Mr. Patch Learns the World of Wet Shaving

[mr.patch]

So I just tried to create a WTB thread but it looks like I’m not there yet [emoji24] (not complaining. I’m all for strict requirements for participating in forum BST’s. Cuts down on a lot of BS)

Based on all of the info put out to me, I want to find a Gillette NEW SC to be my steady while learning as opposed to the Murker 20011. I have a friend with a jewelry store specializing in repairs that will rhodium plate it for next to nothing/nothing so I want to find one with straight teeth and no cracks but a totally f’d finish to save on $$. Looks like it’s off to eBay.

Bunch of enablers you lot!!!!! [emoji23]


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[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The patina really developed a lot more during our beach vacation. I know I can polish it way if I decide to. Thanks for liking my beautiful copper handled brushes. Probably I like them more 'cause I get to use them. Great performing brushes.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[MilkCrate]

Bunch of enablers you lot!!!!! [emoji23]

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Ya know, when several BOSC members descend on your thread it may not end well (for your pocketbook)

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Ya know, when several BOSC members descend on your thread it may not end well (for your pocketbook)

 

[mr.patch]

Ya know, when several BOSC members descend on your thread it may not end well (for your pocketbook)

I hope to stay out of this brotherhood but I don't have much hope for myself. I can see this Journal quickly turning into a "So I just bought...." thread. It may already be over...

 

[mr.patch]

@Esox @Chan Eil Whiskers What about a Game Changer as opposed to the NEW SC for a more rigid razor to be my learning standard? @Zoost posted one in BST last night for a great price. Not allowed to quote it but the rules say I can still PM him to buy.

Looks to be a very supported blade and has the same blade gap as the timeless I plan on treating myself to for my birthday.

 

[Esox]

Based on all of the info put out to me, I want to find a Gillette NEW SC to be my steady while learning as opposed to the Murker 20011. I have a friend with a jewelry store specializing in repairs that will rhodium plate it for next to nothing/nothing so I want to find one with straight teeth and no cracks but a totally f’d finish to save on $$. Looks like it’s off to eBay.

Try a shim in your Merkur and play with different angles first. It wont cost anything and you'll know if it helps. If it does, then explore other options.

Prewar Tech + one Shim =...

What about a Game Changer as opposed to the NEW SC for a more rigid razor to be my learning standard?

The RR Game Changer appears to be a very nice, although mild, razor. It has what appears to be neutral blade exposure. I'm unsure about how rigid a design it is. Maybe @Dovo1695 can speak to that. I believe he has one.

RR Game Changer.

A post war Gillette Tech is another very rigid design, along with its modern counterpart, the RR Teck II, and DE1 which share the same head only the handles differ, and are an inexpensive route to think about.

There are, basically, two Gillette Tech designs. Pre war and post war. The post war Tech offers a more rigid design, the pre war offers a less rigid design.

The Gillette NEW LC(Long Comb) and NEW SC(Short Comb) also offer the same two basic designs in regards to rigidity.

NEW SC left, NEW LC right.



Post war Tech left, pre war right. Notice the shape of the slots. Pre war techs have triangular slots, post war rectangular.



NEW LC left, NEW SC center, post war Tech right.



NEW LC razors are common and inexpensive. Gillette Techs are common and inexpensive. Gillette NEW SC razors are harder to come by and will cost roughly twice what the others likely will.

The difference between the NEW SC and the post war Tech is, mainly, blade exposure. The NEW SC is more efficient. It gives a closer shave with less passes than the Tech. I like mild razors for the comfort they offer, but I also find them frustrating.

This was my last use of my post war Tech:

48 hours since last shave and back to 'just shaving', for the moment...

Post war tech/Fat handle. Fresh Feather.

Proraso Green.

Maggard synthetic.

Standard 3 pass++++ shave.

First pass N-S. Second pass S-N. Third pass directly ATG. No buffing at any point.

First clean up at and below my jawline, buffing ATG.

Second clean up pass below my jawline, buffing ATG.

Third clean up pass and back over my jawline at a 45° angle and buffing over my swirls.

Fourth clean up pass lol, 45° the opposite direction and buffing over my swirls.

In the end I needed to start all over again hahaha.

I have very comfortable skin and a very nice BBS shave, but I damn well better after that much work! Mild razors are just that mild. Easy on the skin but not what I'd call efficient. It was an enjoyable shave, its hard to dismiss that much comfort, but at the same time its maddeningly frustrating.

I'll use it again the next time I feel like whittling a Totem Pole...or something.

My NEW SC, with a Polsilver blade not a Feather, gives me a longer lasting BBS finish in 2 1/2 passes. The NEW SC has more blade exposure so it's more efficient. There are however, few razors smoother than a post war Tech.

That quoted post is from my journal and my quest for my perfect shave with a Fatip Grande. All shaves starting at shave #7 on page 5 I think, were done directly ATG at ~48 hours growth while I tested over 20 different blades looking for my "One Pass Wonder Shave" and I've come very close to that very thing.

My ideal shaves come from razors that offer generous blade exposure and have good rigidity with little blade gap.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I hope to stay out of this brotherhood but I don't have much hope for myself. I can see this Journal quickly turning into a "So I just bought...." thread. It may already be over...

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

@Esox @Chan Eil Whiskers What about a Game Changer as opposed to the NEW SC for a more rigid razor to be my learning standard? @Zoost posted one in BST last night for a great price. Not allowed to quote it but the rules say I can still PM him to buy.

Looks to be a very supported blade and has the same blade gap as the timeless I plan on treating myself to for my birthday.

Mike's answer should be very helpful to you.

I don't have a RR Game Changer. I spent a lot of time on the various GC threads learning about them. I'm pretty impressed with what RR has done with the GC. Real quality at a great price, etc.

However, I need all the efficiency I can get. Sometimes I think I know what makes razors efficient (blade exposure). Sometimes I use a razor which is reasonably efficient but has negative blade exposure (the RR SLOC, pictured above), and decide I don't know anything about razor engineering.

What I do know is a lot of the reviews about the GC say it is a mild razor as in smooth and comfortable but also not efficient. For me, a razor which is comfortable and feels smooth but takes an extra pass or two is a good thing. A better thing is a comfortable feeling, easy to use razor which takes fewer passes (that is, an efficient razor).

I'm not planning to buy the Game Changer. Could be a mistake I'm making.

Should you buy one? Well, I have no idea really. It's impossible for anyone to know what your skin and whiskers need. What's the best razor for you is rather impossible to know without trying a bunch of razors unless you get lucky early in the game.

Pictured, Fatip Gentile.

I like shaving with the NEW SC. It is very smooth. However, it has a good little bit of gap. What I notice with razors having gap is they don't warn me before they bite me. With razors like my Fatips, razors lacking gap, I feel the nick so early in the game that it hurts a bit but I stop immediately and don't actually get a visible nick, cut, or blood. With the NEW SC by the time I feel it, there's blood. This is not a huge matter but I'd rather not see blood.

On the other hand, I like my R41!

My injectors have a lot of gap and yet don't nick me much. Maybe that's because they're so rigid. Really, I don't understand a lot of what goes into the engineering or design of a great razor.

I'll just throw out in no particular order some of the razors I've used enough to know about them, razors I like.

1. Fatip Mk1 Grande
2. Fatip Mk2 Grande.
3. Plisson Joris (like a Schöne with a big long handle, expensive, head by Fatip).
4. Fatip Gentile.
5. Mühle R41 with its own handle.
6. Gillette Old Type with a Fat Handle Tech donor handle.
7. Schaeffer (Segal).
8. Schick E-2 (I have a very good one but some are better than others).
9. Schick L-3 (great razor with a TWIN blade).
10. ebarbershop Type O clone with a TWIN.
11. RR SLOC.
12. SS Colonial General with Proline.

That's not an all inclusive list, but it gives you maybe some idea of how many razors I think are good enough for me. I like some better than others.

There are others I don't like. Some I don't like - the Fatip Piccolo comes to mind - are very close to ones I like. The Piccolo's handle doesn't work for me, but if I put a different handle on it, and make it into a Grande, it's fine. There are subtle factors going into what works and doesn't work for me.

Another important to me matter is angle. What angle works best. For a very long time I was a cap rider, and a shallow angle shaver. Now, I've learned to shave by feedback, both tactile and audible, and mostly notice that I'm shaving at very steep angles, riding the guard. It makes the shave much, much smoother. Why? It makes no sense to me, and is counter-logical to me proving I understand very little.

Some razors I used to only use shallow might now work at steep angles. My first DE razor in recent decades was the Feather AS-D2 (expensive, SS, very nice, negative blade exposure, gap). Not a great shaver for me. Everybody says it works best at very shallow cap riding angles. I'm going to try it at a steep angle and see what I get. My guess is it won't shave at steep angles but that's an experiment I've not tried.

To answer your question is impossible. Both the GC and the NEW SC are very rigid (good, according to me), but both have a good bit of gap (why have gap; who needs gap?). But, that's just my view of it. You may end up thinking of razors lacking rigidity and having a huge gap as being the bee's knees.

I'd probably say to get one of these razors, if you must buy a razor, but I want you to know I'm really totally unsure of what you might like. My biases are on display here.

• A good Gillette Old Type (not a Single Ring) with very straight teeth.
• A Fatip Grande or Gentile.
• A RR SLOC.
• A Mühle R41 (shop for price, they vary a lot).
• An injector.

Even so, a Fixed Four with a "good enough" kit is a wonderful thing. Some razors are better than others, but good practice is important. Jumping around too much too soon is counterproductive.

Told you I don't know anything. I have lots of opinions though. And, lots of razors.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

@Esox @Chan Eil Whiskers What about a Game Changer as opposed to the NEW SC for a more rigid razor to be my learning standard? @Zoost posted one in BST last night for a great price. Not allowed to quote it but the rules say I can still PM him to buy.

Looks to be a very supported blade and has the same blade gap as the timeless I plan on treating myself to for my birthday.

May be useful. Not sure. Link.

 

[mr.patch]

Try a shim in your Merkur and play with different angles first. It wont cost anything and you'll know if it helps. If it does, then explore other options.

Prewar Tech + one Shim =...

So I'll start here. I looked at the concept of using a shim the first time it came up and decided against it. Not to the point that I won't play with it in different razors down the road but for now I'm staying away. It would be introducing too many unknowns for me to keep my early experimentation scientific (cuts not perfectly straight causing inconsistent blade gap/angle, shim not positioned dead center for inconsistency from one edge to the other, etc). From what I've gathered, the right tool for your face is a game of millimeters and tenths of degrees or even less. With my technique being completely inconsistent at this point the shim gets the variable/unknown count to high. But I'm flagging it for future experiments after my technique has been honed to some level of consistency.

The game changer went to someone else. So I bought..... (Promised that would happen) a post war ('61) tech that had seemingly never been taken out of its box.

VINTAGE GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR With Original Plastic Box With Magnifier | eBay

I had a $15 dollar eBay coupon so for $20 this seemed like a score. Based on everyone's comments I went looking for a NEW SC but they are less readily available as warned by @Esox. It sounded like an LC would have been the next best thing (maybe... who the heck knows with out more experimentation) but I hate the long comb look. It is a fun new hobby after all so this is important. Even if I don't end up loving this tech, I'm excited to have it in the collection. I'll obviously update after its first shave.

May be useful. Not sure. Link.

Thank you for putting this out to me. Not so much for the discussion we were having but it was still filled with great info and this is a razor I was curious about right from the start.

? for the Day:

- Are there creams or soaps that are known to be more "agreeable" with extremely hard water? It's what I have available to me and I'm sure it is effecting my lather.

 

[Esox]

From what I've gathered, the right tool for your face is a game of millimeters and tenths of degrees or even less. With my technique being completely inconsistent at this point the shim gets the variable/unknown count to high. But I'm flagging it for future experiments after my technique has been honed to some level of consistency.

Thats the best thing too do. Once your technique is solid, you can focus on improving the weaknesses of a component.

The game changer went to someone else. So I bought..... (Promised that would happen) a post war ('61) tech that had seemingly never been taken out of its box.

VINTAGE GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR With Original Plastic Box With Magnifier | eBay

I had a $15 dollar eBay coupon so for $20 this seemed like a score. Based on everyone's comments I went looking for a NEW SC but they are less readily available as warned by @Esox. It sounded like an LC would have been the next best thing (maybe... who the heck knows with out more experimentation) but I hate the long comb look. It is a fun new hobby after all so this is important. Even if I don't end up loving this tech, I'm excited to have it in the collection. I'll obviously update after its first shave.

Thats a cased Gillette Fatboy adjustable. You're going to have people drooling over that one lol. They're highly desirable around the forum. I cant see I've seen many cased examples go for that price. Well done!

Once you have it in hand you can look on the bottom of the head for a date code.

Are there creams or soaps that are known to be more "agreeable" with extremely hard water? It's what I have available to me and I'm sure it is effecting my lather.

Start a thread in the Shave Cream or Soaps forums and you'll get a lot of helpful advice concerning hard water issues. That will also help increase your post count. I believe post count is disabled in the Journals section, as well as other areas of the forum.

 

[Esox]

Thats a cased Gillette Fatboy adjustable.

I just had another look at the link and I see its still on auction. I was too busy looking at the pics to notice! I guess you had the wrong link in your mouse lol.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

You may like the razor you bought by mistake. If you don't, they are fairly prized by most collectors and many shavers, and it looks like you got an incredible deal. Lucky you. You can still look for a NEW SC or whatever you want. If you're looking for open combs look for straight, very straight teeth. Open combs look scary, or at least they did to me, but they're not. Some OC razors are right mild feeling on your skin. Some closed comb razors are the opposite.

The post war and pre war Techs are highly regarded. I have not used any of mine yet.

My favorite Gillette by far of the ones I've used is a razor many say is the best razor Gillette ever made, the Old Type (not the Single Ring). However, I, and many others like the OT head on a donor handle, the handle of a Fat Handle Tech. If you're looking at the Tech you might keep that in mind. The Tech was paired with various handles. The Tech was also made in several metals.

Old Types: Straight teeth are a must. One of my favorite Old Type purchases looked really ugly when I bought it. In real life, and most photos, it looked a lot worse. It cleaned up easily and beautifully. But I was buying it for the straight teeth, and now have the head on a Fat Handled Tech's handle.

There are many threads and posts about how to clean up the old razors. Dawn and an old soft toothbrush usually do most of the job. You did well on eBay, I think.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[mr.patch]

I just had another look at the link and I see its still on auction. I was too busy looking at the pics to notice! I guess you had the wrong link in your mouse lol.

I think the problem was I was signed in copying a link for an item I had already purchased. Checked the link in an incognito window this time to make sure. You just have to scroll past the two rows of other crud at the top.

Vintage Gillette Tech Safety Razor Original Box 1961 NOS G-2 | eBay

You may like the razor you bought by mistake. If you don't, they are fairly prized by most collectors and many shavers, and it looks like you got an incredible deal. Lucky you. You can still look for a NEW SC or whatever you want. If you're looking for open combs look for straight, very straight teeth. Open combs look scary, or at least they did to me, but they're not. Some OC razors are right mild feeling on your skin. Some closed comb razors are the opposite.

No mistake on the purchase. Just on the link. I'm still keeping my eye out for a NEW SC that's a good plating candidate, but I want to give this Tech a shot.

The comedy of it..... I finally had a shave I can call great this morning with my Murker 20011 loaded with an Astra SP. No blood and BBS with the exception of just off the sides of my chin. Still excited for the Tech to arrive though. Let the experiments begin!!!

My friend with the family jewelry store fell down the rabbit hole when I sent him this thread so he could understand what I was talking about with plating (I'm not helping. I'm kicking his fingers off the edge ). So he may be borrowing whichever falls in the #2 spot to start on his own journey.

 

[mr.patch]

I think the problem was I was signed in copying a link for an item I had already purchased. Checked the link in an incognito window this time to make sure. You just have to scroll past the two rows of other crud at the top.

Vintage Gillette Tech Safety Razor Original Box 1961 NOS G-2 | eBay



No mistake on the purchase. Just on the link. I'm still keeping my eye out for a NEW SC that's a good plating candidate, but I want to give this Tech a shot.

Nevermind. Just followed it from my phone and still ended at the cased Fat Boy. Not sure whats up with that. I'll just drag over photos. Its a Tech with its original box that doesn't appear to have been used. Date code looks to be G2 (possibly C2).

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Ah, nice.

Did you also buy the adjustable?

 

[mr.patch]

Ah, nice.

Did you also buy the adjustable?

Haha no. Just the tech. But after being told it would be a piece in the collection to be envied, I might just throw in a bid [emoji23] I also think TTO is pretty cool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Esox]

Nevermind. Just followed it from my phone and still ended at the cased Fat Boy. Not sure whats up with that. I'll just drag over photos. Its a Tech with its original box that doesn't appear to have been used. Date code looks to be G2 (possibly C2).

Yep thats a post war Tech. Your Merkur handle should also fit it. The Ball End Tech handle is on the small side, but still very good. They're nice smooth shavers.

$0.49c's lol. Not anymore!

 

[MilkCrate]

Techs are great shavers. Like Jim, I really like my OT. Grabbed it on the bay for $10 and it was grungy. But it cleaned up very nice.