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