All "A+" Shaves?

When I started using a straight razor back in December, it was easy to grade my razors into A, B, and C shavers. However, after getting all my razors honed and in tip top shape and after finishing nearly 150 shaves, I am finding it really difficult to rate my razors. Razors that I originally gave a "C" ranking, like my Henckels 401, now provide me with an "A+" shave. I cannot think of any of my razors that do not provide at least an "A" shave.

Obviously, having the razors properly honed along with a growing technique on my part makes the "A" shaves possible. Now, just to distinguish and rank my razors, I have gone to A, A+, A++, and A+++ rankings. I feel it more accurately represents the truth of the razors.

Yes, I do have some current favorites like a 6/8 Thiers-Issard Le Grelot and a 5/8 J. A. Henckels 72 1/2 but it based upon how the razor feels in my hand and on my face. Since all of my razors can provide a truly effective shave, my new goal is to work towards getting each razor to shave with the greatest possible smoothness and comfort.

It is a nice problem to have. I cannot imagine how I even thought I could fairly rank razors with my beginning technique. What I was really ranking was my miserable and inconsistent technique.
:hmmm:

Happy Shaving!
:D

I rate my razors as Excellent Shavers and outstanding shavers and exceptional shavers. What's the difference? All three give close comfortable BBS shaves but it's all in the sensation you get from them. I always characterize them as excellent you can feel the razor going down your face and tell it's working but not in a bad way. Outstanding you can feel the razor but can't tell it's working and exceptional you can't even tell a razor is going down your face. I have always believed any quality razor can be made excellent and the jump to outstanding can be done if your willing to do the extra work in honing. However exceptional shavers are just that and it's an innate quality some few razors have and I don't think you can create one from a lessor category. It either has it inside or it doesn't.

Truly knowing how to shave and also being able to fine-tune a razor to your preference is a wonderful thing isn't it?

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I rate my razors as Excellent Shavers and outstanding shavers and exceptional shavers. What's the difference? All three give close comfortable BBS shaves but it's all in the sensation you get from them. I always characterize them as excellent you can feel the razor going down your face and tell it's working but not in a bad way. Outstanding you can feel the razor but can't tell it's working and exceptional you can't even tell a razor is going down your face. I have always believed any quality razor can be made excellent and the jump to outstanding can be done if your willing to do the extra work in honing. However exceptional shavers are just that and it's an innate quality some few razors have and I don't think you can create one from a lessor category. It either has it inside or it doesn't.

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Thank you for this excellent post. In my limited experience, I am just beginning to discover what you describe. Your putting it into words is very helpful. It gives me both a vocabulary and criteria for judging my razors. I particularly like the description for exceptional razors. Thank you very much!

TheBigSpendur: Have you found any particular brand, more than others, that falls into the exceptional category?

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Originally Posted by DLB

Thank you for this excellent post. In my limited experience, I am just beginning to discover what you describe. Your putting it into words is very helpful. It gives me both a vocabulary and criteria for judging my razors. I particularly like the description for exceptional razors. Thank you very much!

TheBigSpendur: Have you found any particular brand, more than others, that falls into the exceptional category?

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Yeah, that's an excellent gauge to try and implement, isn't it?

There are probably a lot of good razors sold by beginners because they think they are not that good, I have when I started. As far as brands go I have razors that are in the list of Good Straight Razor Brands and some unknown brands and there are excellent ones in both categories once you master the shaving and honing technique

I have found that while all of my razors will give a sufficient shave, some of them will take a better edge than others. So far only two of them are what I would classify as simply "magical" shavers. One razor, which I suspect is a rebranded Dovo, will not take as sharp of an edge as other razors. But it is also an exceptionally smooth shaver so I still use it and see it's value in my rotation.

I have been keeping a log of my razors on my dresser, which just lists the razors, the date I honed them (and with what finisher), how I rate the initial shave (A-F), and then tally up how many shaves it gives before needing another honing.

Another problem when one starts using a straight is that once a certain level is obtained expectations keep going up. That often leads to reevaluating all the razors that you have, once again!

Later,
Richard

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Originally Posted by riooso

Another problem when one starts using a straight is that once a certain level is obtained expectations keep going up. That often leads to reevaluating all the razors that you have, once again!

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Excellent point. This can work against you as well, as razor "A" may give good shaves but all of a sudden be judged as inferior compared to razor "B". Then you end up messing with a good thing trying to chase that magic edge. This is especially true when using honemeister blades, and can quickly turn into obsession. Sometimes you have to give up on splitting hairs (excellent or spectacular? A+++ or A++++?), kick back and enjoy what's most important: the shave. :)

I'll tell you, I have about 125 razors and most are different brands though I have a good number of Livi and DDs and TIs and I don't think I could characterize one brand as having more of the exceptional shavers with any real accuracy. I have three Williams razors and all three are exceptional. I have several TIs and 2 meet the criteria, 2 of my Puma's do and a three or four DD that do. A couple of my Livis do. The rest are one here and there and sometimes it a razor you would never expect. Probably of all my razors around 15-20% meet the definition for me. I guess to really be able to tell you would need a lot of a brand and the closest I have to that is DD. I have around 25 of them and though collectively they are outstanding shavers the % is the same there. From my experience the brand that impresses me the most for exceptional razors is Willams and that's just based on what I have.

The Big Spendur: Out of 34 razors, I have two that leaped to the front of the line the first time I used them; a new 6/8 Thiers-Issard Le Grelot and a vintage 5/8 J, A. Heckles 72 1/2. All of the other razors shave really quite well but these two feel like an extension of my hand and arm and the shave is so effortless that both razors fall into the exceptional quality. As I compare shaving with any of the other razors to these two, the other razors come out lacking something, yet it is very difficult to verbalize exactly what quality is missing. However, during the past couple of days, I have found your three categories of Excellent, Outstanding, and Exceptional have enabled me to more clearly rate my razors. All of them are excellent, about a fourth of them (especially those with professional honing) are outstanding, but only two are exceptional. That said, I love using all of them. Using a razor that is "only" excellent makes me appreciate the exceptional razor even more.

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Originally Posted by DLB

......I cannot imagine how I even thought I could fairly rank razors with my beginning technique. What I was really ranking was my miserable and inconsistent technique....:D

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A couple of points that you may wish to consider. YMMV of course. When starting out try to keep the number of razors that you rotate through to a minimum, it will help a little with the learning curve.

When I had been shaving with the same amount of time as you have put in I obtained the B&B 1/4 grind LeGrelot through the group buy. That amount of money, at the time, seemed insane to me. The very first time that I put the blade to my face....it was just different! I guess it has been about 3 years since then and it is still not bettered by any razor that I have, equaled, but not bettered. I know a lot of people that have a great razor in their hands when they are new at this and sell it for something new and live to regret it, so take it slow. Go with your instincts and if you feel that it is a great razor, it probably is very good one at minimum.

Take Care,
Richard

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Originally Posted by riooso

A couple of points that you may wish to consider. YMMV of course. When starting out try to keep the number of razors that you rotate through to a minimum, it will help a little with the learning curve...Richard

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Richard,

Good advice but a little late for me. LOL

Early on, I did a lot of reading and was fascinated by the SRD discussions of such names as Sheffield, Solingen, Dovo, W&B, Red Imp, Union Cutlery, Torrey, Waterville, Thiers-Issard, Le Grelot, Heljestrand, dubl duck, Revisor, Boker, Henckels, and Wostenholm. I made a plan to get razors in good condition representing the USA, Germany, France, Sweden, England, and Spain. In my naivety, I first planned to get one new and one vintage razor from each country until I discovered that new razors were not being produced in Sweden, England, and Spain.

My collection now has:
USA: 9 (2 new and 7 vintage)
Germany: 12 (6 new and 6 vintage)
France: 6 (1 new and 5 vintage)
Sweden: 3 (3 vintage)
England 2 (2 vintage)
Spain 2 (2 vintage)

I really enjoy using a variety of sizes and styles from the different countries. While the 6/8 Thiers-Issard Le Grelot and the 5/8 Henckels 72 1/2 are consistently my favorite razors, I would be loath to give up any of the other razors. In a way, my favorite razor is the one that I am holding in my hand when I am shaving. If I were forced to reduce the collection to two 7-day sets, I would agonizingly select 7 of the new and 7 of the vintage razors to keep.

Happy Shaving.
:rock:

LOL! Never mind.....you are lost!:p

R

I have somewhere around 100 straights. Interesting how often the Grelots have been mentioned. I've been thinking lately that, had I sense, I would sell all the razors I own and keep the two Le Grelot 1/4 grinds I'm blessed to have.

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Originally Posted by pcb01

I have somewhere around 100 straights. Interesting how often the Grelots have been mentioned. I've been thinking lately that, had I sense, I would sell all the razors I own and keep the two Le Grelot 1/4 grinds I'm blessed to have.

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I hear you. My half-hollow new Thiers-Issard Le Grelot is my "Number One" go-to-razor. It will be the razor that they will have to pry out of my cold, dead hands! I have one vintage 6/8 Thiers-Issard 69 and four vintage Le Grelots (one 4/8s & three 5/8s); all of them superlative shavers. I was able to buy my French razors on eBay.fr for about a quarter of the price on US eBay. I keep telling myself to get one more new Thiers and I will have a dream 7-day set.

Happy Shaving!