First Feather Portable + Feather blade shave

[DougK]

The title says it all. I recently purchased two NIB Feather Portable razors from pauldog (two thumbs up, great vendor) and, after safely stashing one away for the shavepocalypse, I decided to take the other for a test drive this morning. I loaded it with one of the Feather blades that came with the razor, built a nice CADE lather, took a deep breath, and went for my normal three-pass shave (WTG, XTG, and ATG). I had paramedics on call in preparation for the gallons of blood I expected.

Instead of a 911 call and a visit to the blood bank, I came away with just a single tiny nick on my chin after my third pass that closed up with a cold water rinse. I didn't find the Feather razor to be terribly aggressive, just slightly more aggressive than my 1953 ball-end Tech. The handle is shorter than the Tech but the razor feels heavier and sits in my hand more comfortably. It also seems to give a little more tactile and audible feedback than my Tech, making it a very easy razor to control. The blade is as sharp as I was led to believe but it meshes well with the relatively non-aggressive design of the razor. I had no issues with it at all once I figured out the proper angle. There was some roughness in the blade on the first pass but it smoothed out nicely.

Overall, I didn't do as thorough a job as I normally do because I'm not used to the razor yet, but the end result was easily a DFS or DFS+. The areas where I nailed the proper angle are still smooth almost seven hours later. I'm really impressed with the Feather blades; I probably could have skipped the XTG pass and come away with just as smooth of a shave. I'll be curious to see how the razor performs with my usual blade, but I think I found my daily shaver. The Feather/Feather combo is a winner for sure. If the remainder of the shaves on this blade and the second blade that came with it are just as good, I may be placing a bulk blade order in the very near future.

 

[synapticmisfires]

pauldog is great and the feather portable I bought from him seems to be a very solid, very well-made razor. I've only used feathers and Walmart Personnas so far but the feathers definitely work best in it. You would think that the aggressiveness and the sharpness would be a bad mix, but actually the razor just glides along instead of tugging and provides a great shave.

I'm going to be branching out into a lot more blades and some more razors, but I agree with the OPs assessment. I was expecting a horror story when I used a feather in my feather, and instead I found it's a good combo.

 

[Slivovitz]

Does the Feather Portable have a reputation for being aggressive? I got one from Pauldog also, and was expecting something more aggressive than a Tech, but still pretty mild. That's how I found it to be, using a Feather blade. Maybe expectations influence performance.

Oh, I second the endorsement of Pauldog, but actually I don't know of another source if I wanted this razor. I also stocked up on Feather blades from another seller before I realized that he was selling them for less.

 

[petr]

does pauldog have a store?

 

[Slivovitz]

does pauldog have a store?

Look for his ad in the vendor corner forum here.

 

[jrhudgins]

I use my Feather Portables often, but usually with Personna blades(but also with Iridiums, Yellows) . The important thing with these razors is that you have to manually align the blade, both in angle AND side-to-side exposure because there is a fair amount of play in the way the blade sits in the head, and the way the handle lines up with the parts of the head. Not a big deal, really. It is easy to eyeball all this as you tighten the handle. When you do so, it is no more aggressive than a 38C. If you don't, one side of the razor can have more exposure/aggressiveness than the other, and/or the blade can have more exposure on one end than on the other. I like the weight and balance of the Portables.

 

[Aevum]

im just thinking, feather blades are quite sharp, and the feather portable is a gillette ball end tech clone,

thats a scary combination in my opinion,

 

[DougK]

I use my Feather Portables often, but usually with Personna blades(but also with Iridiums, Yellows) . The important thing with these razors is that you have to manually align the blade, both in angle AND side-to-side exposure because there is a fair amount of play in the way the blade sits in the head, and the way the handle lines up with the parts of the head. Not a big deal, really. It is easy to eyeball all this as you tighten the handle. When you do so, it is no more aggressive than a 38C. If you don't, one side of the razor can have more exposure/aggressiveness than the other, and/or the blade can have more exposure on one end than on the other. I like the weight and balance of the Portables.

That's interesting. My blade was perfectly aligned from the start on both sides. And yes, when I say this razor is aggressive, that is in comparison to a Tech; it really feels quite gentle, especially when I compare it to my Parker 91R. I wouldn't even think about putting a Feather blade in that razor.

im just thinking, feather blades are quite sharp, and the feather portable is a gillette ball end tech clone,

thats a scary combination in my opinion,

It's actually not scary at all, it works very well.

 

[johnmrson]

I haven't used mine yet. I'm waiting for my next interstate or overseas business trip to give it a run. Good to hear that it's not too aggressive.

 

[michiganlover]

im just thinking, feather blades are quite sharp, and the feather portable is a gillette ball end tech clone,

thats a scary combination in my opinion,

Why is that a scary combination? A mild razor with a very sharp blade is generally regarded as being a very good combination on this board.

Many people believe the Tech + a Feather to be the best possible combination.

 

[dreadpirate]

I personally find the Feather portable to be on the aggressive side. I would like it a lot more if the handle were a bit longer. Has anyone compared the Feather portable with the travel Merkur?