful shave I was getting with this expensive Thiers-Issard razor. Thinking that I could reduce the beard at least a little more with the other passes, I kept going. That, too, was against my better judgment.

When I returned home, I gave the razor 50 passes on the canvas and 75 on the leather and parked it in the rack. I'll give it another stropping day after tomorrow and try shaving with it again. If I get no results, I'll send it to my shave guru Lynn and ask him to hone it on his magic stone. Lynn can work wonders with razors.

So there you have it, gentlemen, the story of my gorgeous Thiers-Issard with the Snake Wood scales. Of course, I am not about to give up on this razor. It's too beautiful.

Any thoughts?

Regards,

Obie

First question is pre-sharpened by whom? If you say by the factory, then this is perfectly understandable, since I've yet to see a new, out of the box, razor sharp. If you say pre-sharpened by a honemeister, then I'd be contacting them post-haste.

Regardless, if you ship the razor off to Lynn to sharpen, it will come back as sharp as sharp can be - you can never go wrong with having Lynn sharpen it - I have a Lynn sharped razor, and even after a full year, I haven't touched it up and is still one of my best shavers in the rotation.

Mark

Mark,

You make an excellent point: Pre-sharpened according to what definition? This razor could have been pre-sharpened by the Thiers-Issard factory only, which obviously is the problem. I tend to think that is the case.

My two other Thiers-Issard high-end razors, which, along with the Snake Wood, I have bought in the past 60 days or so, also were not the best shaves the first time, but did improve with subsequent stropping. This one, however, is the dullest of the three. Proper stropping might take care of it.

That's why I plan to send it to Lynn if my next shave with it two days from now is not improved. Being my shave guru, Lynn can work wonders with his magic hone.

Regards,

Obie

If you bought the razor from CS, did it say "PRE-SHARPENED" in the item description? If no, than that's normal--it just has a factory edge. If yes, they were supposed to have sent it to Lynn for honing. Maybe this one wasn't?
I'd call them 1st if that's the case. Don't want to have to pay twice for honing & all.

Thanks for your thoughts.

This is a Thiers-Issard factory edge, as I suspected, and I will send the razor to Lynn for his magic honing.

Regards,

Obie

Hi Obie,

I was thinking about picking one of these up myself.

Interesting - If you think it is dull from the gitgo, no amount of stropping is gonna make it significantly better. Sounds like the right path is to either hone it yourself or off to Lynn. I take it you don;t want to give it a hone yourself? Something from the factory should be fine with 4000/8000 and linen and strop - depending on what your definition of shave ready is.

Other than the sharpness that can be taken care of - how is the quality of the scales and the spine work?

andy

Andy,

The razor is gorgeous. The Snake Wood scales are striking, and the blade is beautifully decorated. The fitting could be a bit better perhaps, but that seems to be the case with Thiers-Issard razors in general. I also have one with Kingwood scales and another in black horn.

Thiers-Issards are beautiful razors, but their fitting is no where near that of the the Dovos. Thiers-Issard and Dovo are the only straights I own. I cannot comment on the Bokers and the other makes of razors.

From the start, I debated whether I should learn to hone myself or have Lynn do his magic. In the end, I chose to rely on his skilled hands. Go with the best, I figured.

Regards,

Obie

My TI, sounds like the same model but with Olive wood scales, also came pre-sharpened from the factory. It was my first, and for two or three months, only razor. It wasn't ready and the results of this and my newbie technique were… interesting. After getting a truly sharp blade and finding a coticule in my back building I eventually got it up to its present speed and it's a lovely shaver. Used it an hour or so ago and will never get rid of it. Lovely looking thing too, once I got rid of the gold but that's just me.

Gentlemen,

In the end I chose to send all three of my Thiers-Issard straights to Lynn for honing. Life's too short.

Regards,

Obie

cool - so you will wind up with 3 shave ready TIs in your arsenal in about a week or so. Let us know how the snakewood shaves once it is back.
Are the 3 TI's your complete rotation?

andy

Obie,

Is that one of the new-production TI's? I read on rasage poulin that the factory sharpened TI's these days are shave ready. I'd make a strong case (if these are the razors we're talking about) that based upon your experience this couldn't be farther from the truth.

Ogie.


P.S. I just gave a best man speech this weekend and I had 235 people in stitches.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oglethorpe

Obie,

Is that one of the new-production TI's? I read on rasage poulin that the factory sharpened TI's these days are shave ready. I'd make a strong case (if these are the razors we're talking about) that based upon your experience this couldn't be farther from the truth.

Ogie.


P.S. I just gave a best man speech this weekend and I had 235 people in stitches.

---

I actually don't claim they are shave ready for every man. I encourage people to try a shave with the razor before sending it to be honed, or honing it themselves. My reasons for this are numerous but my personal belief is that every shaving item we buy is judged so subjectively and personally that there's no one cookie-cutter solution that's good for all men. What I do tell men who ask is that the razors are shave ready or nearly shave ready depending on beard type, etc.

I just wanted to clarify my position on this touchy subject.

Gentlemen,

Scott makes a good point: What Thiers-Issard may be to one shaver it may not be to another. We had made this point in one of the previous posts in this thread: that the term "pre-sharpened" is a matter of definition.

From what I understand, these new Sheffield Steel Thiers-Issards are factory sharpened. At least the ones I bought. The one with Kingwood scales was passable on the first shave. Not so the one with black horn scales. The Snake Wood Thiers-Issard, the last of the three I bought, was a disaster on that first shave. I started this thread addressing my experience with it.

All three, by the way, are gorgeous works of art.

I gave all three razors one shave and decided they needed to be honed by Lynn. I also have a heavy beard. Perhaps for a gentleman with a light beard, the razors would have been passable. To me, though, they were not. Now I can't wait to have them back so that I can truly enjoy the beauty of those Thiers-Issards.

By the way, I did not buy my Thiers-Issard razors from Rasage Poulin. I have bought other shave items from Rasage Poulin, however, and have the highest recommendation for owner Scott and his shave site.

On another note: Ogie, congratulations for knocking them dead at the wedding as the Best Man. My experience with the Best Man breed has been that they are as entertaining as a slug doing the tango.

Thanks everyone. I will report back when Lynn returns my lovely Thiers-Issards honed and ready to grace my Hollywood face.

Regards,

Obie

Also, to clear the air, I am hoping nobody took my remark as a sound disagreement with what Scott has said on his site. I saw the same thing in a video that I watched on manufacturing at TI (can't remember where but probably YouTube) and they also said they hone in-house and that the razors are shave-ready.

Now, just like anything that is mass-produced (at least to some extent), individual care may not be given. I know some guys who got TI's from AOS and theirs were dull as letter openers.

So, as with anything, YMMV and Scott is right -- work these things on a case-by-case basis.

Everybody have a great weekend full of BBS shaves and alcohol-induced euphoria (in that order, preferably).

Cheers,

Ogie

I ran my Dovo on a CrO strop as soon as I got it out of the box, then just reg stropping before shave. The CrO touch up definitely helped.