Thread: My Mastro Livi razor, at last: a wonderful life experience!

My new Mastro Livi razor at home.
It is a 17/16 Full Hollow, French Point, African black ebony scales



I love the file work!

After two days of work, here it is a new Mastro Livi masterpiece!
This is the fifth Mastro Livi straight razor in my collection and I hope to have more.
I am now looking forward to my Sunday shave! I am sure it is going to be wonderful!

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

What an excellent photo-documentary, many thanks for posting it.

Regards,
Neil

Thank you Neil! I am very glad to know you appreciated my "two days work" in taking pictures of Mastro Livi making my razor. Once again, it has been a wonderful experience, not to mention, it was a great pleasure for me to spend two full days and a half with Mastro Livi, a remarkable and wise man I truly have in high esteem. I always learn something new every time I meet him. I sincerely wish you all to meet him sooner or later and to watch him making your razor. You will never regret the journey and the experience!

I wish that I could have the honour of meeting him, but I have only corresponded with him via email and I can confirm that he is an absolute gentleman. He is very modest, too - he mentioned my own pedestrian work and that he was delighted to talk to me. A very nice man, a rarity these days.

I do have one of his razors, but I had to wait for such a long time for him to make that particular model again, as he is always so busy. It is something that I treasure, and not many material things are important to me.

Thanks again for taking the time to give us this wonderful glimpse at a master at his work.

Regards,
Neil

RWL34 : forged ....
quenched in gaz forges .... no maintains ... oil and water .... what the hell ???

I am not an expert on metallurgy so I cannot talk about this subject. What I say is that the straight razors Mastro Livi makes in RWL34 steel (as well as Damasteel) shave like no other, have an incredible effective edge and has a very long durability. As far as I can tell, I have never honed any of the Mastro Livi razors I have: they still cut like the first time and are far from being dull.

Antonello, congratulations on another fantastic razor. A true thing of beauty.

Thank you Jody! You appreciation is highly and truly welcome!
Does the point reminds you about something?

There's something beautiful about the shape of Mastro Livi's scales. Very simple yet very distinctive.

I do agree with you. Very simple and very distinctive, however elegant and you can tell it is a Mastro Livi. And, besides that, I really like Mastro's scales' style.

This morning I went to Mastro Livi's workshop and, as usual, it is always nice to go there because Mastro Livi is always working on some razors or something. In this period, besides working on the making of the razors some clients ordered to him, Mastro Livi is experimenting with new steels and new ways to make razors. I am sure you all know Mastro Livi spends quite a lot of time in experimenting with many types of steels - carbon and stainless - in order to find out the best materials and procedures for his straight razors.
I was also glad to see his latest creations. It seems Mastro Livi likes kamisori quite a lot lately, and he showed me this wonderful set, all of them made from Damasteel and each one having a different material for the handle. I hope you will appreciate them as much as I did.

Moreover, Mastro Livi also showed me this amazing new kamisori he invented. To me it is the genius of a great talent: reinventing a tradition with a modern touch. This is the kamisori Mastro Livi invented and it has an empty handle. It is very light, but it offers a great grip and stability, very comfortable to hold in your hand. As for shaving, well, I just watched them and, unfortunately, I did not have the chance to try them. I guess I am going to buy a new Mastro Livi kamisori soon?

Like I said, in this period Mastro Livi is spending quite a lot of time in experimenting new steels for his razors, something he has always done during all of his sixty years career. He then showed me this straight razor and I must say it is an experimental razor, not in production, and made of a stainless steel Mastro Livi is experimenting on. He asked me if I wished to test this razor and to provide him my feedback. Well, I am sure you gentlemen know what my answer was: YES, of course!
This is the razor Mastro Livi gave me for testing and this is going to be the straight razor I will use for my Sunday shave.

Moreover, Mastro Livi asked me to test this razor for a couple of weeks, in order to see how long the edge lasts and whether it needs honing or chromium oxide, how comfortable the shave is. As I am about to leave next week, I will bring this experimental razor with me and I will be very glad to test it. Mastro Livi said my beard is harder than his so he thinks this will be an important test. Lucky me!
As you can see the shape is quite linear and simple: I guess this is normal as this is an experimental razor for testing purposes. However, for being an experimental straight razor, it is not that bad!
Mastro Livi is also experimenting on other stainless and carbon steels and I saw he made about ten experimental razors to test. I hope he will let me test them all! I am very excited to be part of this experiment, honored for the fact Mastro Livi allowed me to test one of his razors and asked me for a feedback.
I guess tomorrow morning I am going to have a magnificent shave, although experimental, but - wow! - what an experiment!
By the way, this experimental straight razor is a 7/8 full hollow, square point and the blade is made of "experimental" stainless steel.