Thread: HART Razor

Like Jim posted above, I too prefer a matte finish.

I also read (via Chris Moss) that they are planning to have replacement scales available, if one wishes to add some bling to their razor by replacing the black synthetic. I am sure we will see various options come available as time goes on. My Hart Steel Razor should be in the mail and I look forward to it.

To be continued.

Just got mine today. It's made by "TV".

The scales don't actually look that bad. The wood grain makes them look like ebony if I'm looking through the wrong half of the bifocals. They're not heavy enough though, so the razor feels a bit unbalanced.

One pet peeve of mine are square wedges which force a double bend in the scales in order to fit around the shank, and though these are one-piece scales they have that same problem.

There was no pivot wrench supplied with the razor which is significant because the pivot was dangerously loose and allowed the blade to flop around. Fortunately I got my finger out of the way in time. A #8 torx wrench solved that problem, but it does increase my concern about this type of pivot having a tendency to work loose.

No jimps or scalloping or any other grip enhancers on the shank.

Mine was a smiling blade. I'm not sure how that squares with their claim that every blade would be straight. Smiling blades are a bit of an acquired taste, and not everybody can hone them well. At least the spine is also curved. My major dislike with the Classic Shaving 7/8 Filly is that the edge is smiling but the spine is straight, making it impossible to hone correctly without using tape.

The leather slipcase is reasonably nice, though not as nice as the TI case with the fold-over top. The velveteen box is pretty cheesy and looks like a last-minute addition and IMO adds very little value to the package. If you put the razor inside its leather slipcase then it doesn't fit inside the box very well, while the razor by itself rattles around inside the box though it is at least protected. If you use the box by itself though you're just asking to lose the leather case. I'd rather they either shipped a nicer leather case like the ones that TI uses, or shipped a nicer box. Something like the old Sta-Sharp box would be an improvement; superficially it's a similar-looking box but the sta-sharp box has cushioned innards to keep the razor from moving around, and is actually the right size for the intended razor. The one that came with the Hart is way too long making the razor look lost in there.

Lets see... The edge. The razor popped armhairs on my forearm, but not the ones on the inside crook of my elbow that are my most reliable test of shave-readiness. That's obviously not a good sign, but I don't know what they finished the edge on and that obviously has an affect on the hair test. By way of comparison my last two TIs would pop armhairs around the margins of my inner elbow though not the finest ones in the crook of the elbow.

Hmm. That's about it for the initial thoughts. Shave test tomorrow. If that doesn't go well, then a honing test Saturday. And that %#@#@ pivot had better stay tight.

In the advert I thought it said that it was finished on an Escher ? Thanks for the preliminary to the shave review. I look forward to hearing how it shaves and all the rest.

Stuff I forgot...

That blade is dead nuts centered between the scales. The adjustable pivot probably helps quite a bit since the shoulders of the pivot help square the blade.

The blade is 0.81 inches wide, and the spine is about 0.185 inches thick, which seems a bit thin for the size.

The honing angle is calculated as 2*asin((thickness*0.5)/width), so for this razor that's 2 * asin((0.185*0.5)/0.81) = 13.11 degrees, which is definitely on the narrow side, and on the borderline between "takes a wicked edge" and "edge collapses mid-shave". I had a razor once that had a roughly 7.5 degree honing angle and it wouldn't hold up for an entire shave - you could easily see the chips with the naked eye. At around 10 degrees it would hold up for several shaves, and at around 12 it's pretty good. So assuming this steel is tempered well it should be ok, but I would prefer it be closer to 15-19 degrees.

And the biggest question yet- Was it worth $250?

More thoughts on the honing angleL By way of comparison, my DDWE has a honing angle of a bit over 18 degrees. The Feather Super Pro has a final bevel angle of around 25 degrees. I've got another razor with a honing angle of 24.5 degrees that I had somebody make to provide a counterpoint to the low-honing-angle blade I mentioned earlier. So there's a wide range that works fine, but as you get to the low end things definitely get weak.

One thing that struck me when I was taking those measurements is that it's much larger than it seems, or conversely that it feels like a much smaller razor in my hand (though I haven't shaved with it yet) than it really is. My initial assumption was that it was 11/16ths or so but instead it's a whole size larger. I think the relative thinness of the blade is saving so much weight that it feels like a much smaller razor. With any razor - even a wedge - most of the weight of the blade is in the spine and shank, so any reduction in thickness there has a huge impact on the weight of the razor. With a blade this wide, and a 1/4 grind to boot, you'd expect it to feel pretty hefty but it really doesn't, it feels smaller than e.g. the 6/8 Dovo Tortoise which is a heavy-spined hollow-ground razor. Framebacks have this same characteristic for those who are fans of that grind, and the ultimate expressions of this esthetic are probably those swedish framebacks with the 1/64th thick shank and the soldered-on spine piece.

To some extent the shallow angle also makes it easier to get a sharper-feeling edge. I don't think it allows you to get an actually sharper edge, if you were to look at it under an electron microscope, because that's limited by the mechanical strength of the steel even at the usual honing angle. But I think it reduces cutting friction a bit, by reducing the angle the whiskers aren't pried as far apart as they're being cut. For example, that 24.5 degree razor feels like a Sheffield wedge with a normal honing angle, but it has 64hrc steel instead of the typical W&B hardness of around 54hrc so it is probably actually sharper than your average sheffield wedge.

What I' guess I'm saying is if the honing angle is thick enough to allow the edge to stand up to a reasonable amount of use then this could be a really nice shaver, much better than I would have thought a priori.

I've been asked whether the shallow honing angle could be a result of Tim Zowada's involvement in the project, since he advocates a system that uses tape to achieve a double bevel, and the tape will also increase the honing angle.

This is possibly. But with a honing angle so shallow and a 13/16th size blade it would need many layers to get to more standard honing angle. This is still a quite controversial technique, especially for a non-damascus razor or razor with an undecorated spine, so I feel it is a pretty major design error to require the use of tape on a production razor. But I don't think it was designed for this honing style, at least not by the Hart guys themselves, though it's possible they inherited this from Zowada without knowing the reasoning. Anybody here with a Zowada razor that can measure its honing angle and see how it compares?

This line from the Hart website is germane: "At Hart Steel, we use one layer of electrical tape, to protect the spine, while honing. The tape is placed lengthwise on the spine and then folded over the sides. The tape is optional, but we like it."

So they are clearly not advocating the 3-4 layers of tape it would take to get this razor into the range of normal honing angles, nor are they advocating any sort of double bevel.

However, in my experience razors with this shallow of a honing angle do benefit from a steeper final angle, so when it comes time to hone it I will almost certainly be using 4 layers of tape for the final passes.

Ouch. Sorry to hear about your strop. I guess I was wrong about the quality control I expected coming out of Heartsteel. I thought for sure that would be their main selling point. And I assumed that those first 100 or so razors out the door would be double or triple checked by their crew.

Too bad about your strop.
That spine incident is strange. Why the heck should a spine be like that?
Let's see what others have to say.

Sounds like it's time to contact the manufacturers...their market is listening to you, so should they.

You just convinced ME not to buy one...