Thread: Tale of 2 razors!

I have a TI hollow Ground razor and a an older razor. I honed both razors on 4k,8k & 12k stone. I cannot get my TI razor to shave my chin hairs. My TI razor needs almost 4 passes, the WTG, XTG barely removes hair. The older razor does a good job. I did my my TI razor honed by TIM Zowada. The bevel looks get!

Is it the razor? Me?

Originally Posted by belizebreeze

I have a TI hollow Ground razor and a an older razor. I honed both razors on 4k,8k & 12k stone. I cannot get my TI razor to shave my chin hairs. My TI razor needs almost 4 passes, the WTG, XTG barely removes hair. The older razor does a good job. I did my my TI razor honed by TIM Zowada. The bevel looks get!

Is it the razor? Me?

As you have honed the TI razor, seemingly after you received from Tim, I think it is you and how you honed the razor. The edge is just likely not quite there compared to the older one.

Bob

There is no question that Tim Zowada knows how to hone a razor. The edge of a shave ready razor is a delicate instrument and can be lost with a miscue while stropping or other mishandling. If you touched it up following Tim's honing, as Bob said, it is possible that you degraded the edge. IME Theirs-Issards aren't the easiest razors to bring to a really good edge. Particularly if they are made with the newer C137, or whatever it is, steel. Assuming you are getting the chin done with the older razor it is probably that shave technique isn't the problem. Maybe the razor needs to go to the hones for more attention. Whether you have the skill or would be better off sending it out is a question you have to ask yourself. I suspect Tim taped the spine when he honed it. You might ask him in an email or PM. One way or the other, unless you have a lot of honing experience I would suggest one layer of electrical tape will cover many sins, figuratively speaking.

I literally just got my three TI's back from Valery at the Gentleman's Den, all of them are the C-135 carbon steel, and they are truly beautiful to shave with, very nice. As far as I'm concerned, they are top tier performers, and as BobH and JimmyHAD mentions, it doesn't take much with any razor, one bad stroke on the strop, and you can roll your edge, back on the stones after being honed, especially by Tim, and as Occam's Razor (pun intended) tells us, the most likely explanation is that it's something that's happened on your end that has degraded the edge.

Hi guys thanks for all your input. I went back to the hones and this morning performed the best shave ever with that razor. I can honestly say that the razor out performed my feather SR!

The shave was so close I will have to wait another day before I can do it again!

Thanks