Don't be shy. Put a BLADE in it!
No guard DE?
- Thread starter speas
- Start date
Done. A Tesco-rebranded Israeli Personna. In my limited experience, I've found them to be both smooth and sharp.
What a great shave! I was slightly nervous during the first couple of strokes, but it turned out to be one of the easiest, not to mention closest, shaves ever!
I left the guard ends on, as per recommendations earlier in the thread. I'm thinking I might file them down a bit, maybe halfway, just to smooth it out a little bit.
I'm a fan of the Personna Reds (aka IP, etc, etc) which usually come like this in the UK:
(without any printing on the tabs).
Do the Tesco ones look like that? A few days ago my local Asda Supercentre had 10 packs of Personnas in at £2... that's the first time (since they opened in the late 90s) that they've had DE Blades on sale. Yippee!
AFAIK the only reason for keeping the guard ends is to protect the blade edges. I'm sure [MENTION=67066]mjclark[/MENTION] Marcus will let me know if that isn't correct.
So, were you thinking of leaving just enough guard to protect the blade (or what)?
P W Calhoun (the first named devette user in 1934) suggests leaving the ends of the guard/outermost teeth intact because it protects the user from being nicked by the corners of the blade, it braces the blade minimising blade chatter (which can be an issue with devettes) and as [MENTION=106012]1Cal[/MENTION] points out, it means you can rest the razor on its side.
Personally I much prefer devettes with the corners of the guard intact, especially as it reduces blade chatter, but as we all know YMMV [emoji3]
Personally I much prefer devettes with the corners of the guard intact, especially as it reduces blade chatter, but as we all know YMMV [emoji3]
The other reasons were to possibly prevent the corners of the blade from catching the skin, to give fingers a little protection when changing blades, as well as protecting the blade edge, even though I always rest my razor on the tabs or on a stand.
The blades are unprinted and in plain white wrappers. The box looks the same, except the card in the top has a simple grey blade shape on a black background. The blister pack describes them as platinum coated chrome blades. They're made in Israel, which I'm led to believe means that they're some kind of Personna, although I don't know which.
The Sainsbury's blades appear to be Dorcos. Luckily, I realised before putting them in my basket.
...also £2 for 10.
So today I finally try the devette. As you can see it was a very lazy attempt but OMG what a shave. This was my first outing with Proraso and man was I impressed. My nose is so clear. Contrary to everyone's advise not only did I try a new razor with new cream, but I also used cold water exclusively (first weekend of summer). So three new things in one shave I thought I might be in trouble. To my surprise though everything went smoothly and it was one of my best shaves ever with no irritation. The alum block felt like I was rubbing soap on my face, no feedback. As someone else noted my face seems to be very shinny, like I have given it a cut & polish(LOL).
SOTD
Pre Shave
rorasoRazor:Wilkinson Sword Classic without base plate
Cream
rorasoBlade:Bic Chrome Platinum(3)
Post Shave
roraso BalmAs I said this shave was amazing and I can't wait to try it again, but I don't think I will need to shave tomorrow as it is that close, and that never happens for me. Big thanks to everyone here for suggesting this great way of shaving, just like a shavette only more control. I think I will have to shave with this exclusively this month as it is DEcember. Thanks for reading.
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Hey [MENTION=112114]Drunk Bender[/MENTION] congratulations!
Welcome to a whole new world of shaving [emoji3]
Welcome to a whole new world of shaving [emoji3]
Great stuff Drunk Bender!Your baseplateless razor does make me feel a bit squeamish. Mind you, that's probably just my civil engineering background kicking in; I'm used to big foundations and everything being bolted down.
I love small shaving brushes. Yours looks very small in the picture. What is it please?
Keep us posted on your Devette adventures.
Hey fellow engineer! Razors don't need no support ;-) Check out the Wardonia Revelation thread. The Bakelite Wardonia supports the blade only with a 1 cm round raised boss, with most of the blade flapping in the wind. Shaves like an absolute dream.
Shucks Rudy [MENTION=84529]rudyt[/MENTION] — just when I'm thinking I have more than sufficient razors to be playing with...
you go and feed my RAD!
you go and feed my RAD!
Glad this thread is still going and other's are finding joy in the DEvette!
Here's my DEvette made from from a NEW SC... I love the rigidity of the NEW SC, best of the NEWs...
That is handsome!
Like @TheVez2 I'm pleased to see a resurgence of interest in the Devette, and it's great to see a vintage conversion like this one.
Talk about blade exposure!
Just to toss in - this is a good opportunity for all of those OC razors missing teeth.
Also, reading in other threads, apparently Cuban men often tossed the base plate because having the guard wasn't 'manly', or something similar.
Also, reading in other threads, apparently Cuban men often tossed the base plate because having the guard wasn't 'manly', or something similar.
I have read through the first 20 pages or so of this thread and love the idea. I have gotten into shavettes recently and enjoy the experience, but find there are limits to maneuverability(surely mine, but limits nonetheless) and feel like this helps to address that in a fairly straightforward way. As I didn't have anything easily convertible, nor the proper tools to do a nice job of it, I decided to try the plateless devette using my Merkur 42 head and ball end Tech handle with a SuperMax Stainless. I instantly was trepidatious as the blade seemed to be very agile, let me say. There was no tension whatsoever. I did OK on a WTG pass. There was a lot of skipping because of blade flex so I should have quit, but I felt like I was getting a bit of a feel. I couldn't go straight to ATG as the stubble was too much and the blade just jumped around, so I kept mowing down in XTG. Finally got around to ATG but still found the hair too long or tough to really get a purchase on my chin, so stopped there. I did about 4 passes and got a SAS with some spots cleaner than others. I had a hard time on the chin as I couldn't stretch the skin far enough it felt like to allow this thing to work. Skin stretching definitely helped but I didn't care for the loose feel of the blade. I got no weepers, but if I had tried to get closer, I'm sure I could have gotten myself good. I think for me, a base plate is a must, though maybe there are combos that work better than others. I will attempt to modify the base plate of the Merkur as I think given the head geometry, it will work pretty well that way. I also am curious about my Fine Superlite. The rigidity of that blade is second to none, and I am just imagining what it could do for that setup. Oh, no blood, no weepers, just couldn't get the blade to shave close enough.
