Sabres are back in stock, but what are they?
- Thread starter JWK1
- Start date
It's the final run of the outgoing version.
Info on their Facespace account.
Info on their Facespace account.
And I want to know what the new version is!
- Thread starter
- #4
Yeah, I'm about 15 years Facespace sober but browse stuff like that occasionally, sans account.
From Shane's newsletter --
Quantities are limited and there is a one-week lead time for polished finish.
The GEM blade presented a challenge here because the blade is deep without a round center hole. So using a regular round post would mean that the blade has to sit far forward in front of the handle, leading to an unbalanced, oversized razor. Even today, most other modern GEM razors employ this off-center head strategy. In the pursuit of a compact, balanced head, we instead had the novel idea of shaving down the sides of the threaded post so that the blade could fit right over the post like a DE blade.
To this we had to turn a 5mm wide round stud into just over 2mm wide, eliminating most of the threads. Would it still be strong enough? Would it lead to cross-threading? We didn't know if it would work so we started testing. Luckily, it worked perfectly. But we were still sure that this design would lead to some damaged threads. So when it launched, we factored in a failure rate, expecting to replace a good number of Sabre top caps. We sat by, waiting for the emails from customers with damaged top cap threads. But they never came. In almost seven years, we've never had to replace a single Sabre top cap due to thread damage. In fact, the post design was so reliable that we incorporated it into the Vector SE razor which has been used by thousands of customers without thread failure.
And now we get to the end of this chapter in the Sabre's story. One last hurrah before we tear it down and rebuild it from scratch next year.
Sabre Restocked
The Sabre GEM razor is fully back in stock - for now. Shop the last batch of the original Sabre design before we redesign it in 2024.Quantities are limited and there is a one-week lead time for polished finish.
The Sabre Story
When the Sabre was designed back in 2017, our goal was to create a modern three-piece GEM razor with as compact a head as possible. Traditionally, GEM razors use a spring mechanism to hold the blade in place. But we knew we wanted the reliability and simplicity of a threaded three-piece.The GEM blade presented a challenge here because the blade is deep without a round center hole. So using a regular round post would mean that the blade has to sit far forward in front of the handle, leading to an unbalanced, oversized razor. Even today, most other modern GEM razors employ this off-center head strategy. In the pursuit of a compact, balanced head, we instead had the novel idea of shaving down the sides of the threaded post so that the blade could fit right over the post like a DE blade.
To this we had to turn a 5mm wide round stud into just over 2mm wide, eliminating most of the threads. Would it still be strong enough? Would it lead to cross-threading? We didn't know if it would work so we started testing. Luckily, it worked perfectly. But we were still sure that this design would lead to some damaged threads. So when it launched, we factored in a failure rate, expecting to replace a good number of Sabre top caps. We sat by, waiting for the emails from customers with damaged top cap threads. But they never came. In almost seven years, we've never had to replace a single Sabre top cap due to thread damage. In fact, the post design was so reliable that we incorporated it into the Vector SE razor which has been used by thousands of customers without thread failure.
And now we get to the end of this chapter in the Sabre's story. One last hurrah before we tear it down and rebuild it from scratch next year.
- Thread starter
- #7
I love my Sabre with a II plate. Gem blades suit my skin.
Sabre Level I is ok at a pinch. Either way, the ingenuity of the post, machining, balance, handle length/diameter, weight and finish really appeal to me.
I’m afraid I will be an early up-taker of Version 2 when it hits the market. Difficult to imagine a possible improvement but I’m keen to experience it. Damn the expense. No pockets in coffins.
Sabre Level I is ok at a pinch. Either way, the ingenuity of the post, machining, balance, handle length/diameter, weight and finish really appeal to me.
I’m afraid I will be an early up-taker of Version 2 when it hits the market. Difficult to imagine a possible improvement but I’m keen to experience it. Damn the expense. No pockets in coffins.
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