When I finally got the toggle I had always wanted, I was a bit disappointed. At a setting of 4, there was a lot more blade feel than I expected; 5 was no better. Lower levels had less blade feel but weren't very efficient. It wasn't horrible by any means and it shaved ok, but it wasn't what I had hoped it would be.
When there was a thread about using aggressive razors, I decided to open it up to 9 to post a shave in the thread. (I had been using my Sterling a few times for the same reason.)
Anyway, when I opened it up to 9, it was a completely different razor. Sooo smooth I could hardly believe it. I had this idea in my mind that an adjustable would surely feel smoother at milder settings and get rougher when opened up, but it was the exact opposite. At 9 this thing is a fantastic razor. Blade feel, counterintuitively, is much less than at the lower settings. Efficiency is fantastic, but it also feels much better and less aggressive, which was also a surprise to me.
I recently pulled it out again and tried it at 8. Very good, and much smoother than at 4, but the next shave I put it to 9 and it was even better.
I was going to simply ask if anybody else had had a similar experience with an adjustable, but then I remembered the Janus, which was a modern copy of the toggle. The prototype was fantastic but he tweaked it, and the production model was said to be very harsh. I know a lot of guys sent theirs back for a refund, but I also remember some people saying that if they opened it up all the way, it was much smoother, so they were keeping it. It didn't make any sense to me at the time, and I forgot completely about it until right now, while posting this. A coincidence, that it happened with another razor that strongly resembled the toggle? Or have you experienced this phenomenon with other adjustables, vintage or modern?
When there was a thread about using aggressive razors, I decided to open it up to 9 to post a shave in the thread. (I had been using my Sterling a few times for the same reason.)
Anyway, when I opened it up to 9, it was a completely different razor. Sooo smooth I could hardly believe it. I had this idea in my mind that an adjustable would surely feel smoother at milder settings and get rougher when opened up, but it was the exact opposite. At 9 this thing is a fantastic razor. Blade feel, counterintuitively, is much less than at the lower settings. Efficiency is fantastic, but it also feels much better and less aggressive, which was also a surprise to me.
I recently pulled it out again and tried it at 8. Very good, and much smoother than at 4, but the next shave I put it to 9 and it was even better.
I was going to simply ask if anybody else had had a similar experience with an adjustable, but then I remembered the Janus, which was a modern copy of the toggle. The prototype was fantastic but he tweaked it, and the production model was said to be very harsh. I know a lot of guys sent theirs back for a refund, but I also remember some people saying that if they opened it up all the way, it was much smoother, so they were keeping it. It didn't make any sense to me at the time, and I forgot completely about it until right now, while posting this. A coincidence, that it happened with another razor that strongly resembled the toggle? Or have you experienced this phenomenon with other adjustables, vintage or modern?
