Looks like another good reminder to Newbies, a new razor right out of the box is rarely shave ready unless hand honed first. I am surprised that Shaving and Razor Shop would say this as they are one of the leading European resources. of course Dovo promotes this same myth in their advertising and Nordstroms ads for the new Henkels will also say it needs no honing to use.

A newbies best bet when buying a razor is to get it hand honed. Either buy a used razor from one of our forum members who will do it up right, or buy new and have it honed as Classic Shaving or Shaving Shop offers or already honed as I do. We have several retailers here like Jim at Vintage Blades selling nice razors too and you can easily send it off to several of our group members for honing as well if you buy there. I am sure there are several other resources among us too and I look forward to Josh's Vendor Directory.

It is good to learn to hone yourself but maybe not the best bet right at the start. A pre-honed razor will give you something as a reference to what shaving sharp really is.

Tony