I purchased a Rolls Razor Viscount from ebay. It looks like it may have been used once, and then put away. It even had the protective papers that covered the hone and strop! They were perfect, except for having been folded once!
The blade has no marks, or rust, but it had a slight nick on the edge, so after carefully inspecting the honing stone for an irregular surface (flat as a pancake!) I proceeded to hone the nick out of the blade. Slow and steady is the rule when doing this.
You have to be careful when honing not to let the blade slap against the stone, so going slowly, you listen for two clicks; the first click is the blade guard gently tapping the stone, and the second click is the blade doing the same. After about 15 minutes of slow, careful honing, the nick was gone and it was time to strop.
The strop looked like it had been dressed. It was hydrated, looking more red than pink. It also had no nicks, dents, or dirt, so I proceeded to vigorously strop the blade, this time not worrying about the blade slapping. I did this for 30 seconds.
I then proceeded to do my normal hot water and paper towel shave prep, lathered up with VDH, and proceeded to do a two pass shave. I started on my cheeks. WTG, the blade felt good, no pulling, no irritation. ATG, I felt a little bit of pull, but otherwise no irritation.
I then proceeded to do my neck. WTG, it was smooth, with no pulling or irritation. However, ATG it started to pull again, a bit more than on my cheeks. About half-way through the ATG pass on my neck, I had to stop as the pulling was getting to be a bit too much. So, I finished with my red tip SS.
In conclusion, no nicks, weepers, or irritation. I got a BBS shave on both cheeks, and a DFS on my neck. I thought I would pay the price when I put the aftershave on, but there was no sting! I was really amazed at that! I believe that with a little more care and stropping, and giving the blade a rest for a few days, I should be able to manage both passes on my neck!
In the end, the Rolls is a very cool system! With a little care, and a little elbow grease, it looks like it is capable of providing a very close, and comfortable shave.
Oh, and, as long as you are careful, there really is absolutely nothing to be afraid of using this razor. After honing and stropping, it actually seemed sharper than the Sharks I just purchased! If you follow the instructions included with the razor (or on the wiki page), and are careful, it shaves fine. However as in all things here YMMV.
The blade has no marks, or rust, but it had a slight nick on the edge, so after carefully inspecting the honing stone for an irregular surface (flat as a pancake!) I proceeded to hone the nick out of the blade. Slow and steady is the rule when doing this.
You have to be careful when honing not to let the blade slap against the stone, so going slowly, you listen for two clicks; the first click is the blade guard gently tapping the stone, and the second click is the blade doing the same. After about 15 minutes of slow, careful honing, the nick was gone and it was time to strop.
The strop looked like it had been dressed. It was hydrated, looking more red than pink. It also had no nicks, dents, or dirt, so I proceeded to vigorously strop the blade, this time not worrying about the blade slapping. I did this for 30 seconds.
I then proceeded to do my normal hot water and paper towel shave prep, lathered up with VDH, and proceeded to do a two pass shave. I started on my cheeks. WTG, the blade felt good, no pulling, no irritation. ATG, I felt a little bit of pull, but otherwise no irritation.
I then proceeded to do my neck. WTG, it was smooth, with no pulling or irritation. However, ATG it started to pull again, a bit more than on my cheeks. About half-way through the ATG pass on my neck, I had to stop as the pulling was getting to be a bit too much. So, I finished with my red tip SS.
In conclusion, no nicks, weepers, or irritation. I got a BBS shave on both cheeks, and a DFS on my neck. I thought I would pay the price when I put the aftershave on, but there was no sting! I was really amazed at that! I believe that with a little more care and stropping, and giving the blade a rest for a few days, I should be able to manage both passes on my neck!
In the end, the Rolls is a very cool system! With a little care, and a little elbow grease, it looks like it is capable of providing a very close, and comfortable shave.
Oh, and, as long as you are careful, there really is absolutely nothing to be afraid of using this razor. After honing and stropping, it actually seemed sharper than the Sharks I just purchased! If you follow the instructions included with the razor (or on the wiki page), and are careful, it shaves fine. However as in all things here YMMV.
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