I recently spent a few hours playing with a couple of The newer released Filarmonicas from ClassicShaving, so I figured I'd write a review.

I Recieved the first Filarmonica earlier this week from a member who needed some honing, My first impression was a good one, the razor although plain, was well made, it had a good heft to it, the pins were nice and tight, and the blade was perfectly centered in wide black plastic scales with a 3 pin design.
The edge of the razor wasn't perfectly smooth, and the bevel looked to be set at 20+ degrees, much too steep for shaving.
I checked the blade for warping, and was pleased to see that it sat perfectly flat on my hone.
I taped the spine, and proceeded to set a new bevel, and clean up the edge on my 1200 grit hone. This proceeded quickly and uneventfully.
After about 20 passes, I had a nice clean edge, the bevel was even, and it was passing TPT quite well.
I progressed to my Norton 4k, and 8k, polishing the bevel as I went.
While wiping down the blade after honing off the 8k, I noticed some deformity to the back 3rd of the blade, so I went back, back honed, did some tests, and eventually decided this razor had a fatal flaw. The details are available on SRP

Here's where this gets good, I contacted the member, and with his permission, I contacted Classic for a replacement.
I expected to have to jump through some hoops, or wait a week for them to decide... Was I ever wrong.
I was put on the phone with a gentleman from Classic who asked for a brief description of the problem, and within a minute or two, he had arranged to send out a replacement, which I had in hand within 2 days time.
I am still stunned at the degree of excellence Classic displayed with their customer service here.

Now, the replacement razor looked to be an identical twin to the original.
Perfectly centered, well balanced, with very clean lines, and a nice smile...
I examined this razor very carefully on the request of it's new owner, and I must say, I may have to buy one of these for myself.
The new razor, had the same steep bevel as the first one, and also required a bit of edge cleanup, but nothing my 1k couldn't handle.
20 or so passes on the 1k, followed by the 4k, the 8k, my kitayama 12k, and 25 passes on 0.5 micron CrO provided a very sharp, but not exceptional edge. I'd rate it at about a 6 at this point.
I gave it 10 passes of 0.25 Diamond paste, followed by 100 passes on newspaper, which improved the edge, but it still wasn't there.
Now this is a bit of a mysterey to me, but I decided to go back to the 0.5, and was very impressed this time. 5 more passes on 0.5 and this razor was shaving very nicely. I stropped it up, and did a full 2 pass test shave. The results weren't BBS, but they were very close, a little bit of clean up under my jaw line, and on my chin, and I was happy.

The picture below is from ClassicShaving.com, it is a very good representation of these razors, including the rough factory edge, which was rather easy to clean up.


My overall impression of these razors is very good. on a scale of 1-10, I would rate it overall at a solid 7

Appearance 6 ( it's very clean, but the wide scales look different, and I didn't care for the etching on the blade)
Factory edge 4 (it was somewhat sharp, but both I handled were too steep, and would be challenging for someone inexperienced to get shave ready)
Edge retention 8 (it held up very well with my 2 pass shave, and remained very smooth right through to the end)
Honeability 5 (can be tempermental at the higher grits, took a few tries to get it from an average shaver to one I would keep.)
Balance 9.5
Form & function 9 (Once shave ready this razor was a model of form and function. The tang is more than adequate for larger hands, combined with light weight scales and a wide shank, this razor felt very natural in my hands.
Overall Value 10 (at around $120, this razor is an awesome value. I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to try a larger razor, as long as they send it out to get it honed. For those with more experience honing, expect to spend a bit of time refining the edge.

I have to get away from these forums.

I just keep telling my self "one straight, that is all I need" but everytime I say that..............I WANT ANOTHER!

Can do, I was looking for the reviews section, and it was hiding in plain sight.