Thread: HART Razor

Originally Posted by JimR

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...

Yes a +1 from me too. The geometry issue is my problem with them .... assuming they are all basically alike. Being a semi custom I wonder if mparker762 had say three of them by the various artisans to test if there might be some variation between them or if they are a 'cookie cutter' profile.

I suppose it is unlikely that some may have a steeper honing angle than others ? I don't mind the smiling spine/edge profile and the sharp edges on the spine is a relatively easy fix but the geometry of the blade is what it is.

If you're shelling out $250 for a semi-custom I would expect that there should be nothing to fix. Granted, they will probably fix this issue pronto, but I would've expected more...

Minor nits with the razor.

There are two areas where I think the lines of the razor are awkward looking. This is really only a cosmetic issue, but it makes the Hart look a bit underdesigned. One is the tail, which needs to have about another 30% ground out of the inside of the curve. The other is the tip which has a kind of half-teardrop shape that just looks odd - at the spine it looks like a square point, in the middle a shallow round point, and at the edge it resembles a spike. Again neither of these are functional issues, and maybe everybody else will love them, but to me that tail looks ungainly and the tip is just a puzzler.

Both are pretty quick fixes with some sandpaper (tip) and a dremel (tail) though.

Could you post some pic's so we may be able to see what your talking about? Could it be that the blades in each case of the ones here are different?
Thanks,
Bill W

Here's a picture of the tail from the Hart website:

Image

You can see that it would look much nicer if the inside (upper) curve were ground out a little more to make it a little thinner and give it a more graceful look instead of that 2x4 look.

Unfortunately I reprofiled the toe of mine at lunch so it matches the top of the point a little better, and none of the razors on their website have quite the same tip as mine (one of them looks like a square point, the rest look like round points )

Originally Posted by mparker762

Here's a picture of the tail from the Hart website:

Image

You can see that it would look much nicer if the inside (upper) curve were ground out a little more to make it a little thinner and give it a more graceful look instead of that 2x4 look.

Unfortunately I reprofiled the toe of mine at lunch so it matches the top of the point a little better, and none of the razors on their website have quite the same tip as mine (one of them looks like a square point, the rest look like round points )

To me nuances of grinding are in the eye of the beholder. Like you I prefer a more artistic, for lack of a better word, style in a razor.

That isn't the deal breaker for me, it is the geometry issue that you raised in your review. I noticed in Hart's writeup that they say the razor is ground before and after heat treating. Maybe there is some variation in the width of the spines depending on the artisan doing the grinding ?

I know little or nothing about razor construction and design but what you posted on the optimal angle for honing and that being determined by the thickness of the spine relative to the depth of the blade makes sense to me. You would think that if they knew what they were about they would have paid attention to that minor detail.

If it were me I'm not sure I'd bother grinding the sides of the spines at all. You should be able to take a sheet of 1/5" flat stock and cut out a razor shape, then use a surface grinder to turn the blade into a wedge leaving a bit of a square section where the spine will be. Then grind out your quarter hollow on the grinding wheel and round the back of the spine on a slack belt, and nothing has to touch the sides of the spine at all. 1/5" plate is just about perfect for a 6/8 razor, giving you a 15.32 degree angle.