jgreenepa
TSC's "Velveteen Shaver"
The only decent part of Wednesday’s hurricane backwash here in Pa. was the arrival of this sweet little Klas Tornblom 4/8 straight razor. It was pretty dirty when it arrived, but cleaned up nicely. I’d been hearing about these little razors for a while. Everyone kept repeating about the hardness of the steel and honing difficulties. A Swedish friend on another forum told me that Klas Tornblom blades were made from Swedish Sandvik steel (Rockwell 70), so they weren’t kidding! After about 45 minutes on my Chosera 1k with little progress, impatient me decided to pull out the big guns. I own a very aggressive artificial waterstone set (1k, 6k, 10k) made by Pride Abrasives based in Wisconsin, USA that I use for my W2 and Cru Forge V steel knives.
Given what I’d heard and that I only paid $15 for the razor, I decided to give the Pride set a shot. The 1k stone set the bevel with ease and after taking it through the 6k and 10k, I was very happy with the results. A 3000k slurry on my jasper stone really burnished the bevel beautifully leading to a finish in water until I had good stiction. You can see the shiny bevel in the photo. The mug shave was amazing. This little razor obliterated my facial stubble in two passes. There was really nothing left to shave after that second pass. All I can say is wow! Klas Tornblom built one heck of a nimble, highly maneuverable little shaver! I'm a believer! In fact, I‘m now on the hunt for a good CVH Mk30 or a nice little Niestrom. Swedish razors may have narrower blades, but this one really did the job. The irony is that current trends are towards meat cleaver-like shave hatchets, that have no appeal for me.. That’s fine! Nobody’s interested in these sweet little Swedish 4/8 razors! They go for a song!
What’s your experience been with Swedish razors?
Given what I’d heard and that I only paid $15 for the razor, I decided to give the Pride set a shot. The 1k stone set the bevel with ease and after taking it through the 6k and 10k, I was very happy with the results. A 3000k slurry on my jasper stone really burnished the bevel beautifully leading to a finish in water until I had good stiction. You can see the shiny bevel in the photo. The mug shave was amazing. This little razor obliterated my facial stubble in two passes. There was really nothing left to shave after that second pass. All I can say is wow! Klas Tornblom built one heck of a nimble, highly maneuverable little shaver! I'm a believer! In fact, I‘m now on the hunt for a good CVH Mk30 or a nice little Niestrom. Swedish razors may have narrower blades, but this one really did the job. The irony is that current trends are towards meat cleaver-like shave hatchets, that have no appeal for me.. That’s fine! Nobody’s interested in these sweet little Swedish 4/8 razors! They go for a song!
What’s your experience been with Swedish razors?
