I bought a shave ready razor from a known and trusted vendor. I understand i did not pay for pretty just for functional but i'm a little disappointed in the kit i got. Maybe this is just me being anal so i'm here for a reality check. Not naming names as I may just be too critical and complaining about nothing.
The razor
- I was a bit shocked by the amount of corrosion still on the blade. Nothing at the edge though so i guess this acceptable? I'll clean it up better myself when i get a chance
- The heel end has a small frown. I tried to capture it in a picture but it's hard see. It's quite obvious when held in hand. Seems like i'm bound to cut myself if i try to use the heel to shave. So far I'm just avoiding it.
- The bevel was quite course. I would have thought if properly honed it would have been pretty smooth looking to the eye. yet i could see lots of areas of the bevel that showed pretty course grind lines. Mostly these went away once i stropped it on a strop of charged balsa. this made me think it had not been stropped after the stones.
- The bevel was not set across the whole razor. Mostly due to the frown at the heel. It was obvious that only part of the blade was hitting the strop and the part in the frown was being missed entirely.
- Main issue here is it's not flat at all on one side. Huge hump. I have more powder to re-charge it so should i just use some wet-dry on a flat surface to flatten it?
Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/uwvZMrEjsFCvwh466
All that said: I've shaved with it about 10 times. I'm getting better although it has bit me a few times. Worst was on my chin (valley between lip and chin) Got a pretty nasty one here.... Need to be way more careful.
My finest stone is a Shapton Pro 15k Is this ok to hone with? Should it be shaveable after this stone or do i have to use a charged strop to finish it off? I realize this is partly opinion but a general consensus if this is in the ball part or not would be helpful.