Thread: Anyone have this problem...?

Last year, my wife, knowing how much I missed the thrill of shaving with a straight razor since my college years, gave me a Thiers-Issard stainless steel straight razor from the Art of Shaving (AOS) as a gift.

After several (painful) shaves, I sent it back to (AOS) to get it "professionally" honed.

Long story short...it didn't work, shaving still hurt and was never BBS. Now I realize that one side of the spine is convexed (curved out) slightly, so when you hone (or strop) the heel and toe on that one side never gets the full stoke of the hone (or strop).

Is there a fix, is this normal, am I doing something wrong, or should I just get a new blade.

Thanks!

Sorry to hear about the problem. I would suggest you send it to Lynn and let him take a look at it. I don't know who is doing the honing at AOS but all honers aren't equal IME.

+1 Jimmy, and hasn't TI had their share of quality control issues? warped blades, mis aligned scales, etc....

Sounds like a warped blade to me . You can tell if a razor is warped , by looking at the hone wear on the spine . One side will have wear in the center but not on the heel and toe . The other side will have wear on the heel and toe but none in the center . IMHO , weather you can fix it or not depends on how bad the warp is . Although some people have had success using a narrow hone , and/or electrical tape on the spine . You may get it sharp , but you will still have a warped razor . I have a Wade & Butcher "Bow Razor" that was warped badly . I tried to hone it out , but after hours of honing on a King 1k , I found I was taking off more metal than I wanted . I decided it wasn't worth the effort , and gave up on it . You could point this out to the folks at AOS , maybe they will take it back , and give you a razor that isn't warped . BTW I have another razor (9/16 wedge) the has a slight warp , that I was able to hone out , and now it's one of my best shaving razors . So , it really depends on how bad the warp is .

Many razors have slightly warped blades. Not saying it is a high percentage out of all of them but it is not unusual whether vintage or new production. Marker on the edge can help determine the stroke that works efficiently to sharpen such a razor.

The rolling x, narrow hones , the 45 degree heel leading stroke are all potential solutions .... if you know what you're doing. Trying to correct a warp by wearing the spine and edge relationship is not a viable solution IMO. YMMV.