Lambda Athena First Impressions: Mine arrived last night and had my first shave this morning. The Athena is an engineering marvel and beautiful work of art and exudes quality craftsmanship. In the hand, it feels solid, weighty, and balanced. The curvature of the head is smooth on the face and allows for easy access below the nostrils. The uniquely scalloped bar allows the lather channels to work superbly. The blade feel is modest, more than my 34C, but less than my GC 0.84 and nowhere near the Blackbird. Like the 34C, the Athena feels non-threatening and easy-to-use. Even ATG below the nose it didn’t require excessive attention and was fairly smooth sailing. That said, the Athena is not a one-pass razor. Instead, more like my 34C it required 3 full passes (WTG, XTG, ATG) with considerable touch ups. However, unlike the 34C the result was a true BBS shave, and without any of the irritation which can come from more aggressive razors with more blade feel. In my opinion, because it’s so forgiving it’s an excellent choice for a beginner who is still refining their skill. More importantly, it provides a beautiful, pleasant shaving experience, which although requiring a bit more work, delivers the goods, a BBS!
Lambda Athena First Impression
- Thread starter Teutonblade
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Excellent, well-written review, thank you, May you have many wonderful shaves with your gorgeous razor!
Excellent! Most of us have found the sweet spot to be when you get the loudest "scraping burnt toast" sound. I'll bet you'll find more efficiency as you dial in the angle after a few shaves.
... Thom
... Thom
Does the bronze oxidizes or give a patina or does it stay polished?
Iridian
Cool and slimy
I have my Ares over a year or more by now, no issues. My comparable Timeless Bronze has a slightly black tooth and is a bit more reddish, but in general the marine grade bronze doesn't oxidize quickly if you wipe it dry after a shave.
If you want to be 100% sure. My Athena is 316L steel and I got that for this reason but in hindsight I would not hesitate to get the bronze Athena either and decide more with personal preference or money in mind. Even the weight is fairly equal, steel reportedly a tiny bit more weight compared to the bronze used by Lambda.
I'm sure it depends on humidity etc. where you store the razor, but it will slightly darken over time. I have had my Athena for almost 2 years now, and other than drying it after each shave, I have wiped it down with a polishing cloth only once thus far.
Wow. Thanks for the info on the 316L vs bronze!
Thanks! I haven't invest in a polishing cloth, is that a must?
No, not really. But they are not expensive. Razor Emporium sells a good one for $5.
Nice to know. Thanks!
I used my Athena this morning and noticed it was starting to tarnish a bit. Two minutes with a Cape Cod polishing cloth and it's like new again for its 2nd birthday.
Good to know they have SS version. Wasn’t aware about this.
I buy the micro fiber cloths at Harbor Frieight for a few bucks for 5. Every few shaves I run my toothbrush with a little toothpaste over mine and dry with microfiber. Your water will make a huge difference, but 6 months in mine still looks new.
It definitely starts to develop a patina from the first shave with my water. It easily cleans up with Simichrome if you so desire.
6-7 shaves and no patina for me. Always, always dry all your razors after shaving. I dry mine (Ares V2) with a microfiber cloth very very well. Even if patina start to appear it is very easy to clean it.
Theo uses an alloy that is less prone to patina than others. He really did the market a favor with this alloy.
It's a really beautiful razor.
I'm not sure what blade you used, but a sharp blade with a non-aggressive razor can be a really good combination. I have a Goodfellow Valynor that's a similar neutral shaver and I also had to make 3 passes and touch ups with a Treet or Trig blade. I thought it could do better, so I put a Feather in, which I normally think are to sharp for me, and now the Valynor shaves beautifully. 2 passes and just a little touch-up.
Just a thought for more efficiency.
I'm not sure what blade you used, but a sharp blade with a non-aggressive razor can be a really good combination. I have a Goodfellow Valynor that's a similar neutral shaver and I also had to make 3 passes and touch ups with a Treet or Trig blade. I thought it could do better, so I put a Feather in, which I normally think are to sharp for me, and now the Valynor shaves beautifully. 2 passes and just a little touch-up.
Just a thought for more efficiency.
This razor is downright uncomfortable for me. No idea why. To my face it's one of the worst razors I've ever used. Perhaps defective but I can't see any. Everything looks perfectly normal. Certain not getting the "Greek overlander" vibes others are
I used my new Athena for the first time this morning with a Permasharp blade. It definitely has more blade feel than my brass Overlander, but it was comfortable. The 2-pass shave (WTG +XTG) hit DFS with no nicks or weepers. Alum rubdown after the shave was uneventful. I am pleased with how the first shave went. Truly YMMV.
Mr. Shavington
Knows Hot Turkish Toilets
I don’t think it’s blade feel. I think it’s sound and the brain misinterprets it as blade feel because that’s what it expects to detect. It seems to me there would be a lot more irritation if the blade feel really was the way it appears, because you’re right, there is certainly a lot of feedback.
That’s what I think, anyway. It has 0.3mm gap and zero blade exposure after all. It’s an interesting razor.
The Ares v2 has even more feedback and seems quite aggressive during the shave, but then I feel my skin afterwards and it wasn’t an aggressive shave at all. It’s probably witchcraft.
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