New Deluxe

[romsitsa]

Some Deluxe caps (both long and short center rod) sit flush on the plates, others have a slight gap (like jumdricks photo), is this the difference between 15 and 17 mm caps? Or are these the same within production tolereances?

Adam

 

[rabidus]

To be honest, I am not sure what it is. Maybe geometry and coarser hair. It is the problem area of my face.

Tom

The Deluxe works great everywhere except my chin and above my lip. My stubble is more coarse there and the razor lacks rigidly to slice through them cleanly and causes irritation. The more rigid NEW SC mows through that area no problem.

 

[airmech]

Shave 2 today and a better shave! I was able to get a BBS with no irritation on the chin area! I will keep at it this week.

Tom

 

[jmudrick]

ND + Ikon B1 Deluxe. Handsome pairing, I particularly like the Atlas handle with the Ikon. Honestly though, not my favorite shavers , the Old Types and New Short Comb I find more capable and smoother.

 

[rabidus]

Honestly though, not my favorite shavers , the Old Types and New Short Comb I find more capable and smoother.

No surprise there! Try it with a shim between the blade and baseplate, I'm sure you will like it better. Cut as little as possible off if the shim keeping it wide.

 

[jmudrick]

New Deluxe Big Boy, New Short comb and RFB of that whole crew are alll excellent shaving razors and all 3 are 2 1/2 passes to BBS for me and still some of my favorite vintage Gillettes in my den but I have other razors that have taken their place shave wise so I don’t pull them out as often as I used to. New Deluxe and RFB are commanding high prices still but you can get a Short Comb at a very reasonable price.

I'm not at all convinced the RFB brings anything special other than scarcity outside the US and some mystical Anglophile juju. It, the Long Comb, and the ND I find quite passable but unexceptional. Sure I can get to BBS on my beard in 2+ plus but most any razor will do that and they definitely are second tier performers on my head where Old Types rock.

 

[rabidus]

I'm not at all convinced the RFB brings anything special other than scarcity outside the US and some mystical Anglophile juju

You're not missing anything! The Deluxe, RFB, and LC all try to compensate for lack of rigidity with blade exposure. Blade exposure is no substitute for rigidity!

The SC rules!

 

[romsitsa]

You're not missing anything! The Deluxe, RFB, and LC all try to compensate for lack of rigidity with blade exposure. Blade exposure is no substitute for rigidity!

The SC rules!

Exposure depends on the cap, the gap is different on SC, LC, RFB, but this also depends on the cap.
YMMW, the SC is far inferior in build and performance to the two piece RFB or to the Rotbart that would be a more fair comparison.

Adam

 

[rabidus]

Exposure depends on the cap, the gap is different on SC, LC, RFB, but this also depends on the cap.
YMMW, the SC is far inferior in build and performance to the two piece RFB or to the Rotbart that would be a more fair comparison.

Adam

Inferior in build quality, yes. Performance, no!

The SC was made after the Deluxe and LC and is an improvement, more rigidity. The Deluxe and SC baseplate both have the same profile. The SC with it's original cap with squared off corner tabs has the same blade exposure as the Deluxe. Over the years, Gillette put the LC, Deluxe, and prewar Tech cap on the SC baseplate, the LC and prewar Tech has less blade exposure. They did the same to the LC, quality control! The LC is a whole different story in itself! The Deluxe and SC with its original cap that only fits on the SC baseplate because of the corner cut outs, both have the same blade exposure. SC is more rigid and shines ATG on the toughest stubble. No need to shave WTG or XTG with the SC.

If I had a penny for everytime someone used "YMMV" I would be filty rich!

Calling All NEW SC owners!

The SC on top, the Deluxe is on the bottom!

 

[REV579]

I tend to agree with a both Adam and Anthony on the SC/LC debate. Adam is accurate in YMMV when comparing the difference between the 2. Anthony is spot on when it comes to the rigidity of the blade in the SC when compared to the LC. With my beard, the SC wins. Specifically this combination(I can't bring myself to remove the rest of the lacquer):

But the SC can also be paired with the other caps, as Anthony mentioned, which will change the overall experience(YMMV):

Most of the Chromium head SC match the configuration in the second picture, far right. Finding the razor on the far right and in the middle configured in the manner they were came as a surprise. The one on the far left does not sit flat on the base plate. The one in the middle does not stabilize the blade as much as it could. Normally I would have just considered these 2 seem to be either sloppy pairings or custom configurations, however, finding the the razor below made me rethink assumption.

It's not been replated and does not appear to be cobbled together.

The base plate has the stamping of the shallow-cut comb, but the profile and dimensions of the deep-cut comb:

 

[rabidus]

Specifically this combination(I can't bring myself to remove the rest of the lacquer):

That cap only fits the SC baseplate and offers the same blade exposure as the Deluxe!

The Deluxe and LC was used with the thicker .006" blades. The SC was made around when the "Thin" .004" blade was made. Thin blades chatter in the Deluxe and LC.

New razors that copy the Deluxe and LC design and use thin blades, chatter.

New razors that copy the rigid SC design and use thin blades, no chatter.

Chatter is not on purpose or design, it is a design flaw, it happened when blades were made thinner. The SC fixed the problem.

It doesn't get any better than the SC pictured!

 

[REV579]

Chatter is not on purpose or design, it is a design flaw, it happened when blades were made thinner. The SC fixed the problem.

It made all the difference in the world for me. For my beard, chatter is bad.

 

[romsitsa]

The “thin” blade was introduced around 1940, didn’t the SC appeared earlier? The plant in Brazil seemingly produced SC plates and it was taken over by Gillette in 1931.

Adam

 

[Cut Throat]

New Deluxe is a beautiful razor and fine shaver. I love mine as well. I also enjoy the Ikon clone.

Which iKon is the clone?

 

[jmudrick]

Which iKon is the clone?

B1 Deluxe Open Comb

 

[santamariasteve]

Does anyone on this thread know specifically when the SC was made, and what influenced Gillette to have both a LC and a SC?

 

[jmudrick]

Does anyone on this thread know specifically when the SC was made, and what influenced Gillette to have both a LC and a SC?

My guess is that the Long Comb was cheaper to produce, that the curved plate and more intricate corners of the Short Comb cost Gillette a few pennies more. The flat platform of the LC could be translated pretty easily into the stamped sheet metal design of the Tech. I have no expertise in manufacturing but I can't think of any reason other than economics that would have driven the move to long comb and ultimately Tech configuration.

 

[santamariasteve]

So you're suggesting the SC came first and the LC was a later model?

I'm neutral on the blade rigidity question. In my experience, though, the LC seems a bit more pleasant and efficient on my face, though I acknowledge many will disagree.

For whatever reason, I have the impression that many more LC's were made than SC's.

 

[rabidus]

Both the Deluxe and LC was made before they started stamping the patent numbers on them, around 1929-30, they both can be found with and without them. The SC can only be found with the 1932 patent numbers stamped on them.

There are SC's with prewar Tech caps, which means they were made in 1938 when the Tech was made.

They were made around 1932ish-1938ish... I have no idea if they started making the SC in 1932 or not though, could have been later than 1932.

 

[jmudrick]

So you're suggesting the SC came first and the LC was a later model?

I'm neutral on the blade rigidity question. In my experience, though, the LC seems a bit more pleasant and efficient on my face, though I acknowledge many will disagree.

For whatever reason, I have the impression that many more LC's were made than SC's.

I have no clues as to SC production dates and Mr Razor isn't any help here, but no, we know the Deluxe and Long Comb were in production early on--the first ad pictures a Long Comb, which suggests both were in production at the same time with SC production quite limited and introduced some time after launch. Perhaps Probak engineers were experimenting with the SC design that appears in the Somerset and Norfolk whereas the LC/Deluxe originated with Gillette people. Speculation. Very good question.