Those rare Valet razors

[Luc]

I've been browsing the BST for a little while now (Yeah I know if you look at the join date) but one thing that strikes me is the rare sales of Valet Razors. I'm curious as I know that it's like asking about your favourite pair of shoes, we all have opinions.

Would it be because the Valet auto-strop was not widely produced or because they are so good that everyone is holding on to them?

 

[mblakele]

The last time I listed one I did not get a single PM about it. So I concluded that no one was interested, and it is still sitting on the shelf.

For folks who are interested, they may be easy enough to find in antique shops. Every one that I visit seems to have a Rolls or a Valet, or both.

 

[Slash McCoy]

They aren't all that rare.

What confuses some folks is there were different models, with different refinements to the securing of the blade. Some models can take a modified SE blade. Some cannot because they have lugs that fit into the "Valet" cutout in the OEM blade. Those razors can take the Feather SE blade, usually, because it has a cutout similar to the Valet blade. However, the Feather blades are not readily stroppable. That is, you can strop them all you like, but it doesn't make much difference. The OEM blades can be stropped back to life a few times. I suppose you could have more than one strop, and paste one with .5u and one with .1u diamond, and have another one unpasted.

Like the Rolls, they are pretty long on cool factor, a bit short on practicality, but still usable.

 

[Luc]

Interesting as I do not find a review in the review system either. Is this only used by die hard fans of SE? Blades are more difficult to source for those but even then, not impossible.

 

[Slash McCoy]

The Feathers work. There are also NOS Valet blades available, and not too terribly expensive. But I don't think even die hard SE fans care for this as a daily shaver. Mostly, just something cool to have and to use occasionally.

They can give a very good shave, though. Especially with a Feather. They are a little clunky with all the extra mechanical gizmology, but you have good control of the blade angle, for those who like a very shallow shave angle. The only thing to watch for is make sure the blade is reasonably secure before and during your shave.

 

[morseman]

I like both of my valets and use them in my rotation, but i do not like the feather blades as they are good for 2 or 3 shaves at best and are expensive
over here, but the desplined gems give me 4 or 5 shaves where as the nos valet blades of unknown vintage are unuseable before and after stropping.

just my 2p

 

[gearchow]

I see them fairly often out and about - both cheap and over priced. I leave them. Same thing for Rolls. There is a Rolls in one shop that I spotted a couple of years ago - it remains. And it's sitting at $20.

-jim

 

[kcb5150]

I see a lot of them in the wild. They are not bad at all provided you like SE razors.

 

[Slash McCoy]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FEATHER-SEIKAN-Razor-Blade-Single-edged-10pcs/111124936171?_trksid=p2047675.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D555003%26algo%3DPW.CAT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D142%26meid%3D893890849430093438%26pid%3D100010%26prg%3D1076%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D181178337891%26

A link for an ebay BIN. Not the best price and I think www.razorbladesandmore.com is probably cheaper, but you can see what the feather blade looks like.

 

[lordjohn]

With you on this one Morseman as I have exact same experience with longevity. Nice shave while it lasts.

 

[Mr. Flay]

I get 5-8 shaves from the Feather, so like anything else, YMMV. The quality of the shave (for me) makes them worth the price. And you can get them much cheaper if you buy them in bulk.

 

[Uncle Brian]

I owned one for a while but found it far to aggressive for my delicate little face YMMV. I used Feather blades and in the Valet I had it was possible to bread the aluminum guard off a GEM blade and use that.
Pretty razor but not for me I'm afraid. Seem to plentiful down here in NZ

 

[Luc]

I tried a valet this morning. The Feather a rougher than I remembered them. But that's all right. I need to get used to that razor a bit. It took me nearly 30 minutes to find how to load the valet (mmm, wiki page) and finally figured out. I found a video after that shows it well too (starting 2:10)

 

[TheVez2]

Here's my Valet loaded up with a standard GEM SE blade (de-spined, of course). Wilkinson's Empire brining up the rear.

 

[Mike H]

Here is a video I did loading a feather blade. I found the valet cool, but a bit aggressive.

 

[Luc]

Nice video Mike, simple and to the point.

 

[alex2363]

I had one few years ago, it was still in wrappers 99% mint. I sold it but it didnt gather too much interest.

 

[alex2363]

I've been browsing the BST for a little while now (Yeah I know if you look at the join date) but one thing that strikes me is the rare sales of Valet Razors. I'm curious as I know that it's like asking about your favourite pair of shoes, we all have opinions.

Would it be because the Valet auto-strop was not widely produced or because they are so good that everyone is holding on to them?

I am month older than you on join date, you joined in December, I joined in November 2008. So i am your elder.

 

[miclwilde]

I have a Valet that I've been meaning to get rid of for a year. However, every time I get it out to do so, I just can't turn lose of it. It's just too cool. I've never even shaved with it - I don't have any blades that would fit it. It's just awesome looking.

I'm a huge fan of the Rolls. I just began using one to shave, but I fell in love with them years ago.

I think if you are a gadget type person, things like the Rolls and the Valet are just going to grab you.

 

[marty39]

Yes, miclwilde, I'm a gadget type person, and old time razors are starting to grab me. I regularly shave with a genuine gold plated three piece Gillette, and I also have a Rolls and a 1912 Ever-Ready.

I recently got a Valet razor on eBay, one of the VC2 type with a brass strap that snaps over the blade to hold it. This one has two lugs and matching cutouts, one to match the downstroke of the V and the other to match the dot after the T. Your lugs may vary.

I thought if I could adapt a modern carbon steel SE blade to fit the razor then stropping it might extend its life. After removing the spine, I used a diamond wheel in a rotary hobby tool to cut a diagonal slot to match the downstroke of the V, and then widened the notch at the end of the blade to match the other lug so the edge wouldn't protrude too far. I had to adjust the blade position before closing the brass strap, and now the edge sits over the comb just like a genuine old stock Valet blade.

I'm now thinking that it's too much trouble for a doubtful gain. Besides, I don't know how many blades I can adapt before the diamond wheel has to be replaced. I might be trading the life of the blades for the life of the diamond wheels.

Next day: I just got a Valet strop and an old unused Valet blade. I unwrapped the blade, installed it, and started shaving with it. Bad. Scrape, scratch. I didn't complete the first pass, finishing with a Gem Blue Star blade in a 1912 Ever-Ready. I stropped the Valet blade 15 times and I cut a clean unused Blue Star blade to fit the Valet razor. After I let my face heal by using the Ever-Ready for a few days I'll test the Valet razor with the Blue Star blade, and if the razor is OK with that I'll see how the stropped Valet blade goes.

From what I've read, the old Valet blades are unusable even after stropping, and the Valet razor is pretty aggressive -- in fact I can see more blade exposure than I see in other razors. My tests will either confirm or deny (unless they're inconclusive).