I kon Slant - First Shave

[aWickedBlade]

Hey All,

So, I just got my Ikon slant in the other day ! Fun Times ! Last night was the first chance that I got to use it, and as of right now I am not that impressed. I am going to give it another few weeks to get used to it, and hopefully change my mind. I have been wet shaving for about 4 months now, I do my full head. My first razor was the Futur, and I feel that it is a very aggressive razor. I have it set on a 5, and love it. BUT back to the ikon Slant.

First impressions are that it is a well built item, everything fits into place nice. This is my first three piece DE. I have been hearing all these comments that it is a very aggressive DE, you need to use negative pressure of you will bleed. Reading those comments made me think that its on par with the aggressiveness of the Futur. I have no problem with that, and it was kinda the reason that I wanted to try it.

So, I take the slant apart, pop in a fresh feather, and close her up. First thoughts when I check out the razor placement is " Hmmm, Where is the blade ! This does not look like my Futur blade Gap! " Looks can be deceiving, so I hold further judgement until the shave.

My Shave Routine as of now

-Hot water on the face/head and let it absorb for a moment or two.

-AOS Sandalwood PreShave Oil - I apply this with a brush and go a little heavy on the oil . ( I am a fan of the thickness. I will also be making my own oil after I run out)

-TOBS Sandalwood Shave Cream - This gets done in two parts Make enough lather for my head, shave then make more for my face.

- After the first round, I re-lather and do a second pass. All passes 1 and 2 are along the grain.
- Hot water towel after the shave

- Old Spice after the Towel.

Let me also mention that I have about 2 or 3 days of growth.

So the shave starts, First up my head. It feels food in the hand, definite a fan of the balance. I make sure to go easy on my first pass, dont feel like bleeding ( am I right ). I start on the right hand side my my ear, then work my way to the left. The first pass is good, no issues. I notice that it is not as aggressive as the Futur, but I chalk that up to my technique and lack of pressure. The second thing that I notice is that I felt that it got clogged. I needed to rinse out after the first pass, not needed with the Futur. The audio feedback I feel is also lacking on the Ikon. There were some spots that I missed on the back of my head, but overall it did a decent job.

After the first 2 or 3 passes, I felt that I could use a little more pressure and did not need to be as careful with the Futur. When shaving with the Futur , especially set to a 5 , one mistake and you have a bleeder. I feel this is more so true when head shaving. Finish up the head, and work my way to my face. The only real issue that I had was under the nose. My Futur is a bit better at getting the hairs on the upper lip.

So overall I am not that impressed. Like I mentioned earlier, I am going to put the cause down to technique. Over the next week or so , I will make this my main razor. Hopefully I can get some better shaves. I am kinda upset that is is not as aggressive as alot of people were saying, even with the feathers. My only other beef is the clogging issue.

I will try to post an update after a week or so.


So here is my question is there an adjustable slant with the aggressiveness of the Futur?

-aWickedBlade.

 

[Elbe]

Hey All,
So here is my question is there an adjustable slant with the aggressiveness of the Futur?

AFAIK there was only one adjustable slant ever made, the Walbusch B5 from Solingen. Today it's a rare collectors item and hard to find.
Looks like a Merkur Progress with a slanted head. And was probably manufactured by Merkur for Walbusch.

Walbusch dropped selling razors ages ago, today it is a german seller for shirts.

 

[mastershake]

imo slants are not aggressive to me. i have said many times i didnt think it was very aggressive, but for some reason for me it is efficient at knocking off my barbed wire like whiskers. i do find its not as much of a bbs as my other razors but to get a nice dfs its very easy. i can get to a bbs but with a bit more effort. i also find i can shave quickly with the slant. i can kind of buzz through a shave pretty quickly if im in a hurry or in the morning when im late. if you are looking for bbs every time im not sure the slant is the best from my experience. i do prefer the ikon open comb head to the slant but its not (for me at least) nearly as quick of a shave

 

[skleice]

Best razor I've used. I get effortless, long lasting BBS with zero irritation. It is now my daily driver and I'm waiting on a UFO handle to go with it. Love it!

 

[eezee]

I'm new to slants as well. I purchased a Merkur 37C a couple of weeks ago.

Not sure if this applies to the IKON or not, but watch the blade alignment. I've made other posts here at B&B about this. On all of my other razors I load the blade and screw the handle down with the handle pointing up. I just feel that it helps ith equal blade exposure on either side. I did this with the slant and I got a good shave but not too much better than my DE-89L.

Then I loaded the blade, put on the handle, and turned it right side up with the handle pointing down. There's something about that procedure that aligns the blade differently between the safety bar and the blade keeper. Anyway, when I did that I received the best shave ever.

The fact that your IKON is a 3 piece instead of a 2 piece might make a difference, but ever since I've been paying attention to the blade alignment I absolutely love my Merkur slant.

Good luck with it.

 

[aWickedBlade]

AFAIK there was only one adjustable slant ever made, the Walbusch B5 from Solingen. Today it's a rare collectors item and hard to find.
Looks like a Merkur Progress with a slanted head. And was probably manufactured by Merkur for Walbusch.

Walbusch dropped selling razors ages ago, today it is a german seller for shirts.

Thanks for that info. Did a quick google for it, and it looks interesting.

 

[aWickedBlade]

The fact that your IKON is a 3 piece instead of a 2 piece might make a difference, but ever since I've been paying attention to the blade alignment I absolutely love my Merkur slant.

Blade alignment is one of the other things that I am reading about the Ikon Slants. I am not 100% positive that I am doing it right. Anyone have any photos that show the proper alignment of the blade ?

 

[The Accountant]

Actually there is a You Tube video from Ikon on loading the blade; check that out as well as the other posts on the forum on this subject. If I understand it correctly the blade should be parallel on both sides with the cap; sometimes I need to nudge the blade a bit to achieve this when loading a new blade. It is no big deal to me but to others it is. Having said that I really, really like the shave I get with my I slant.

IMHO and others as well based on their posts the slant design razors are efficient as opposed to aggressive razors. They certainly look aggressive but mine is as mild as my DE 89. Again this is my opinion. I suggest you try it for the next month or so and compare it to other razors before you decide if it is a keeper. If you decide to get rid of it they go quickly on the B/S/T. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[KCee]

Just got mine via MassDrop yesterday; will try to give it a go this weekend. I bought a Merkur 37C a month or so ago and haven't been that overwhelmed by it. There was so much talk about the slants being so efficient yet mild, but it didn't seem all that efficient to me and I also had a hard time with the trouble spot on my neck. The Ikon is certainly prettier and hopefully it shaves as good as it looks.

 

[Ray Todd]

I just got one of the Ikon Slants a couple of weeks ago. I paid closer attention than usual for me when I loaded the first blade. There seems to have been a lot of talk about it. (Incidently, I usually start loading the blade by placing it on top of the blade tray with the handle pointing down like aWickedBlade mentions.) I didn't have any problems with it, and I've had 5 or 6 great shaves. I've used the new slant with a Super Iridium and with a Gillette Rubie and it performed great with both blades.

The fit and finish are excellent. It's well balanced, blemish free, and looks like the well made instrument it is meant to be. It looks better, IMHO, in person than it does on the screen.

I've had a 37c for about five years, and I was really curious to compare the two. The Ikon is several times the price of the Merkur, so I expected it to look and feel like a finer tool - and it did. The resulting shave is so close between the two that I'd say they are dead equal. The feel while using the Ikon was slightly different. With the handle held in about the same way as the Merkur, the blade cuts at a little bit different angle, (or at least that's what it felt like to me). It definitely sings louder than the Merkur. When I was done, I had the same super close, (not quite BBS), shave that I get with my 37c. No cuts, no noticeable irritation.

So there's one more humble opinion for anyone out there that is thinking about feeding your Slant_RAD.

 

[mastershake]

Just got mine via MassDrop yesterday; will try to give it a go this weekend. I bought a Merkur 37C a month or so ago and haven't been that overwhelmed by it. There was so much talk about the slants being so efficient yet mild, but it didn't seem all that efficient to me and I also had a hard time with the trouble spot on my neck. The Ikon is certainly prettier and hopefully it shaves as good as it looks.

glad you got a good one at least many people got ones that were messed up including me. i got one for a christmas gift for someone and it came in pieces and all messed up. they are taking care of it though.

on another note i have now seen three of them and none have any major blade alignment issues. just drop the blade on the head upside down carefully set the base plate on and then screws the handle on just till you get to the baseplate then i take the handle and give it a quick turn to quickly lock the blade in place and no issues so far.