Razolution: handmade in Solingen

Cruising Ebay, I saw ads for a straight razor called the Razolution, that is supposedly made in Solingen, Germany. I was intrigued, and curious to how bad a razor that was actually made in Solingen could be. Having some surplus funds in my Paypal account, and having previous experience with the vendor (who goes out of his way to help newbies just like Larry Andro), I thought I would pull the trigger on one of them.

Here is the companies website:

http://www.simbatec.com/index.php?en_nassrasierer

I chose the model with the Granite looking scales. I purchased it shave ready from "starshavingsupplies" on E-Bay. It showed up today.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7-22163305.jpg

I like the looks of the razor. It centers nicely in the scales, and the scales don't feel super cheap like they do on a Gold Dollar.

There is nothing stamped on the tang, just is printed "Germany". Blade itself says "Razolution-Carbon Steel-handmade in Solingen".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7-22163347.jpg

The blade seems plenty sharp enough, but I am straight razor newbie, so maybe not the best judge of that. I took it for a test spin, and got a decent nick free shave.

The razor does suffer from a few issues. First, the scales are not entirely even when they join together at the wedge. One is slightly longer than the other:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7-22163413.jpg

Second, the blade suffers from an uneven grid, with the backside of the razor being the worst. The grind starts out rather normal, but then curves greatly to almost no grind at all by the time it get's to the shoulder/ heal of the razor. Is such a bad grind going to negatively effect the function of the razor, or is it pure aesthetics?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7-22164257.jpg

Here is the front side for purposes of comparison:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7-22164322.jpg

I paid roughly $65 shipped for it, so I wasn't expecting the world.


~John~

So what are the legal steps to be followed in Germany in order to be able to stamp "Solingen" and "Germany" on a razor? If all that is required is for the blade to be pinned in the scales in those locations, then I can only assume that these blades and scales originated elsewhere, otherwise known as "Pakistan" or even "China". Horrible grinding job in the photos. Ditto on the blade finish. I have never before seen a German manufactured blade with such an uneven bevel. Thank you for taking a chance and showing us this less than desirable product up close so we can be warned! Where is German trade law enforcement?

I bought one of these on e-bay a couple months ago as "defective store stock" from the Nashville Knife Shop.com. I should say that the shop itself was excellent, the product was decently described, service was very good. The razor itself came with some pitting and a rust spot just as they said. I paid $17.00 shipped for this, mostly for fun and out of curiosity.

All that was the good part. It cleaned up ok, I was able to remove the corrosion easily. Then I rubbed it with a little Flitz and a paper towel ..... and the word "Germany" on the tang disappeared. The inscription on the blade was significantly faded.

Still pretty enough, I decided to hone it, it simply wasn't sharp. This shouldn't be too hard, I thought, this razor is new, the spine is completely unworn, I can hone this, I've honed lots tougher razors. I took it to my 1k Ice Bear and went to work. After about 10 minutes with no success, no edge development, nothin'...I finally put it under the loupe to see what was going on. That's when I discovered I had bevels going every which way, that factory edge was a mess and I should have examined it more closely before I started.

I put on one layer of tape (I very rarely tape, especially on a hollow) and tried again. Nothing. Ten more minutes of trying to develop a bevel and I still couldn't get any real edge happening.

For the time being, I gave up, and it sits in a drawer until some day when I'm really mad at myself or maybe I take it over to Holli4's place and let him try some Naniwa magic.

But....so far, I think these might be plain old unhoneable crap from a country that used to give a damn about what the name went on.

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Originally Posted by Croaker

Ditto on the blade finish.

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I should have mentioned in my original post, that the blade is covered in oil/ Vaseline, so the finish looks far worst that it actually is. It might not be perfect, but it's not as disastrous as it looks in the photos. :)

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I have never before seen a German manufactured blade with such an uneven bevel. Thank you for taking a chance and showing us this less than desirable product up close so we can be warned!

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Fully agree, the bevel/grind is pretty horrid, and in my mind is the most disappointing feature of the razor.

I have been in touch with the vendor, who indicates he is going to try to correct the uneven bevel/grind on the razor for free. Effectively a re-honing. He said being a new razor he was reluctant to remove a lot of metal from the blade. Ron from "starshavingsupplies" is an outstanding gentleman, and always a pleasure to do business with.

AFAIK, a company can make a blade and scales wherever they like, but as long as they assemble the razor in Germany they can stamp Solingen on it.

So it really could be a razor from anywhere TBH. My gut feeling is that it may well be a GD/Zeepk type razor, and it may not even be able to hold an edge.

Certainly stimpy52's assessment indicates that this may well be the case. From the description of the honing it sounds like the steel is of low quality and might be collapsing as a bevel is being set?

I'd be interested to hear if this razor will take a shaving edge and if it can, how the shaves compare to DOVO, TI and other production razors.

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Originally Posted by Stubear

AFAIK, a company can make a blade and scales wherever they like, but as long as they assemble the razor in Germany they can stamp Solingen on it.

So it really could be a razor from anywhere TBH. My gut feeling is that it may well be a GD/Zeepk type razor, and it may not even be able to hold an edge.

Certainly stimpy52's assessment indicates that this may well be the case. From the description of the honing it sounds like the steel is of low quality and might be collapsing as a bevel is being set?

I'd be interested to hear if this razor will take a shaving edge and if it can, how the shaves compare to DOVO, TI and other production razors.

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That's what it seemed like -- I would get just shy of feeling an edge when it would just disappear. On other blades, that just meant I had to do a few circular strokes, I had likely used a little too much pressure and formed a fin. Not so on the Razolution, a few circular strokes just took it back to a butter spreader.

I plan to try it again, but in the meantime I keep it in a dark drawer to punish it.

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/geoi...www_102737.pdf

To be legally stamped Solingen it needs to be a properly made product
So if this is a unusable product it probably break the trademark protection

hhmm..... maybe they are made in Solingen, China.";"

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Originally Posted by michiganlover

Second, the blade suffers from an uneven grid, with the backside of the razor being the worst. The grind starts out rather normal, but then curves greatly to almost no grind at all by the time it get's to the shoulder/ heal of the razor. Is such a bad grind going to negatively effect the function of the razor, or is it pure aesthetics?

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I have some bad news for you. From the photo you provide of the back side of the blade, it appears there is no spine to speak of at the heel end of the blade. It will not be possible to hone that razor to a usable sharpness.

I would recommend you return that razor to the seller for a refund because it is defective equipment and therefore does not match the seller's description (i.e.: he did not describe it as defective and unable to be honed properly).
Namaste,
Morty -_-

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Originally Posted by Morty

I have some bad news for you. From the photo you provide of the back side of the blade, it appears there is no spine to speak of at the heel end of the blade. It will not be possible to hone that razor to a usable sharpness.

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I am confused as to what you mean?? The razor appears to have a normal double shoulder, and spine to me?? Can you explain further?

I think in general you get what you pay for. We would all like to be the discoverer of a cheap, quality, razor or brush but in the end I know I haven't seen any.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I think in general you get what you pay for. We would all like to be the discoverer of a cheap, quality, razor or brush but in the end I know I haven't seen any.

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For $65.00 shipped, I wasn't expecting the world. But I do at least expect it to be of a good enough quality steel to actually be usable.

The vendor would like an opportunity to re-hone the razor, and make the situation right, and I intend on giving him that opportunity.

He seems to be an gentleman who likes to help out newbies, so I don't think he would be selling garbage razors if he knew they were not of decent quality.

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Originally Posted by michiganlover

The vendor would like an opportunity to re-hone the razor, and make the situation right, and I intend on giving him that opportunity.

He seems to be an gentleman who likes to help out newbies, so I don't think he would be selling garbage razors if he knew they were not of decent quality.

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I don't know who the vendor is (personally), but here are my thoughts...

This doesn't sound like a situation that required a re-honing... this sounds like a razor that needed a proper honing in the first place. New "Honed" razors shouldn't leave with horrid bevels or problems of that kind.

It seems kind of strange for a vendor to be helping out newbies by selling completely unknown razors for $65.00. Gold Dollars and Wapi's can be had for less of an investment, and they are something of a known quantity. That's not even speaking of the blades that can be found in certain classified sections of certain straight razor shaving forums :w

I wonder if the vendor would be willing to front the cost of having a pro honemeister put this razor through the works.. If it's a good product, it will stand up to their care... if not, there will be no amount of work you'll do that will get your $65 back. just a thought, maybe it's worth his customer service reputation to spend 15-20 to satisfy a customer :shrug:

Please keep us updated on things.

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Originally Posted by michiganlover

I am confused as to what you mean?? The razor appears to have a normal double shoulder, and spine to me?? Can you explain further?

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Hi John,
I'm looking at the fourth photo you posted -- the back of the blade. The spine is what holds the edge of the blade at the correct angle when honing. The spine also holds the shoulder up off the hone when honing the razor. You cannot sharpen a razor the way you would a knife. The edge and the spine both have to sit on the hone.

I'm looking at what appears to be a nonexistent spine up against the shoulder on the back of the blade and the uneven bevel on the edge. Razors with significant or uneven hone wear can often be sharpened with techniques like "rolling X's," but I do not see how it would be possible to get a consistently shave ready sharpness along the entire edge of that razor. You aren't going to be able to shave with it.

Now you'll see that I just joined in February so I am not claiming to be an expert.

Please know I'm not trying to be insulting, but it seems you have rather low expectations for the money you are spending. I purchased my first straight razor from SRP member Larry Andro in the SRP Classifieds. I paid twenty-three dollars and it arrived shave ready. I still shave with it today (it's in my rotation) with only one touch up since (because of my early poor stropping technique).

It's your choice but I really think you should get your money back from the eBay vendor and invest that $65.00 in a razor from the SRP Classifieds, like this one here which is being sold for $60.00. The seller states: "This is a Gibson 'Twin Ports' 11/16 Square Point Hollow Grind. This is a German made razor, along with a mirror finish. This is an excellent shaving razor. The razor come to you with a fresh hone and is shave tested and shave ready by me. The price includes shipping any where in the USA and Canada"

The seller has been a member of SRP since January so I would tend to trust him more than a vendor on eBay. (Of course, there are SRP members who also sell on eBay.)

And with that, I will shut my yap.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

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Originally Posted by Del1r1um

This doesn't sound like a situation that required a re-honing... this sounds like a razor that needed a proper honing in the first place. New "Honed" razors shouldn't leave with horrid bevels or problems of that kind.

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Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. After further consideration, I have requested a refund from the vendor, and he has agreed to provide it. The razor is going out in the mail this morning.

I can't be led to believe that a person who knew what they were doing with honing would ever let such a poor honing job leave their shop. The minimal expectations for what a customer would deem as acceptable should not be that hard to figure out.

I simply can't have any confidence that the second try at honing will be any better than the first.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Morty

Please know I'm not trying to be insulting, but it seems you have rather low expectations for the money you are spending. I purchased my first straight razor from SRP member Larry Andro in the SRP Classifieds. I paid twenty-three dollars and it arrived shave ready. I still shave with it today (it's in my roatation) with only one touch up since (because of my early poor stropping technique).

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I really can't afford to absorb a $65 loss on a razor that may never shave correctly. Thus I have requested a refund. The funds will be used to purchase a razor of known excellent quality.

~John~