DSC AX - Poleaxe Ti - Which blade gaps?

[m949]

I came across the AX solid bar DE titanium head from DSC (see picture below) which would be a great fit for my DSC Ti Destroyer handle. I love everything made of Ti; I have a 3D printed Ti pen, Ti cutlery and cooking ware for the outdoors, even a Ti tea strainer.

Right now, I use a Mühle R89 zamak head on the destroyer handle, but somehow I feel a Ti head would be a great addition. Which brings me to my question. The AX Poleaxe Ti head from DSC can be had with a blade gap of 1.15 mm, 1.35 mm and 1.55 mm, though currently only the 1.55 mm head is in stock. I am aware that blade gap alone is not necessarily an indicator of aggressiveness, but I'm nevertheless a bit reluctant to order the 1.55 mm head. Is the 1.55 mm an overly aggressive shaver? Should I wait and go for a lower blade gap when they are back in stock, if so which one? Or should I just get the 1.55 mm?

Aside from blade gap and weight I couldn't find any other specifications of the DSC AX Ti head. Blade gaps: 1.15mm, 1.35mm, 1.55mm; weight: 20g for the Ti version. Currently only the 1.55mm Ti head is in stock.

Of course this is pretty much a YMMV question, but maybe some of you have some insights which may guide me to a better informed decision. To make things easier maybe a bit of additional info may be helpful.

I currently use two razors: Mühle R89 and Mühle Rocca. The R89 is quite mild and while I get okay shaves, a bit more efficiency would be nice. The Rocca is great for me, right in the sweet spot of aggressiveness / efficiency. Ideally, I would be looking for something close to the Rocca, but not more aggressive. I shave every second day, so dealing with two day stubble with a no irritation DFS should be the goal. I use predominantly Gillette blades, currently GSBs but also used Platinum, Rubie and Permasharps. Ideally, the head should be able to provide a comfortable shave with a Nacet, BIC, or Feather as well; that will come down the line when I can muster the courage for those blades. My beard is not overly coarse, but my skin is a bit sensitive.

I'm not looking for alternative razors at the moment. I have very limited space and I'd consider a Ti head which can fit the DSC Destroyer handle. At the moment I'd rather not spend over $200-300 on a Ti razor as the DSC AX (Poleaxe) head will cost me $40.

I am grateful for any and all suggestions, ideas, recommendations and referrals.

 

[Iridian]

@m949 They (DSCosmetic) offer the very same head as complete zamac razor with all three baseplates as "Dscosmetic AX-SE Zinc alloy double edge safety razor" and it is very cheap (23,10 €).

This way you could try and make an educated guess which Ti plate would be most to your liking.

Also be careful, the AX head is available in Ti and 316 SS, the 40-50 buck range is the steel head, the Ti cost closer to 100 bucks.

 

[m949]

@m949 They (DSCosmetic) offer the very same head as complete zamac razor with all three baseplates as "Dscosmetic AX-SE Zinc alloy double edge safety razor" and it is very cheap (23,10 €).

This way you could try and make an educated guess which Ti plate would be most to your liking.

Also be careful, the AX head is available in Ti and 316 SS, the 40-50 buck range is the steel head, the Ti cost closer to 100 bucks.

Thanks, that’s very good advice. I might just do that.

Actually, I would be ordering directly from DSC in China on Taobao. The Ti head costs around USD 48 there, the 316 L costs around USD 30. However, at present only the 1.55 mm Ti head is in stock, all others aren’t available. I’ve seen that the Ti head costs around EUR 100 on Ali express.

Prices are pretty much double, but it goes both ways. A bottle of Speick Aftershave splash for example would cost EUR 26 for me.

 

[Shaun asleep]

The ax isn't that aggressive. The only downsideof the larger gap is that it's easy to get loose skin in between it and you could end up cutting yourself. If you stretch your skin, you should be good.

When in doubt the zamak threesome, as mentioned by Iridian, could help point you in the right direction. Do note though that dsc somehow mixed up the ingraving on the zamak plates. 3 is actually 2 and 2 is 3.

 

[Iridian]

Actually, I would be ordering directly from DSC in China on Taobao. The Ti head costs around USD 48 there, the 316 L costs around USD 30.

That's interesting, I only know Taobao as a place where new flashlights and emitters appear usually appear first, or at least before getting listed on AliExpress or elsewhere.

But I have no account and don't know if they ship to Germany or if VAT and custom fees are already included in their price. It's consumer to consumer or so and the whole website is "我的淘宝" and letting Google translate the entire website and all offers, didn't dare yet.

 

[m949]

Taobao is a huge online market place, I’m regularly surprised what can be found on there. The amount of shaving gear for example is staggering. Apart from Yaqi and DSC, Mühle has its own online shop there and Artisan soaps such as from Barrister and Mann and many others are readily available.

Both Taobao and Aliexpress are run by the same company Alibaba Group. Taobao serves the domestic Chinese market only and Aliexpress only serves overseas markets. It’s impossible to open an account on Taobao without a shipping address in Mainland China or a linked bank account to Alipay (a digital payment service). All order payments on Taobao are handled over Alipay. So Taobao is pretty much closed to anybody outside of Mainland China.
Ali express in turn is not available to customers in Mainland China.

While prices for the same product differ quite a bit on both platforms, this is mostly due to higher shipping cost, taxes, import duties, higher commission cost on Ali Express and yes sellers may increase their profit margin for overseas orders. But as I’ve said that goes both ways. The price for products bought on Taobao from Europe or the United States can be up to 3 times higher than on Amazon.

For example while a tube of Speick shaving cream will cost you EUR 3.45 at dm (a drugstore chain in Germany), I’ve paid for the same tube EUR 7.45 on Taobao. I would have ordered the Aftershave too, but I refuse to pay over EUR 25 for a product that will cost me less than EUR 10 back in Germany.

 

[bdehne]

@m949 They (DSCosmetic) offer the very same head as complete zamac razor with all three baseplates as "Dscosmetic AX-SE Zinc alloy double edge safety razor" and it is very cheap (23,10 €).

This way you could try and make an educated guess which Ti plate would be most to your liking.

Also be careful, the AX head is available in Ti and 316 SS, the 40-50 buck range is the steel head, the Ti cost closer to 100 bucks.

Thanks for the tip on the zamc AX with three plates. I just ordered a set. This will be a nice way to try out a razor of this type and see if it could work for me with an added bonus of multiple gaps. I have no idea how it compares to a WR2 but it will at least give me something to experiment with cheaply. If this style of head works for me perhaps I can consider the SS AX or dive into the deep water and get on the Wolfman list.

 

[Iridian]

This will be a nice way to try out a razor of this type and see if it could work for me with an added bonus of multiple gaps.

Be advised that the triplet of @Halfbeard and likely the whole run had the numbers of plate 2 and 3 swapped, i.e. plate 2 is actually #3 and has the highest gap.

Edit: Sorry, noticed @Shaun asleep already mentioned that, but I guess it cannot be mentioned often enough. Not that someone doesn't bother with #3 after #2 already killed them.

The DSCosmetic clone must be closer to the original than the Yaqi and Shield/Boti clones, according to Australian Intelligence sources.

 

[Chelko]

The ones that I have, show changed numbers indeed, although the gap description is correct. 1 says 1.15, 2 says 1.55 and 3 says 1.35. By the way, I just tried the 1.55 with a 5-day beard. No problem, one pass was enough, but it also gave me a super smooth ATG 2nd pass. I am even debating if it is better than my Yaqi Sentinels, even in zamac

 

[Iridian]

I am even debating if it is better than my Yaqi Sentinels, even in zamac

The DSCosmetic clone is supposedly closest to the original, according to an expert user.

I am quite fine with my Yaqi 1.55 OC, so haven't tried the DSCosmetic razors yet.

The 1.55 is still available in Ti, SS and Ti will get a new batch where they will correct a slightly too tight cap that trapped the blade often.

So if you are interested in them, I would wait some more, right now only the 1.55 Ti is available anyways.

 

[Chelko]

Yes, I will wait. I really like the SS head and Ti handle combo. The Yaqi is excellent but on my first flight with the DSCosmetic, it felt more like an autopilot razor, if you can call it that with that gap

 

[m949]

Great advice and recommendations. I think I'll wait until the new Stainless Steel and Ti versions are available. To be honest after reading @Shaun asleep 's post I'm a bit reluctant to try the 1.55 mm gap. I usually do not stretch my skin during a shave and wouldn't really like to start just to avoid cutting myself. If and when the 1.15mm Ti head is available I might just get this one.

In the meantime I have been browsing the DSC store and I found the V92/V95 brass razors, which I think look lovely. Both the V92 and V95 are available with two caps, DSC calls them scalloped and parallel. The V92 has .92mm blade gap and the V95 .95mm. I think either one of them might fit my needs as my current "more aggressive" razor is a Mühle Rocca (which has a blade gap of .94mm), and I can handle the Rocca quite well. Maybe it isn't such a bad idea to approach wider blade gaps incrementally rather than going from .94mm blade gap in the Rocca straight to a 1.55 mm blade gap. I would love to hear your opinions on the V92 and V95.

 

[Iridian]

I would love to hear your opinions on the V92 and V95.

I don't have them but I have the S9, which is their steel version of the Game Changer .84 SB geometry with a slightly different baseplate that allows grabbing the blade from below. The D8 is the Game Changer .68 clone.

I don't have a feeler gauge, so cannot say if the S9 really has .9 gap or something around that, it looked absolutely identical to my Game Changer .84 and parts are interchangeable. Perfectly so even.

I liked it a bit better mostly due to the scalloped cap.

I don't know if the Rocca has a .94 gap but I can tell you that the Game Changer and the Rocca shave totally differently, so that's not a good comparison. But if you can handle the Rocca, you won't have any trouble with S9, V92 or V95 for sure.

You can check postings by @GlazedBoker for nice photos of the V92 or V95, he also wrote very positively about them.

There is a sale tomorrow, let's see if I am weak again. I am in dire need of solace, my favorite guns in Helldivers 2 got nerfed and my confidence to defend mankind against killer robots and bugs is shaken. I will have to do a meditative shave to regain inner strength!

 

[m949]

I don't have them but I have the S9, which is their steel version of the Game Changer .84 SB geometry with a slightly different baseplate that allows grabbing the blade from below. The D8 is the Game Changer .68 clone.

I don't have a feeler gauge, so cannot say if the S9 really has .9 gap or something around that, it looked absolutely identical to my Game Changer .84 and parts are interchangeable. Perfectly so even.

I liked it a bit better mostly due to the scalloped cap.

I don't know if the Rocca has a .94 gap but I can tell you that the Game Changer and the Rocca shave totally differently, so that's not a good comparison. But if you can handle the Rocca, you won't have any trouble with S9, V92 or V95 for sure.

You can check postings by @GlazedBoker for nice photos of the V92 or V95, he also wrote very positively about them.

There is a sale tomorrow, let's see if I am weak again. I am in dire need of solace, my favorite guns in Helldivers 2 got nerfed and my confidence to defend mankind against killer robots and bugs is shaken. I will have to do a meditative shave to regain inner strength!

Sorry, I misquoted the blade gap from the Razor wars - Rocca vs. Game Change .84 OC thread (see here). @ivan_101 measured the blade gap of the Rocca R94 V4 as 0.80. I must have misread the numbers in his post and wrote the model number as the blade gap. My apologies for this mistake.

@GlazedBoker 's thread is highly informative and the pictures are gorgeous. I read through the entire thread and the verdict on this razor are very encouraging, so much so that I will place an order probably for the V92 this week.

Hopefully your Helldiver squad had sufficient R&R to be ready for their next mission.

 

[GlazedBoker]

I don't have them but I have the S9, which is their steel version of the Game Changer .84 SB geometry with a slightly different baseplate that allows grabbing the blade from below. The D8 is the Game Changer .68 clone.

I don't have a feeler gauge, so cannot say if the S9 really has .9 gap or something around that, it looked absolutely identical to my Game Changer .84 and parts are interchangeable. Perfectly so even.

I liked it a bit better mostly due to the scalloped cap.

I don't know if the Rocca has a .94 gap but I can tell you that the Game Changer and the Rocca shave totally differently, so that's not a good comparison. But if you can handle the Rocca, you won't have any trouble with S9, V92 or V95 for sure.

You can check postings by @GlazedBoker for nice photos of the V92 or V95, he also wrote very positively about them.

There is a sale tomorrow, let's see if I am weak again. I am in dire need of solace, my favorite guns in Helldivers 2 got nerfed and my confidence to defend mankind against killer robots and bugs is shaken. I will have to do a meditative shave to regain inner strength!

I still only have the V92 as I ordered the V95 but, was shipped the wrong razor, the S9 which coincidentally I decided to keep as it's not a bad shaver. But, the V95 is still on the acquire list just won't be for awhile as a few other razors have been thrown into the mix as of late.

Sorry, I misquoted the blade gap from the Razor wars - Rocca vs. Game Change .84 OC thread (see here). @ivan_101 measured the blade gap of the Rocca R94 V4 as 0.80. I must have misread the numbers in his post and wrote the model number as the blade gap. My apologies for this mistake.

@GlazedBoker 's thread is highly informative and the pictures are gorgeous. I read through the entire thread and the verdict on this razor are very encouraging, so much so that I will place an order probably for the V92 this week.

Hopefully your Helldiver squad had sufficient R&R to be ready for their next mission.

Thank you amigo for the kind words. Personally, I think you would enjoy the V92 by DScosmetics. It has been the best surprise razor that I have used in quite some time. Expectations were extremely low for the price and it just completely blew me away on its ease of use while being quite effective on the whiskers while being very comfortable on the skin. I've used some top tier blades in it from Feather, Gillette, Wizamet, Bic & Schick with excellent results. Well worth the $$$ imo. Good luck amigo & happy shaves....

 

[m949]

I'm happy to report that I placed an order for the DSC V92 with the two caps. It has been extremely helpful to read about all your experiences and recommendations and I'm very grateful for the guidance and support you all provide each and every day on this forum. This is one of the few communities where I do not hesitate to pose a question as I know that the friendliest people will reply and share their insights and their experience without judgement or negativity. I can't emphasize enough what a pleasure it is to participate in these forums and being part of this community. I can only hope that I can make a contribution to the B&B community in the future and play a small part in making this the happiest place on the internet.

Hopefully the V92 will arrive by Sunday so that its premiere will be for Monday's shave. I'll be glad to share my experience as I get to know this beautiful razor.

The DSC AX head in Titanium is still on my watch list, and I'll probably will make an order once the heads with the lower blade gaps are available. It would be nice to keep this thread in the meantime alive and I would be happy to read about your experiences with the DSC AX Poleaxe heads, whether they are made from Ti or zamac.

Thanks again for all your time and effort in replying to this thread and the great conversations we have. I truly believe that quite a few people will be inspired to try out DSC razors.

 

[spacemonkey42]

I got the zamak DSC AX with the 3 plates. Wow, it is really hard to read the number on the bottom. I think I can tell which is which, but I'm not even sure when I magnify it. Are others finding that?

 

[bdehne]

I got the zamak DSC AX with the 3 plates. Wow, it is really hard to read the number on the bottom. I think I can tell which is which, but I'm not even sure when I magnify it. Are others finding that?

I have a set on order. Have you used them yet? I am interested in hearing what you think.

 

[Iridian]

In case anyone is wondering, I am waiting for the next SS and Ti batch of the DSC AX and then let's see if I go Ti or SS.

I will get the max gap, given my preferences and experiences with the Yaqi and other WR2 clone equivalents.

But Ti... now that's the big question. I actually like long, heavy, massive handles. I like the Yaqi Bohemia, quite a sledgehammer of a razor.

My Ti razors so far... I cannot really say if I would have an advantage over SS or not. Many say it transforms a good razor, but my Chiseled Face Ti razor is not to my liking and my Boti Ti Vortex is perhaps the most beautiful razor I have, but it is a terrible shaver, sorry to say.

So a Ti S9 or AX would be the first Ti razors with heads I am known to like...!
That will be interesting.

 

[m949]

In case anyone is wondering, I am waiting for the next SS and Ti batch of the DSC AX and then let's see if I go Ti or SS.

I will get the max gap, given my preferences and experiences with the Yaqi and other WR2 clone equivalents.

But Ti... now that's the big question. I actually like long, heavy, massive handles. I like the Yaqi Bohemia, quite a sledgehammer of a razor.

My Ti razors so far... I cannot really say if I would have an advantage over SS or not. Many say it transforms a good razor, but my Chiseled Face Ti razor is not to my liking and my Boti Ti Vortex is perhaps the most beautiful razor I have, but it is a terrible shaver, sorry to say.

So a Ti S9 or AX would be the first Ti razors with heads I am known to like...!
That will be interesting.

I’m very tempted to order the Ti S9 head, based on your previous very positive experience and while waiting for the new AX heads.

Meanwhile the V92 has arrived today. I’ll be shaving with it tomorrow first with the scalloped cap. Probably based on that shaving experience I’ll consider placing the order for the S9 Ti head.

The V92 is a gorgeous razor from the looks, feel (it has a nice heft to it) and the precision work. From all that you guys have written about it, I can only surmise that it will be a great shaver too.