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Charcoal Goods beat everything in my den

Lovely Valentine's Day Shave! Great shaver and beautiful work of art!
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Charcoal Goods Victorian Level 2
Gillette Black Ninja (3)
Grooming Dept Amar'e (Kairos+Lamb Tallow)
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
A quick visit to CG site reveals that they are closed. They “hope “ to be making razors again “soon”
There is another reference to new stuff in may. I hope that’s true and they get back up and running.
 

BradWorld

Dances with Wolfs
This is a whacky tale of two Level 3's. Some time ago I bought a brass Gen 1 Level 2 from a guy online, and he accidentally put the matching brass Gen 1 Level 3 baseplate in the box with my razor. I reached out to the guy, and we came to a deal and I sent him more money to pay for the extra baseplate. It was an honest mistake and we made it work out for both of us. Even though the Level 2 is my sweet spot, I still enjoy the crazy close shaves I can get from the Level 3 from time to time. Anyways, today I went to grab this free-range brass Gen 1 Level 3 baseplate and take it for a spin. Since its a loose baseplate, this requires going through my other Charcoal Goods razors to choose a top cap. And I have a bunch of extra Charcoal Goods handles I have collected. So I go to the big curio cabinet where I display my shave gear, and spy a Charcoal Goods razor I dont recognize. Pick it up and its a Stainless Gen 2 Level 3 head on a Copper Magnum handle. Looks brand new. I honestly dont recall buying this razor. I dont think I ever used this razor. (RAD is real folks! But that is a different post!) But I must have bought it and stuck it in the cabinet at some point.

So I grabbed the brass Gen 1 Level 3, and the stainless Gen 2 Level 3 and had a shave off. I used a Wizamet blade in each razor. Instead of doing one side of my face with each razor, I did alternating strokes with each razor. That way there is no strong-hand bias in play. I must say the results were quite surprising. In the Level 2, I prefer the Gen 1 over the Gen 2 quite a bit. The Gen 1 has a bit more blade feel and takes me that much closer in the shave results. And it just feels better. Its splitting hairs, but I reach for the Level 2 Gen 1 way more than the Gen 2. With the Level 3, the razors are quite a bit above my normal aggression level. So the opposite comes into play. Whereas the Gen 1 I had been previously been using has a ton of blade feel and is super aggressive to me, the Level 3 Gen 2 has been smoothed out considerably. Even though it is still quite over my normal aggression level, there is a bit less perceived blade feel, and the shave results are just as close. It was a great experiment, and I am glad I did it. These results may lead me to picking up a Level 3 more often.

Also note that after reading a suggestion this morning, I used a pre-war triangle slot Tech top cap with the brass Gen 1 today. As I mentioned it is a spare baseplate, and I am really tired of having to borrow a top cap from one of my other CG's. And I cant find a spare top cap anywhere. (Brian sure isnt making any!) The Tech top cap works perfectly. I could not see any noticeable difference in the shave result or feel from the matching brass CG top cap to the Tech top cap.

Thanks for reading my long winded post! Stay smooth!

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This is a whacky tale of two Level 3's. Some time ago I bought a brass Gen 1 Level 2 from a guy online, and he accidentally put the matching brass Gen 1 Level 3 baseplate in the box with my razor. I reached out to the guy, and we came to a deal and I sent him more money to pay for the extra baseplate. It was an honest mistake and we made it work out for both of us. Even though the Level 2 is my sweet spot, I still enjoy the crazy close shaves I can get from the Level 3 from time to time. Anyways, today I went to grab this free-range brass Gen 1 Level 3 baseplate and take it for a spin. Since its a loose baseplate, this requires going through my other Charcoal Goods razors to choose a top cap. And I have a bunch of extra Charcoal Goods handles I have collected. So I go to the big curio cabinet where I display my shave gear, and spy a Charcoal Goods razor I dont recognize. Pick it up and its a Stainless Gen 2 Level 3 head on a Copper Magnum handle. Looks brand new. I honestly dont recall buying this razor. I dont think I ever used this razor. (RAD is real folks! But that is a different post!) But I must have bought it and stuck it in the cabinet at some point.

So I grabbed the brass Gen 1 Level 3, and the stainless Gen 2 Level 3 and had a shave off. I used a Wizamet blade in each razor. Instead of doing one side of my face with each razor, I did alternating strokes with each razor. That way there is no strong-hand bias in play. I must say the results were quite surprising. In the Level 2, I prefer the Gen 1 over the Gen 2 quite a bit. The Gen 1 has a bit more blade feel and takes me that much closer in the shave results. And it just feels better. Its splitting hairs, but I reach for the Level 2 Gen 1 way more than the Gen 2. With the Level 3, the razors are quite a bit above my normal aggression level. So the opposite comes into play. Whereas the Gen 1 I had been previously been using has a ton of blade feel and is super aggressive to me, the Level 3 Gen 2 has been smoothed out considerably. Even though it is still quite over my normal aggression level, there is a bit less perceived blade feel, and the shave results are just as close. It was a great experiment, and I am glad I did it. These results may lead me to picking up a Level 3 more often.

Also note that after reading a suggestion this morning, I used a pre-war triangle slot Tech top cap with the brass Gen 1 today. As I mentioned it is a spare baseplate, and I am really tired of having to borrow a top cap from one of my other CG's. And I cant find a spare top cap anywhere. (Brian sure isnt making any!) The Tech top cap works perfectly. I could not see any noticeable difference in the shave result or feel from the matching brass CG top cap to the Tech top cap.

Thanks for reading my long winded post! Stay smooth!

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I really enjoyed reading your Shave-off Brad! I agree with you, I enjoy my Lvl 2’s in my Gen 1 over the Gen 2, but its so close. They both deliver the same results tbh. Gen 1 has more blade feel, while Gen 2 is smoother for me, again YMMV. I enjoy Gen 1 a little more due to increased blade feel and extra audio feedback. I feel that Gen 2 holds the blade better though with less blade chatter imo. I will take the Gen2Lvl2 out tommorow morning to refresh my memory. Wonderful Shave-off Pic Brad! Maybe someday I’ll grab a Lvl 3 baseplate, but they’re hard to come by these days.
 

BradWorld

Dances with Wolfs
I really enjoyed reading your Shave-off Brad! I agree with you, I enjoy my Lvl 2’s in my Gen 1 over the Gen 2, but its so close. They both deliver the same results tbh. Gen 1 has more blade feel, while Gen 2 is smoother for me, again YMMV. I enjoy Gen 1 a little more due to increased blade feel and extra audio feedback. I feel that Gen 2 holds the blade better though with less blade chatter imo. I will take the Gen2Lvl2 out tommorow morning to refresh my memory. Wonderful Shave-off Pic Brad! Maybe someday I’ll grab a Lvl 3 baseplate, but they’re hard to come by these days.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Sometimes when i post long stories like that I wonder if people even get through the first sentence. But yeah, CG razors are getting scarce. I have Level 2's in stainless and brass, but I now have a Copper Level 2 on the way just because i want to complete the set. I paid quite a bit for it, but I dont care. It may be an extinct razor, never to be made again. They are works of art. Just a pleasure to own and use.
 
I am in the process of downsizing my den, well mostly, and I sold off my CG antiqued brass gen 1, level 2 to a gentleman in France. I was happy to spread the CG love to another continent, but I sure do miss shaving with that beauty. It had a magnum hammered and a Stinger 1 handle to swap out when I felt a need. The gent in France said it is by far is favorite razor ever, so good to know I have a happy buyer. Seeing Brian looks to reopen soon and offer more custom options is great for the shaving community, IMO.

Great write up Brad, btw.
 
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