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

I have an order in on a new 6/8 Spanish point from Maestro Livi but as I stated previously, when I bought my present Maestro Livi razor on ebay, the edge was not in good shape. I started honing my razors 11 months ago and now I use Shapton stones up to 30k. I honed the blade and got out the nicks and uneven bevel using a 8k stone, 12k and 30k. It took some effort with the 8k to get an even edge. Then 5 light laps with the 16k & 30k stones. I just looked at the blade under a glass and the edge is uniform with a nice polished bevel after 2 months. I only us light stropping like 10 laps. It is a great testament to the quality of the metal and Maestro Livi's workmanship that I could restore the blade to such a sharp edge and great shave considering how little experience I have in honing.

As for Mastro Livi's workmanship and craftsmanship, there is no doubts about it, at least for me. As for honing and stropping, light hand and light pressure is everything, including shaving.

Yesterday has been a special day. You probably remember about the shaving set I want Mastro Livi to make for me and the very first piece of this set has been the "Pennello Italiano" (Italian Brush). Yesterday was the time to make the second element of this set and this element was the well known Mastro Livi loom strop. I am not going to talk about the high quality of this tool as everyone knows about its performance and efficiency. The loom strop, of course, has the very same handle structure of the "Italian Brush" and, as a matter of fact, this is the "Coramella Italiana" (Italian Strop). It is a medium size Mastro Livi Loom Strop, a size I have chosen because I already own both the small and travel size.
The handle is quite different in shape from the brush and this is mainly because you hold the two of them differently. The handle has, of course, the usual "Italian Flag", made of Jade (green), White Turquoise (white) and Coral (Red) and it is made of Amboyna Burl, Pau Violeto, Juniper, Makassar Ebony and Olive Burl.
I of course took pictures of its making and in the next days, like I did for the "Italian Brush", I will publish them and I hope you will appreciate watching Mastro Livi making his world famous Loom Strop.
Ladies and gentlemen, here it is my Mastro Livi Loom Strop "Coramella Italiana"!

Mastro Livi Loom Strop "Coramella Italiana".

Each Mastro Livi Loom Strop comes in its wooden box and a stick of his well known chromium oxide paste.




Mastro Livi in his laboratory holding my "Coramella Italiana"

1955 - 2015. Sixty years. It was 1955 when Mastro Livi honed his very first straight razor. Since then, Mastro Livi worked on straight razor maintenance, honing and making both for professional barbers and private users. This year - 2015 - Mastro Livi is therefore celebrating sixty years of experience and career in artisan straight razor making, honing and maintenance. I asked him many times how many straight razors he made in the course of this long time, but he could never give a reliable answer. One thousand, two thousand or even more, he does not exactly remember.
Mastro Livi released Grifetto about one year ago and to start celebrating his sixty years of daily work in straight razors, he decided to make a special edition of Grifetto and called it "Grifetto 60" which he recently released to the market. It is a beautiful straight razor having the very same stainless steel blade used for Grifetto but with different scales. Grifetto has olive wood scales - a typical wood in Italy - whereas Grifetto 60's scales are made of camel bone with a middle olive wood insert in which are inlaid three small dots recalling the Italian flag and in which is written "Grifetto 60".
To the left of the plate you can see Mastro Livi hand signature and to the right you can read "60 Anni" (60 Years in Italian) and, below, 1955 - 2015.
The back of the tang too reads "Grifetto 60", of course hand written by Mastro Livi including his signature on the front side of the tang.
The quality is, as usual, the well known Grifetto performance and the fancy scales add an exclusive touch to this razor. Scales are hand made by Mastro Livi, whereas the blade is made from a stainless steel blank and then personally ground by Mastro Livi himself. As a matter of fact, Grifetto blanks are made by Mastro Livi in his laboratory and are used for the production of Grifetto and Grifetto 60 only. Custom straight razors are still - and have always been - hand made by Mastro Livi, from the raw bar to stropping.

Mastro Livi Grifetto 60 is now part of my collection and it officially is the twentieth Mastro Livi straight razor I own.

Mastro Livi Grifetto 60

• Blade: 6/8 Full Hollow, Round Point
• Steel: Stainless Steel
• Scales: Camel Bone with a middle olive wood insert in which are found three dots recalling the Italian flag: Jade (Green), White Turquoise (White), Coral (Red).

Grifetto 60 in Mastro Livi's hands




Mastro Livi in front of his private barbershop holding Grifetto 60

Razorguy, your killing me. I just ordered a Mastro Livi 6/8 Spanish point last week from SRD. So many beautiful works of art and so little time to shave. After the New Year and taxes, I want a Damascus steel. My wife asked me what I want for my birthday and Christmas, both within a week and I told her. She said she doesn't love me that much. Maybe if I throw in the trip to Italy she would pay 10%?

Originally Posted by jkatzman

Razorguy, your killing me. I just ordered a Mastro Livi 6/8 Spanish point last week from SRD. So many beautiful works of art and so little time to shave. After the New Year and taxes, I want a Damascus steel. My wife asked me what I want for my birthday and Christmas, both within a week and I told her. She said she doesn't love me that much. Maybe if I throw in the trip to Italy she would pay 10%?

I am sure in case you throw in the trip to Italy and allow her to go shopping with your credit card, she will certainly pay 100%! :-D
You would certainly enjoy visiting Mastro Livi laboratory and meet him in person, not to mention to watch the making of your Damascus straight razor!

Just won this 6/8 round tip beauty on ebay. Not fancy but I am sure being one of Mastro Livi's works it will give a great shave and will bring me untold pleasure. Can't wait for the 6/8 Spanish tip I ordered. These are like eating cashews, once you buy one you can't stop. I am hooked.

Once the razor arrives I will post better pictures.

Originally Posted by jkatzman

Just won this 6/8 round tip beauty on ebay. Not fancy but I am sure being one of Mastro Livi's works it will give a great shave and will bring me untold pleasure. Can't wait for the 6/8 Spanish tip I ordered. These are like eating cashews, once you buy one you can't stop. I am hooked.

So that was YOU that won it! It ended around 3:43pm Central Daylight Time.
I was watching it.

Originally Posted by jkatzman

Just won this 6/8 round tip beauty on ebay. Not fancy but I am sure being one of Mastro Livi's works it will give a great shave and will bring me untold pleasure. Can't wait for the 6/8 Spanish tip I ordered. These are like eating cashews, once you buy one you can't stop. I am hooked.

So that was YOU that won it! It ended around 3:43pm Central Daylight Time.
I was watching it.