A Little Project

Errol

Razor Review Guru
Joined
Apr 29, 2017
Location
Nhulunbuy
A Little Project

This week is an off week with no razor review to post so here is a summary of an escapade I ventured off on last year.

Previously I’ve been challenged to create my own razor and this is the result; not built from scratch but I’ve tried to be a bit creative and come up with a custom. Ideas had been bubbling away in my head but nothing came of it till I saw a photo of a mock up handle Brian from Charcoal Goods designed. Inspired and all fired up I designed fifty handles in my head while I should have been sleeping over the next month or so. Each one better than the last, till I had a plan in my noggin as to how I was going to proceed. Even that plan changed or should I say was fine tuned one million times.

What’s the use of a handle without something special to attach it to, so I wrote down what my requirements were:
  • Made of Stainless Steel
  • Must be readily available
  • Unique
  • I had to like it
  • It had to work
  • It had to shave somewhere near what I liked
  • Tall order
First up the base plate; what reasonably available razor filled the bill as a donor?
  • Wolfman - if you could ever get one even Errol wouldn’t destroy a Wolfman just to be really unique
  • I like ATT but their blade alignment and retaining requires an ATT cap - not what I’m looking for
  • Timeless base plate – not for this one
  • Blackbirds require Blackbird handles, not in the plan
  • Running out of ideas already
  • Charcoal Goods are hard to get but a drop of stainless steel razors was expected in June/ July 2019. Might fit the bill
Now the cap. Curved caps are like bum holes; everyone has one. It had to be different so in the end the choice came down to two contenders:
  • The Occam DE cap with the ridge back is plain ugly and not in the running and it’s sintered
  • Blackbird
  • Timeless Scalloped
One thing in my favour is that I have these razors on hand to mix and match and hopefully come up with a solution. For everyone’s safety, it’s a good thing that nothing matched up easily and whichever way I went I was going to have to go back to my trade skills and do some fitting. In the end I chose to go with the Charcoal Goods Gen 2 base plate (level 2) and the Blackbird cap. I had long worked out my handle would be based on the Timeless TRH: 3 handle.

May 2019 - Cap and handle ordered.

Mid June 2019 – Blackbird cap arrived and modified to fit CG base plate. My first mock up is ready for trial. Absolutely terrible shave. First lesson - Just because you use parts from two of the most respected razor manufacturers on the planet does not mean success. The quality of shave from either manufacturer is the sum of their individual plates working in combination. Thinking cap on again. Maybe a Level 3 CG base plate but that is not even released yet. Maybe an Ikon? The Ikon stainless steel has a B1 coating and a black plate is not my first option. Karve has round blade posts.

Late June 2019 – I’ve been thinking what Brian from Charcoal Goods said about the Gen 1 and the Gen 2’s having the same geometry. I have a Gen 1, Level 3 brass base plate so the second trial is about to start. Nice. Really good, I’m happy with that Blackbird cap/ CG Gen 1 combination. My concern now is that there may be some changes between the Gen 1 Brass plate and the Gen 2 Stainless steel plate. No good worrying about it, press on.

Mid July – The release of the new generation level 3 plates from Charcoal Goods still hasn’t eventuated. Must be getting close though and my checking three or four times every day probably hasn’t helped me. I’d hate to miss out. While checking on line I’ve found a RAW RS-10 mild plate for sale. I hadn’t even thought about the RS-10. Out with my pieces but the Blackbird cap is not going to fit without major modification. Pass on the RS-10.

Late July 2019 – Cap in hand and off to the one and only machine shop in town for some lathe work on the handle. Would you believe the poor machinist was crook and not expected out of hospital for three weeks. Contacted my son and was advised that he was waiting on his tax cheque so he could buy a lathe for home. Music to the Old Man’s ears so I drew up a sketch of what I wanted and bundled the Timeless handle and some bronze rod off to him. Around this time the expected second release of the Charcoal Goods stainless steel Gen 2 eventuated so a Level 3 plate was ordered for the project. Out of the blue and Homelike Shaving out of Russia released a razor with four different plates. Looking at the photos (very technical I know) there is a chance here that one of these plates may fit also; I now might have some options.

Mid August 2019 – A trial of the Charcoal Goods Level #3 plate combined with the Blackbird cap resulted in a shave that was mild, like Karve CB #B plate mild. It may be OK but I’ll wait and see what comes out of Russia. Still waiting on the machining on the handle, I knew that would be the case.

Late August 2019 – The Homelike package arrived but not surprisingly the Blackbird cap and the Homelike plate were not compatible. Only a minor modification to the cap and I’ll have three levels of Homelike to test. Total failure with the Homelite/ Blackbird combination.

I set out to create something totally different that worked and so far, have achieved nothing other than a gaining spare parts. In retrospect I’d get a better shave if I stuck to any one of the brands; Blackbird, Charcoal Goods, Timeless or Homelite would have all delivered a better shave with far less trouble. Something that never entered my head when I set out on this escapade was that I would learn so much and appreciate the way the different manufacturers achieve their great shaves, their angles used, measurements, positive blade exposure, negative blade exposure, gaps; you name it. The knowledge gained has been invaluable. I do not have access to many simple tools here so I cannot progress with my project but the good thing is I now know what is required and will one day complete the project. A word of warning. Do not try this at home!
 
... or you could grab a timeless vintage classic :)
 
Frankenrazors: R41 base plate with SLOC cap appeals because I want the efficiency of R41 but smooth without the burn, also not as expensive as the spare parts you are playing with @Errol.
Mixing and matching is OK but once you start machining I expect the original is destroyed. Should have held onto the R41 for spare Frankie parts
 
Frankenrazors: R41 base plate with SLOC cap appeals because I want the efficiency of R41 but smooth without the burn, also not as expensive as the spare parts you are playing with @Errol.
Mixing and matching is OK but once you start machining I expect the original is destroyed. Should have held onto the R41 for spare Frankie parts
Which top cap brand for the SLOC ??? Might give this a bloody spin
 
Hi @SpeedyPC this thread with Razorock Self-Lubricating Open Comb (SLOC)
https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/r41-sloc-review-topcaps-matter.576675/
Others have suggested the Yaqi Mellon Head aswell
https://www.badgerandblade.com/foru...ng-best-this-razor-since.573879/post-10367520
If I had held onto the R41 would definitely give it a go
GLWT

thanks @Holiday im gonna give it a crack too, just not sure which color mellon head to get lol i personally love my r41 and dont find it rough if i concentrate, nothing wrong with making it smoother (y)
 
@Errol & @Holiday want to nominate you both for a joint enabler award, i now have a red mellon head on its way... then a felt a tug, had a bite and ended with a red 2-band best badger brush :)

this is my first, hopefully last forte into frankenrazors.... at least it was quick :)

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@Errol & @Holiday want to nominate you both for a joint enabler award, i now have a red mellon head on its way... then a felt a tug, had a bite and ended with a red 2-band best badger brush :)

this is my first, hopefully last forte into frankenrazors.... at least it was quick :)

49901644417_08bda6f646.jpg
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Have a bloody whisky :happy:
 
... or you could grab a timeless vintage classic

hahaha ... my thoughts exactly. I find it hard to go past the vintage stuff TBH!

i now have a red mellon head on its way

A quick question. What is the function of the "combs" on these razors? I have also noriced that some early Gillettes have them. I guess there is a purpose, just not sure what it is?

then a felt a tug, had a bite and ended with a red 2-band best badger brush

A very very beautiful brush. I really like it. It will look even better with the matching razor head!
 
hahaha ... my thoughts exactly. I find it hard to go past the vintage stuff TBH!

A quick question. What is the function of the "combs" on these razors? I have also noriced that some early Gillettes have them. I guess there is a purpose, just not sure what it is?

to me, the open comb is more efficient than the closed of the same gap, i think because the blade has more contact with the skin, and i feel the OC leaves behind a tiny bit of lather between the teeth for buffing. This is not the reason i got the mellon head and it just happened to be an OC. Regardless I am just going to use the to cap, the OC base is going to a gift for the misuss.


A very very beautiful brush. I really like it. It will look even better with the matching razor head!

unfortunately i the red brush i ordered was sold out.., had it in the cart, purchased it and different item went to the order, so cancelled that one and ordered the same knot in this handle instead :)

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