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I thought I'd create this thread so we could add our collective thoughts on the Rocnel SE razor as they begin to show up in people's mailboxes.
I was one of the fortunate ones that were part of an early delivery round of the razor (don't worry - I still paid full price
) and received mine today.
Some quick data points to get out of the way:
Price
Razor and one handle: $25
Shipping to the US: $8 or 10 (this may be fine tuned as Murat decided on final shipping option but it should be around that).
Payment: You get a Paypal invoice
Delivery schedule for pre-orders
The last I heard, back in February was as follows;
March - Domestic deliveries
April - Domestic and starting North America deliveries
May - North America deliveries
June - North America and Europe deliveries
(@ckeskin If you have any updates on that please do let us know)
Material: 316 Stainless steel
Country of Origin: Turkey
Level of awesomeness: High
The razor arrived approx 2-3 weeks after settling the invoice.
Initial impressions:
The razor arrives in a very nice, thick cardboard box with a waxed seal/stamp on a Rocnel tag.
It all looks very professional.
(My one comment here to Murat/Rocnel would be to maybe either skip the seal/stamp or place it inside a small plastic pouch. Mine had broken in transit and I had a gazillion small red pieces all throughout the box. Not a big issue of course but it did take a bit to clean out from the razor ).
Inside the box was a hand written note from Murat.
It's quite possible it's a string of four-letter words but I choose to believe that it praises me and my early order. (@ckeskin no need to correct me if I'm wrong ).
And there it finally was...the beast from Turkey.....The Rocnel SE!
As you can see above I got both handles - the knurled one as well as the smooth Pils-looking one.
More about those later.
Quick first impressions:
* Man, it's heavy and solid
* Feels great
* Great machining
* How is this $25?
* I need to shave...I just need to remember how to load it
I think the last point is actually rather relevant. How DO you load the razor?
It can be a bit risky to send the razor out w/out any instructions as this is quite a different razor as far as loading and blade handing goes. Ideally I would have loved for there to be a one page of 4-5 illustrations showing how to break the DE and then load - and unload the blade into the razor.
Personally I think I will just go back and look at Cihan's video on youtube before I load a blade in it tomorrow.
Let's talk about the handles and how they attach to the head a bit.
As you can see in the photo below the handle each comes with a screw.
This stainless steel screw can be fully removed from both the handle and head and there lies a potential issue if you are not careful - it appears as if the threads in the handle are deep enough so that the screw could accidentally be screwed into it so far that you would have a problem getting it out.
Now, I didn't actually test that fully as I chickened out and didn't let it go all the way in.
When screwed into the head it automatically stops at a preset depth though and then its easy to mount the handle to the head.
Knurled handle
The knurled one feels very, very safe when held. The knurling is quite honestly superb.
Look at this pattern in rather extreme closeup:
It's a very attractive razor in a functional, almost industrial way.
Smooth handle
Now the smooth handle is the same size as the knurled one. It feels just a tad heavier but that might just be perception more than anything. It does feel very, very elegant though. It's an extremely well machined handle. One of my pet peeves with razors is that the more inexpensive ones 'squeek' a bit when you screw the handle onto the head - the Rocnel is smooth as butter.
Now, I do own some razors with a completely smooth handle such as the Pils and never had any issue with holding on to it during shaving so that is not a big concern of mine.
Gratuitous photos:
The head
It has two stamps on it - one on each side;
"2016"
(The dark spots you may see are not imperfections in the steel but actually tiny fragments of the wax seal. It cleaned right off).
and "P"
(I remember that Murat will down the road be making three different heads - Mild, Medium and Aggressive). I believe this is the Medium one)
So there you have it - a rather quick 'first impressions' of the Rocnel SE.
I am so far highly impressed by the looks and feel of the razor and how it all fits together.
If there's an interest I'll post a shaving report tomorrow and add some photos of the blade loaded in it as well as some size-comparison photos to some well known razors.
I was one of the fortunate ones that were part of an early delivery round of the razor (don't worry - I still paid full price
) and received mine today.Some quick data points to get out of the way:
Price
Razor and one handle: $25
Shipping to the US: $8 or 10 (this may be fine tuned as Murat decided on final shipping option but it should be around that).
Payment: You get a Paypal invoice
Delivery schedule for pre-orders
The last I heard, back in February was as follows;
March - Domestic deliveries
April - Domestic and starting North America deliveries
May - North America deliveries
June - North America and Europe deliveries
(@ckeskin If you have any updates on that please do let us know)
Material: 316 Stainless steel
Country of Origin: Turkey
Level of awesomeness: High
The razor arrived approx 2-3 weeks after settling the invoice.
Initial impressions:
The razor arrives in a very nice, thick cardboard box with a waxed seal/stamp on a Rocnel tag.
It all looks very professional.
(My one comment here to Murat/Rocnel would be to maybe either skip the seal/stamp or place it inside a small plastic pouch. Mine had broken in transit and I had a gazillion small red pieces all throughout the box. Not a big issue of course but it did take a bit to clean out from the razor
).
Inside the box was a hand written note from Murat.
It's quite possible it's a string of four-letter words but I choose to believe that it praises me and my early order. (@ckeskin no need to correct me if I'm wrong
).
And there it finally was...the beast from Turkey.....The Rocnel SE!
As you can see above I got both handles - the knurled one as well as the smooth Pils-looking one.
More about those later.
Quick first impressions:
* Man, it's heavy and solid
* Feels great
* Great machining
* How is this $25?
* I need to shave...I just need to remember how to load it
I think the last point is actually rather relevant. How DO you load the razor?
It can be a bit risky to send the razor out w/out any instructions as this is quite a different razor as far as loading and blade handing goes. Ideally I would have loved for there to be a one page of 4-5 illustrations showing how to break the DE and then load - and unload the blade into the razor.
Personally I think I will just go back and look at Cihan's video on youtube before I load a blade in it tomorrow.
Let's talk about the handles and how they attach to the head a bit.
As you can see in the photo below the handle each comes with a screw.
This stainless steel screw can be fully removed from both the handle and head and there lies a potential issue if you are not careful - it appears as if the threads in the handle are deep enough so that the screw could accidentally be screwed into it so far that you would have a problem getting it out.
Now, I didn't actually test that fully as I chickened out and didn't let it go all the way in.
When screwed into the head it automatically stops at a preset depth though and then its easy to mount the handle to the head.
Knurled handle
The knurled one feels very, very safe when held. The knurling is quite honestly superb.
Look at this pattern in rather extreme closeup:
It's a very attractive razor in a functional, almost industrial way.
Smooth handle
Now the smooth handle is the same size as the knurled one. It feels just a tad heavier but that might just be perception more than anything. It does feel very, very elegant though. It's an extremely well machined handle. One of my pet peeves with razors is that the more inexpensive ones 'squeek' a bit when you screw the handle onto the head - the Rocnel is smooth as butter.
Now, I do own some razors with a completely smooth handle such as the Pils and never had any issue with holding on to it during shaving so that is not a big concern of mine.
Gratuitous photos:
The head
It has two stamps on it - one on each side;
"2016"
(The dark spots you may see are not imperfections in the steel but actually tiny fragments of the wax seal. It cleaned right off).
and "P"
(I remember that Murat will down the road be making three different heads - Mild, Medium and Aggressive). I believe this is the Medium one)
So there you have it - a rather quick 'first impressions' of the Rocnel SE.
I am so far highly impressed by the looks and feel of the razor and how it all fits together.
If there's an interest I'll post a shaving report tomorrow and add some photos of the blade loaded in it as well as some size-comparison photos to some well known razors.
