Description
Handmade in France
These are the best razors in the world produced today in our opinion, and our returns policy truly makes no logical reason you wouldn’t buy from us. They’re hand made, each unique, and always special. They are the most hollow and flexible razors in the world still made.
Thiers-Issard has produced straight razors for nearly 100 years in Thiers, France, in the traditional methods unique to this most special of nations.
The 889 Wolf and Sheep is an ultra premium model Thiers-Issard razor, featuring the traditional and highly skilled French point in a 6/8″ size that has a tremendously thin extra hollow grind, and is supplied with a tan-colored soft vegetable-tanned leather sheath.
Scales are ram’s horn and will of course each be quite individual, but thankfully here at TSS you get to pick your piece from pictures of the actual stock (choke on that, Amazon buyers!) We have found, over the course of eleven plus years doing it this way, that it became all too easy to predict which piece would sell first when all were priced identically – this indicates demand is unequal once you make individual pics, and that those wanting the obvious hotties in the club should pay more, while those accepting the poor dregs of society should pay less.
This stock is exceptionally well produced and emblematic of the premium razor on the world stage that Thiers-Issard absolutely deserves to be designated.
The laser-engraved inlay mentions “Sheffield Silver Steel”, but that doesn’t mean that this physical blank of raw steel necessarily came from Sheffield, England – what it means is that the recipe, the formulation of the steel, originated there. It does not matter from the cheapest to the most costly place where raw untempered steel comes from; what matters is its formulation, and of course the critical bits of how it is forged, tempered, and ground. Cheap POS Pakistani razors on the bad vendor sites love to tout “Japanese steel” to fool the naive buyers, but they’re only (truthfully) referring to the country that first originated the recipe…you can rest assured the physical steel itself did not come from Japan, because there’s no reason to add that overhead.
The pinning on the horn’s nice and tight, but *always be mindful with horn bone or timber* to guide your razor’s toe in to the scales by sight and careful guidance each and every time the action is performed. Bone, timber, and especially horn love to move, and that’s a fact ordained by nature that cannot be legislated or manufactured away!
“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 TI with its factory edge (which we think is exceptional, but that’s just one subjective opinion, and opinions vary) 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 (= do nothing, no note needed @ checkout), you’ll receive your razor exactly as its manufacturers intended…pretty simple! The factory seal’s been breached, yes, but only so you could choose from individual pictures of stock.
If you elect for The Superior Shave to further hone your razor [plz add “note to vendor” @ checkout], this TI shall 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.
