The lust object from the TI line... not only is the blade hammer forged from the man, the legend - Pierre Thiers, but these blades have a widespread reputation for being both beautiful AND amazing (and I mean AMAZING) shavers. These razors seem to be the most consistently sharp TI's outta the bx and need VERY little to no work in order to get them scary sharp.



No two alike....



With both being hammer forged, AND natural blonde horn scales on these razors, no two razors are alike. It isn't JUST the scales or the hammering's on the spine, but they are all slightly different sizes (I have a few, so I have been able to compare them) and have quite different points and blades. Some have nearly flat blades, some a big belly, others have a barbers notch, others you could consider them more of a deep spanish point. Very, VERY fun and interesting to both collect, and shave with.

Check out some of the differences between 2 of my LE Hammers....



2 different "tips"...





Deep, low - almost spanish point....





High, shallow - barbers notch...





Hammered spine - closer one in focus....





Hammered spine - further one in focus...





Eye Candy!

































Interesting filings in a "wavy" patten...





In my opinion - While these are amazing shavers - buy them for the historical background, NOT for their performance. Don't get me wrong... it is my opinion there is NO razor that is a markedly superior shaver, and personally I find them to be superior shavers to their more expensive competition (IE Maestros) - I think for the lofty price these things command, they should be purchased more as historical collectors items, rather than "amazing shavers" - as I personally feel NO razor is worth more than $300 as purely a "shaver" as once you broach the $300 price range, it is like broaching the $150 price range on a shaving brush, in that ALL difference after that point are VERY minute, and primarily ascetic, marketing, b/s and personal preference.



If you buy one of these as a time warp to 120 years ago.... you'll absolutely love this razor, and feel it's worth 2X the price... if you are buying it solely to be "the best shaver money can buy" - I think you'll be lackluster.



Overall.... interesting razor with a TON of character, looks nice, feels superb, and looks/performs/feels like no other razor. Great (surprising) heft, tremendously dense metal, and just a real peach of a shaver. I'm a fan.



TO DISCUSS OR ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS REVIEW USE THIS THREAD. ALL NON-REVIEW POSTS WITHIN THE REVIEW ENGINE WILL BE DELETED.



Thanks!

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- Joel
joel (at) badgerandblade.com

I've got one of these as well. Mine's got a pretty deep belly and a deep notch on it, and scales that are about half black. They're definitely a superb razor, although the odd spine makes them a little trickier to hone and strop than others this is more of a quirk than a fault. This razor is the very definition of nimble, it feels much smaller than it actually is and fairly flies around your face - for some reason my shaves with this razor are noticeably quicker than with my other razors.



This razor does seem to be prone to more TI assembly problems than their other razors, though, so you should be aware of this before purchasing one, which is why I docked it for craftsmanship. I docked it a point for sharpening because the odd spine on mine makes it prone to rolling over on the hone so it takes special care. And I docked it a point for lasting edge and easy to maintain only because the Robert Williams razors simply best it handily in these categories.

The Pierre Thiers Hand Forged razors do not bear that monogram simply as hot air advertisng. The razors so labeled are assembled using blade blanks that were forged one (long) generation ago. These blanks were hand forged by Pierre Thiers (not machine forged using dies) which explains the differences and excentricities that users have noted between one blade of this type and the next.

I have 2 of these I must have got lucky on both as the fit and finish as well as the gold leaf actually appears perfect unlike several other TI's I own, they take a little effort to get them shave ready sharp but as with all TI's once there they provide a very nice shave and maintain that edge for a very long time usually only needing at most a quick touch up. They are both great shavers but not noticeably at least to me any better then other TI's I own but these have a bit of history to them now whether that is worth the extra money or not is up to you.

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Jim

I just have one of these, honed to perfection by Joel. It is not the smoothest shaver I have, but it gives the most comfortable shave of any of my blades. I had Robert Williams rescale mine in Mammoth Ivory. It seems a shame to clothe a blade like this in common horn. It really deserves better.

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Jay

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