The Honemeister "Scammed" Me.

Hey guys, whats up. Noobie here. A few days ago i sent two straight razors to a honemeister i found on the other forum, when they came back after a few days, i took the razors and went to try them out on my new stubble. I did not strop them because i assumed that the razors would be shave ready and it also was their first shave from the honemeister. The razors pulled my facial hair and scratched my skin a lot, ( i can assure you 150% i tried all degree angles).

My question is that, is this the honemeister's fault, (as much as i don't want to admit it).

Should i make a big fuss or just let it go. i have had straight shaves where the stubble just melts under the razor's edge but this one was just like hell.

Do you have any experience at all with shaving with a straight?

Was it one of the more qualified honemeisters or somebody that just started? (lots of posts, older registration date, lots of people on the forum vouching for their honing abilities)(that doesn't necessarily make one a good honemeister but it does give an idea)

Not trying to sound harsh, but all the info we can get would help us help you better.

I would give it a good stropping and see if it helps. At least 60-70 laps. If it does not help then I would contact the honemeister with questions.

It could be your angles. I'm new to straights too and I am finding that my angles make a world of difference in how well my shave is - what may seem dull may be just bad technique. Not saying you didn't get some bad honing, don't know, but if I had to guess my first would be technique.

Try to find a patch of hair that you can shave on your hand or leg (think where you will do this first or you might wear long sleeves or pants for a while).

Stretch the skin until it can't move anymore and try to shave a very small square. If you shave almost everything, the razor should be right, if all the hairs are left behind, nah, no good.

I would contact the honemeister again to check with him if he could help you a bit.

When I started, I had the same reaction and didn't shave much for a while. The razor might be to blame but I would bet on technique first.

This is a tough one. Once you've been shaving with straights for six months or so, you definitely know the difference between a honemeister-sharp blade and one that barely passes the shave test. However, many new members will accuse their honemeisters of shipping them a razor that isn't sharp enough simply because they do not yet have proper technique.

In this situation, without knowing you or the honemeister, I would have to side with them.

I think the gentlemanly thing to do would be to contact them and politely explain that you felt the razor was not sharpened to your liking. I'm sure he can either help with your technique, or hone the razors again for a reduced price(maybe even for free).

Good luck!

Well i have enough experience to know the right feel, i know how a straight razor should feel on the face; and that is smooth as if it was gliding.
i stropped the razor for about 100 times on my new dovo russian leather wide strop, what bugs me is that when i received the razors i performed a " hanging hair test" that i have seen all over youtube. it just nicked the hair at only certain spots. the guy that i found on SRP had plenty of great reviews. I did contact him but i have not heard any replies yet. And i was very polite on the email, i am blaming myself so far but there are only so many things that i could do to "improve" my shaving experience, the rest falls on the razor's edge. the razors that i have are dovo Best quality, could it be the crappy razor? ( just a thought) or am i the idiot.

ThatGuy said:

Well i have enough experience to know the right feel, i know how a straight razor should feel on the face; and that is smooth as if it was gliding.
i stropped the razor for about 100 times on my new dovo russian leather wide strop, what bugs me is that when i received the razors i performed a " hanging hair test" that i have seen all over youtube. it just nicked the hair at only certain spots. the guy that i found on SRP had plenty of great reviews. I did contact him but i have not heard any replies yet. And i was very polite on the email, i am blaming myself so far but there are only so many things that i could do to "improve" my shaving experience, the rest falls on the razor's edge. the razors that i have are dovo Best quality, could it be the crappy razor? ( just a thought) or am i the idiot.

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My Dovo Best shaves just as good as my vintage Geneva. Plenty of good reviews on that razor.

The hanging hair test performs differently for everybody, everybody's hair is different and there is much debate over that method. If you have other straights that you can shave fine with, then I would say that the edge just isn't up to par. So then it either has to be faulty stropping, faulty honing, or the edge was damaged somehow between point A and point B.

I am brand new to straights but I have razors that have been honed by 4 different honers and none of them feel like they are gliding over my face. They all feel like a sharp knife cutting facial hair. The chances of me getting four bad hones from four different guys is pretty slim imo, so I am betting it is my technique.

Again I am thinking you and I are in the same boat and need to be working on technique.

Hmm.. If the honemeister "scammed you", then that means he intentionally sent you less than shave ready blades. You should contact your local BBB

auk1124 said:

I am brand new to straights but I have razors that have been honed by 4 different honers and none of them feel like they are gliding over my face. They all feel like a sharp knife cutting facial hair. The chances of me getting four bad hones from four different guys is pretty slim imo, so I am betting it is my technique.

Again I am thinking you and I are in the same boat and need to be working on technique.

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You're a pretty smart fella, thanks for that!!

Try a with the grain swipe somewhere easy (cheek) with just water lubricating. Just a small patch. If the razor is sharp it should get you very close to BBS on that spot. If it leaves a significant amount of length, it's not a very sharp blade.

huntmol said:

I think the gentlemanly thing to do would be to contact them and politely explain that you felt the razor was not sharpened to your liking. I'm sure he can either help with your technique, or hone the razors again for a reduced price(maybe even for free).

Good luck!

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+1

A bit of a tongue-in-cheek observation, but this really should be your first course of action, rather than entitling your thread as you did.

As you participate in more than one shaving forum, there is a good chance your honemeister does, too.

Your complaint is extremely common, though yours is slight different in that you claim
"Well i have enough experience to know the right feel, i know how a straight razor should feel on the face; and that is smooth as if it was gliding."
Is that because you experienced this "right feel" with some other razor?
If you have successfully shaved with some other razor, then PERHAPS the honing job is suspect. If that is not the case, then I would consider it much more likely that you are the weakest link.

One thing that makes me suspicious is the fact that you performed the HHT on the newly honed razor yet you did not mention stropping it first. Lots of people who do honing, including myself, oil the blades before mailing them. An oiled blade is quite unlikely to pass the HHt. Besides, an HHT is an assessment tool for the honer and is not a valid assessment in any other way. The shave test is the only valid way to test a razor and I not sure if you are yet competent in your shaving technique. I'm not saying that you are not, it's just that you have not provided that information.

I strongly suggest further communication with the honer.

auk1124 said:

i am brand new to straights but i have razors that have been honed by 4 different honers and none of them feel like they are gliding over my face. They all feel like a sharp knife cutting facial hair. The chances of me getting four bad hones from four different guys is pretty slim imo, so i am betting it is my technique.

Again i am thinking you and i are in the same boat and need to be working on technique.

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luvmysuper said:

you're a pretty smart fella, thanks for that!!

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+1

Utopian said:

Your complaint is extremely common, though yours is slight different in that you claim
"Well i have enough experience to know the right feel, i know how a straight razor should feel on the face; and that is smooth as if it was gliding."
Is that because you experienced this "right feel" with some other razor?
If you have successfully shaved with some other razor, then PERHAPS the honing job is suspect. If that is not the case, then I would consider it much more likely that you are the weakest link.

One thing that makes me suspicious is the fact that you performed the HHT on the newly honed razor yet you did not mention stropping it first. Lots of people who do honing, including myself, oil the blades before mailing them. An oiled blade is quite unlikely to pass the HHt. Besides, an HHT is an assessment tool for the honer and is not a valid assessment in any other way. The shave test is the only valid way to test a razor and I not sure if you are yet competent in your shaving technique. I'm not saying that you are not, it's just that you have not provided that information.

I strongly suggest further communication with the honer.

Click to expand...

+1. I never agree with this person, but he is correct with his assesment. I think yoi should contact the honer. Although I wouldn't recommend anything from SRD, if you want to end the honing debate, send it there. They have the master honer according to everyone on earth. If you have trouble after that, I'd say your technique is the problem.

I agree with Ron (Utopian) quite often, and highly recommend SRD as a vendor as well as several of the honers on B&B & SRP.

On a side note, If you think you are to blame as you stated in your second post, I find it odd that you titled this thread as you did.

ThatGuy said:

Well i have enough experience to know the right feel, i know how a straight razor should feel on the face; and that is smooth as if it was gliding.
i stropped the razor for about 100 times on my new dovo russian leather wide strop, what bugs me is that when i received the razors i performed a " hanging hair test" that i have seen all over youtube. it just nicked the hair at only certain spots. the guy that i found on SRP had plenty of great reviews. I did contact him but i have not heard any replies yet. And i was very polite on the email, i am blaming myself so far but there are only so many things that i could do to "improve" my shaving experience, the rest falls on the razor's edge. the razors that i have are dovo Best quality, could it be the crappy razor? ( just a thought) or am i the idiot.

Click to expand...

First off, I would revert to the default font. Increasing the size in this case serves to increase the noise, not the sense, of a post.

The hanging hair test is something that is learned over time. I've been using straights for over a year, and I hone my own, and it is only over the past few weeks that it has become useful for me.

I have over 40 straights at this point. The Dovo Best is a fine razor. Unless it has some kind of one-off defect (doubtful, since you have 2 of them), it is not the problem.

I'm not sure whether or not your technique is the problem. If you have fewer than say 50 straight shaves under your belt, I would think it probably is.

All that said, there are IMHO distinct qualitative differences in the results that different "honemeisters" produce. I am convinced, based on sampling maybe a dozen different examples, that some produce better edges than others do. Most will stand behind their work, and you would do well to contact whomever sent these to you. The best advice I can give is find one who reliably produces an edge to your liking. Either that or -- even better -- begin the rewarding journey of learning to hone your own. It will take a while, and it will take a degree of patience and humility, but in the end you will be able to shave for the rest of your life beholden to nobody (except the occasional soapmaker).

It is also quite possible that the person who honed this razor just forgot to include a note perhaps of issues he might have had while working on it. You haven't stated what the manufacture of the razor is, which could also lead to some issues as well.

First I would try to resolve your delima with the honemaster and go from there.

Regards,

Ray

Ray-man said:

First I would try to resolve your delima with the honemaster and go from there.

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Sound advice.

Well guys, i did label the thread the way i did because i wanted help and the title was catchy and provocative (im sorry but i worked for an advertising company for a while). I do not think that he scammed me per se, or sent me a badly honed razor. But i asked you guys because i was contemplating the slight POSSIBILITY. The guy is very courteous, when communicating with the customer. He is a general nice guy. But i also am starting to believe that it is my technique, I dont know. I am the kind of person that tries to look at myself before judging others. Thank you guys, all of you, for being so helpful.