My First Proserpine Razor Co (S.K. Colling) Custom Razor

[Mouette]

Can't wait for your road test. I ordered a Nautilus at the beginning of the year and haven't heard anything.

cheers

andrew

 

[rbscebu]

I

Can't wait for your road test. I ordered a Nautilus at the beginning of the year and haven't heard anything.

cheers

andrew

If you are having difficulty in contacting or receiving a reply from Steve Colling, you can contact his wife Kelly (she asked me to do this)

[email protected]

 

[Baz4262]

Unfortunately email overload is pretty much a fact of modern life.
Looks like a sweet razor, wonder how it performs after proper method preparation......

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

Ordered and paid 02 December 2021. Completed early February 2022. Posted express post domestic 14 April 2022. Received at last 19 April 2022.

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Custom made exactly to my specifications. Cost USD 150 including shipping. Will see how it shaves tomorrow morning.

Beautiful razor! Absolute bargain at that price.

 

[rbscebu]

Beautiful razor! Absolute bargain at that price.

Shipping within AU is about USD 8. Maximum for international shipping would be about USD 25.

Not sure if they are allowed to enter the UK via post as the government there need to protect their subjects from themselves. Fortunately, Australians are still allowed to play with sharp objects.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

Not sure if they are allowed to enter the UK

No problem with razors, so far. Knives are a different issue with some types banned outright, some allowed to own but not allowed to carry.

One of the most silly ones is that I am not allowed to carry my multitool in public, because it has a blade that can be locked in place. The blade is about 1 and a half inches long!

 

[Legion]

No problem with razors, so far. Knives are a different issue with some types banned outright, some allowed to own but not allowed to carry.

One of the most silly ones is that I am not allowed to carry my multitool in public, because it has a blade that can be locked in place. The blade is about 1 and a half inches long!

Better than here. I can't carry any knife (legally...)

I'd happily compromise with having the UK laws, since most of my EDC knives would meet those restrictions anyway.

 

[Tomo]

I hope it was worth the wait.

 

[rbscebu]

I hope it was worth the wait.

From an aesthetics viewpoint, it very much was worth the wait. Steve's craftsmanship is beyond reproach. I would put Steve and Ralf on about equal pedestals in their craftsmanship.

Tomorrow will be the shave test of Steve's honing skills. A fool's pass will be the ultimate test.

I found that my custom Colling is a perfect fit into a spare SR timber case I had lying around. I might keep it in this case and put its coffin away to preserve it.

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[rbscebu]

For this SR's first shave (as received), I prepared as normal and chose Palmolive regular cream (Italy) to provide the lather.

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I performed my usual three-pass shave; WTG, XTG + fool's pass and another XTG in the opposite direction. This resulted in my normal DFS+ result.

M y observations about this SR is that it is surprisingly light for its size. Maybe I was just use to my Gold Dollar W59 with the same style of point. Although the balance of this SR is towards the blade, I found its balance well suited to my shaving style.

Steve's shave-ready edge is very good. The shave was close and comfortable without any skin damage or irritation. A little more pressure was needed against the whiskers to cut the when doing the fool's pass. A full pasted balsa strop progression should fix that.

Overall I am delighted with my custom Colling straight razor. I might buy another, ⅝ American (square) point.

Now knowing Steve's quality of workmanship, he will get all my custom SR orders. I would place Steve's quality at about the same as Ralf Aust's in Germany. Steve is also a master at his craft.

 

[Robert Anderson]

Very nice looking razor!

 

[Steve56]

Re-reading this thread kind of makes me think that this is a company that I do not want to do business with. Busy is busy, but husiness is business, and if you can‘t take care of business, you should not be in business.

Forgot to post it to you for 3 months and you had to contact his wife? Not for me.

Am I missing something?

 

[rbscebu]

Just out of curiosity, before going to the diamond pasted balsa with this blade, I performed a Sharpie test to see how the bevel lined up.

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It shows that Steve knows his stuff when it comes to honing.

I also took some physical measurements of the razor:

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Mass = 49g (Gold Dollar W59 is 62g)​

Blade width = 22mm​

Blade thickness at top of bevel = 0.13mm​

Edge length = 62mm​

Bevel angle = 16.6°​

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Balsa stropping (0.5μm, 0.25μm and 0.1μm) is now done. All is looking good and I am very happy. Tomorrow will be another shave with this SR to see if the balsa has improved the edge.

 

[rbscebu]

Re-reading this thread kind of makes me think that this is a company that I do not want to do business with. Busy is busy, but husiness is business, and if you can‘t take care of business, you should not be in business.

Forgot to post it to you for 3 months and you had to contact his wife? Not for me.

Am I missing something?

Indeed, I was feeling the same way. I was on my way to my solicitor's to start recovery action for my payment when I called in to clear my mail box. Then the SR was there. All was almost forgiven but never forgotten.

I have learnt my lesson with S.K. Colling & Co. Never pay before it is ready to ship and then only pay through PayPal G&S so that if Steve forgets to post, you can relatively easily get your payment back.

I paid PayPal G&S but that was in early December 2021, a bit late to try and claim it back.

 

[APBinNCA]

I also took some physical measurements of the razor:
Mass = 49g (Gold Dollar W59 is 62g)Blade width = 22mmBlade thickness at top of bevel = 0.13mmEdge length = 62mmBevel angle = 16.6°

This is interesting, that seems awfully short. Do you know the reason for this as all of my German razors are fully 70mm?

 

[rbscebu]

This is interesting, that seems awfully short. Do you know the reason for this as all of my German razors are fully 70mm?

Most German razor blanks allow for an edge length of about 70mm or a bit more. You loose edge length with the profile that I asked Steve to produce.

I am happy to shave with any edge length from about 50mm to 75mm with a preference for shorter edge lengths, particularly on wider blades. I don't know why.

 

[Steve56]

The blade length is normal for a razor of that profile. I just measured the edge length of my modern Dovo Bismarck; 63mm. Everyone and his brother uses this blank, Dovo, Boker, Wacker, Aust, Revisor, Suer to name a few.

 

[APBinNCA]

Very sorry to derail your thread with more of my measurement nonsense. This is interesting to hear how the different profiles produce a different edge length, it makes sense. So this means that, give or take, an Aust with anything other than a round point would have a shorter edge too...

 

[Steve56]

So this means that, give or take, an Aust with anything other than a round point would have a shorter edge too...

The opposite. You seem to be assuming that razor blanks come with a round nose and are shortened to square, which would actually leave the same length cutting edge. Blanks apparently come square and are shortened to round. Here are two Le Grelot 14. The round nose has a shorter edge.

 

[rbscebu]

This morning's shave with my custom made Colling SR showed me that its edge has reached its peak. I compared the edge of the Colling with the edge of a new Feather DE half blade in performing a fool's pass. There was no difference in their whisker cutting ability.

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