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Karve Overlander
- Thread starter Wal59
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I’ve been planning on buying a Game Changer .68 as my first “nice“ razor but got tired of waiting for them to come back in stock.
After reading most of this thread… I just ordered a Karve Overlander Aluminum on a whim.
Having only used a cheap Gillette 7 O’clock Sterling Tech, I imagine it’ll be quite a different experience?
After reading most of this thread… I just ordered a Karve Overlander Aluminum on a whim.
Having only used a cheap Gillette 7 O’clock Sterling Tech, I imagine it’ll be quite a different experience?
Same here, and at present, I struggle the slightest bit with the Athena. That slight touch more efficiency and blade feel (with my current technique) means I can't run the Athena as a daily driver. I seem to go about three shaves in a row with the Athena and it becomes the slightest bit much.
No doubt, this is a technique thing, and note that I was changing back and forth too much to be fair to either razor.
So my last 10 shaves have been with the Overlander. I think I'll run it out to 20 shaves before I return to the Athena.
One data point ...
I typically bin my blades after 3 shaves, with my "go to" blade being a Personna Platinmum Chrome. It seems to work for me in every razor I've tried (which is 7 if you count my Gamechanger with 3 base plates as 3 razors).
So for my 10th shave, I changed up and loaded a Gillette Silver Blue. I got a a slight touch more efficiency on the Overlander and the feel was very much like my memory of the Athena.
We'll see if this holds true when I shift back to the Athena/Personna, but one takeaway is that these two razors are much more alike than they are different, and depending on your blade of choice, you might just be able to get either one to mimic the other.
... Thom
It is quite a bit more efficient and just as smooth or smoother than the GC 68p. I hope you'll be thrilled with it.
Atelier Durdan La Faulx. Yes, SE vs DE, but smoother shave and ever better ATG.
Wow! What gap are you referring to in the La Faulx?
I went a month of shaves ranging from bad to just ok with my Overlander. I had no idea why. I bought a new 100 pack of Gillette Platinums and used a tuck from there for all of January. I finally realized the change I made...went back to my old stash of Gillette Platinums and had the most perfect shave I have ever had. Not sure if there is a correlation as I changed nothing else...but it was a nice relief!
No tugging, no weepers, no aftershave burn (I uses salicylic acid after each shave and not alcohol but it still can burn a bit). I'm mystified. ATG was a dream and I hope this is back to normal.
No tugging, no weepers, no aftershave burn (I uses salicylic acid after each shave and not alcohol but it still can burn a bit). I'm mystified. ATG was a dream and I hope this is back to normal.
After sending the brass Karve Overlander to Chris at Backroads Gold on the 6th, I have the beautiful razor back in my possession ready for its first shave tomorrow. The Karve Overlander has become the Karve GOLDlander…too pretty!!
A little experiment today - I pulled a new blade from my old tuck of Gillette Platinums and put it in my stainless Overlander. It was just ever so slightly less than a perfect shave. Perfect BBS but I did have two weepers on my jaw line which I attribute it myself - I felt myself going steep and a little heavy and just kept going instead of stopping and adjusting. For me the neutral angle and light touch is the name of the game for the O. Slightly less than perfect score is from feeling a little bit of that aftershave burn for about 20 to 30 min after the shave - not sure why.
I will say my unpolished stainless steel O does have the drag/suction effect compared to my polished brass. It was driving me a bit crazy on my head shave and face shave. While I don't always get the drag/suction effect - there seems to be less of an "operational envelope" than my auto-pilot polished brass one. I am not sure if the aftershave burn is from me adding a bit of pressure to get through the suction/drag.
For those that have an aluminum version (and had one in bead blast finish in another metal) - is the anodizing slicker on the face?
I will say my unpolished stainless steel O does have the drag/suction effect compared to my polished brass. It was driving me a bit crazy on my head shave and face shave. While I don't always get the drag/suction effect - there seems to be less of an "operational envelope" than my auto-pilot polished brass one. I am not sure if the aftershave burn is from me adding a bit of pressure to get through the suction/drag.
For those that have an aluminum version (and had one in bead blast finish in another metal) - is the anodizing slicker on the face?
I have the aluminum Henson mild and Yates Winning in stainless machined. Both exhibit the merest hint of drag here and there. I just finished my first shave with the aluminum Overlander (with Gillette Platinum), and this one has zero drag. It's a glider.
I know its early with your new Overlander but any frontrunners in which one you like best?
To be fair, the Winning is a good shaver and needs a longer handle to better balance its heavier weight. But if I can get the Overlander to repeat this shave . . .
The standard gap. What it may lack in efficiency it makes up in smoothness. Short and shallow strokes, buff when you need to.
Replying to my own reply - I decided to polish the stainless steel top cap and I am loving it. The drag was driving me crazy. I eventually figured out that if I took a wet finger and just rubbed it over the top cap I would get resistance and a squeak sound. I did this on polished razors and there was no such effect. I polished it incrementally - small dab a flitz and old t-shirt - shave - repeat until it worked. It took 5 tries - stainless steel took way longer to get to any type of polish compared to brass. I did not have the tools or patience to get it to mirror but it no longer drags. I can't imagine I messed up any of the tolerances to have any negative effect as the steel was so hard.
Looking under a usb microscope it doesn't come close to a Razorock polish let alone a Wolfman. I'm happy I figured this out but I can tell you I have mixed emotions about a razor I need to polish to get to perform properly. Sample of 1. YMMV. The whole thing I know...I just don't love it. Here are a couple USB microscope pics on the before and after. The bead blasting really does put some craters in the metal...at least on the microscopic level.
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When I experience sticking, I find that I screwed up my lather, and it's a message to adjust it. So this "disadvantage" of a bead blast finish is actually an early warning sign to fix my lather.
I've entertained thoughts of polishing my two Overlander caps, but for aesthetic and not functional reasons.
As always, YMMV, and this may be lather dependent.
... Thom
CCBreeze: Great post, great contribution. Thanks for taking the time and effort. This is very helpful.
Worth it. This was just hand polished, and it completely got rid of the drag.
Nice! What did you use? Flitz?
Autosol. That's it.
New arrival from Canada to my home in the UK - very pleased:
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:
Looking forward to taking the new stainless steel Overlander for its first shave! The Overlander really is a special razor.....
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:
Looking forward to taking the new stainless steel Overlander for its first shave! The Overlander really is a special razor.....
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