Interchangable Baseplate Razor August (IBRA 2024)

[JAHE]

Day 12 - Above The Tie H2

Today's set up:
A second use Wizamet Super Iridium w/ ATT (classic H2 baseplate).
Two passes [wtg/atg], one day worth of growth were to be tackled.

Here's my "in a nutshell" shave evaluation:

Blade feel
● 8.0/10

Efficiency - whilst shaving
● 7.5./10

Efficiency - longevity of results
● 7.0/10

Ease of use whilst shaving
● 6.0/10

Ease of use to achieve the desired shave result (DFS+/almost BBS)
● 8.0/10

JAHE's enjoyment score:
● 6.5/10

Final thought: when it cuts, it CUTS!

Here's why:
Compared to the CR1 baseplate, today's H2 shave was quite a ride. Although the blade gap isn't terrifying (.91 - and positive blade exposure), this razor certainly has to be considered on the more aggressive side of the spectrum.
It won't cut you out of the nothing, but if your concentration starts to wane, the razor will immediately remind you. Badly. But isn't pink lather fancy?

Either way, I like shaving with it. There's less blade chatter with the H2 baseplate compared to the CR1 baseplate, but still there's some audio feedback. You can reduce the level of blade feel by shaving with a more neutral than steep angle and by picking a very sharp blade. At least, that's my experience with this razor.

If you're looking for an efficient razor and a good dose of blade feel is your thing, you can't go wrong with the ATT H2. However, it's not so easy to find anymore in the wild these days.

 

[Tanuki]

So, I never change baseplates during a shave....

Blackland ERA Level 4 OC, RazoRock thin common bar handle
Gillette Platinum (2)
Conk Lime stick (self-mentholated) for eye-watering prep lathering
La Toja stick for the shave
vintage Star boar (re-knotted)
Level 5 OC (to save time and buffing after Level 4 left work to be done on my neck maelstroms and jawline)
vintage Lilac Vegetal splash

Level 5 is great, Level 4 is mellow but needs oomph. Even if I shaved daily with the L4 I would either be settling for CCS or doing a lot of buffing (or maybe loading a Kai).

This was a fairly fast late night shave. After a day that started early with forestry labor, I was lacking energy but found the motivation to shave. Hey @Beto Salatini , I had Oscar Peterson and then Paul Desmond to keep me company up in the woods.

My neighbor spotted me on one of the game cams he moves around my forest property. Here is a photo he kept from the same cam the afternoon before.

That is probably my pal Dumbledore. I have not seen much sign of him this year. He is one reason I like to play some music while I wield my grub hoe. We both dislike surprise encounters.

 

[Tanuki]

Day 12 - Above The Tie H2

I had not even thought about the IBRs from ATT. I have one baseplate each from their OC and slant choices, an R2 and an S2.

The R2 was enough for me, so I never looked into the H2 option. From your thorough commentary, I think skipping an H2 was OK.

 

[Beto Salatini]

So, I never change baseplates during a shave....

View attachment 1893712View attachment 1893713

Blackland ERA Level 4 OC, RazoRock thin common bar handle
Gillette Platinum (2)
Conk Lime stick (self-mentholated) for eye-watering prep lathering
La Toja stick for the shave
vintage Star boar (re-knotted)
Level 5 OC (to save time and buffing after Level 4 left work to be done on my neck maelstroms and jawline)
vintage Lilac Vegetal splash

Level 5 is great, Level 4 is mellow but needs oomph. Even if I shaved daily with the L4 I would either be settling for CCS or doing a lot of buffing (or maybe loading a Kai).

This was a fairly fast late night shave. After a day that started early with forestry labor, I was lacking energy but found the motivation to shave. Hey @Beto Salatini , I had Oscar Peterson and then Paul Desmond to keep me company up in the woods.

View attachment 1893721My neighbor spotted me on one of the game cams he moves around my forest property. Here is a photo he kept from the same cam the afternoon before.

That is probably my pal Dumbledore. I have not seen much sign of him this year. He is one reason I like to play some music while I wield my grub hoe. We both dislike surprise encounters.

What a wonderful post, splendid music and amazing photo, dear John!
Thank you very much for this mention. You made me extremely happy.

Have a great day!

 

[Iridian]

DSCosmetic S9 / Personna made Amazon "Solimo"

This is a Game Changer clone, but every part is fully compatible with RazoRock.

But DSCosmetic also offers titanium and the baseplate is even a bit more sophisticated and also different beyond the gap between the .84/.9 and the .68 versions, this can also be noticed for the V92 and V95 bronze versions based on the same geometry.

The sun is shining in Germany while I am posting this. It's really summer. Totally weird.

 

[JAHE]

Day 13 - Razorock Lupo .58

Today's set up:
Razorock Lupo .58 w/ second use Wizamet Super Iridium.
Two passes [wtg/atg], one day worth of growth were to be tackled.

Here's my "in a nutshell" shave evaluation:

Blade feel
● 4.0/10

Efficiency - whilst shaving
● 5.5 /10

Efficiency - longevity of results
● 5.5 /10

Ease of use whilst shaving
● 7.5./10

Ease of use to achieve the desired shave result (DFS+/almost BBS)
● 7.0/10

JAHE's enjoyment score:
● 7.5/10

Final thought: low gap, but not low blade feel

Here's why:
One might expect a very mild razor given the rather low blade gap of only .58 of this Lupo, but I don’t tend to confirm this expectation. The razor has a gentle but noticeable amount of blade feel, just like - say - the .72 sibbling.
A minor amount of positive exposure is at play.
Medium agression level, but the blade doesn’t put the skin under severe pressure.

Anyway, I stopped the shave after two passes with a solid DFS. My regular use case would have required a third pass, but for the sake of comparison I called it a day. In addition, the clock showed 0:20 a.m. already once I had finished the shave (started on Tuesday, finished on Wednesday. Thank you, work load ).

Just like its other sibblings the maneuverability of the Lupo .58 is nothing short of excellent.
But this is no new conclusion, no, not at all.

 

[Beto Salatini]

“SOTD - Fly Your Home Flag” Theme Week - August 12-18, 2024
High Efficiency Razors Summer 2024
Interchangable Baseplate Razor August (IBRA 2024)


Hello friends

It's a clear night in this part of the world. I chose the good old Cella Red to accompany me today. With it, a new brush that is starting to give me some pleasure and makes me imagine that it will give me much more, Semogue Pegasus Boar. Inspired by the great theme of this week's SOTD, I chose a blade that I had never used and that is nevertheless the best-selling one here, the Brazilian Wilkinson Sword manufactured at the P&G factory in Manaus, Amazonas. It inspires polarized feelings, it's the kind of blade that you usually either love or hate. I confess that I found it quite smooth, but not very sharp. With it, I used the razor with which I judge the new blades: Greencult 2.0 II, because it is my standard. I finished with the splendid Floïd The Genuine.

In keeping with the atmosphere of the event, instead of jazz, today I accompanied my shave with samba, by the brilliant Jorge Ben Jor

Rating: 10


Have a nice evening and great shaves!

 

[Iridian]

Interesting that you can get Cella in Brazil! I like using the 1 kg blocks and use the same small tub for presentation on B&B only for years already.

 

[JAHE]

Day 15 - Blackland Blackbird SS SB

Today's set up:
Blackland Blackbird SS SB w/ second use Wizamet Super Iridium.
Two passes [wtg/atg], one day and a half worth of growth were to be tackled.

Here's my "in a nutshell" shave evaluation:

Blade feel
● 7.5/10

Efficiency - whilst shaving
● 8.0/10

Efficiency - longevity of results
● 7.0 /10

Ease of use whilst shaving
● 8.0/10

Ease of use to achieve the desired shave result (DFS+/almost BBS)
● 8.0/10

JAHE's enjoyment score:
● 9.0/10

Final thought: the Bird flies, always...

Here's why:
I have decided to sneak in a shave with the stainless steel B'Bird today, before I'll continue my journey with the Lupos... I opted for the SB version, the OC baseplate might be a candidate at a later.

On to the SS Bird...
Everything has been said about this brilliant razor, hasn't it?
And frankly, shaving with the Bird never has dissapointed me. Reliable like the often quoted work horse, the razor provided a highly enjoyable shave today, again.

It is its balance of medium high efficiency and absolutely acceptable smoothness which makes this razor an absolute winner in my books.

As expected, the Bird didn't let me down. DFS+ (perhaps almost BBS on the cheeks) was super easily achived.

Truly, the SS Bird is a performer.

 

[JAHE]

Day 16 - Razorock Lupo SB .95

Today's set up:
Blackland Blackbird SS SB w/ third use Wizamet Super Iridium.
Two passes [wtg/atg], one day worth of growth were to be tackled.

Here's my "in a nutshell" shave evaluation:

Blade feel
● 7.0/10

Efficiency - whilst shaving
● 8.0/10

Efficiency - longevity of results
● 7.0 /10

Ease of use whilst shaving
● 8.0/10

Ease of use to achieve the desired shave result (DFS+/almost BBS)
● 8.0/10

JAHE's enjoyment score:
● 9.0/10

Final thought: Another performance tool!

Here's why:
Back to the Lupo - this time I chose the .95 SB variant. Today's outing kind of reminded me of yesterday's Blackbird shave. In terms of efficiency whilst shaving and the longevity of the shaving result, that is. The Lupo, however, provided a gentler shave in terms of (lower) blade feel.

I caught a very minor redness on my neck, the .95 Lupo isn’t a slouch, but one hour later it already had disappeared

Overall, a stunningly performing shaver! And did I already mention that I'm smelling devine...?

Cheers!

 

[Tanuki]

Karve side-by-side comparison, so it doesn't count as baseplate swapping.
SB-E first on the left side, then OC-D on the right

Rosseforp company time handle
Gillette Platinum (3)
vintage Stanley pure badger original knot
Mitchell Wool Fat face lathered

SB-E offers far more blade feel, efficiency is similar for these plates. The right side neck maelstrom is the toughest spot to shave. I was guilt of chasing the baby. Very happy with the result.

A vintage Jeris Lilac TW splash at the end.

 

[Iridian]

Hey guys, I don't even know myself yet with what I will shave tonight or tomorrow, but just felt like adding something about the Timeless Slim .5 OC.

It is perhaps my most favorite razor, one could argue the cap works with all Timeless baseplates and I could have posted it here, but I was busy yesterday and my photo mojo and motivation really failed me lately, so apologies.

There is a way to adjust the shave without changing baseplates. The angle used when shaving can change the characteristics of the razor dramatically.

Think of the Blackbird. It shaves best more shallow than usual, but many here use it steep. Not me, I can't quite understand that, but then...

... the Timeless Slim, OC or SB both, has a rather narrow angle for SMOOTH shaving. And it is also rather shallow compared to the Timeless .95 OC and other razors.

But I rather like it best when riding the bar instead of the cap. And then it really has a scraping type of shave that definitely is absolutely not for many fellow shavers here. But as you probably guessed, that's my favorite way to operate it.

Some razors only allow a narrow angle to cut anything at all, that's mostly true for mild razors. Some give extremely much leeway or change character, the Timeless Slim and the Smart Helix Apollo (the Light version at least, I only have the aggressive plate for this one. Ha, you might guess which razor I just thought of using next... I don't want to blame the razor for blown up pipelines, after all. But maybe I should not shave with it when drunken.) for instance. And then there are others who have as trademark feature how much locked in the angle is. I am not a fan of this design and they have their very own threads, so they shall not be named here.

While we can change baseplates, different baseplates often change the way the shave feels rather less than fiddling around with the angle.At least right now no razor comes to my mind that changes its characteristics much with increased gap.

 

[cranewarrior]

8/17/2024

DSCosmetics AXSE, Baseplate #1
Astra Superior Platinum (Russian)
Mudder Focker Soap

Hmm, this combination was too mild. I'll try a higher plate number next time.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I've been reading and enjoying this thread since it showed up on "New Posts" back on July 28th. I look at my Top Razor List and it turns out, I do have a few razors that qualify: the La Faulx (I only have the Classic base plate), the Timeless razors, as all the parts are interchangeable, my Blutt BR-1 (I currently only have the 1.20 base plate). I'm pretty sure that's it.

Today, I had a brilliant shave with my Timeless Hybrid: scalloped bronze cap, titanium 0.68OC base plate and Ti Crown handle with a bronze razor stand.... It truly is a stunning looking razor... and the shaves shine too. I owe it to Mark / @BigAlVista as he gave me the idea of using the bronze caps on two of my hybrid Timeless razor heads.

 

[Tanuki]

Minimum time, minimum tools, minimum baseplate, too much buffing.

Karve OC-B, Rosseforp handle, Gillette Platinum(4), Omega cream, slick hand left, shave hand right.

OC-B = hunting bear with a .22
It might possibly annoy the bear and it will probably get a guy in trouble.
It is easy to make extra 'passes' and buff like an over-stimulated janitor when the slick hand instantly detects and re-lubricates the rough spots. For me, with the seldom chosen OC-B, the rough spots are plentiful and persistent. The Pinaud Reserve Brandy Spice was aflame!

 

[JAHE]

Day 18 Giesen & Forsthoff Timor SB

Today's set up:
Giesen & Forsthoff Timor SB w/ second use Wizamet Super Iridium.
Two passes [wtg/atg], one day worth of growth were to be tackled.

Here's my "in a nutshell" shave evaluation:

Blade feel
● 2.5/10

Efficiency - whilst shaving
● 3.5/10

Efficiency - longevity of results
● 4.0 /10

Ease of use whilst shaving
● 8.0/10

Ease of use to achieve the desired shave result (DFS+/almost BBS)
● 2.0/10

JAHE's enjoyment score:
● 5.0/10

Final thought: a healing razor!

Here's why:
The Timor OC and SB share the very same topcap, hence the Timor qualifies for this event.

I'd say this Timor SB is the mildest razors in my whole razor lineup. It's practically impossible to get a cut with this razor. It's very gentle. If used daily I shave three passes at least with it, and due to a rather small gap precision is needed to get the shaving angle right.

My standard use case, however, is different from a regular three pass shave. I regularly pick this razor whenever I had a rough shave the other day, since the Timor doesn't put my skin under pressure. There's a reason why G&F advertises it as "the gentle shaver" - so it's the perfect razor suited for a shave when not shaving was the alternative otherwise. Which isn't an alternative, right?

To be clear, I didn't have a rough shave on Saturday. I only picked the Timor for the purpose of this event. Two passes, almost DFS. Gentle and nice... all you need on a Sunday.

Enjoy your Sunday, y'all!

 

[Iridian]

Smart Helix Apollo Light / Amazon Solimo

This razor is available in three versions: As Apollo, where you flip the baseplate, or as Apollo Light where you have to pick the mild or the aggressive plate.

This is the aggressive version. It's aggressive but you have a lot of leeway with the shaving angle, for a milder shave you can go very shallow.

I really love the handle, the head itself is quite demanding and one has to be careful. The head doesn't guide you to a certain angle, maybe the mild plate does?

 

[JAHE]

Day 19 - Timeless Bronze OC. 78

Today's set up:
Timeless Bronze .78 OC w/ second use Wizamet Super Iridium.
Two passes [wtg/atg], one day worth of growth were to be tackled.

Here's my "in a nutshell" shave evaluation:

Blade feel
● 8.5/10

Efficiency - whilst shaving
● 8.0/10

Efficiency - longevity of results
● 7.0 /10

Ease of use whilst shaving
● 2.0/10

Ease of use to achieve the desired shave result (DFS+/almost BBS)
● 5.0/10

JAHE's enjoyment score:
● 10/10

Final thought: bronze beast!

Here's why:
The contrast between yesterday's shave with the uber mild Timor and today's shave with the Timeless Bronze OC aka the "bronze beast" couldn't be greater... in my den, the Timeless marks the far end of the aggressiveness scale. There's only the Stirling Soap Company razor w/Hyper Aggressive baseplate which comes close... which is an IBR, too, what I just happened to realize.

You may be wondering why I enjoyed shaving with the Bronze so much. The reason I gave the shave a stellar 10/10 is simple: for the first time, I managed to finish a shave with this razor with no cuts, nicks or tears. Nothing. Just uninjured skin.

I have a slight feeling that the shaving angle (slightly steeper than neutral) may have tipped the balance in my favour, but I'll have to try again. Maybe I just got lucky today. We'll see.

 

[Iridian]

How about a relaxing shave with the R41 after that one. This is... wanted to say one of the few, but actually it is the only one where I didn't even get the idea to shave daily. It's a very demanding razor that requires a lot of focus to avoid injury indeed.

Should have got the Stirling, I really like the handles it came with. Wonder if anyone figured out by now which Chinese machine shop made their razors. Someone apparently did as they had to file off the Made in USA from the baseplates.

 

[JAHE]

Wonder if anyone figured out by now which Chinese machine shop made their razors. Someone apparently did as they had to file off the Made in USA from the baseplates.

That's true for a portion of the Stirling SS razors only.

Here's the thing: the initially hired machine shop (US based) produced a first batch (entirely made in US). But then the machine shop subcontracted the rest of the razors ordered by Stirling in a second batch to a Chinese machine shop without telling Stirling about it.

When Stirling got aware of the fraud Stirling decided to not sell the second batch. Only at a later stage (in fact, years later!) Stirling eventually decided to sell the Chinese made razors after having removed the "made in US" labeling. Resonably, Stirling seeked to reduce their financial loss this way. Full transpareny has been maintained by Stirling prior to offering the Chinese made razors, which were offered with a significant discount.

I'd say one should praise Stirling for this approach. I'm not entirely sure every manufacturer had acted like Stirling did.

Have an eye on BST. But you likely have to be patient...