First fili

[kohalajohn]

Very excited and happy. My first fili.

After ages of waiting, package arrived from Spain.

1950's used 14. Virtually shoulderless. French tip. Those hilarious mid 20th century plastic scales that are so fili.

Of course, photos attached. It did a medium job of tree topping, just out of the box.

Will shave with it tomorrow. Then see how it goes with my maintaining it for a while. I can see that the edge will need some love, but that's fine, I'll enjoy that.

Then send it to doc226, to get a jnat finish on it and see how that feels.

Today was a good day.

 

[Ice-Man]

Congrats on a fantastic score!!! They are a beautiful razor your going to love it that's for sure..... oh and welcome to the world of Filarmonica

 

[kohalajohn]

Well, I had my first shave with this Filarmonica this morning.

It was really good.

It came shave ready, which was a surprise. It gave a moderate tree top out of the box. I just stropped on leather, nothing else, and shaved. A Simpsons brush and Proraso red, then two passes.

Wow, this thing is huge. Biggest thing I have shaved with so far. And sharp.

It gave a close shave, no discomfort. There was a feeling of caution, like this huge thing could cut my head off if I didn't pay attention.

And it was just different, somehow. Hard to describe how. But different in a good and interesting way. Just the way it was ground, I guess. Maybe the size was part of it.

But I can see these spanish razors can be addictive.

 

[Somerled]

Nice Fili!

I have two, 14 and 13.
Both are great shavers and easy to hone.

Your right, there is something different about them somehow.

I made the blue scales on the 13. The scales it came with were not original and, to me, didn't do the razor justice.

Hope you enjoy yours.

 

[KW Driver]

 

[KW Driver]

sorry bout that, I thought I was in the SOTD thread.

 

[Earcutter]

Nice score!

 

[Basil]

Beautiful. I’ve been tempted by a fili for a while. Maybe I’ll have to finally take the plunge.

 

[global_dev]

love it! enjoy!

 

[kohalajohn]

Just had my second shave with it.

This time I honed it. Convex black translucent Ark. Held in the air, water/ballistol, x strokes, lightly, forty laps.

Even better. Sharp and smooth. This time the massive width of a 14 was not so intimidating.

I think I'm going to be shaving a lot with this razor. I moved a meh razor out out the cigar box rotation and added the fili. You can see its green scale in the middle.

The four razors in the middle set are the ones that I maintain on the convex Ark.

Aloha

 

[kohalajohn]

Nice Fili!

I have two, 14 and 13.
Both are great shavers and easy to hone.

Your right, there is something different about them somehow.
View attachment 973444
I made the blue scales on the 13. The scales it came with were not original and, to me, didn't do the razor justice.

Hope you enjoy yours.

do you polish the blades? if so, what do you use?

 

[FlScott]

My Fili is my go to razor.

 

[Somerled]

do you polish the blades? if so, what do you use?

With a little Mothers Mag, using a Q-tip cotton bud.
Be extra carefull around the gold wash logo if you want to keep it.

 

[Twelvefret]

Congratulations. It's a shame someone scratched the etching and shoulder. Looks like they used too low grit sand paper.

I use 1500, 2000, 2500 grit wet sand paper from an auto parts supply store and Mothers Metal Polish. 0000 Steel wool is also useful.

 

[kohalajohn]

thanks. I'll carefully use mother's.

It's 15u size, sort of like 1,000 grit.

I may try some of my diamond paste, which is .5u, .25u and .1u for after the mother's.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

This has turned into one of those threads I need to stay away from for a while, or at least until my drooling is under better control.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[kohalajohn]

To make it even worse. How about a fili chopping the end of a Cuban cigar, a Romeo Deluxe Cedro No. 3.

Sorry, have to leave. A 3 ounce martini is calling me.

 

[macintoshBR]

I also have 2, one 14 EPBD bought as NOS and a 13 with a blank blade. Both shave amazingly smooth.

The 13 I honed with film and finished on a black Arkansas stone. The 14 still has the factory edge, and it sings loudly when stropping. Wonderful

If I have to complain about something I would say that the 14 is a little unbalanced due to the huge and heavy blade and those flimsy scales

 

[azwetshaver]

Very nice razor. I recently paired down my collection and only kept four straight razors. Of those four, three of them are Fili's. Shows how much I like them.

 

[Ice-Man]

Pleased you enjoy using your Fili they are a fantastic razor and yes very addictive, here is my one that I love using.......