Impressions of my new Hart Steel razor and soap mug

Discussion in 'Straight Razors' started by tibbsonaphone, Jan 29, 2011.

  1. tibbsonaphone

    tibbsonaphone New Member

    Hello all,

    I decided to go ahead and buy a Hart steel razor, which arrived last week. I ordered it from classic shaving and I figured I'd put up some pictures and thoughts. This is the Hart Steel 6/8 quarter ground straight razor with Bocote scales and file jimps. Firstly, I love this razor. I've bought a couple that were advertised as shave ready, but really weren't, this was very sharp and passed a hanging hair test. Its a bigger and heavier razor than I'm used to, but for the most part it was a real pleasure. As per instructions from the factory, I stropped 30x on a leather strop before my first shave. It mowed the hair down effortlessly, my face and throat were very smooth, and were irritation free. My chin and upper lip could have been better, but I'll blame that on my novice skill. I should mention I also ordered a Hart soap mug that included a menthol soap from classic shaving. I love the soap, but could have done without the mug. The mugs brush rest is not very accommodating to my kent brushes, and I'm used to a smaller mug that I can hold in my palm, this one is too big for that. The soap was great, not as strong on the menthol as I thought it would be, but it easily made a mountain of lather, very nice, I could feel it thickly coating my face. Now, for my two negative issues with the razor, and this hurts me to say. One issue is the price. My Bocote model was more expensive at $279 because of the scales, but even the basic offering with simple white scales, is still $229. When you consider the product offerings from Dovo and Thiers Issard, those companies have a number of razors available for up to $70 less. In fact, for a little less I could have had a Thiers Issard razor with Bocote scales,and for only $20 you can move up to black horn scales. I realize that Hart is making a unique product, and are likely paying good money to their skilled craftsmen, but if they could drop the price even $30 it would feel better. My other issue, and really the only one with the razor itself, is the screwed on scales. I wish so much they would have used the rivets or pins that my other razors have. It sounded like a good idea on their website, but re-scaling is not something I'd do often, and the razor really loosened up during my third shave. So all in all, a great American made razor, that could be better with a slight price decrease and traditional scale pins or rivets (sorry, I don't know exactly what to call them, I've never taken scales off, but you all know what I mean ;)). The Hart soap mug is nice enough, but its not what I'm used to, and the brush rest is no good with my brushes. The soap from classic shaving really impressed, I've mainly been using locally made soaps from farmers markets. But I've clearly been missing out, I've never had a thick coating of lather like this before. I've put up some photos of the razor below.

    Fresh out of the box. The razor came with care instructions, a wooden box, an Allen key for that accursed hex screw, and a very nice leather pouch.

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    The Hart shaving mug, with menthol shaving soap from classic shaving. My preferred Kent brush is next to it. Some brushes with less shape might do well on the mugs brush rest, but not this one. It would either balance precariously, or fall into the soap, being top heavy from lather.

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    There she is, standing proudly before my brushes and preferred smaller shaving mug.

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    A close up of the made in USA engraving, perhaps the razors best feature

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    Thanks for your time, I'll do my best to answer questions if there are any,
     
  2. stingraysrock

    stingraysrock PIF'd away his custom title

    A great looking setup you have there!
     
  3. PanChango

    PanChango Not Cute

    Thanks for posting.

    I was looking at those razors last night. The shape of the scales appeal to me and the idea of being able to remove the blade for a good thorough is nice also.

    Could you use a touch of non-permanent thread locker (loctite) keep it snug for you?
     
  4. tibbsonaphone

    tibbsonaphone New Member

    Thanks Stingray. Pan, I hadn't even thought of using a product like loctite, I'll give it a try. Having a blade that's easy to remove is not a bad idea. On the Hart website they advertise this feature for easy re-scaling, but I've never needed to that, and wouldn't need to do it often. It's nice for detailing, but because it loosened off so much, I'd still prefer the traditional attachment.
     
  5. Hanzo

    Hanzo Well-Known Member

    Beautiful razor. I've bought 2 sets of scales with similar pins and mine work fine. In the end they are favorable because you can adjust the tension with the tool provided or easily changeout scales as you like.

    I'm not handy with tools so the old style pins on old razors were harder to deal with for me. I tried repinning and it proved frustrating. The only way to tighten those old pins is rapping them gently with a hammer but even then they might not fix, at least mine didn't.
     
  6. tibbsonaphone

    tibbsonaphone New Member

    Thank you Hanzo, I think its beautiful too. I'm not well informed on exotic or tropical woods, but the Bocote made for a nice set of scales, it suits this razor. I tightened it up last night and didn't experience any tension issues during my morning shave. I think it will grow on me, as I actually like the look. It just really surprised me that one time. I've never had a razor that loosened up like that before. As I blotted it dry, it was flopping around with almost no tension at all. Then again, tightening it was not a big ordeal, and I may try a thread locking product if I find it loosening frequently.
     

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