The World Shave Off Showdown

[J 5]

Does anyone know the weights of the different handles that Wolfman offers in SS?

I've been looking, but I can't find that information anywhere. I'm interested in the Darwin especially because it may weigh a little less... I tend to like light handles.

 

[J 5]

You had to ask that right!!! LOL well I thought about it after I wrote it and I was to lazy to correct it. I'd have to bump it up to more than 5 or 6 because the more I thought about it there are probably 10 or more that I absolutely love shaving with and it's not all about efficiency or blade feel or balance etc etc. I really like a bunch of razors for different reasons and maybe with some real thought as the end of this Shave Off I'll post the razors in this whole Shave Off that stood out and either confirmed they were one of my favorites or if I didn't own the razor but yet feel in love with it I'll put together a list.. maybe you could help a guy and give me a reminder at the end of this as that's something I'd like to do for myself as now you've sparked my curiosity.

Excellent post and thank you for not only asking but giving me something else to add to my bucket list of things to do.

LOL I'm happy to add to the to do list... I'll gladly remind you later.

For the ones I've tried, that you've reviewed, your descriptions have been spot on.

I can't wait to hear what your favorites are.

 

[Shavemd]

Ok No one can post until Frank gets his results up. He can’t be distracted or it will be Tmw before we hear which Wolfie won LOL

 

[smurfups77]

Squirrel

 

[Shavemd]

Great review my friend, love the pics and a really cool bowl. I would completely agree with your results. I find that now that I have found the right angle on the 94 I rarely use my 86 and I sold my Ikon tech

 

[loot]

Fantastic Frankie! You confirmed my suspicions on the smoothness. The only exception I'll take with your write up I'd I did indeed notice the smoothness difference after a considerable lapse of time. It's a strange phenomenon for sure. And I'll certainly turn off the radio and listen those those monster V12 engines purr!

The Feather is a great choice in blades too. I've gotten to where I can almost mindlessly drive an 86 with an Astra or GSB...no so much with a Feather.

At some point, the 86 vs Ti 1 would be nice if the 94 beats it handily. Just a thought.

If you could only have one, 86 or 94, which would you choose? Could you use either daily?

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[loot]

Great review my friend, love the pics and a really cool bowl. I would completely agree with your results. I find that now that I have found the right angle on the 94 I rarely use my 86 and I sold my Ikon tech

Interesting on your preference. Can you use the 94 daily?

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[Shavemd]

Interesting on your preference. Can you use the 94 daily?

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I can use the 94 daily without irritation but with each shave the next night has much less to shave so I find by day 3 or 4 I need to switch to one of my milder razors, like a CG level 1 as there is very little to shave

 

[loot]

I can use the 94 daily without irritation but with each shave the next night has much less to shave so I find by day 3 or 4 I need to switch to one of my milder razors, like a CG level 1 as there is very little to shave

Makes total sense. I know you like to mix things up with razors. It's nice to have a well stocked razor shelf.

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[J 5]

Shave off complete:

Wolfman SS WR1 .86 OC vs Wolfman SS WR1 .94 DC

Ok so many of you wanted this Shave Off and I'll have to admit so did I and as I got closer to the end of this category I'd be lying if I didn't think how cool would it be if the .86 and .94 were in the finals for the Championship! Well that's not going to happen but the Shave Off between them did and I'm just fine with that!
I will start off by saying great job James for creating these beautiful razors that just happen to be equally good shavers! It's obvious you've worked hard at your craft and you have my complete respect and admiration. I don't know if you've looked at this thread but if so this is for you and your razors.

Alright let's get right to it. This Shave Off is in the books and I had a lot of fun doing it I must say. It also confirmed a few things I've been not only wondering about regarding all the different gaps in the Wolfman line up but also answered some personal questions and others that were brought up by members who I call close friends who also have a few Wolfies in their den. Namely Mark aka @Shavemd and James ask @loot who not only supplied a bunch of razors to this Shave Off but are people I talk to on a regular basis.

Gear used: I know I'm going to hear about this but as you can see by the photos I had some fun today with the Shave which included me pulling out a Waterford Crystal bowl for this special Shave Off as I thought I'd have some fun. As you can see I filled the bowl almost up with a ton of lather from the MDC Fougere soap which is one of my favorites not just for the shave but for the scent and I wish they'd make a aftershave I'd buy it in a NY heartbeat! The bathroom smelled great btw. It's so hard it hardly put a dent in it though LOl I used my Thater Boar brush and my now new favorite blade for the Wolfman Razors. A Feather! Yep I've been on a once used Feather kick lately but today right out of the package in these 2 razors they surpassed my normally favorite Kai blades!

Shave Off:

I decided to do 2 WTG passes on my Face. 1 WTG pass on my neck and then a ATG pass on my neck only. I wanted to see how well these two do with a reverse skin stretch pass on my face!

1st Pass - ATG on my face and neck. As you can see from the drawings I started with the 86 on my right side. Using my SSSST I started south right under my sideburns and found my angle right away and such a nice smooth razor with just a nice touch of blade feel. My growth was being taken down with no issues as I made my way downward. The small profile head makes it really easy to get under my nose and both these razors provide good maneuverability. BTW I choose to use my HR7 handle on the 86 just to show the difference in handles. The 94 was sporting the HR2 handle which is my personal favorite if we are only talking shaving qualities. Looks wise I like them both! So a very nice pass from the 86 and I picked up my 94 to continue the journey southbound. As you all probably know this area is the most difficult area of my whole face to shave and because of the increase in gap I chose to give this to the 94 and guess what? No problem for this wonderfully efficient razor as it seemed to ignore my nasty cowlick and weird growth pattern as it wiped away my 2 1/2 days growth. With the 94 in hand I moved over to the right side of my face for the N to S pass and this was a breeze for the 94 as I was in a real rhythm by this time and it went really fast. Oh and like I mentioned earlier I had a few things to test and I'm going to go out on a limb here and say for me I confirmed today that Wolfman razors have their own unique audible sound that is like no other razor and they all sound the same the only difference is in the volume of the sound goes up a bit with the increase in gap and it also depends on how much growth I'm trying to shave off my face. You can all take time now to laugh at my observation if you choose but I stand by my statement and again I call out to some of my shaving brothers that own a few to see if they can pick up on this... James that means you have to turn off the water when your shaving so you can hear the audible feedback from these razors and GOD I hope your not shaving with the Ikon Tech with the water running! LOL Anyway I finished the pass and and excellent pass it was for the 94. Grabbed the 86 and headed downward and it was again no problem for the 86 to take down my growth in a nice smooth manner. So normally I don't do a reverse WTG pass like this as I usually stop at my jawline and then just go right back up without relathering or rinsing but you guys know me I like to mix it up and since I whipped up a mountain of lather in that big bowl I wanted to use as much as I could. So Lathered up and started at my jawline and headed back up with the 86 on my right side. What's awesome about using a good skin stretch is it becomes like shaving a balloon which is how a barber perfects his or her shaving technique using a straight. After all isn't it easier to shave a smooth surface than a bumpy one? So up I went on my cheeks, around my mouth and under my nose. Excellent pass! On to the 94 on the other side and this pass was like shaving nirvana right there. An another confirmation on what a member observed who has quite a collection of Wolfman razors said to me on the phone one night. He said Frank maybe I sound nuts but it seems to me the higher the blade gap on these Wolfies the smoother they get! Which of course I'm thinking at the time sounds crazy and against what most of us know of most razors. Blade gap goes up a little bit of smoothness goes down.. Well James my friend you are right. The 94 feels smoother than the 86 and it's noticeable if you are sensitive to what your doing or should I say very aware. Not sure what's the proper terminology and to be perfectly clear this does not jump out at you and if you were shaving with one razor one day and then shaved with others and shaved with the other razor a few days later I'd say you'd never notice it. Shave with them both on your face like I am in this and it's very subtle but noticeable especially if your looking for it. This was backed up on this awesome pass from the 94! I'd like to add when doing a reverse skin stretch you'll probably notice the hairs being cut beneath your skin the more you stretch and use the 3 movements as you go backwards on the pass. Ok so both WTG passes are done!

2nd Pass - ATG on my neck only - Refreshed my lather on my neck and with the 94 in hand I began my S to N pass on my neck. As always I used my barbers towel to get a great skin stretch on my neck at the base and started upward following my razor and what little was left was gone! Wiped clean and the razors audible feedback did not even increase as it went over my cowlick area because it really took most of it down in the 1st pass. A wonderful pass from the .94 on the ATG pass on my right side neck. Over to the other side and the 86 and a repeat of what I did on my other side and it was again an easy task for the 86 to wipe away any remaining stubble on this my most easy side.

Post Shave: Rinsed my face with warm water first and then with cold. Headed into my kitchen for an ice cube and some cold Thayers unscented for my normal post shave routine. I'm telling you ya gotta try this at least once and let me know how it feels! Cleaned my bowl, brush as my skin dried. Ok now I have to get serious here and first did a face feel and I'm like ok all the hair is under my skin but how far is the question? BBS smooth for sure on all sides but is one more so than the other? Cotton comes out for the test and here are the results! A BBS Level 1 and in some areas a Level 2 for the 86 and for the 94 a rock solid BBS Level 2 all over the areas I shaved with it. I Thought to myself let's see if I can solidify this observation even more so with blades still in the razors with my hands I just grabbed a swipe of soap off the top of the cake of MDC and rubbed it on the area that was showing just a few traces of cotton residue to see if the 94 could pick up any stubble under the skin. Well it did and I went through the whole post shave routine again and let my face dry while I cleaned the razors and got out of my robe and into some clothes and then got the cotton out and yep we had an even shave as the 94 had taken down a little more stubble under my skin where the 86 didn't get as close. So my friends we have a clear winner and I don't have to wait till tomorrow to give you the results. I don't need the scoring system on this one because as far as smoothness, the 94 was a touch more so and let me be clear I'm splitting hairs here my friends! Also it got me even closer than the 86 did and all the other areas would have been either a tie or a win for the 94! So an old fashion clear winner here!

Big congrats to the Wolfman SS WR1 .94 DC!

I'd like to say tonights shave was an overall awesome shave experience and what's kind of cool is since both of these razors are mine I can revisit this Shave Off when I want to and I'm feeling very fortunate I can!

So only one Shave Off left in this " Very Efficient " category and in a couple of days when I have the right amount of growth I'll go at it with the Paradigm Titanium 1 vs the Wolfman WR1 .94 DC for the Championship of this category!

Great Shaves my friends!

DB

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Fantastic shave off!!!

Wow.

The 94 sounds amazing. I'm betting it'll take down the Paradigm in the final.

Will you put the 94, I mean winner, into the "Extremely Efficient" category?

 

[J 5]

Well if your not using your 86 anymore there’s probably a 100 people that would want it

Don't steal my thunder!

I was just about to PM to ask about it lol

 

[Ray Settanta]

Great review, Frank. Really like your poor man’s lather bowl. That would have gone well with the Waterford handled razor I used to have. The Wolfman razor looks to be the apex predator of the shaving world. Maybe I should purchase one in the future. NO! What am I thinking!

 

[smurfups77]

Frank thanks for the great review. That's a beautiful bowl and great pictures. I believe what you say about the Wolfman razors getting smoother as the gap gets bigger but it sure doesn't seem right. I hope to get a Wolfman one day maybe. I don't think I can lose anything by getting one. Keep up the good work Frank talk to you soon.
Happy shaves
Jason

 

[Shavemd]

Wolfman 94 has a slight edge in smoothness otherwise I think this is going to be down to point system it will be that close. Wolfman by a point.

 

[loot]

Could you do me a favor Frank? Trash the Ti 1 real hard in the next review. Maybe a few will turn up on Ebay....then, you can sing it's praises. I need one if it's that close to a 94.

 

[Shavemd]

Could you do me a favor Frank? Trash the Ti 1 real hard in the next review. Maybe a few will turn up on Ebay....then, you can sing it's praises. I need one if it's that close to a 94.

LMAO

 

[Shavemd]

 

[AJSharp]

I'm throwing this out there for anyone's experience since most of us do not have 2 Wolfman razors and the standard max blade gap is 0.86 (the 0.94 is a special request I assume). What would be the expected results if one were to use 2 shims on the 0.86 as each razor blade (I've been told by Matt at Timeless) is 0.04 so 0.86 + (2 x 0.04) = 0.94 ? I have used 2 shims on my WCS CNC El Capitan SS made by Brian of Charcoal Goods who emailed me stating that the WCS CNC was roughly equivalent to CG1 but with my 2 shims was similar to the CG2. I've also used 2 shims on my GC 0.84 (and other milder yet smooth razors) to make it more efficient without loosing any significant smoothness. And yes I realize that blade gap is not definitive for efficiency but it is a factor that we can quantify. Ideas ?

 

[loot]

I would never, ever put a shim in my Wolfman razors. An 86 is pretty danged efficient and for me is just about perfect. No real need for more efficiency.

Dont scratch up your Wolfman bro.

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[Senate515]

Hello my friend and all good points made! The only thing for me and it’s just me. I don’t like putting shims in any of my razors and as far as the Wolfman razors if anyone gets a chance to get one. I suggest just ordering the .86 and as soon as your purchase is confirmed by email just respond and request the .94 instead of the .86 and I don’t know if anyone he’s refused on that request. Maybe if he gets enough he just make it an option in the drop down box.

Very good post!

When I got my .74 I emailed James and got him to engrave the baseplate so that I could tell it apart from my standard gap. I think shimming It seems a bit like buying a Bentley and putting a pop can exhaust tip because it makes it louder


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