The most mild de in existence...

[kcb5150]

I have for many years now never encountered something as mild as a grand shave king and long figured it the last word for a de that removes hair with zero sense of urgency, but boy was I wrong.... My latest acquisition, a solid sterling Reyna Taxco set. Even with a fresh Kai this thing is utterly nonplussed about hair removal. The old gillette trick of loosening the handle a touch helps but even then, it's mostly completely defeated. I am going to make some shims and see how that changes the game. Amazing how something that seems to be loosely following the new head is so lazy at its job.. In hand feel of solid sterling is remarkable, that I cannot deny. Disappointing... If it delivered in the shave I would be buying and hoarding these like a greedy squirrel.

 

[Highspeedlane]

Great write up.

 

[kcb5150]

I think the lack of oomph is from the depth of the safety bars in this instance. It's really unbelievably mild.

 

[Northstonehill]

Man that is one great looking razor. Thanks for the write-up, now I’ve got another one to hunt down on my eternal mild shaver quest...

Too bad it is too mild for you - Send it to me and be done with it

 

[kcb5150]

Not sure. I would guess it is in line with the NEW's timeline, maybe a bit later given the no teeth.

 

[Northstonehill]

Not sure. I would guess it is in line with the NEW's timeline, maybe a bit later given the no teeth.

View attachment 852189

Thanks. Great info. I immediately went looking on the ‘bay. Found a nice one, then looked at the price... But it is on my bucket list now for sure, along with that elusive Apollo Mikron adjustable. I’ll get one for sure one day, love mild solid bar razors

 

[kcb5150]

Another ultra mild one is a le coq adjustable dialed down to the bottom. Only issue is it doesn't like the thinner modern de blades too much and tends to distort them.

 

[kcb5150]

The mikron is a very very beautiful razor but it has a very hollow feel in hand that belies the chunky look. I totally understand why ppl buy them though... They are just wonderful to look at and have a huge adjustment range

 

[kcb5150]

Thing about the taxcos is you compete against silver scrappers too who will immediately bid to a point just because of melt value. Even in a flat silver market it's like $63 of melt value.

 

[kcb5150]

I think Abercrombie sold these here and they were a high end item. Someone else would have to confirm that

 

[Northstonehill]

Thanks again, this is super info. How would you rate the shave quality of the Apollo, say rated vs a Slim?

I also looked at the Le Coq, another awesome looking razor.

And yes, I thought too about the silver scrap value. Terrible to think about, really, these going to scrap.

 

[Northstonehill]

Another high end mild solid bar is of course the Eclipse. I really like the way it shaves, very strange and superb combo feel of open/closed comb. And a stunning looker. The below is my beloved specimen, great condition, only downside is that it lacks the gorgeous art deco signature engraving on the top plate.

 

[kcb5150]

Apollo can be quite a bit more aggressive than a slim if you dial it up. Certain mikrons come with a key you can use to tweak the adjustment range

 

[kcb5150]

Yeah, when silver was pushing 50usd like 6 yrs ago I am sure a bunch were because a lot of everything got scrapped

 

[troy]

Great looking razor! Too bad it's so mild. Hard to believe anything could be more mild than the Grand Shave King, I gave up on mine after only a few uses.

 

[kcb5150]

This is to gsk what a 1904 merkur head is to like a 20s old type head. Like 1 to 1.5 steps less. What's astonishing is gsk weighs nothing and this is a tank and it doesn't help

 

[BigJ]

Nice looking razor in any event! Definitely one for the collection.

 

[Ad Astra]

Neat little razor, for sure. Maybe for someone starting out?

AA

 

[kcb5150]

I wouldn't say so actually. A new shaver would start using pressure with this. It would teach horrible habits

 

[GearNoir]

I have for many years now never encountered something as mild as a grand shave king and long figured it the last word for a de that removes hair with zero sense of urgency, but boy was I wrong.... My latest acquisition, a solid sterling Reyna Taxco set. Even with a fresh Kai this thing is utterly nonplussed about hair removal. The old gillette trick of loosening the handle a touch helps but even then, it's mostly completely defeated. I am going to make some shims and see how that changes the game. Amazing how something that seems to be loosely following the new head is so lazy at its job.. In hand feel of solid sterling is remarkable, that I cannot deny. Disappointing... If it delivered in the shave I would be buying and hoarding these like a greedy squirrel.View attachment 852178 View attachment 852179 View attachment 852180 View attachment 852181 View attachment 852182 View attachment 852183 View attachment 852184

So mild due to its inefficiency?

How might it compare to a RR Teck II which is mild also?