My first Thiers Issard and I'm sending it back.

This is only the 3rd brand new, never used razor I have ever bought out of a collection of around 100 razors now. My wife wanted to give me a straight razor for Christmas. Having never shaved with a TI, I wanted to treat myself to a new one. Ordered it early in December to have it for Christmas. Got it right away and my wife wrapped it and put it under the tree sight unseen. I excitedly unwrapped it on Christmas morning and my heart sank when I saw it.

In the ordering comments/instructions, I specifically asked that it not be honed as I wanted to do it myself. I have 100+year old razors that have been honed for decades with less hone wear and I have kitchen knives with smaller bevels. My Starret straight edge shows a slight frown. I won't name the retailer until I see how they fix this, but I was disappointed and needed to vent. It is even worse than the phone camera picture shows. Thanks for listening.

From you picture I'm not sure what your grip is about, are those rust spots on the blade or what?

pundi64 said:

From you picture I'm not sure what your grip is about, are those rust spots on the blade or what?

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The gripe is about getting a new razor with the spine ground off and honed to a frown. The spots are the oil the razor was shipped with.

I feel for you, what a letdown. The fact that it was honed when you requested that it not be is enough grounds for a return. But ask, TI sharpens them on a wheel spine off the wheel from what little recent experience I've had.

However, in the vendor's defense, TI like all modern razor makers under pressure to produce, seem to be putting more ahem, marginally ground razors into the market. Maybe the vendor did the best they could or possibly this is how they got it from TI? I have two 11/16 TIs that are perfect, and a 7/8 with wide wavy bevels - after me honing it, it isn't ground very well, but it shaves like a million bucks.

Cheers, Steve

I just bought a prc & hart. Zero complaints

What a bummer, send her back. Think of it as getting an early 2016 Xmas present when you get your replacement razor. Good luck.

pundi64 said:

From you picture I'm not sure what your grip is about, are those rust spots on the blade or what?

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Hone wear!!!!!! I also sent one back because of the same reason. Big big let down! I was expecting more from TI.
Here's the one TI that I sent back http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...today-Now-with-PICTURES?p=7430266#post7430266

Steve56 said:

...However, in the vendor's defense, TI like all modern razor makers under pressure to produce, seem to be putting more ahem, marginally ground razors into the market. Maybe the vendor did the best they could or possibly this is how they got it from TI? ....

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Marginally ground razors that need to be corrected by the vendor shouldn't be sold as new and un-damaged IMHO. I have some Gold Dollars that look better than this AFTER honing and re-profiling. This is a $200 razor. I have honing practice razors that I have killed the edge and re-honed 1/2 a dozen times that don't have this much hone wear. This one is going back.

If the vendor makes it right, all is good and I won't complain. Stuff happens and I have razors to shave with until I get a new razor or my $ back.

Do TI put a "factory" edge on their razors like Dovo? I'm not sure if it would be the TI factory or the retailer that has done the less than stellar honing job. The main thing is that the vendor comes good in making the situation right.

You asked that they not hone. They honed, and not up to your standards of care anyway. Send it back. I don't see anything wrong with it that I couldn't fix, but you are the customer and you were specific in your instructions.

alpster said:

Marginally ground razors that need to be corrected by the vendor shouldn't be sold as new and un-damaged IMHO. I have some Gold Dollars that look better than this AFTER honing and re-profiling. This is a $200 razor. I have honing practice razors that I have killed the edge and re-honed 1/2 a dozen times that don't have this much hone wear. This one is going back.

If the vendor makes it right, all is good and I won't complain. Stuff happens and I have razors to shave with until I get a new razor or my $ back.

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Absolutely agree!

Cheers, Steve

Slash McCoy said:

You asked that they not hone. They honed, and not up to your standards of care anyway. Send it back. I don't see anything wrong with it that I couldn't fix, but you are the customer and you were specific in your instructions.

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I simply wanted and paid a premium price for a NEW razor with the venerable Thiers Issard name and quality. Wasn't looking for a fixer-upper. I did indeed ask them not to hone it.

Sorry about the letdown - hopefully they will not give you a hassle and will return it and provide what you requested.

Ouch.

I've never seen a TI from the factory look like that.
Not saying it couldn't happen but that looks to me like someone jobbed out honing to a 3rd party they don't check up on or something.

It also looks like a blade someone sent me a photo of, this was back about 2 months ago, also new, not TI though.
Same type of inexplicable wear though. Was purchased new from a big name place.. I won't write more than that here.
Guy had a hell of a time returning it. I believe he did send the blade back and he did get his funds back.

That grind looks beyond wonkey. Sorry to hear this. Hope the vender makes it right with you.

I was told by a vendor that TI always has their blades honed by an old-timer before selling them to vendors. This was a couple of years ago I heard this. The reason being that they were responding to the market in that most factory blades are not shave ready and they wanted their blades to be shave ready.

My own experience with these was that they still needed to be honed to meet modern expectations of keeness. That said there shouldn't be the wear we see on yours. This *looks* to me like they botched the blade from the factory (hurried production?) and sent it out anyway. Send it back.

Chris

alpster said:

I simply wanted and paid a premium price for a NEW razor with the venerable Thiers Issard name and quality. Wasn't looking for a fixer-upper. I did indeed ask them not to hone it.

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Exactly what I said to them when I sent it back. Mine looked worse in person than in the pics. It was almost like they did some grinding of the spine on both sides to hide the fact that it had excessive hone wear, and it also had a wide bevel like some of the wedges do. Maybe the geometry wasn't right? I dunno, but I was upset at the $$$ I spent. Got mines from Thiers Issard UK. Luckily I was able to send it back with with no problems.

From the pic, with the heightened honing wear towards the middle, it looks like it had a bent spine out of the gate. That's far from ideal, but not all that uncommon with current production stamped shanks for some reason. Whoever honed it afterwards didn't know how to account for it and introduced far too much spine and bevel wear, perhaps following a two-handed approach on synth water-stones.

If all else fails, a visit to some hard oil-stones might rectify things. Rolling-Xs showing no mercy, with a diagonal grip of the shank to minimize spine wear. I've pretty much been exclusively shaving with a factory Solingen with a bent spine this way since April.

In any case, why not give it a shave test to see how it shaves?

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Sux worse that it happened on Christmas. I hope they make it right quickly.

I have a TI with a similar hone wear pattern. I'm not sure if it's a factory thing, but I can tell you I get a great shave with mine (I sent it to Larry to hone it up). Having said that, I bought mine used for a significant discount to the new prices. Hopefully the seller makes it all right for you.