Description
“Premium Qualität” is a 5/8″ full hollow ground razor with a high-polish ~mirrored finish. Originally NTS had satin-matte and not as clean cut a blank, ya’ll who bought ’em know damn well what I’m talking of whether blind or sighted. I know the legion of quiet superfans for that original NTS run share apparently the exact same observation of the product (namely that it has the very best of edge retention of any >2000 Solingen carbon razor), but I think the grinding on the Gen2 ‘Premium’ was just thinner – the first seem to have a better tempering about them, yes, but they were thicker grinds for sure, and it isn’t hard to hone a razor…I’ll trade retention for thinness any day personally, though to be fair it is easier to find other razors similarly thin than it ever was to find one unusually given to edge retention, so there’s that. I rather liked the old ways’ stamped concavities on the show side, but the Gen2 was slick, too, and still has a stamping on the tang.
- Carbon steel blade ~4.8mm thick, ~17.5mm from center of spine grind to edge line, ~15.9° cutting angle. Weighs ~48 grams.
- 5/8″ Width
- Round point
- Grenadille handle {can’t be sourced from EU now as a blank like this}
- DISCONTINUED OUT OF PRODUCTION | ALL STOCK DISPLAYED (= when the pieces in the “police lineup” shots are all gone, this page will disappear)
“Shave Ready”?
This business is wholly centered upon the sale of one hollow ground straight razor to one shaver one at a time; “1 str8rzr alone” is ~50% of all our orders. You may elect to have your NTS with its factory edge, or further honed by ‘TSS’, as only you see fit; there is not a right or wrong answer. ‘TSS’ rather doubts the worth of debating this ‘Shave Ready’ concept today; anyone can bandy that term about as if objective, meaningful information (like a sprinter’s time), but in fact it is completely subjective.
If you elect for the factory edge [= no note added to vendor], you’ll receive your razor exactly as its manufacturer intended you to receive it…pretty simple!
If you elect for The Superior Shave to further hone your razor [ADD A ‘NOTE TO VENDOR’], this razor will be honed in the manner taught in 2016 to The Superior Shave’s proprietor by two kind Solingen master grinders (whom did/do not work for Dovo, but do use similar 1840s grinders’ textbooks methods). Regardless of their poor refinement compared to further-honed ‘Honemeister’ edges on offer, some physical elements of factory edges remain superior to most further honing attempts. The Superior Shave will devote the extra time to your razor a dying industry cannot afford in overhead, without taking away the factory edge’s inherently advantaged geometric metrics. We’re confident we offer the materially thinnest further-honed-by-vendor edge available for purchase – you’ll need to try that to understand why it matters. Please note: in the professional opinions of German and French razor grinders, a straight razor is not properly honed unless flush to the hone, without tape, so visual evidence of honing is unavoidable when honing is performed correctly according to its makers (we add Vaseline to your razor’s faces and use compatible honing fluid to help a little).
We hone with a method best coined as “the opposite of tape“ where a hone’s geometry’s wholly catered to performance of the razor and to no other concern. Unfortunately, this topic cannot be discussed upon any English-based straight-razor-centric forum because a select group of e-enthusiasts cannot abide such open discourse. Be encouraged to think for yourself, and let your beard and sense of touch be the judge; there is a lot of misinformation out there, much purportedly from experts! We wish you good shopping, and Happy Shaving.
