Karve Overlander

[DesertIguana]

New arrival from Canada to my home in the UK - very pleased:

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I have a brass Overlander already and love it. But the patina on the brass with my horribly hard water was messing with my OCD, even though it's meticulously cleaned and dried after every shave, so I decided to get the stainless steel version for home and use the brass one for travel. Here they are together after I'd used the brass version on holiday in some soft water that evened out the patina:

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Looking forward to taking the new stainless steel Overlander for its first shave! The Overlander really is a special razor.....

Looking at your photos, you ordered a different handle for your Overlanders??

 

[SeaDiving]

Worth it. This was just hand polished, and it completely got rid of the drag.

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I wonder if I should try that on my stainless steel one. You used autosol and a device for polishing?

 

[V12Stu]

Looking at your photos, you ordered a different handle for your Overlanders??

Yes - I decided I liked the more traditional Guilloche and Argyll handles, especially as I liked a slightly shorter 3.25" handle - I think the 3.5" Overlander handle works OK (with the length of the longitudinal grooved machining) but perhaps less so in the slightly shorter length.

At the end of the day I think it's just aesthetics and personal opinion - having now shaved with the new SS Overlander, both handles grip as well as each other with soapy fingers and I'm sure the Overlander handle would too. I think it's just down to whatever appeals most [visually] to the user.

 

[Fodermonk]

I wonder if I should try that on my stainless steel one. You used autosol and a device for polishing?

Hands. Took no time at all.

 

[V12Stu]

First shave is in with the new SS Overlander.

In the past, I've managed some truly great shaves with my Lambda Athena, and then the brass Overlander. The latter I've been experimenting a little with different blades and it's been fantastic - which is why I bought the SS Overlander. But, although each razor has at some point delivered "the best shave yet", none of those shaves have been truly 100% perfect - close, but not 100%.

Until today. A 100% perfect shave in every respect. Nothing more to add really - except that I can't praise this razor enough!

Here was today's hardware and software:

Prep - shower before shave
MdC Nature
Zenith 506 handle unbleached boar
Grutti bowl
Nacet blade (1)
Overlander in stainless steel with 3.25" Argyll handle
Post - face wash with shower soap
4 days' growth to BBS in 3 passes plus a little touch up
100%

Hope you're all enjoying yours as much as I'm enjoying mine

 

[NotBloomingAL]

Karve Overlander SS | Noxzema Original | Gillette Platinum | Stirling's Glacial Strawberry Lemonade AS

Went a different route today. The ol' Noxzema, that cools an occasional sunburn, and surprisingly makes a great shave cream. It's very very slick ... though doesn't rinse easily. Yet the Overlander makes rinsing easier, with its wide lather channels. And, as usual, the Overlander delivered ... an uneventful three-pass shave. No drama, just a smooth face that doesn't feel like it's been shaved. Just the usual magnificent shave it seems to always deliver.

 

[catchacoolbreeze]

I've been on a blade experimentation kick with the Overlander and after a couple weeks of tug city with various blades, I finally got a good shave in today.

Personna Lab Blue gave a near perfect bbs shave and absolutely no burn for 3 days worth of growth.

 

[Galibier_Numero_Un]

I can't remember which thread the topic of patina has been discussed. My 6 month old brass Overlander was shaping up nicely. My protocol has been simple:

• Rinse, disassemble and wipe the razor down thoroughly after each shave
• As often as I could remember, I'd spray a mist of water onto the razor

Everything was proceeding merrily, and I was down to one faint blotch about 4mm in diameter, when I noticed a slight scratch, about an inch long on the top cap. It was truly minor, and likely the eventual patina would have filled it in.

I got OCD ...

Last night, I took out some 2000 grit and gave the top cap a fine brushed finish. It didn't sit well with me. With about 4 minutes of polishing with some Flitz, I had a mirror finish. Chris at Karve is right. If you want to preserve the bead blast surface, don't rub Flitz on it.

Something still seemed a bit wonky, and this evening, I polished the edge the safety bar and the sides of both the base plate and the cap. Close, but no cigar.

Studying it a bit more, I decided to polish the end of the Argyle handle and the butt end (everything but the cross hatch pattern). Now ... I like it.

Note that the lighting is a cruel mistress. There appear to be terrible scratches on the top cap. They're barely visible to the naked eye. The next time I hit it with Flitz, they'll be gone.

Scroll down for photos ...

... Thom

 

[spacemonkey42]

Very nice, @Galibier_Numero_Un! The polished accents on either side of the argyle look great! If you eventually want something different than the polished, one can rub a green scotchbrite pad over it and you'll get a nice brushed finish.