Thread: Are Filarmonica razors really that great ?

They are very good, thats for sure, even though the scales are a bit tacky. But they are great shavers and take a wicked edge.

They feel very similar to Wackers in my opinion.

Although there are many shavers as good or even better than Filarmonicas out there, the difference is the availability, and the size...

Finding a 6/8+ size DD, C-Mon, or Boker, is as rare as Hen's teeth and don't even think you are blessed enough to even see a 6/8+ American...

As crazy as that sounds bigger blades have an intrinsic value, just because of "more steel", add the 7/8 and 8/8 size to a buttery smooth edge and you get stupid prices

Same thing happened with the big Sheffield blades...

So as the saying goes "size does matter", and it pushed the value of the brand higher just because of name recognition...


That is all JMHO take it for what it is worth, and yes I own Fili's but I haven't ever paid more than $105 for a #14 DT

I borrowed a Filarmonica 6/8, and shaved with it a few time. I'm glad I didn't buy one like it. First, I don't particularily like the 6/8 larger blades. And, I have razors that have cost me under 10 bucks that could shave rings around it.. my opinion, my face. I will say it was a very pretty blade. But, for shaving I thought I wouldn't like it as well and probably would not use it as much. Revisor makes quite a few 6/8 blades at their website.. .or did. They are exceptional things of beauty, but I would not go for them, even though I love Revisor, because of the larger size.

The cheapes razor I own, a Gold Bug made in Solingen Germany by A. Witte, that I bought for about 5.00 gives a bettr shave then the Filarmonica I had for a while. In all due respect, it was not my razor and as such I did not try to hone it, or improve on it. It might have done better with a little work.

There's an old saying about success. It's 5% more. If someone would spend 5% more time on whatever they are doing, many times it's the difference between excellent and "ok".

Originally Posted by Gibbs

I borrowed a Filarmonica 6/8, and shaved with it a few time. I'm glad I didn't buy one like it. First, I don't particularily like the 6/8 larger blades. And, I have razors that have cost me under 10 bucks that could shave rings around it.. my opinion, my face. I will say it was a very pretty blade. But, for shaving I thought I wouldn't like it as well and probably would not use it as much. Revisor makes quite a few 6/8 blades at their website.. .or did. They are exceptional things of beauty, but I would not go for them, even though I love Revisor, because of the larger size.

The cheapes razor I own, a Gold Bug made in Solingen Germany by A. Witte, that I bought for about 5.00 gives a bettr shave then the Filarmonica I had for a while. In all due respect, it was not my razor and as such I did not try to hone it, or improve on it. It might have done better with a little work.

There's an old saying about success. It's 5% more. If someone would spend 5% more time on whatever they are doing, many times it's the difference between excellent and "ok".

2 questions,
1)how do you hone your razors? and 2) do you know how the owner honed the borrowed fili?

Well, No to the second question. I am not exactly sure how he hones.

As for me, I will start out at 1K level and get the bevel set to that point so that you can easily shave hair on your arm. If you can't get it sharp all the way along the blade at that point, going further is just a nightmare of time spent. The finer the grain of the hones the less and less they do to remove metal, so it's real important to look at the edge of the blade and NOT see the edge at the 1000 grit level.

I do a lot of circular motion honing and that keeps the minute scratch marks on the bevel at more than one angle. If you were to plow a field and then go straight back down the furrows with a disk harrow, you wouldn't get as much effect of smoothing out the field if you actually went somewhat diagonal to the furrows. So, imagine tiny furrows on the bevel edge. Going criss-cross helps to take out the hills and smooth out the valley.. for me anyway. Many do not do it this way and that is all well and good. In the end, at the finish, I have a tendency to hone, then strop on the wool felt and then back to the hone, doing this back and forth. Maybe doesn't make a lot of sense, maybe most everyone doesn't do it this way, but for me it seems that the stropping aligns the edge very minutely so that when I re-hone it just polishes more and more and defines the actual edge just a bit. Perhaps it's my 5%. Many don't do this and many have great success with honing. All I know is under 20X my bevel has very minuscule scars on the surface, and the edge stays pretty free of minor chipping. It is, like I said, my way of doing it and many may differ greatly from this way I do it.

The last hone I work with is a very hard C 12K stone with dark intrusions. Only time I ever saw a slurry on it is during lapping to make sure it is flat. Since it seems so hard and slow I probably spend a little more time on it. At that grit level it can remove metal but it's not likely to cause great inroads into wearing out the razor too quickly. Does a very nice job of polsihg to a mirror in the sunlight, though! When it's done the razor glides across like butter. BTW I have finished the last part in the process with the hone dry, most of the time

thanks Vern, i understand your method, i was just curious as to your tools. thanks -Jon