I have used several vintage (ie, quite old!) Le Grelots - they sharpen well, steel is great and they shaved very well. But is there a real difference between any two razors that shave very well? I think Joe has hit the nail on the head - it depends on what you spend. If you spend an inordinate amount, I reckon you are more likely to expect - and imagine you get - exemplary results. Let a barber shave you with a good £300 razor on one side of the face and a good £30 razor on the other side of the face while you (not the barber - unless you have Sweeny Todd meat-pie tendencies) wear a blindfold and I doubt if you could tell the difference.
A chap from Scandinavia sent me one of the (then) new-vintage TIs to hone - factory fresh and supposedly shave-ready some time ago. I always examine the blade under magnification before starting, and what I saw was startling. The steel had very, very many bubble-like pinholes in it, and obvious grind marks going at 45 degree angles to each other. I emailed the owner, and he asked me to send it back to TI in France after agreeing a return with them for another razor of the same type. They said that the grind-marks were there because they had a large number of vintage blanks (hence the NOS name) that were now rusty and had to be reground. I don't know what the pinholes were - they looked like casting faults, but I suppose they could be rust pits that had been cleaned in some way - acid dipping or something like that, maybe. It turned out that he had already sent two razors back to them, I think he said that they had warped blades!
TI were supposed to send the razor back to me to check the hone-job, but they said that all those new-old-stock razors were sold out, and offered a replacement, which was accepted. Nearly a year later there was still no sign of the razor, so the owner contacted the english company that had supplied him, and they sent a replacement to me for checking. It didn't have a stunning hone-job, but that was corrected and I sent it back to Scandinavia. It ended up costing not far short of £40 in insured postage fees to be kept waiting for year and then not getting what you really wanted in the first place. So much for TI. Unimpressed.
For me, its the steel that makes the difference, all other things being equal. Old Sheffield steel has a smooth sublime feel to it (on my face) whereas brand new steel formulations are far too sharp and uncomfortable for me.
I'm surprised that with a name like Anders Larsen, that author didn't recommend a C. V. Heljestrand - from my experience the vintage ones were every bit as good - if not better - than TIs. Just my opinion, though!
Regards,
Neil
