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Post by mjclark on Feb 6, 2014 7:14:04 GMT -6
Presumably honing the original Wilkinson Sword wedge blades will give good results. It works brilliantly for the Rolls razor!
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RocketMan
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Post by RocketMan on Feb 6, 2014 9:42:46 GMT -6
I don't quite understand why you guys don't have a few wedge blades made to specs by a cut-throat manufacturer (and no, I don't mean Dovo or TI, but a real manufacturer). Those modern blades look mildly obscene in the old razor. I think. And if the resulting aggressiveness is like that of my Henckels LCs, then you are getting a complete different type of shave from the razors, too. Might be interesting, but nowhere near the original feeling. You Germans are far too practical!! Where is the fun in that? But seriously, you do have a point in that the shave will certainly be different. However, for most folks the notion of custom ordering might be a little daunting - both in time expended and cost put out. It is for me. The vintage Wilkinson blades, while originally intended as a semi-disposable, can be resharpened and then the original feel and design expectation can be experienced - and for very cheaply. For those folks who don't have much luck resharpening an original blade, the maintenance required to use and manage a custom made wedge would likely prove difficult as well. (Gawd only knows what a struggle it is resharpening stuff around my house!) Don't get me wrong - I would love to have some custom made blades to check out - but with my Scottish background practical is out and tightwad is in! A modified 3 cent blade worx for me. If someone however goes ahead and looks into this - I could certainly be considered a possible participant in a group buy - if the price was right!
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RobinK
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Post by RobinK on Feb 6, 2014 10:33:33 GMT -6
You Germans are far too practical!! Where is the fun in that? What is "fun"? Somebody send me one of those blades, I'll find out for you how much reproducing them would be. Since you've got both: Would the Heljestrand wedges work (when shortened)?
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Post by PJGH on Feb 6, 2014 13:23:59 GMT -6
... because I'd have to buy a hone and a strop and constantly strop it and then hone it for ages and then strop it again afterwards and keep oiling it to keep rust away and hone it when it got rusty then strop it and think about shaving but have to strop it first and the thought of stropping it again afterwards might rather put me off actually shaving with it. Thank the Lord for disposable blades and salvation from a life bound to the hone and strop. That's why For me ... YMMV, naturally.
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Post by PJGH on Feb 6, 2014 13:28:54 GMT -6
Where is the fun in that? What is "fun"? Hehe!
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RobinK
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Post by RobinK on Feb 6, 2014 13:36:32 GMT -6
Did I say something funny? If so, I offer my sincere apologies. I feel duty bound to uphold my nation's notoriety for being unfunny. I promise this will not happen again.
Now, where are those jackboots and the pointy hat in which I look so dashing?
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RocketMan
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Post by RocketMan on Feb 6, 2014 19:36:18 GMT -6
Did I say something funny? If so, I offer my sincere apologies. I feel duty bound to uphold my nation's notoriety for being unfunny. I promise this will not happen again. Now, where are those jackboots and the pointy hat in which I look so dashing? Sorry, I borrowed them when you weren't home so I could head out to a party!
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Post by PJGH on Feb 7, 2014 3:38:32 GMT -6
Quite the contrary, you MUST have fun ... in an orderly and regimented manner, of course, neatly lined up and all performing the same actions. Much like line dancing, in a way ...
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RocketMan
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Post by RocketMan on Feb 8, 2014 13:24:07 GMT -6
Well it seems like I cleared the room pretty good with that. Don't forget that we Canadians are no longer courteous peace makers but are being outed for our real behaviour - brash and sassy with little regard for consequences. After all, our largest city has Rob Ford for a mayor so there ya go. I apologize for all Canucks and to MJClark and BeBerlin for my questionable judgement and for hijacking this thread. (I do like the dancing dood though) On a relevant note, this thread has created lots of energy around shaving with Wilkinsons. It seems that unmodified modern blades work quite well in the older (ca 1920s) Pall Mall razors too. I tried it out yesterday and had a great shave with mine. The fit is close, but it works very nicely. I am pretty sure that is why it feels like I 'go and play razors' whenever I go to the den!
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RocketMan
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Post by RocketMan on Feb 8, 2014 19:23:05 GMT -6
You Germans are far too practical!! Where is the fun in that? What is "fun"? Somebody send me one of those blades, I'll find out for you how much reproducing them would be. Since you've got both: Would the Heljestrand wedges work (when shortened)? I will happily send you out an Empire style blade (pm your addy) so you can see it first hand and look at that. They are considerably smaller than a standard SE wedge and it may not be worth modifying one. The blades are heavily hollow ground and there isn't much metal left for rehoning. It has been done to varying degrees of success and I'm confident your experience with fine tuning straight razors will give you an edge there. I'll compare the Pall Mall wedge to the standard wedge and see if one could be used there. Even without measuring I can say the Pall Mall wedge has a bevel ground on each corner of the crown on the blade top. This allows the blade to be held snugly in the the frame. I'll take a peek soon.
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RobinK
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Post by RobinK on Feb 9, 2014 1:56:25 GMT -6
I will happily send you out an Empire style blade (pm your addy) so you can see it first hand and look at that. They are considerably smaller than a standard SE wedge and it may not be worth modifying one. The blades are heavily hollow ground and there isn't much metal left for rehoning. It has been done to varying degrees of success and I'm confident your experience with fine tuning straight razors will give you an edge there. I'll compare the Pall Mall wedge to the standard wedge and see if one could be used there. Even without measuring I can say the Pall Mall wedge has a bevel ground on each corner of the crown on the blade top. This allows the blade to be held snugly in the the frame. I'll take a peek soon. Hm. Just send me the measurements of the blade first, and I'll ask around whether they can be rebuilt at all (at reasonable cost). One would have to take a 5/8 cut-throat blank and take it from there. Judging from your description, the cut-throat's blade geometry might be the kicker, or, rather, killer.
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RocketMan
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Post by RocketMan on Feb 13, 2014 22:43:22 GMT -6
I checked out the blades sizes BeBerlin.
The Empire blades, while as wide as the wedge (approx 40mm) are much slimmer (12mm depth vs 20-22mm) from standard wedges.
So Empire blades - 40mmx12mm
I haven't a decent camera right now (yes lame, I am working on that) to show the important difference from a cross-sectional look at the two. A blank 5/8 wedge wouldn't work in my estimation because the blades are simply too different. The blade spines are significantly smaller in diameter on the Empires than on a regular str8. It might be a waste of a good blank even trying. But hey, skepticism never ended up getting anything done.
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RobinK
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Post by RobinK on Feb 15, 2014 0:31:12 GMT -6
So Empire blades - 40mmx12mm That won't work. Problem is, there is only one drop forge left in Solingen, and the razor blanks they churn out are basically made for Dovo, and that's. Fun fact for the cut-throat fanboys: Yes, every new production razor is made from these blanks. Which makes for terrific fun if you watch other fanboys wax lyrical about the alleged differences between Dovo, Böker, Puma, blah-blah razors. Because more often than not, they are even made by the same craftsmen (or CNC robots).
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