First shave with a Fatboy

[Teppanyaki]

I have now officially shaved for the first time with an adjustable razor.

I received a nicely plated (nickel) Fatboy today, and after cleaning it I took it for a 2 pass test drive with my Muhle silvertip fiber brush, Stirling's MITA, and a Voskhod for a blade. Turned it to "3" and then closed the doors/locked it.

In case I forget, thank you to whomever wrote to tighten the knob a quarter turn to lock the blade. It might have been ugly otherwise . . .

In a word, it shaves . . . beautifully. Smooth, heavy, grippy, and elegant in a brute force kind of way that reminds me of vintage cars. I didn't have any issues shaving under my nose keeping the handle perpendicular to the floor and rolling the blade down in a north-to-south pass and then a bit of towards-the-midline for right under the nose on pass #2 (and another north-to-south for the lower lip). It's now on my top shelf (my active rotation shelf) waiting for tomorrow.

I think I understand a little more why some people recommend adjustables - it shaves as smoothly as a non-adjustable razor, and if I want to tweak it a little I can (without shimming it). I strongly prefer the Fatboy aesthetics to the Slim or the Super Adjustable (otherwise I'd have gone for a birth year super Adjustable or a Slim).

My only gripe is the nickel - it's a warm silvery tone, but it's not the bright bluish silver of my chrome Tech (Krona replated). If it becomes a regular, I may end up getting it plated with gold (or possibly chrome).

The other thing I wanted to mention is that it feels a lot like my Tech (in terms of the safety bar and the smoothness). That's if you ignore the heavier weight and the big head. I guess it's like saying that a steak is a lot like tofu, if you ignore the flavor and the texture (and the appearance).

 

[Draven451]

Cheers on your first Fatboy shave! Sounds like it went well.

 

[rxonmymind]

Yaay! It's one of my favorite.

 

[Luecke2326]

My freshly nickeled Fatboy(from krona) is waiting for its first use tomorrow! The LC bar handled New(also recently replated) was an amazing first shave this morning(thanks for the suggestion)!

 

[Trek2100]

I love the FatBoy and equally the Slim. I have the Super 84 and Super 109 but have not used them yet as they look like new and I'm currently enjoying looking at them. The reason your FatBoy feels like your Tech is you have the setting set to 3. That is a very mild setting. Try using a 5. It's only slightly more aggressive and you can easily attain a BBS. I've tried mine up to 9 but it's not necessary, at least for me. YMMV.

 

[zygalski]

5 feels like about the same aggression as the DE89 to me. Maybe a touch more which would make sense, as the blade gap on 5 is 0.85mm. That's where I always seem to have my Fatboy set to.

 

[Teppanyaki]

I'll probably try 4 and 5 (4 tomorrow, I think).

My usual shave is a 2 pass, WTG/WTG to XTG, ending in a DFS. I don't go for BBS or ATG, and I frequently get distracted by other aspects of my shave to always be mindful of my angle, so I tend to like in the "mild to moderate" range these days.

 

[farmdog]

You gotta love the solid feel of the Fatboy. 4 works for me.

 

[SyntheticEvil13]

I love my Fatboy. It's a really smooth shaver. Some people don't like the weight of it but, that's one of the things I love about it. Mine is set at 7. I don't think I'll try anything higher than that.

 

[Ratpoison]

Just when I think that I made up my mind I read things like this. Can’t decide whether to get another slim this time in my birth year & quarter or go for a fatboy. Ohhh I’m so confused.

 

[paulm]

Agree that Fatboys are a real pleasure to use

I had mine replated in nickel also and likewise wish I had gone for chrome and may well have it redone at some stage. In the meantime it's my daily user and I've settled on the 7 setting as giving a very close shave without irritation for me.

Cheers, Paul

 

[Teppanyaki]

Shaved with 4/WTG and 3/XTG to WTG today. Another nice shave. I may try 5 tomorrow, but if that shaves the way 3 and 4 do then I may just stick with 3 . . . I like knowing that it's on a "mild" setting.

[I had mine replated in nickel also and likewise wish I had gone for chrome and may well have it redone at some stage./QUOTE]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of nickel. Krona Kruiser has a "bright nickel" finish that looks pretty nice, but I prefer the bluish silver of chrome. The difference is that if I go with chrome I can send it to Krona, but if I want gold it's a long trip across the pond to onotoman (and trying to find his darn address in the US postal system database! Last trip to the post office the postmaster and I spent some time guessing where to send it to). I highly recommend either of them based on the work I've received back.

 

[01HDFXD]

Fat Boys are great razors. Mine is currently at Krona Kruiser's place waiting its turn to be replated. When it comes back, I am debating whether to keep it or give it to my 34 year-old son, whom I am introducing to wet shaving this Christmas with a Merkur 38 HD barber pole and a variety of other goodies. I figure that, by the time I get the Fat Boy back, he will probably have started to develop the inevitable RAD.

 

[one cut]

Teppanyaki welcome to the fat boy club.

 

[SyntheticEvil13]

Fat Boys are great razors. Mine is currently at Krona Kruiser's place waiting its turn to be replated. When it comes back, I am debating whether to keep it or give it to my 34 year-old son, whom I am introducing to wet shaving this Christmas with a Merkur 38 HD barber pole and a variety of other goodies. I figure that, by the time I get the Fat Boy back, he will probably have started to develop the inevitable RAD.

I have two fatboys, both E4s, that I've been thinking about sending to Krona to get replated.

 

[Teppanyaki]

Another really nice shave from my Fatboy with a Sputnik, from my Russian sampler. I'm sticking with a 3 for exposure currently, and playing around with a 2.

For some reason, I'm on a Tech/Fatboy kick recently. Nice shaves, friendly razors, and a minimum of nicks/cuts/et cetera (the cat distracted me once when I was shaving XTG under my nose!).

I hate to contribute to Fatboy inflation, but it is a nice razor . . . I do like the heavy shaving head, which feels differently than a Tech with a heavy handle. Both are great, though.

I think that I'm set for razors (not handles), unless I get into modern stainless razors or straights/shavettes. Famous last words . . .