Lambda Athena

[Phoenixkh]

Great news! The Athena has landed and it's exquisite! Truly a wonderful razor to hold I couldn't help myself and wanted to test this theory based on what @JAHE asked. I have a fair bit of growth so decided to take the razor to my beard without a blade and as it brushed against my beard it made and audible sound so based on that I can assume its the channels of the safety bar carrying the sound through the lather channel and sort of amplifying it as it resonates through the head.
Given how well machined it is there is also a chance the handle is helping too with its very sleek finish on the top of the handle and base of the base plate not to mention the handle design as well as material itself. I feel like these aspects probably help the sound to carry through the head kind of like a tuning fork.

The corners are fairly sharp, if I drag the corner over the back of my hand it will leave a white scratch mark on the skin but my Smart-Helix Apollo Light razor is like that too and I absolutely love that razor. I don't see it being a huge problem at this point and imagine it will be a non-issue for me.

I tested it with a blade in and no lather but immediately found the angle. It felt so good! I am honestly so eager to use this. Unfortunately I am feeling a little off color lately and will have to wait a few hours or until tomorrow to shave. I might try take a few pics later too if I can. I don't really have a nice location for pics or the lighting for it but will give it a shot.

I also received a new Omega brush today too so all in all it has been a pretty great day.

Congratulations on the arrival of your Athena. I think you’ll love it.

 

[V12Stu]

After a few more shaves with the Athena - which were all excellent - I changed my mind about the sharp corners on the base plate - they're too sharp for me at least.

So, I no longer have sharp corners......

I worked out a method over the weekend to radius the corners and despite starting the process with a little trepidation, it was actually very easy and the result is indistinguishable from a "factory finish". I shaved with my "improved" Athena (shall we call it the iAthena? ) last night and the corners had disappeared from my consciousness as I shaved.

I'm not very good at macro or product photography but I'll try to post a couple of pictures of the result later today, and if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll describe the method I used with a few photos I took with my phone along the way.

 

[Guido75]

I worked out a method over the weekend to radius the corners and despite starting the process with a little trepidation

I know exactly how you feel brother - and fortunately it is all a personal matter. Enjoy your iAthena!

Guido

 

[spacemonkey42]

I'm not very good at macro or product photography but I'll try to post a couple of pictures of the result later today, and if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll describe the method I used with a few photos I took with my phone along the way.

Yes, please share, I am sure it would be of interest to folks here.

 

[V12Stu]

Yes, please share, I am sure it would be of interest to folks here.

OK - here goes. Apologies in advance for the poor standard of photos but macro photography is not one of my skills....

First step was to mask the baseplate to prevent any accidental damage, leaving just the corners exposed:

Next, each corner was ground gently on a whetstone used for sharpening chisels - I used the edge of the whetstone rather than the main face as it was slightly easier to manoeuvre the baseplate.

Each corner was ground by dragging it in short strokes along the whetstone maybe 10 to 15 times times to remove the sharp point. This created a flat facet as equi-angled to each edge as I could manage. Then, I dragged each corner a few times with a rounding motion to introduce the start of a radius along each edge into the corner - but only a very short distance into the edge. Finally, I ground the underside edge of each corner very slightly - and only just (and I mean just) starting to form a radius onto the underside. After each couple of strokes, I stopped, felt the corner with my finger, looked closely and went again - slowly, slowly so as not to overdo anything.

This gave the basic form I wanted. Next step was to smooth the rough shape I had created and start to polish the surface of the radius back to a highly polished finish.

For this, I used a flat square of quite dense foam as a base with a square of 400 grit micromesh on top (micromesh is an abrasive paper but with a textile backing instead of paper). The abrasive was used with 3-in-1 oil (normal household lubricating oil).

Each corner was then refined by pushing the corner down quite hard onto the abrasive and polishing it with a circular motion. The reason for using the foam base and pushing quite hard onto it was to allow the abrasive to form a concave 'cup' shape, thereby creating a natural radius. Maybe 1 to 2 minutes per corner, checking after every 10 to 15 seconds.

This created the final form ready for polishing which was a repeat of the above but using first 8,000 grit micromesh and then Cape Cod polishing cloth.

Maybe 2 to 3 mins with the 8,000 grit micromesh, then about the same with the Cape Cod.

Remove the tape, thoroughly clean and a quick polish all over with the Cape Cod and we're done - about 30 mins in total.

Results in following post.....

 

[V12Stu]

I probably made it sound more complicated than it really was - it was fairly straight-forward really.

Again, not the best pictures but hopefully you get the idea - the result:

 

[Guido75]

Very nicely done @V12Stu - chapeau for your skill here.

 

[never-stop-learning]

I probably made it sound more complicated than it really was - it was fairly straight-forward really.

Again, not the best pictures but hopefully you get the idea - the result:

View attachment 1658322

View attachment 1658323

View attachment 1658325

View attachment 1658326

Nicely done!

 

[never-stop-learning]

This gets filed under the heading of "It’s A Tough Job, But Someone Has To Do It".

To satisfy the compulsions of BOSC SCIENCE, I bought a Lambda Athena and a Wolfman Ti WR2 1.25 SB to see how they would compare to each other, and also to the razors that currently hold the Alpha Big Dog Razor title.

Rather than cross post to both Athena and Wolfman threads, my initial impressions and comments are posted at the following link: Post in thread 'never-stop-learning's Quest for Knowledge' never-stop-learning's Quest for Knowledge - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/never-stop-learnings-quest-for-knowledge.611194/post-12251034

 

[mynameisguyincognito]

I probably made it sound more complicated than it really was - it was fairly straight-forward really.

Again, not the best pictures but hopefully you get the idea - the result:

View attachment 1658322

View attachment 1658323

View attachment 1658325

View attachment 1658326

I definitely would have kept my 2023 Athena if it looked like that but I ended up returning it for a refund.

 

[never-stop-learning]

20230522
Razor: Lambda Athena (TiBam Radiator Titanium Handle)
Blade: Perma-Sharp (2)
Brush: Paladin Chief B&B 2023 Contributors Brush (Paladin 26mm Two-band Synthetic Semi-Bulb/Hybrid knot)
Bowl: Captain's Choice Copper
Lather: Martin de Candre Nature
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman Lilac Vegetal

Please visit my Journal (link below) for shave notes and musings: Post in thread 'never-stop-learning's Quest for Knowledge' never-stop-learning's Quest for Knowledge - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/never-stop-learnings-quest-for-knowledge.611194/post-12252260

 

[Cal]

I normally post my SOTDs in the SOTD Threads (and my current Athena Fixed Four thread), but I decided to post today's SOTD here too, as I just made a new Athena discovery (for me that is).

---

SOTD (Fixed Four: 15 of 31)

Brush: Shavemac 20/46 Silvertip 2-Band
Soap: Clubman
Razor: Lambda Athena X28 (15)
Blade: Gillette 7o'clock Black (1)
ASL: Caffè Latte [home brew]

Another fine shave.

For some unknown reason, I felt like changing my blade today. I normally renew my blades when they've given me around 15 to 30 shaves... and I tend to notice very little difference between the retired blade and the new one.

Today, with the Athena, it was a different story. The blade felt much sharper than my (retired at 14 shaves) one yesterday, AND the sound effects just about doubled!

I certainly see what @Mr. Shavington means when he says he discovers new and different things about his Athena on a fairly regular basis. This is definitely a fun razor.


Happy shaves guys.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I probably made it sound more complicated than it really was - it was fairly straight-forward really.

You did a great job of it.

Thanks and happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Burnt Monroe]

No signs of my razor yet so that I can weigh in with my opinion. I was actually letting my hair grow out in anticipation of this razor but since there has been virtually no movement on tracking for my razor since I mentioned it last time I will have to have a shave tomorrow. Maybe if I am lucky it will magically arrive tomorrow otherwise I will wait another week and then may have to email Theo and see if he can follow it up or if he recalls the wait time for others that have had an Ares or Athena razor shipped to them in Australia.
I think it's almost been a full month now since it was shipped.

I just don't wanna be one of those customers. lol

Sounds like you have had a really fantastic shave @Chan Eil Whiskers
I'm glad you were able to take your time and really enjoy it too.

I had my Athena and Ares sent to Sydney.... it DID take around five weeks - it seemed to get held up for quite awhile in that final, obscure, thinly-populated Greek port, (as it looked on Google maps,) before it took the major leap to the antipodes..... then it was quick movement.... Good Luck....!!

 

[Burnt Monroe]

Great news! The Athena has landed and it's exquisite! Truly a wonderful razor to hold I couldn't help myself and wanted to test this theory based on what @JAHE asked. I have a fair bit of growth so decided to take the razor to my beard without a blade and as it brushed against my beard it made and audible sound so based on that I can assume its the channels of the safety bar carrying the sound through the lather channel and sort of amplifying it as it resonates through the head.
Given how well machined it is there is also a chance the handle is helping too with its very sleek finish on the top of the handle and base of the base plate not to mention the handle design as well as material itself. I feel like these aspects probably help the sound to carry through the head kind of like a tuning fork.

The corners are fairly sharp, if I drag the corner over the back of my hand it will leave a white scratch mark on the skin but my Smart-Helix Apollo Light razor is like that too and I absolutely love that razor. I don't see it being a huge problem at this point and imagine it will be a non-issue for me.

I tested it with a blade in and no lather but immediately found the angle. It felt so good! I am honestly so eager to use this. Unfortunately I am feeling a little off color lately and will have to wait a few hours or until tomorrow to shave. I might try take a few pics later too if I can. I don't really have a nice location for pics or the lighting for it but will give it a shot.

I also received a new Omega brush today too so all in all it has been a pretty great day.

Oh, Great......!

 

[Guido75]

The Lambda is an enigmatic piece of engineering. The angle is intuitive and yet not autopilot so there are areas where I could have been more effective with a different angle or I could have maintained the angle better (I think I have had moments where I was just moving lather around). As opposed to my previous head shaves I had little to none blade feel even though I was well aware the blade was there. This first shave was moderately efficient in the sense that I might have been prepared for a 2 pass shave, but today 3 passes were necessary to get the job done. However, after rinsing and cleaning up I noticed that parts of my face were either in or approaching marble status telling me that when I get the angle right this will be an even more effective razor.

Other interesting observations were that when rinsing the razor some residual water is retained - even when shaking the razor. This water somehow is subsequently released during the passes acting as additional lubricator on the lather. I believe @Mr. Shavington first reported this feature. Fascinating.

Finally, I am already very glad to have squared the corners of the baseplate. During dry shaves I noticed the original baseplate left stretch marks on my skin. Today was just smooth sailing all the way. Amazing razor. Does it blow all the other razors out of the water? Not yet at least, but most certainly a top tier razor in my collection. I think the Ti95 and Athena are equals in smoothness and comfort. The Ti95 is my favourite design, but the Athena is a very close second. I think it’s in the same ballpark as the GC2 - slightly smoother and slightly more comfortable. And I had the idea the Athena is more manoeuvrable compared to the GC2. Compared to the R41 the Athena wins. I would say it’s a velvet R41. This is by no means a knock on the R41 though.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I opened my second "heritage" Athena earlier this morning. I did a cursory examination of the bottom plate corners between my first one (22-160) and the current one (23-019). They look exactly the same... feel the same when I run my finger and/or thumb over them.

I had thought the first one had more rounded corners like the photos @Mr. Shavington posted, but no.... I just looked again. I doubt you could tell the difference yourself if you felt them or looked at them. I know I don't have enough resolution in iPhone photos to distinguish between the two. I doubt my 100L Canon Macro lens could pick up any differences.

That being the case, I doubt I'll round the corners on either of them, but I did talk to Theo about it.... I was going to match the corners of the first one as I noted above but that's moot now. If I feel so inclined at a later date when this jet lag dissipates, I might run the corners of both base plates over some 6000 grit sandpaper but I suspect I'll leave them alone. They've never affected me when shaving. That is one of the beauties of solid metal razors. You don't have to worry about destroying the plating and exposing the base metal.

 

[JAHE]

You don't have to worry about destroying the plating and exposing the base metal.

The Athena isn't a plated razor, is it?

Regarding the pointyness of the corners I definitely could feel a difference on my two baseplates, though the pointiness was not overly pronounced...

The baseplate of my second razor had been rounded by Theo upon my request. Smooth right out of the gate. I then rounded the "first" baseplate by using a fine nail polishing file, as introduced by @Guido75. It took me only two or three minutes. Pretty easy and fool proof, actually.

I'd expect Theo will round the baseplates of the razors of the upcoming batches just a bit more by default... it took me not much efforts to totally smooth out the corners and the razor kept looking sharp. Pun intended

Cheers!

 

[AU55IE]

I feel like I have so much to say but what can I really add that others haven't said already.

I have only had one shave with it so far but my word what I remarkable razor! I honestly feel like this is the best if not one of the best shaves I have ever had. To be clear I have several other razors I love but I feel like it's razors like this and experiences like this that help refine you as a shaver. My face felt like a 15 year old boy after this shave.

From the very first moment I felt the razor I could tell it was very smooth yet efficient, even without looking at the blade reveal I could immediately tell from the way it glided across my face that the blade exposure was not high. The blade was present but never at all in a menacing sort of way, just enough to give you the presence of blade and feedback to give you a tactile feel to enjoy your shave. It's the perfect balance of blade feel and smoothness that so few razors can attain.

At this point I am a bit conflicted about the corners of the razor and feel as though they could either be an hindrance/oversight or an intentional asset. It's not immediately noticeable depending on which plane of your face you are starting at. I found the corners are much more pronounced whilst going across the grain or your angle is a little steep. Going across the grain you may find that due to the curvature of your face and cheek the corner may dig (that's probably a harsher word than necessary) into your cheek if you aren't careful. In regards to my second point it may also tie in with the first point as it may often be difficult to maintain a good angle with any razor if you aren't paying so much attention but I digress. The steeper you use the razor the more you are going to feel the sharp corners but I also find that this can act as a guide not to use this razor as steep as you would perhaps other razors as I feel it is not the ideal angle for this razor to achieve a good shave but having said that it is immediately easy to find a good angle given the curvature of the head and blade feel which you can feel engage with your skin.
I am not sure if I will soften the corners on the base plate yet but it is encouraging to see that is possible. I would be comfortable with perhaps a much more subtle polish on the corner just to dull it a little as it's just a fraction too pronounced.

I wonder if we were to take it to a vote what the results would be but I feel like I should mention it to Theo just to give him some food for thought. I personally feel as though if he had left it as it was prior to this batch or as the corners once were then we would be able to focus on the many positive aspects of this razor and the shave rather than constantly analyzing the corners.

I found the handle to be perfect and very intelligently designed to meet an aesthetic point within theme as well as a functional point of providing great balance and tactile touch in the correct places. The non cylindrical shape of the handle within the top of the handle allows me to grip it well which is further supported by the matte sections of the handle. I also find that by design these matte sections encourage you where to place your finger tips for an optimal shave. I feel as though the matte ring on the lower part of the handle supports this by giving you a point of where to hold it when going against the grain particularly in areas under the chin and around the neck. Another perhaps subtle design choice is the concave base of the handle which for me encourage a more comfortable point to rest finger in on the bottom as I often do.
There were absolutely no issues with the handle being slippery at all during this shave.

There is definitely an audible feedback given with this razor but its perhaps it will be more noticeable when the stubble of the hair is much shorter as my growth was much longer and as a result softer which does not really create a frictional resistance to create a louder sound but it was definitely there. Subsequent shaves in shorter intervals will perhaps reveal this feature more so.
The hair did get caught in the head and base plate but not enough to be a huge problem and at one point I did loosen the head to check and more efficiently release more of the hair but this will not be a problem with regular shaving. There was no lather built up at all inside and the channels worked very well to keep it clean under a rinse. As others have mentioned the water created a jet stream outside of the side of the head in similar fashion to the Blackbird however the Athena was able to shoot a stream of water outside of my bowl.

In the end I was left with an extremely close and smooth shave with zero irritation, zinging, stinging, weepers, nicks, rough spots, or razor burn at all. If every shave was this good I would be a very happy shaver.

I am eager to try this with different blades. At first I was going to use the BiC Astor blades provided but wanted to use a blade I was more familiar with. I had completely forgot about the BiC Chrome Platinum as I was so excited for the shave and ended up using a blade I have been using quite a lot lately... Derby Extra! It's on its 7th or more use now and still doing a good job but part of me cannot help but wonder if I had put in a fresh blade or any other blade of my choice I would have perhaps had an even better experience but you just cannot argue with the results. BRILLIANT!!

Sorry about the long post but I find this razor fascinating. I look forward to my next shave with it.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

I feel like I have so much to say but what can I really add that others haven't said already.

I have only had one shave with it so far but my word what I remarkable razor! I honestly feel like this is the best if not one of the best shaves I have ever had. To be clear I have several other razors I love but I feel like it's razors like this and experiences like this that help refine you as a shaver. My face felt like a 15 year old boy after this shave.

From the very first moment I felt the razor I could tell it was very smooth yet efficient, even without looking at the blade reveal I could immediately tell from the way it glided across my face that the blade exposure was not high. The blade was present but never at all in a menacing sort of way, just enough to give you the presence of blade and feedback to give you a tactile feel to enjoy your shave. It's the perfect balance of blade feel and smoothness that so few razors can attain.

At this point I am a bit conflicted about the corners of the razor and feel as though they could either be an hindrance/oversight or an intentional asset. It's not immediately noticeable depending on which plane of your face you are starting at. I found the corners are much more pronounced whilst going across the grain or your angle is a little steep. Going across the grain you may find that due to the curvature of your face and cheek the corner may dig (that's probably a harsher word than necessary) into your cheek if you aren't careful. In regards to my second point it may also tie in with the first point as it may often be difficult to maintain a good angle with any razor if you aren't paying so much attention but I digress. The steeper you use the razor the more you are going to feel the sharp corners but I also find that this can act as a guide not to use this razor as steep as you would perhaps other razors as I feel it is not the ideal angle for this razor to achieve a good shave but having said that it is immediately easy to find a good angle given the curvature of the head and blade feel which you can feel engage with your skin.
I am not sure if I will soften the corners on the base plate yet but it is encouraging to see that is possible. I would be comfortable with perhaps a much more subtle polish on the corner just to dull it a little as it's just a fraction too pronounced.

I wonder if we were to take it to a vote what the results would be but I feel like I should mention it to Theo just to give him some food for thought. I personally feel as though if he had left it as it was prior to this batch or as the corners once were then we would be able to focus on the many positive aspects of this razor and the shave rather than constantly analyzing the corners.

I found the handle to be perfect and very intelligently designed to meet an aesthetic point within theme as well as a functional point of providing great balance and tactile touch in the correct places. The non cylindrical shape of the handle within the top of the handle allows me to grip it well which is further supported by the matte sections of the handle. I also find that by design these matte sections encourage you where to place your finger tips for an optimal shave. I feel as though the matte ring on the lower part of the handle supports this by giving you a point of where to hold it when going against the grain particularly in areas under the chin and around the neck. Another perhaps subtle design choice is the concave base of the handle which for me encourage a more comfortable point to rest finger in on the bottom as I often do.
There were absolutely no issues with the handle being slippery at all during this shave.

There is definitely an audible feedback given with this razor but its perhaps it will be more noticeable when the stubble of the hair is much shorter as my growth was much longer and as a result softer which does not really create a frictional resistance to create a louder sound but it was definitely there. Subsequent shaves in shorter intervals will perhaps reveal this feature more so.
The hair did get caught in the head and base plate but not enough to be a huge problem and at one point I did loosen the head to check and more efficiently release more of the hair but this will not be a problem with regular shaving. There was no lather built up at all inside and the channels worked very well to keep it clean under a rinse. As others have mentioned the water created a jet stream outside of the side of the head in similar fashion to the Blackbird however the Athena was able to shoot a stream of water outside of my bowl.

In the end I was left with an extremely close and smooth shave with zero irritation, zinging, stinging, weepers, nicks, rough spots, or razor burn at all. If every shave was this good I would be a very happy shaver.

I am eager to try this with different blades. At first I was going to use the BiC Astor blades provided but wanted to use a blade I was more familiar with. I had completely forgot about the BiC Chrome Platinum as I was so excited for the shave and ended up using a blade I have been using quite a lot lately... Derby Extra! It's on its 7th or more use now and still doing a good job but part of me cannot help but wonder if I had put in a fresh blade or any other blade of my choice I would have perhaps had an even better experience but you just cannot argue with the results. BRILLIANT!!

Sorry about the long post but I find this razor fascinating. I look forward to my next shave with it.

Long posts are very welcome when it comes to reviewing a razor. At least for me, it needs to be descriptive to have any meaning. There's no point saying a razor is good without saying why, and what it feels like. Anyway, it didn't feel long to me while I was reading it - it was all direct to the point. Actually one of the most clear-minded and informative reviews I've read about the razor to date.

It's really nice to hear you clicked with the razor right away and you are finding it to be exceptional in your collection. You had quite a long wait for it in Australia so I think we all really hoped it would delight you in the end.

You make an interesting point about the base plate corners (which I, too, wish we could stop obsessing over now, though it is the nature of forums and the way we exaggerate tiny things when everything is presented in un-nuanced plain text). I think you're right - if I feel the edge of the base plate then I know I've got the angle wrong and I correct it. I think it probably does help me, without consciously thinking about it. I made a thread recently about safety bars and Shane from Blackland posted a similar comment that he intentionally designed the Blackbird safety bar sharper and less comfortable in order to encourage the user toward the correct angle for shaving with it (at least that's how I interpreted his comment and I apologise if I am misrepresenting anything).

I also note @Phoenixkh's discovery that the base plate corners haven't changed from his older Athena, and he has been so happy with that he ordered a second and earmarked them as items he would like to leave to his sons - so clearly this is all a non-issue from his perspective. I've always said that my Athena (from the second batch) has a sharp base plate but if you ever feel it then you're shaving too steep or pressing too hard onto your face. It's the way it is for looks, and it doesn't cause any inconvenience to me.

I think on that note I too shall refrain from any further comment about the corners since I realise that what I just typed gives this matter far more space on the forum than it warrants - from my perspective anyway.