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Bevel DE Safety Razor: Review, Photos, Measurements, Photo Analysis

while I did like the weight of the Bevel and the fact that there are no exposed end caps, it's far from an outstanding razor it was hyped as by a certain web reviewer. This review highlights the issues well.
 
while I did like the weight of the Bevel and the fact that there are no exposed end caps, it's far from an outstanding razor it was hyped as by a certain web reviewer. This review highlights the issues well.

Thanks, Ted, for sharing your thoughts. (You might be the first in this thread, other than myself, to have used the Bevel.) You're right. The Bevel is far from outstanding. I like it better than the EJ DE89 with respect to performance, but not build quality.
 
Wow, that's a heck of a review!

The razor head looks pretty much like the "Lawrence" razor offered by Fendrihan for $30 US:


Would you mind taking a look at the pictures in the link provided to see if they are the same?

Thanks. I looked at your link there and, yes, the head looks the same. I think that there's at least one other razor out there with the same head, too, but with a different handle.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Damned "Shallow Anglers!" :a31:


:blushing: Whoops, sorry. Rant over. :001_smile

BOSC.2.CapRidersForScience.jpg
 
Thanks, Rave. I might get to a Fatip someday, so I'll have to remember this.

You won't have to remember much, something tells me these guys will still be here sipping the Fatip Kool-ade.

Nice addition to the line-up, Grant. I really enjoy my Gillette Tech and though I have razors I like better, it was the first razor that really delivered a comfortable and close shave on a daily basis for me. I'll always have a soft spot for it. Can't wait to see you're detailed review.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
You won't have to remember much, something tells me these guys will still be here sipping the Fatip Kool-ade.

Nice addition to the line-up, Grant. I really enjoy my Gillette Tech and though I have razors I like better, it was the first razor that really delivered a comfortable and close shave on a daily basis for me. I'll always have a soft spot for it. Can't wait to see you're detailed review.

Hey, I'm not even a Fatip Fanboy. I have 'em, but I don't use 'em.

Maybe sometime I will, but injectors are so easy!

Regardless, Fatips are excellent razors, and remarkable, and also inexpensive. I'd rather see studies of SE (the superior platform) but, if DE, then Fatip.

The Tech sounds worthy, too.

Happy shaves to everyone,

Jim
 
Hey, I'm not even a Fatip Fanboy. I have 'em, but I don't use 'em.

Maybe sometime I will, but injectors are so easy!

Regardless, Fatips are excellent razors, and remarkable, and also inexpensive. I'd rather see studies of SE (the superior platform) but, if DE, then Fatip.

The Tech sounds worthy, too.

Happy shaves to everyone,

Jim

+1 on the injectors and I haven't even tried the twin blades yet. I have the G and J and they rock. I keep eyeballing the O but haven't pulled the trigger(yet). All in the fullness of time...
 
You won't have to remember much, something tells me these guys will still be here sipping the Fatip Kool-ade.

I might be sipping some of that in the future. Who knows? I haven't tried one yet. :001_smile

Nice addition to the line-up, Grant. I really enjoy my Gillette Tech and though I have razors I like better, it was the first razor that really delivered a comfortable and close shave on a daily basis for me. I'll always have a soft spot for it. Can't wait to see you're detailed review.

I hope that the Gillette Tech works better than the Bevel for me, but even if it doesn't, at least I'll have analyzed the Gillette Tech to help understand it for myself and others. It is a classic. I might already be developing a soft spot for it and I haven't even gotten it yet. :001_tongu
 
Hey, I'm not even a Fatip Fanboy. I have 'em, but I don't use 'em.

Maybe sometime I will, but injectors are so easy!

Regardless, Fatips are excellent razors, and remarkable, and also inexpensive. I'd rather see studies of SE (the superior platform) but, if DE, then Fatip.

The Tech sounds worthy, too.

Happy shaves to everyone,

Jim

+1 on the injectors and I haven't even tried the twin blades yet. I have the G and J and they rock. I keep eyeballing the O but haven't pulled the trigger(yet). All in the fullness of time...

Someday, I'll have to try an injector and analyze it. The fundamentals should be the same, I think: blade exposure, guard span, blade angle, etc. Blade rigidity is definitely more with them, I'm sure, compared to most DEs, so that is probably a significant factor in performance.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Someday, I'll have to try an injector and analyze it. The fundamentals should be the same, I think: blade exposure, guard span, blade angle, etc. Blade rigidity is definitely more with them, I'm sure, compared to most DEs, so that is probably a significant factor in performance.

I don't know anything, but I think the big deal with injectors and other SE razors is the blades, and the very shallow angle they encourage. Whisker are sliced off at an angle so the end of the whisker is flat cut rather than bevel cut. Thus, no more emerging sharp whiskers to remind me of punji sticks.

Rigidity of all SD razors I've used is not even on the same scale as SE rigidity.

If used in the way I think they should be used, SE razors almost don't care about gap and guard span. Those are only if you screw up and then the safety bar or comb comes into play to protect you.

I realize I don't know anything about these razors or these blades except just my own experience's teachings. I suspect others might have a radically different view. Part of why I'd like Grant to one day look into the SE platform is to introduce science and engineering into what is, for me, a bunch of voodoo. Sorta.

All I know is what works for me. And that is always subject to change and improvement.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I don't know anything, but I think the big deal with injectors and other SE razors is the blades, and the very shallow angle they encourage. Whisker are sliced off at an angle so the end of the whisker is flat cut rather than bevel cut. Thus, no more emerging sharp whiskers to remind me of punji sticks.

Rigidity of all SD razors I've used is not even on the same scale as SE rigidity.

If used in the way I think they should be used, SE razors almost don't care about gap and guard span. Those are only if you screw up and then the safety bar or comb comes into play to protect you.

I realize I don't know anything about these razors or these blades except just my own experience's teachings. I suspect others might have a radically different view. Part of why I'd like Grant to one day look into the SE platform is to introduce science and engineering into what is, for me, a bunch of voodoo. Sorta.

All I know is what works for me. And that is always subject to change and improvement.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Thanks for all of your insights, Jim. You know more about injectors and SEs than I do. Maybe the low blade angle is the key. Accomplishing such really low blade angles with DEs is hard to do without imposing much more curvature on the blade than what is normal, or else, the handle angle would be very large and make shaving awkward. So, if low blade angle is the key, then DEs would be a real disadvantage and I could see SEs winning with all other things being equal. How does that sound? :001_smile
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Thanks for all of your insights, Jim. You know more about injectors and SEs than I do. Maybe the low blade angle is the key. Accomplishing such really low blade angles with DEs is hard to do without imposing much more curvature on the blade than what is normal, or else, the handle angle would be very large and make shaving awkward. So, if low blade angle is the key, then DEs would be a real disadvantage and I could see SEs winning with all other things being equal. How does that sound? :001_smile

Sounds good. With the injectors I've used - ebarbershop Type O clone, Schick Type M, Schick Type L3 - it is very easy to shave at an extremely shallow angle.

I actually don't particularly try to shave at a certain angle with injectors. I try to shave by feel and by sound. I notice when I look at what is going on that the angle is very shallow.

With my injectors the head is very small, and the cap doesn't much get in the way. The main thing is the shave is, to me anyway, very easy. It's easy to get a pretty decent shave in terms of closeness and smoothness of the result, and to do that without worrying about skin irritation and blood.

Obviously, these are razors with sharp blades. There's a learning curve.

I've not mastered the ATT SE2, but the SE1 and the Colonial General are good shavers, too, although not as easy for me to use as the injectors.

I had fits learning the injectors, too, because I used too much pressure (or something), but I got it in a couple of weeks of using the platform.

There is a certain amount I don't understand at all about razors. Whether that amount is huge or small is unknown. It's a known unknown. Maybe there are also unknown unknowns, but I do not think this is magic or any such thing.

Everything I know about injectors could be written on the back of a stamp.

Mostly in one word. TWIN.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 

Esox

I didnt know
Staff member
I'm glad I finally found this thread.

I've been interested in this razor. I personally like the looks of it, but I hadnt been able to find a solid review or pictures of the base plate. I had hoped it fully supported the blade but it does not.

Not to mention the design covering the blade tabs. With blade alignment issues thats a deal killer for me either way.

I believe that the larger guard span with the Edwin Jagger allows for more bunching up of skin ahead of the blade, resulting in larger blade-to-skin angles and more irritation. This probably also explains why there was more drag felt with respect to cutting hair with the EJ DE89 head.

This is something I've been saying all along.

The larger the blade gap and the longer the guard span, the more skin that can travel through that space. As the skin travels through it, the angle of blade against skin changes. This is why adjustable razors become more 'aggressive' as the gap increases while being used at a neutral angle, pressure being a constant.

Adjusting pressure in my experience with my NEW SC only mitigates that to a point, but at the same time it makes the razor more forgiving because its easier to feel the skin being pinched and you have time to adjust your technique before you draw blood.

As Cal mentions below.

The Piccolo (and all the other Fatip OCs) is indeed rock solid on the blade grip, but do bear in mind that the skin "could" bunch up in the slots between the (lovely narrow) teeth all the way up to the blade.


Using my NEW SC I can quite easily feel my skin bunch up at the corners of my mouth and that tells me to slow down, stretch the skin more, or change direction, because that 'wave' of skin the razor creates from pressure applied, has no more area to propagate into.

Think about the below pic and how waves propagate. The razor starting to move top left instigating that movement. The blue and/or red waves would be your skin surface ahead of the razor from the pressure applied. When those waves can no longer travel, they bunch up, you shave into and over them and plane off the tops creating a weeper.

400px-seismic_wave_prop_mine-gif.848334


By contrast, my Fatip Grande gives no warning, at all. My first few shaves with it I planed off the crest of that wave of skin at the corner of my mouth in exactly the same place where my NEW SC gave me warning. The Grande has no gap and a very short guard span distance. It is not forgiving of simple mistakes or laziness. Once your technique is sound though, nothing shaves like a Fatip.

As long as you have an understanding of how to use a DE, no one should have any serious issues with any Fatip. They are excellent teachers and in learning one it will teach you proper technique along with proper use of pressure, angle and optimal direction to shave in.


Now that I'm finished analyzing the Bevel, it is time to move on. I'd like to keep moving in the direction of less aggressiveness, hopefully while increasing efficiency and blade rigidity at the same time. Since I'd also like to try something different, I'm leaning towards the Fatip Piccolo. Thoughts?

I would have also suggested a Fatip, but I'm late to the party :)


Done. I've made my decision, guys, and ordered a 1957 Gillette Tech.

I have a 1958 Tech. Its a great razor and of all I have used its the most confidence inspiring of them all. It's also the most rigid feeling razor I've ever used.

It feels more rigid then my NEW SC, equally as rigid as my Grande, and is the most mindless shaver I've ever whipped around my face.

Its also the most frustrating razor I own lol. Its so mild and inefficient for me that with either a Feather, Gillette Yellow or Polsilver blades, all considered very sharp, I need 6 passes to get the same level of BBS shave as I get in 2 1/2 passes with my NEW SC and in 1 1/2 passes with my Grande. The direction I start the shave in doesnt matter.

As I said in my first shave with my Grande;

The Tech is a sharp axe and I have to cut my way through my stubble with many well placed swings. The NEW SC is a chainsaw. Quicker and more effective and a very good and useful tool. The Grande is a Feller buncher.

The Tech takes little nibbles of my stubble. My NEW SC takes a good bite, but my Grande wolfs it down like a glutton.

The post war Tech is a really fantastic razor though and trying one should be a requirement for anyone that uses DE's.

The jump from a post war Tech to a post 1948 Gillette TTO isnt a great one, but the difference is there. A pre 1948 Gillette TTO on the other hand is a considerable difference.

I have a 1971 Lady Gillette and I think of it as a long handled TTO Tech. I also have both a 1958 Gillette flare tip SS and a 1940 Gillette Regent. They are very different animals. The SS is a mild, reasonably efficient shaver. The Regent on the other hand is more akin to my Fatip Grande. Blade feel is on 11, but efficiency is on par with my NEW SC at 2 1/2 passes. The difference being when using the same blade, a Polsilver, my NEW SC gave me at best, a 12 hour BBS. My Regent gave me a 23 hour BBS.

Shaving with my Regent is a much slower, more mindful shave. My Grande with the same blade is a 10 hour BBS and thats with me using it at an extremely shallow angle where my other razors wouldnt even engage the stubble and shaving at least as fast, if not faster, than I would using my Tech.

The shorter guard span distance allows me to shave that shallow, quite easily, with the edge nearly parallel to my skin.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Thanks for all of your insights, Jim. You know more about injectors and SEs than I do. Maybe the low blade angle is the key. Accomplishing such really low blade angles with DEs is hard to do without imposing much more curvature on the blade than what is normal, or else, the handle angle would be very large and make shaving awkward. So, if low blade angle is the key, then DEs would be a real disadvantage and I could see SEs winning with all other things being equal. How does that sound? :001_smile

Grant, I knew because of the context of the conversation what you meant here, but I would otherwise be confused.

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To me, the term "low blade angle" and other such terms are difficult. They make me dizzy. I get into trying to figure out what the blade angle is low relative to, and such as that.

I like to go back to this particularly nice illustration.

upload_2018-2-10_11-27-0.png


I find shallow-angle shaving, steep-angle shaving, riding the cap, and riding the guard + neutral-angle shaving sufficient. Besides, these terms have been very clearly defined and illustrated, and are both precise and easily grasped by the analogue brain.

Just my two cents.

SE2 the no wimp zone razor.jpg

As an aside, while looking at these pictures I began thinking about the differences in the shaves (especially the feeling of the shaves) using the ATT SE1 and the ATT SE2. These would be terrific razors for you to study. They differ only in their baseplate. Everything else is exactly the same. Yet the shave feeling is, according to me, and according to everyone who talks about it, very much different.

We've discussed it some before and looked at the my bad photos of the heads of the two razors, but I am still unable to quite figure out what makes the two razors so different. Maybe it is guard span. At first thought it almost has to be either guard span or blade gap or (maybe) one of the blade-related parameters (blade exposure, free-end distance, clamp distance). But, as I study your illustration, I realize changes in the baseplate could cause changes in the shave angle and therefore change the blade angle.

Any and all of these possibilities are eliminated by shaving at a very shallow angle. At a very shallow angle the ATT SE1 and ATT SE2 are exactly the same razor. The bar and the comb do not come into play either if the angle is very shallow.

So, writing this post has expanded my view of what might be going on with the parameters as these ATT razors are considered, but it has not answered my questions.

Grant, if you would some day like to study the ATT SE1 and ATT SE2, I would be happy to let you borrow my cap, 2 baseplates, and handle for long enough to satisfy your study requirements (I realize that could be months).

upload_2018-2-10_11-58-27.png


I'm not pushing for any particular razor to be studied. All are good. I'm just very curious about the SE platform. Comparing the SE1 and the SE2 would be very instructive as they are so much similar and yet so dissimilar in their shaves.

Thanks for you attention to these issues, Grant. Emil would be pleased with your work, and make you a department head.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
I'm glad I finally found this thread.

Mike, great post. In it you summarize much (maybe most) of what you've painstakingly learned about razors and shaving over these many months.

The scary part is I understand most of what you're saying.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 

Esox

I didnt know
Staff member
Maybe the low blade angle is the key. Accomplishing such really low blade angles with DEs is hard to do without imposing much more curvature on the blade than what is normal, or else, the handle angle would be very large and make shaving awkward. So, if low blade angle is the key, then DEs would be a real disadvantage and I could see SEs winning with all other things being equal. How does that sound?

That sounds fair, assuming you're not talking about a Fatip with its ridiculously short guard span distance. :)


The scary part is I understand most of what you're saying.

That is a bit scary. I had to proof read it three times to make sure I understood it all! lol
 
Thanks, Mike (@Esox) and Jim (@Chan Eil Whiskers), for your thoughtful comments. I like how we're all trying to figure out what works best, and that might vary from person to person. Guard span definitely matters, but so does blade angle, and we can't forget about blade exposure. I haven't even tried a TTO yet, let alone a SE, so you guys are ahead of me. I really appreciate your offer, Jim, to have the time to analyze your ATT SE1 and SE2. That would be cool. I've made a note about that in a file for future reference. :001_smile
 
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