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Timeless Master Kit

Post review - Today I went back to my ATT H2 Kronos after having used the Timeless for over a week. I was surprised by the weight difference. I knew the Timeless was heavy, but the ATT feels like it's made of Bakelite now! Seriously though - the ATT still has some heft but nowhere near the Timeless. Both razors are incredibly well balanced, so it wasn't really an issue with the shave.

The other big thing I noticed, was that the ATT had a lot more feedback that I was getting from the Timeless OC. I like feedback, so that is a positive for me.

As far as the shave goes - It was great, as I remembered. For me, I can't really tell much of a difference in the shave experience or the shave result between the two. So I'll go back to my previous statement, and say that, for me, it's about the look of the razor (unless you prefer a really heavy razor). Since I already have an ATT in hand, I don't really feel led to get a Timeless. If I were in the market to get one, I think both are good options - it would be tough to choose :)
 
The box is on it's way to the next participant.

Jonathan from Sudsy Soapery had it last and I didn't have him post any reviews in the thread as he's a vendor. For a vendor to reviews other vendor's products is kind of a touchy area, so I made an exception and told him he could skip the reviews. I did this in the past for a different vendor when they participated in another passaround that I oversee. These guys are wet shavers too and enjoy the passarounds just like anyone else, so I certainly don't want to exclude them.

He did share with me that he really enjoyed the razor and preferred the .68 scalloped plate. He also generously threw some items (some soap and an aftershave balm) in the box for you guys to try as well, so while this thread is mainly about the razor those participating are also welcome to share their thoughts on any other items in the box if they'd like to do so.
 
Truly a classy gentleman. Happy to read more reviews soon. I'm thinking fathers day I'll get me a straight bar .95 just so I can have a .68 and a .95
 
The package arrived yesterday morning from Jonathan. I had held off on shaving so that I could try out the razor.

Jonathan generously included a sample tub of Sudsy Soapry Twice Mint soap and Twice Mint aftershave balm with the package, so I figured that all of my software choices for the day had been taken care of.

I popped in my go-to blade, a Polsilver SI, into the razor with the .68 solid bar base and got ready for the shave.

My normal pre-shave routine is a shower and then the use of Crown Shaving Supreme Glide Pre-Shave on my damp face while I load and lather. Usual shave is 2 passes (WTG, XTG) and cleanup.

The handle makes the razor both heavier and longer than I'm used to using. But the extra weight made it easy for me to just let gravity pull the razor down my face. The result? A very smooth and comfortable shave (assisted by the great soap). The shave could have been a little bit closer, but my face felt very smooth throughout the day.

This was the first time I'd tried Sudsy Soapery aftershave balm and it's very rich. I generally don't like oily balms because I don't like getting my hands all oily and because it sometimes feels too heavy on my face when I've applied it. While this balm suffers somewhat from these problems, my face felt amazing all through the day yesterday. So perhaps I'll have to work some of this into my routine occasionally.
 
For today's shave I decided that I'd try out the .68 scalloped base. I used B&M Petrichor this morning although my lather was not as thick as yesterday's.

The result was another great shave. I think that the scalloped base gave me a bit of a closer shave than yesterday. 3 hours later, my face is still very smooth as a result of the shave and the AS I used (Chiseled Face Summer Storm).

I think that a fella could get used to having amazing shaves everyday.
 
Today's shave was the debut of the .95 open comb base. I returned to the Sudsy Soapery soap and balm since I'd had such a good experience with them on Tuesday.

I did not shave yesterday, so I figured that the .95 would have no problems with 2 days of growth. And I was right. A great shave today with a near-flawless BBS 2 pass shave. I'm sure that the razor can bite if you're not careful, but today's shave felt as if I could approach my face with any razor angle without fear. The shave did feel a touch harsher than the others and I'm not sure whether this is a function of the larger blade gap or the open-comb base. (I'd love others' opinions about this - so feel free to chime in.)

I've got some more experimentation to do with the razor now that I've tried each of the bases. I'm going to try out a lighter and shorter handle to see how I like that. I'll also try the .95 base with 1 day's growth to see if that is uncomfortable.

All of this is a long way around to saying that I'm very impressed with this Timeless set. I was skeptical before about whether or not a razor could be that much better than the best of the vintage razors that I regularly use. But I've gotten 3 excellent and effortless shaves from Timeless. It's gotten me to start thinking about what I'm looking for in my shaves. Do I want a consistently easy comfortable shave? Or am I looking for the challenge of bringing out the best of what I have? Perhaps I'll like a little of both. In any event I may re-think my razor inventory and get rid of even more of my razors and pick up a Timeless.
 
I'm enjoying the reviews. I'm not sure if I can answer your question but I'll give it a shot.

With my experience with the ones I've tried, the SB is the smoothest, the scalloped is almost as smooth but it gives a little more feedback. The open comb is slightly less smooth than the scalloped but gives a bit more feedback. That being said the open comb is about the smoothest open comb razor I've used. It doesn't have the scratchy feeling that some others have as a result of the machining on the teeth. In fact I'd almost swear I was using a straight bar razor if I were shaving with my eyes closed. So all of the benefits of an oc with the feel of a sb.

All of the .68 plates are exceptionally smooth while still being very efficient. The .95 plates are a bit more aggressive but the differences from plate to plate are the same as they are between the .68 versions.

So from sb to scalloped to oc you give up a little smoothness for more feedback but it's minimal. The differences in aggressiveness between the .68 and .95 is very apparent.

The differences between the caps are mostly just visual as I noticed no performance difference whatsoever. So it's more of the look that you're going for there.

With the handles I suspect you'll find that a heavier handle works much better in balancing the heavier base plate and cap. I've had some pretty good success with the Wolfman handles on these heads but once I got used to the Timeless handle I was good with that. The Timeless handles are a lot more reasonably priced than the Wolfman handles as well which is another benefit.
 
Thanks David. For me, I'm trying to figure out if it was the jump from scalloped to open comb or the jump from .68 to .95 that I feel more. (I actually suspect it's the switch to OC even though I assumed - as I believe you think as I infer from your comments - that the change in blade gap would create a bigger difference.)

It'll be interesting to see how the razor performs with a lighter handle. I prefer lighter handles because that's what I'm used to. I certainly could learn to try something new but that would mean expanding my horizons. :)
 
Yeah, I suspect that the biggest change is the .68 to .95. I own both of these in SB and the difference is substantial.
 
Great reviews.

I am almost sure the difference is the blade gap. Open comb can give a different feel but I find it's a somewhat subtle difference. For example- I have the ATT H1 & H2 (SB and OC). The difference between them is subtle and has more to do with feedback, how they react with thicker growth (the OC really shines here) and how much soap they leave behind.

I wish you had the 95 SB on the timeless so you could see for sure. C'eat la vie
 
Second shave in a row with the .95 OC. I used my own tub of Sudsy Soapery (White Sage and Lime)so that I could load straight from the tub.

Another close shave but it was a little harder on my face. I did chase a BBS so I suspect that that is part of the problem. But a dab of the SS balm did wonders to make the end result quite nice.
 
This came today!:a14:
IMG_20170424_1623045.jpg
 
You will enjoy it!

My report on today's shave: My face has felt a little roughed up. I broke out under my jaw line over the weekend. I have no clue about whether that's because of the .95 or purely coincidence. In any event, I took a day off from shaving yesterday.

Today's shave was back with the .68 scalloped base. It had no problems with 2 days of growth. A nice close 2-pass shave.

Used B&M Petrichor and my lather was a little thick - especially for the first path. I've noticed that one of the bigger differences between the .68 and the .95 is the ease of clearing the channel under the blade gap.
 
Yeah, I'm a big fan of the .68 plates. Very efficient and exceptionally smooth. I don't use the .95 plates very often because there really isn't a need considering the close comfortable shaves I'm getting from the .68.
 
A great thread to follow. Sorry for the minor hijack, but I'm working out how and whether to get a timeless to me in Rwanda. Before I do so, does anyone have both a timeless and R41 and do you find the stubble grows back noticeably quicker with the timeless? My new piccolo is just amazing but the downside is the stubble comes back after 6 not 10+ hours compared to my R41. Not sure it can be a daily driver therefore!
 
Today's shave was another very close shave for me. I know you're not supposed to change more than one variable at a time, but I decided to live on the edge... I went with a new Kai blade and also swapped out the Timeless handle for a Maggard MR-11.

The blade seemed to perform very well - as it usually does. With the lighter and shorter handle (80 mm/56 g.) I found myself choking up much higher on the handle to maintain balance. The razor was still heavier than I'm used to using but I find that I'm not having difficulty with either the Timeless or the Maggard handle.
 
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