browsing over the Italian Barber site the other day and noticed that the stainless Mamba razor was available. I put it on my cart and decided to also get the Black Hawk as it is priced very attractively. I already own a General SS that I like a lot. With the General I can get excellent very smooth one pass shaves and two pass BSS every time. I can get the one pass to be similar to a R41 one pass shave.
I received my package and decided to put a Super blade on it, did a few strokes and quit, finished with the very mild Mamba. After the shave I put my glasses on and inspected the blade exposure of the Super and there was a lot of it just by the added lengh of the blade. But I also noticed that the blade was only touching the bottom plate on the blades back edge, essentially angling the base down and creating a wide gap.
Today I put in a pro guard blade and noticed that the plate still touches the blade at the back edge, not as bad as the Super, I think the Super is thicker. I shaved with it and it was much better, had to keep a very shallow angle. Did get a BSS in two passes but was nowhere near as smooth as the General SS.
After the shave I looked at the cap/base aligment in more detail and noticed that the alignment is perfect without a blade, no gaps between he top and base. I did some scans to show the aligment. I also made a shim out of a DE blade to fill up the back of the base, it makes a difference (have not shaved with it yet). I have a hunch that if the back of the base or the top cap have a bit more meat, say the thickness of the standard professional blade that the razor would be smoother as the whole blade would be supported.
Now, for the price of the Black Hawk I think the lack of alignment it is perfectly acceptable.
On the pictures below, the white on the second picture is a piece of regular thickness printer paper. Notice that even with a shim the thickness of a DE blade the proguard is still not supported completely by the base.
I received my package and decided to put a Super blade on it, did a few strokes and quit, finished with the very mild Mamba. After the shave I put my glasses on and inspected the blade exposure of the Super and there was a lot of it just by the added lengh of the blade. But I also noticed that the blade was only touching the bottom plate on the blades back edge, essentially angling the base down and creating a wide gap.
Today I put in a pro guard blade and noticed that the plate still touches the blade at the back edge, not as bad as the Super, I think the Super is thicker. I shaved with it and it was much better, had to keep a very shallow angle. Did get a BSS in two passes but was nowhere near as smooth as the General SS.
After the shave I looked at the cap/base aligment in more detail and noticed that the alignment is perfect without a blade, no gaps between he top and base. I did some scans to show the aligment. I also made a shim out of a DE blade to fill up the back of the base, it makes a difference (have not shaved with it yet). I have a hunch that if the back of the base or the top cap have a bit more meat, say the thickness of the standard professional blade that the razor would be smoother as the whole blade would be supported.
Now, for the price of the Black Hawk I think the lack of alignment it is perfectly acceptable.
On the pictures below, the white on the second picture is a piece of regular thickness printer paper. Notice that even with a shim the thickness of a DE blade the proguard is still not supported completely by the base.
Last edited: