Emperor Augustus

[Rosseforp]

I posed a question to them on Amazon about the finish. I am curious about whether it is ceramic based. I love it, it doesn’t looked sprayed, it appears to be bake on.

@THall, You can also contact
Lars at Vikings Blade
[email protected]

I'm curious how the Augustus compares to the Chieftain. After reading this thread, I'm tempted to to take mine out of it's box where it has been for the last 2 months. The Chieftain was my first DE, and I did not find it to beginner friendly. Now that my technique has improved, it might be time to re-visit.
Doug

 

[THall]

@THall, You can also contact
Lars at Vikings Blade
[email protected]

I'm curious how the Augustus compares to the Chieftain. After reading this thread, I'm tempted to to take mine out of it's box where it has been for the last 2 months. The Chieftain was my first DE, and I did not find it to beginner friendly. Now that my technique has improved, it might be time to re-visit.
Doug

They got back to me via e-mail today and mentioned the brown cognac is a multi step electroplate. I thought it was solid in hand and really nice but before I ordered, I wondered how it would hold up. Any concerns I had about flaking were eliminated after the VB e-mail. Think first batch black handled Variant. Those issues with the Variant went away when they started electroplating the handle.

VB should put that somewhere in the description as it is a positive for their razor. They also mentioned that the silo doors are plated and have an oil based lacquer coating.

 

[Umma2gumma]

Exposed tabs ?

 

[THall]

Exposed tabs ?

Yes, similar to Gillette Adjustables.

 

[MaxG]

Just got mine in today. As others have said, very nice looking, substantial razor. Can't wait to try it out.

C

 

[THall]

Just got mine in today. As others have said, very nice looking, substantial razor. Can't wait to try it out.

C

I mentioned this before but I’ve found that there is a break in period on the spring. What I thought were some slight quirks, worked themselves out completely the more I both used and played with it. Those quirks included occasionally “Resetting” slight gap differences by clicking the baseplate up and down on the max setting (With the silo doors closed) and the silo doors being a little nit picky closing with a blade inserted on the max setting.

I don’t like reading directions for razors, but I saw that they seem to really emphasize keeping it set on max when you open and close the TTO and max only. Not sure why. Now I just do it.

I’m going to get 2 more for my sons down the road. In e-mail communications with them over my curiosity over the finish, they indicated they intend on releasing a short handle in a few months. Not sure what I would prefer more, I like this handle length just fine. Some people have indicated they would like a shorter handle so I get why they’d offer one at some point. For my boys, I’m not sure what I’ll end up getting them.

My advice to someone receiving theirs is to break it in before the first shave, that’s what I’m going to do for my boys when I get theirs. Keep it at the max setting and open and close the TTO a bunch of times. After that, again on the max setting, close the TTO/silo doors and move the dial from max to setting 1 a bunch of times and repeat. Since shave #3, my gap and TTO have been perfect.

Oh and use your slickest soap/cream for use with settings past 7. It gets very aggressive, if you have either an SBS, Timeless Bronze or a Rex, you’ll get my meaning.

 

[MaxG]

Mine had no trouble going to Max from the start; going all the way down to 1 met a little resistance. I discovered the need of opening the doors while on Max when operating the TTO, also on my own, i.e. not reading the directions first. I haven't seen any issue with needing to click the baseplate manually, but I haven't handled it that much.

I haven't loaded it yet, so don't know about the sufficiency of the silo door gap for loading blades.

Very happy with the purchase so far. It's my second VB. I'm also happy with my Godfather, though even just 2 months into DE shaving, it seems very mild, easily the mildest of my few razors.

I have a Fatboy, Slim, Godfather, WCS Midnight 84B, German 37 Slant, and now the Augustus.


C

 

[Olegausany]

Quick question, where arrow points when you have reached max?
Mine goes just a little bit past 9

 

[THall]

Quick question, where arrow points when you have reached max?
Mine goes just a little bit past 9

Mine goes all the way to the middle of the word max. Mentioned this previously, but I think the spring needs a couple of shaves to break in.

 

[MaxG]

Mine goes all the way to the M.

C

 

[THall]

I have been using a Kai blade this week after a very good Lab Blue weekend.

I have found that blade choice in this razor really affects the shave. 2 shaves in with the Kai have rewarded excellent results. The Kai is a tight fit, but it fits perfectly, like it was made for it. Kai is a wider blade than most including my Lab Blue and Yellow.

Initially, I had to tap the top of one of the silo doors because it didn’t want to close over the blade. After doing this the first time, I haven’t had to do it since, probably how I was aligning the blade when I dropped it in. If this happens to anyone else with a Kai, you don’t have to force anything, just open the TTO slightly and tap the door that was sticking as you close the silo doors.

It looks a little scary, but don’t get concerned with the blade exposure with a wider blade like a Kai, it is still smooth and I had no weepers.

 

[pg11]

It’s funny but I’m still learning this razor.

Same here. I am a new DE shaver and have just learned how to do a good shave with Qshave butterfly. After changing to The Emperor razor, the old technique from Qshave did not work well on the new razor. After 2 tries I am still unable to do a close shave within 3 passes. Going so many passes with the Emperor I ended up with razor burns. Have tried Astra SP and silver blue. Astra seems to be a bit better and silver blue doesn't seem to cut well. Hopefully I can find the correct way to use this razor

 

[THall]

Same here. I am a new DE shaver and have just learned how to do a good shave with Qshave butterfly. After changing to The Emperor razor, the old technique from Qshave did not work well on the new razor. After 2 tries I am still unable to do a close shave within 3 passes. Going so many passes with the Emperor I ended up with razor burns. Have tried Astra SP and silver blue. Astra seems to be a bit better and silver blue doesn't seem to cut well. Hopefully I can find the correct way to use this razor

It actually didn’t take me any time to figure out, what I meant was playing with adjustments and gap. The razor has quite an aggressive range for a tto, actually surprised me. The low range is very good also.

I mentioned this previously but the shave is more similar to the Variant than a tto Gillette adjustable. The baseplate as you know goes down with gap increases.

My secret to a BBS shave with any adjustable is to go with the highest tolerable setting WTG and XTG. Then go with a very low setting against the grain if you need to. Settings are different for everyone so it depends on your skin.

I go WTG and XTG at the same time on the first pass.

 

[pg11]

My secret to a BBS shave with any adjustable is to go with the highest tolerable setting WTG and XTG. Then go with a very low setting against the grain if you need to. Settings are different for everyone so it depends on your skin.

I go WTG and XTG at the same time on the first pass.

Very helpful! I actually was confused about which settings to use and ending up changing often without knowing what I was doing. This is my first adjustable razor. Will try your tricks during my learning process.

 

[THall]

Some people claim to have better shaves ending with the aggressive settings against the grain. This was never the case with me and always got irritation doing this. I start off high and end up low.

 

[pg11]

My skin type is sensitive. ATG with aggressive setting will likely give bump or nick. Low setting while ATG sounds best to me.

 

[Olegausany]

My skin type is sensitive. ATG with aggressive setting will likely give bump or nick. Low setting while ATG sounds best to me.

+1

 

[TWake]

Comparing the adjustable razors. As I am approaching retirement, the nostalgia & collect-ability of the old Gillettes swayed me to those, but now am wondering about the new Viking adjustables. Found a nice '69 Black Beauty for $40 and am running it now. The new Vikings look like very nice pieces.
A Viking will be my next one. Tough decision on the tutone or silver tho.
Do they make one that goes to "11"?

 

[Suhrim21]

I want one of those razors. The two tone brass effect looks gorgeous.