JayGer straights

Anyone heard of JayGer straights, or used them?
Their website says "coming soon", but they have an eBay store, that has knives, axes and straights that look gorgeous, but looks really don't help if you can't use them.

Their eBay feedback is great, and the only negative feedback regarding their razors are "not shave ready", but none comment the capability of taking and holding a shave worthy edge.

Lots of poor spelling and grammar mistakes, coupled with suspiciously low prices for "custom" razors, leaves me a little apprehensive about the prospects.

A couple of the razors look like they would be unstroppable.

They do indeed look really nice, but yes, I suspect we stand more chance of honing a teapot than one of these.

Quess i'll find out, since i just won the bidding on one if their razors.
I'll let you know when it arrives.

Edit. I'm not very optimistic about the razor, but i figured i can atleast use the scales on another blade.

So. I got the JayGer today, and it's massive. Here's a couple of pictures with my Klas Törnblom Xmas for comparison:



The scales are about 4.4mm thick as is the wedge between them. The total thickness is ~1.37cm from the wedge end, and the pivot pin protrudes from the scales and it's length is just shy of 2cm. The blade is ~14.6cm from tang to toe and just over 8cm heel to toe.
Total blade width is just under 2.5cm. The distance for the bevel (from the edge to the point where the spine contacts the hone) is ~2cm and the spine width is pretty much 5mm, so if someone wants to calculate the bevel angle, there are the measurements.

The razor is to my eye around 1/4 hollow or near wedge, and it actually looks great in person. There are some tool marks visible, and the jimps as well as the peaks in the spine are little uneven, but nothing too bad.



One noteworthy thing is that the heel and toe are very pointy and sharp to the end and the toe actually embeds itself in the wedge when closed, but this can be remedied easily by dulling the ends.

They sell this as "shave ready", but it won't even cut my arm hair at all, so i don't think it'd do great on my beard. But hey, nothing a good honing can't fix right? Well...

I whipped out my USB microscope, to check the edge, and at first it seemed that the honing was just not done "all the way", because i could see that the edge didn't join all the way. Then i moved the blade along and saw something a bit more worrying. A crack in the blade. And another. And a third one.
I checked the other side, and true enough, the cracks go through the steel, as you can see from these pictures (side by side on the opposite sides):


Next i'll be in contact with the seller thru eBay and see how he feels about these cracks, since they pretty much make this straight useless in my books, as they seem to go deep in the steel and all the way through the edge.

If it weren't for the cracks i'd be honing this beast and see if i get a shaveable edge, as i really like this straight, and other issues (tool marks, uneven jimps and peaks, pointy heel and toe) with it would IMO be dismissable considering the price i payed - assuming of course that it can take and hold an edge.

That's wild.

That's a real mess! The ebay pics look nice.

BJ Rose said:

That's a real mess! The ebay pics look nice.

Click to expand...

The mess on the straight is actually just my fingerprints in the protective oil they apply prior to shipping.

On a more positive note, i have been messaging with the seller, and based on the photos he's sending me another razor tomorrow, and hopefully it will be without these cracks. Excellent customer service and very speedy replies to my messages.

Good luck

To me, all the razors seem like they are not really made to be used-huge scales, odd shapes to spine, very short tangs.

These look like they were made by someone who clearly has never used a straight.

I would imagine honing and stropping these would be difficult.

Doc226 said:

Good luck

To me, all the razors seem like they are not really made to be used-huge scales, odd shapes to spine, very short tangs.

These look like they were made by someone who clearly has never used a straight.

I would imagine honing and stropping these would be difficult.

Click to expand...

That's the first thing I thought: how can you keep the spine flat on the strop and/or hone when you are changing directions?

Definitely not a shaver, even without the cracks. Not even a proper RSO, or Razor Shaped Object. Just a nick-nack meant to look "kewl". And I betcha that steel wont support an edge. Just guessing on that. Probably could be a big seller outside the main gate of any military base, in a shop where 18yo GIs spend a chunk of their first military paychecks.

Not being an accomplished bladesmith, I would guess that either the heat treating went horribly wrong somehow, or the blade was ground too thin before the HT. It would be interesting to view the edge of one of their knives under a microscope, and see what sort of edge you could put on it. I suspect that their entire product line is junk. Just guessing, extrapolating from that monstrosity they sold you.

You don't. You pick it up and turn.

That's one of the ones I thought was unstroppable (post #3).

I'd love to hear if you were actually able to shave with the replacement.

Not an expert of straights razors but for me, an old spec is a good spec and I would stick to affirmed brands ....
Now, there are marvelous custom straights out there but they sell at different prices. No miracles ......
Wet shaving is becoming very fashionable and straights even more. This attracts me-too products often fruit of very poorly skilled artisans. I would stay away from these since I have one face only.
My 0.002 cts of Euro....

IMO stropping and honing is not a problem - at least for me. Like global_dev said; pick it up and turn.

As to the other issues, the tang and scales actually fit my smallish fingers quite nicely, and give a good grip in the shaving position. It actually feels very stable in hand compared to many of my thinner blades.
I can't comment on the edge yet, but i'd personally like to confirm something before shooting it down. I don't however have very high hopes for the steel quality, but i'll comment on that once/if i get a blade that is not defected.

If i get another cracked blade or one that is impossible to get a shaving edge on, i'll be taking a refund and move along.

The reason i bought this is that i have over 10 vintage straights, and a new R.A. on the way, and i'm intrigued by more "out of the box" looking razors, and since this was cheap, different looking, and i couldn't find any info on these i figured to try one myself - especially since there's very little risk on account of eBay's buyer protection.

If everyone sticks with the "affirmed brands", how is anybody going to discover anything new that's worthwhile.

I'll keep you updated regarding the replacement once it arrives.

Well I agree it is good of u to try it, and I hope you will keep us posted. After all, Gold Dollars were once dismissed as junk until some brave badgermen tried fixing them up.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to seeing the replacement

Let us know. I think I will order one tonight. For the price, it is worth a shot. And it looks very cool.