Description
“Handmade in France”
Made by hand (and uniquely so), the Thiers-Issard brand is, in this one opinion, the most hollow ground and flexible razor left in production today. They’ve produced straight razors for nearly 100 years in Thiers, France, with traditional methods confined to this most special of nations.
‘1196’ is the designation of the Evide Sonnant Extra, TI’s bread-and-butter model. The “ESE” is supplied with a free basic black leather sheath/pouch. Weight upon this variation with its Macassar ebony wood handle is approximately forty-nine & ½ grams. The scales are actually quite robust and durable, and the standards for the peak tightness, uniformity of tightness, and uniformity of pinning centering are, in a word, exceptional. File jimps are present on the bottom of the tang, and a notch is present on the top.
Furthermore, in shaving with straight razors the majority of my lifetime now and having owned and used hundreds, a basic no-frills late-1990s to early 2000s copy (only remember which apartment living when got it & dates of those leases) of this same ole ‘Evide Sonnant Extra’ razor is the finest shaving tool I’ve ever put to face, and when I got it new its bevel form was wavy as a funhouse mirror. As Sam Cassell might possibly decree, never mind how I look, just gimme the damn rock. While it isn’t a fancy looking TI among TIs, the Evide Sonnant Extra absolutely can shave you simply magically close.
“Shave Ready”?
If you elect for the factory edge (= just pick the ‘specimen’ you want from the ‘police lineup’ shots, via the drop-down menu), you’ll receive your razor exactly as its manufacturers intended…pretty simple!
If you elect for The Superior Shave to further hone your razor (= add a ‘note to vendor’ at checkout denoting you want this service), 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 maker.
