IBC Shavette first impressions

[mjclark]

And with a half-DE blade this morning:

With the thinner DE blade the head of the IBC locks in place easily.
And the geometry of this thing is so good - the round point makes all the difference as does the head profile and this is an easy comfortable and relaxed shave but of course super efficient and very very smooth.

 

[Snuff-Belgium]

I don't really have any issues with the thumbscrew, I did in the beginning a little bit but have learned just how tight it should be and I keep both parts of the head in the right place with a fingernail while tightening the screw.

The pro blade does touch a little bit on the scales but I didn't have any issues while shaving, I still get 15 shaves out of a blade.

I do wish that they would make the grooves in the thumbscrew deeper as it is difficult to find something that fits into them but they could easily offer replacement screws with deeper grooves if they wanted. Otherwise still very very happy with my razor (My favorite apart from the Feather DX models and I have tried a whole lot of shavettes).

I agree with mjclark that the injectors and DE blades also give awesome shaves.

 

[mjclark]

Awesome, awesome, awesome back with the Pro Super (4)

Smooth, irritation free and magically efficient.
After reading S-B's comments I need to break out my CJB for comparison.

I am still amazed by the geometry of the IBC.
It delivers the edges so easily.

 

[mjclark]

Quick two passes before work with the Pro Super (5):

The fact that I can use the words "quick" and "Pro Super" in the same sentence should tell you all you need to know about this razor [emoji3]

 

[Rdefreitas]

I got in touch with the owner of IBC and he said he is working on all the little ins and outs and loves getting feedback on his product. He said the moving head piece is being worked on to figure out what is going on. He mentioned it could have been the chrome process that has been a little off so makes the grooves not fully engage. Reach out. Great guy. All the feedback we give to him will make our shave even better!! I sent him an email to ask on advice or if there is a fix in the works for the moving piece and he requested me to call where he offered me to replace the razor without me even requesting so. Love this razor and the customer service.


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[mjclark]

I got in touch with the owner of IBC and he said he is working on all the little ins and outs and loves getting feedback on his product. He said the moving head piece is being worked on to figure out what is going on. He mentioned it could have been the chrome process that has been a little off so makes the grooves not fully engage. Reach out. Great guy. All the feedback we give to him will make our shave even better!! I sent him an email to ask on advice or if there is a fix in the works for the moving piece and he requested me to call where he offered me to replace the razor without me even requesting so. Love this razor and the customer service.


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Yeah I must agree Ricky Toone is a really helpful guy who values his customers.

If the movement in the head is due to the plating thickness, I wonder if there's a quick fix for that...

 

[mjclark]

Lovely shave with the IBC this morning:

Use a Proguard blade (they're weird eh?) and the effective thickness of the blade with those wire guards produced a lot of play in the head.
There's also quite a bit of play with the thicker Pro Supers but noticeably less with the Standard Pros, very little with the Schick style injector blades and none at all with the DE blades.

This play in the head is annoying and inelegant, but it doesn't materially affect the shave at all.

And I'm learning to live with it because the IBC feels brilliant in the hand and shaves very very smoothly making it well worth it!


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[mjclark]

Another great shave tonight, this time with a standard Feather Pro, and the great realisation that, in spite of my worried preoccupation with the play between the two sides of the IBC head, in practice THERE IS NO PROBLEM AT ALL with this razor because using a natural grip, the index finger rests on the spine and prevents any movement in the head whatsoever!

As I heard in a Fawlty Towers episode "If the Good Lord had meant us to worry then he would have given us things to worry about."

With a sigh of relief, the IBC is back to being my favourite razor [emoji3]

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[davidsilva]

Marcus [emoji106][emoji41]. I am " this close to ordering one...

 

[mjclark]

Marcus [emoji106][emoji41]. I am " this close to ordering one...

If you can deal with that little wiggle in the head, this is an amazing razor which is easily in the same league as the AC SS.
And the multiple blade formats make it even better!

 

[fasa]

I hope they can iron out the smaller issues you have highlighted ie play in the head and closing causing the blade to be damaged...

 

[mjclark]

Finally got to the bottom of the head wiggling issue.
Due to the positioning of the screw, when it's tightened then the ends of the head plates nearest to the tang splay outwards and the wiggle occurs.
I put some convexity in the head plate attached to the tang and now when the screw is tightened then the flex in the plate holds the whole thing together perfectly.

So the problem was due to the shape of the head plates, and bowing one of them out may be a crude fix but it's very effective and really was the answer all along:

Ha ha - I love this IBC razor:

 

[fasa]

Hi Marcus,

Very ingenious, ypu might want to let IBC folks know...

Do you have to remove the blade after each shave still ? For me this is the killer otherwise i would have added one to my arsenal...

Thanks
F.

 

[mjclark]

Hi Marcus,

Very ingenious, ypu might want to let IBC folks know...

Do you have to remove the blade after each shave still ? For me this is the killer otherwise i would have added one to my arsenal...

Thanks
F.

Hey yeah - I've emailed Ricky Toone about this issue and attached the same photo.
It looks quite brutal bending the head plate like that but it really has done the trick!

And the heel of the Feather Pro blade does still make contact with the scales. It's the last annoyance but I'm living with it because the shaves are so great.
And it doesn't happen with the standard injector and half-DE blades.

Because the IBC disassembles so easy it would be a simple job to rescale it, or to somehow make the notch in the scales that the screw sits in more shallow so that the blade rests higher.

 

[Rdefreitas]

I just added a piece of leather lace over the notch in the scales to keep the blade from touching. The wiggle I got over it.

 

[mjclark]

I just added a piece of leather lace over the notch in the scales to keep the blade from touching. The wiggle I got over it.

Great idea! Have you got a photo?
I might try this.

 

[Member357]

Nice looking razor! I knew there was a reason I don't come on B&B much these days! Luckily, the shipping will probably stop me picking up one of these to try out!

 

[mjclark]

I just added a piece of leather lace over the notch in the scales to keep the blade from touching. The wiggle I got over it.

And inspired by your excellent idea I have added a smal piece of foam rubber on top of the spar inside the scales near the pivot, which does a similar job.

 

[ninjastyle]

I just added a piece of leather lace over the notch in the scales to keep the blade from touching. The wiggle I got over it.

And inspired by your excellent idea I have added a smal piece of foam rubber on top of the spar inside the scales near the pivot, which does a similar job.

Photos or it didn't happen

 

[Rdefreitas]

I'll get one up when I get off work