WOLFMAN Razor - Waiting List

[HDSledge]

Absolutely! I have said that for a long time. Has very poor business administration knowledge, and poor customer relations skills as well. I am happy I got to buy a WR1 a few months ago (not directly from him), but I sold it within a month, since I didn't like it. Timeless 95 is around 10X better (much much smoother and closer shave)

My take is that James Dufour does not have poor customer relations skills, he has more customers than he wants. When my turn came up he worked with me very closely to fill my order.

He is not set up (probably never will) to run a service oriented business. Liken him to an artist/craftsman. He apparently doesn't want to gear up/hire public relations staff to answer thousands of emails and keep up with orders he can't personally fill.

You concluded Wolfman is the not the most effective tool without having tried a different blade gap. The right gap is sweet. Mine is a little more aggressive than I expected but I all it takes to hit the sweet spot is to load a Feather blade and lighten my touch.

Value? Andy Warhol painted a dented can of soup with a torn label. Someone bought it for 11.7 million dollars. Is it more beautiful than a Renoir or Vermeer? No. Is it worth 11.7 million? Yes. Rarity commands a price and a following. Unless James gets sucked into big retail the value of his work will hold steady and may appreciate.

You should go for another Wolfman with a different blade gap just to try it out. You can always sell it later for what you paid (or more). Like the Warhol.

 

[Pat Puma]

I have razors that I love and I wasn't even thinking of getting a Wolfman when I won one in a raffle. I was skeptical about how good it could be considering the price, which is more than I would ever pay for a razor. Then I used it. I get my best shaves with it. Better than ATT, Ikon Standard, Gillette old and new types, Rockwell, R41, Oristo, and Merkur 34. The Timeless .95 is the one that gives it some competition.

 

[pork]

You concluded Wolfman is the not the most effective tool without having tried a different blade gap. The right gap is sweet. Mine is a little more aggressive than I expected but I all it takes to hit the sweet spot is to load a Feather blade and lighten my touch.

You should go for another Wolfman with a different blade gap just to try it out. You can always sell it later for what you paid (or more). Like the Warhol.

I was thinking the same thing. My first Wolfman, a WR1 SB .80, is a very nice razor. I got lucky with my first WR2 and found my personal sweet spot for a daily driver. Now, I debate whether or not to keep the WR1 since I don't really need it. As nice as the WR1 is, the WR2 is much better. I'm not really sweating it though. Should I choose to sell the WR1, I won't lose any money on it. Spend the money once and, if it doesn't meet your needs, get another and sell the first. Unless you pay through the nose on Ebay, all you should need to spend is your initial investment.

 

[HDSledge]

+1 and I'll add a bit to this. When people make blanket statements about how Wolfman Razors Shave without ever shaving with one or just shaving with one gap when there are so many options it kind of upsets me as it would with any artisan razor maker that works their behinds off and loves what they do gets bashed all the time. So do I have other razors in my den that can get me closer, smoother than lets say a WR1 SS .61 or 74 for example? The answer is Yes but are there a lot of razors in my den that can give me the shave a WR1 .94 or WR2 1.15, 1.25 or 1.35 can? The answer is NO! Not many and I can count them on one hand without my thumb and I've shaved with a razor or two in my time of wet shaving for over 10yrs. Sorry but I've seen this man and his razors get bashed one to many times and he and his razors don't deserve it! You didn't get one, your not willing to wait until the site opens, your upset he doesn't answer your one of about 600 emails he gets every day asking if he will make you a razor without an order # so you bash him and his razors saying Oh yeah I've got this $30 razor that shaves just as well or this razors is 5 times better when you've never even shaved with a Wolfman or maybe hand only one shave with only one WR1 or WR2! Please. I've seen this happen to Brian at Charcoal Goods. Another great guy and master artisan razor maker who also has a very long waiting list. Can't get one so bash him or his razors or both! Instant gratification has been a growing problem in this world in my humble opinion and some people should try to get a handle on it and more importantly teach your kids to learn the word NO you can't have that right now!

Sorry guys for my rant but I'm a small business owner and I work my butt off to make my customers happy so when I see blatant bashing of a person or their products that don't deserve it I can't help expressing my feelings and standing up for those that can't speak or defend themselves on here.

Great Shaves!

You said what I thought lol. I edited the crap out of my earlier commentary.

What is that on the left in the bottom photo?

That is a brass shaving brush handle that belonged to my late father. I found it while going through his medicine cabinet. I was hopeful it would engrave well and fit in with the Wolfman razor and stand set.

I picked out a wolf image that I liked and Otto worked it into the cap and the base of the brush handle. He provided the rest of the motif with fanged winged dogs and other artwork.

If you haven't seen his work before search for Otto Carter. Amazing. Check out the Giger 1911:
H.R. Giger 1911

The museum quality comment caught my eye. No safe queen folks, I use it once a week in my rotation (the crowd voices a collective moan...). It may be pretty, but it is still a razor.

A year of use has given it a nice rich golden patina.

 

[It's Hedley]

True, and at the same time it makes me laugh. I think of the Torah story of how the ancient Hebrews, having escaped Egypt, are wandering in the desert. Now free people for the first time in many generations, they're discovering the blessings of this world. Every day a flock of birds circles and essentially falls at their feet. Then their leader, Moses, gets the command to go to Mount Sinai where he will be invited to commune directly with God. They walk there. Mosen climbs the mountain. The people are waiting in great expectation and Moses doesn't return right away. Within just a few days of his being gone, they begin to get distracted and by the time he returns they've made a giant golden calf to worship. And Moses is like "I can't leave you people alone for even a moment without your getting distracted by some new bobble, some useless shiny thing." I'm paraphrasing of course. The story doesn't include his exact words.

In the Muslim faith, they say la illaha illa'llah, which means there is no god but God. In other words, we're attracted to shiny things because our hearts are drawn to the divine. But the only true divinity is beyond this outer world. One must go deep within to find it. It's also where the words Allah huakbar! come from. It essentially means God is greater. Anything you can think of or create -- God is greater.

The deeper notion is that our souls are drawn to God. We don't realize that's what's driving us, but that desire to be with God is at the core of our being. Since God is veiled in this world, we have a natural tendency to project God onto other things. Sometimes onto people. Leaders or romantic interests. Sometimes ideas. Sometimes physical things.

Pretty razors are nice. We just need to be careful about perfectionism. Then we wind up with silly notions like buying a razor, which is essentially a tool, and putting it on display or, worse, in a drawer, to just sit. There are ancient myths of dragons in lairs guarding piles of gold and harems of virgins. The dragon can of course do nothing with the gold or the virgins, and we're supposed to look out for those dragon aspects ourselves within.

I have a beautiful CGL3 SB. I love it! It's shiny copper and so pretty. The other day I noticed a tiny imperfection in the finish on the cap and my first impulse was sadness. But then I thought of this group of ancient Chinese artisans who made beautiful pottery. It got so perfect they began putting a small crack on the bottom of each object. They did this because the felt that nothing in this world should be perfect because that is the exclusive domain of the divine. We have to be careful about seeking out such perfection in this world because it can lead to a dark place. A place where hearts close and we lose our humanity and our connection to one another. We lose our values and deepest sense of self. Materialism is a disease, as it separates us from each other and the truth of our hearts (which is connection to our brothers and sisters).

I could not have said it better. The deeper meaning of life has nothing to do with material things. Material things (razors, AS, brushes etc) are great to admire, use, share and banter about on this forum, but in the big picture...

+1 and I'll add a bit to this. When people make blanket statements about how Wolfman Razors Shave without ever shaving with one or just shaving with one gap when there are so many options it kind of upsets me as it would with any artisan razor maker that works their behinds off and loves what they do and you see them getting bashed all the time not only on here but other sites as well

So do I have other razors in my den that can get me closer, smoother than lets say a WR1 SS .61 or 74 for example? The answer is Yes but are there a lot of razors in my den that can give me the shave a WR1 .94 or WR2 1.15, 1.25 or 1.35 can? The answer is NO! Not many and I can count them on one hand without my thumb and I've shaved with a razor or two in my time of wet shaving for over 10yrs. Sorry but I've seen this man and his razors get bashed one to many times and he and his razors don't deserve it! You didn't get one, your not willing to wait until the site opens and your upset he doesn't answer your one of about 600 emails he gets every day asking if he will make you a razor without an order # so then you bash him and his razors saying Oh yeah I've got this $30 razor that shaves just as well or better than this overpriced razor or this razors is 5 times better when you've never even shaved with a Wolfman or maybe had only one shave with only one WR1 or WR2! Please. I've seen this happen to Brian at Charcoal Goods. Another great guy and master artisan razor maker who also has a very long waiting list. Can't get one so bash him or his razors or both! Instant gratification has been a growing problem in this world in my humble opinion and some people should try to get a handle on it and more importantly teach your kids to learn the word NO you can't have that right now!

Sorry guys for my rant but I'm a small business owner and I work my butt off to make my customers happy so when I see blatant bashing of a person or their products that don't deserve it I can't help expressing my feelings and standing up for those that can't speak or defend themselves on here.

Great Shaves!

Hallelujah! It needed to be said. I appreciate people's opinions, but we all know James' story by now. If you do not like or appreciate the artisans that James and Brian at CG are and how they handle their businesses, just leave it alone and move on. There is nothing to see here!

 

[dfoulk]

+1 and I'll add a bit to this. When people make blanket statements about how Wolfman Razors Shave without ever shaving with one or just shaving with one gap when there are so many options it kind of upsets me as it would with any artisan razor maker that works their behinds off and loves what they do and you see them getting bashed all the time not only on here but other sites as well

So do I have other razors in my den that can get me closer, smoother than lets say a WR1 SS .61 or 74 for example? The answer is Yes but are there a lot of razors in my den that can give me the shave a WR1 .94 or WR2 1.15, 1.25 or 1.35 can? The answer is NO! Not many and I can count them on one hand without my thumb and I've shaved with a razor or two in my time of wet shaving for over 10yrs. Sorry but I've seen this man and his razors get bashed one to many times and he and his razors don't deserve it! You didn't get one, your not willing to wait until the site opens and your upset he doesn't answer your one of about 600 emails he gets every day asking if he will make you a razor without an order # so then you bash him and his razors saying Oh yeah I've got this $30 razor that shaves just as well or better than this overpriced razor or this razors is 5 times better when you've never even shaved with a Wolfman or maybe had only one shave with only one WR1 or WR2! Please. I've seen this happen to Brian at Charcoal Goods. Another great guy and master artisan razor maker who also has a very long waiting list. Can't get one so bash him or his razors or both! Instant gratification has been a growing problem in this world in my humble opinion and some people should try to get a handle on it and more importantly teach your kids to learn the word NO you can't have that right now!

Sorry guys for my rant but I'm a small business owner and I work my butt off to make my customers happy so when I see blatant bashing of a person or their products that don't deserve it I can't help expressing my feelings and standing up for those that can't speak or defend themselves on here.

Great Shaves!

It's not exclusive to Wolfman. For James as well as Brian at Charcoal Goods it doesn't seem to hurt their business at all. I mean if you sell everything you can possibly make as quickly as you can make it then it's not impacting sales or profit. I definitely get your point though and agree with you.

Blanket statements are common. I've seen many people comment that a $300 razor doesn't shave any better than a vintage Gillette. This hasn't really been my experience at all. Sure I've tried several of the Vintage razors with my favorite being a Gillette New LC, which I found to be an excellent shaver. That being said I find myself getting better shaves from some of the more recent higher end stainless steel razors. Quite a bit better in fact.

Does paying more for a razor make it shave better, absolutely not. But if you're going to machine a razor on expensive equipment, spend hours polishing it and intend to sell it for several hundred dollars I'd hope that you'd done quite a bit of testing to the point that you know it's superior to anything else you've tried. I know that I would.

I suspect those that make the statement that a $30 razor is as good as a modern stainless steel razor haven't actually shelled out the cash for and tried the high dollar razor.

Of course you have to know which ones to buy but if you're in the know and choose wisely then yes the expensive modern razors are better than the vintage razors and the more expensive brushes are in fact better as well. Just how much better, and if they're worth the extra cost to you personally, is something that only you can decide.

With soaps paying more doesn't guarantee you'll get anything better. Again, you have to know which ones to buy but the sweet spot seems to be around the $24 mark as this amount will get you your pick of the very best soaps on the planet. I see lots more comments like this when it comes to soaps. Lots of "brand xyz is the very best soap" from someone has only tried five soaps.

What it comes down to is unless you've tried everything how would you actually know.

 

[HDSledge]

Finally got a halfway decent pic of the cap details. I can't imagine being able to do that. One slip and it's ruined.

 

[johnwick]

Remarkable @HDSledge . You're right about having a slip. It must be many, many light strokes before the groove is made. A true craftsman.

 

[mawashi]

True, and at the same time it makes me laugh. I think of the Torah story of how the ancient Hebrews, having escaped Egypt, are wandering in the desert. Now free people for the first time in many generations, they're discovering the blessings of this world. Every day a flock of birds circles and essentially falls at their feet. Then their leader, Moses, gets the command to go to Mount Sinai where he will be invited to commune directly with God. They walk there. Mosen climbs the mountain. The people are waiting in great expectation and Moses doesn't return right away. Within just a few days of his being gone, they begin to get distracted and by the time he returns they've made a giant golden calf to worship. And Moses is like "I can't leave you people alone for even a moment without your getting distracted by some new bobble, some useless shiny thing." I'm paraphrasing of course. The story doesn't include his exact words.

In the Muslim faith, they say la illaha illa'llah, which means there is no god but God. In other words, we're attracted to shiny things because our hearts are drawn to the divine. But the only true divinity is beyond this outer world. One must go deep within to find it. It's also where the words Allah huakbar! come from. It essentially means God is greater. Anything you can think of or create -- God is greater.

The deeper notion is that our souls are drawn to God. We don't realize that's what's driving us, but that desire to be with God is at the core of our being. Since God is veiled in this world, we have a natural tendency to project God onto other things. Sometimes onto people. Leaders or romantic interests. Sometimes ideas. Sometimes physical things.

Pretty razors are nice. We just need to be careful about perfectionism. Then we wind up with silly notions like buying a razor, which is essentially a tool, and putting it on display or, worse, in a drawer, to just sit. There are ancient myths of dragons in lairs guarding piles of gold and harems of virgins. The dragon can of course do nothing with the gold or the virgins, and we're supposed to look out for those dragon aspects ourselves within.

I have a beautiful CGL3 SB. I love it! It's shiny copper and so pretty. The other day I noticed a tiny imperfection in the finish on the cap and my first impulse was sadness. But then I thought of this group of ancient Chinese artisans who made beautiful pottery. It got so perfect they began putting a small crack on the bottom of each object. They did this because the felt that nothing in this world should be perfect because that is the exclusive domain of the divine. We have to be careful about seeking out such perfection in this world because it can lead to a dark place. A place where hearts close and we lose our humanity and our connection to one another. We lose our values and deepest sense of self. Materialism is a disease, as it separates us from each other and the truth of our hearts (which is connection to our brothers and sisters).

Sheese,

Forget being a lawyer, you missed your calling as a minister.

Perhaps you can convince this agnostic into being a true believer lol.

 

[mawashi]

Finally got a halfway decent pic of the cap details. I can't imagine being able to do that. One slip and it's ruined.
View attachment 958992

Holy cow!!!

 

[Parallax]

Sheese,

Forget being a lawyer, you missed your calling as a minister.

Perhaps you can convince this agnostic into being a true believer lol.

Ha! Hey, thanks man. Not sure I'd make it as a minister, quoting Arabic and notions from the Qu'ran. My religious perspectives come from many faiths. That which they share in common is where I find the deepest wisdom. The stories from the Torah, Bible, Qu'ran and other spiritual texts were not intended to be children's cartoons. They carry deep wisdom. They speak about us. The ways we get stuck and go off track but also ways to connect deeply to each other and to life. One need not even reference God necessarily because God is such an awesome concept -- beyond anything anyone can understand. Thus, whatever we say about God can only be wrong because the reality is too big for words.

 

[NJDJ]

Finally got a halfway decent pic of the cap details. I can't imagine being able to do that. One slip and it's ruined.
View attachment 958992

I have seen a picture of your razor before and every time I see it I am amazed. It is truly beautiful.

 

[Tester28]

There was a time when I emailed the guy who makes M&F brushes and he never replied
so I got a bit riled up. Then I found other stuff that I liked. Now I don't even look at posts of his brushes because
I've got more than I need.

Sometimes people who are a one man show are so occupied with their job, they cut out anything that is a distraction.
Because of their unwavering focus, they are sometimes misunderstood as rude, uncaring, egoistic, and so on.

Theres an old lady in my neighbourhood who has a very famous cake shop. People complain about her too, saying she's very moody. But her cakes always sell out in a couple of hours. Those who buy the cakes are happy, those who don't, aren't. Luckily I bake my own cakes. Now if only I could make my own razor....

 

[Parallax]

Finally got a halfway decent pic of the cap details. I can't imagine being able to do that. One slip and it's ruined.
View attachment 958992

Now if only I could make my own razor....

Wouldn't that be something! Recently ran into someone with a high end mill. Purchased for $180k, she's trying to sell it now for $130k. Too rich for my blood. Met this person in a professional setting so it's not appropriate to suggest plugging the mill back in.

 

[Pat Puma]

There was a time when I emailed the guy who makes M&F brushes and he never replied
so I got a bit riled up. Then I found other stuff that I liked. Now I don't even look at posts of his brushes because
I've got more than I need.

Sometimes people who are a one man show are so occupied with their job, they cut out anything that is a distraction.
Because of their unwavering focus, they are sometimes misunderstood as rude, uncaring, egoistic, and so on.

Theres an old lady in my neighbourhood who has a very famous cake shop. People complain about her too, saying she's very moody. But her cakes always sell out in a couple of hours. Those who buy the cakes are happy, those who don't, aren't. Luckily I bake my own cakes. Now if only I could make my own razor....

I know you said you aren't intersted, but those days are over for M&F. Now you order them through Brad Sears Shaveworks, who makes the handles. Very easy through the website. There are often ready made M&F brushes available. It will still take a few months to get a custom, but the process is easy.

 

[Shavemd]

My experience is that James is very attentive to all your questions once you order a razor. He really worked with me and answered my questions when making mine. I know this may be contrary to many but I am finding I prefer the shave with the WR1 more than the WR2. Both are great but I prefer the feel I get with the WR1

 

[pork]

My experience is that James is very attentive to all your questions once you order a razor. He really worked with me and answered my questions when making mine. I know this may be contrary to many but I am finding I prefer the shave with the WR1 more than the WR2. Both are great but I prefer the feel I get with the WR1

Which WR1 gaps do you use most and/or like best?

 

[Shavemd]

Which WR1 gaps do you use most and/or like best?

.74 Ti and .94 SS. I also use a .61 when I just need a quick touchup. I have a 1.15 SSWR2 and had a 1.25/1.35 DC WR2 Ti

 

[pork]

.74 Ti and .94 SS. I also use a .61 when I just need a quick touchup. I have a 1.15 SSWR2 and had a 1.25/1.35 DC WR2 Ti

How would you characterize the difference in feel you get between your WR1s and WR2s? I prefer my WR2s, but I have only used one blade gap in the WR1. Curious about your thoughts

 

[Shavemd]

With the WR1 i feel the blade, its smooth, so I can control the effective angle easier. The WR2 seems to loose a lot of the blade feel after the first pass so I dont get the tactile feel of maintaining the correct angle. Both give very good to excellent results, but for me, its easier with the WR1