- Joined
- Wednesday July 20, 2016
- Location
- Sunny Cornwall
Ok, thanks for that.
El Jefe SE razor
- Thread starter Darkbulb
- Start Date
OP
- Joined
- Monday February 9, 2015
- Location
- California
- Thread Starter
- #66
That does, sadly, seem to be the case w/ a number of North American vendors/manufacturers these days; iKon, Bullgoose, PAA and RazoRock are all run by guys that are often described in less flattering words when it comes to ethics and customer service. Having said that I own products myself from three out of those four so I quite obviously does not vote with my wallet.
It's an interesting topic though if one should strive to support businesses that you like and feel 'connected to' - or simply focus on the product itself and try to disconnect that from whoever is making/selling them. Probably best suited for a completely different thread though
OP
- Joined
- Monday February 9, 2015
- Location
- California
- Thread Starter
- #68
It's been up for sale on their site for a few hours now.
http://www.theshavingroom.co.uk/com...ads/el-jefe-selling-now-on-sale-for-35.40631/
- Joined
- Sunday December 27, 2015
- Location
- Minnesota, USA
The El Jefe has Arrived:
I haven't shaved with it yet, but some first impressions:
It looks typical of the Shavecraft line, blasted aluminum. It has a moderate weight to it, sorry I didn't weigh it. It is nice looking, and a little rounded on the cap.
Top view compared to a Mongoose:
So far that's the only good I can say about it. The thread post is so long, that I tried four different handles, and the only one that would fit is the Maggard in the picture. (The only Ikon handle I have is at my son's, while he tries out some different ones.) A couple would come close to tightening up, but I didn't dare put any torque on the aluminum threads. Shavecraft's have enough of a reputation for easily damaged threads, I can't believe this was overlooked.
The tabs that the blade sit on allow a ton of play between the top and bottom head. It isn't hard to do, but you will need to square it up when you tighten the handle. You can tighten it down with the blade mis-aligned a little. Probably not enough to be cutting yourself, but enough to have an uncomfortable shave.
Now the bad part: You need to make sure that when you slide the head tight up against the tabs on the cap and tighten down, that you slide them TO THE BACK. Try to have the two pieces as flush on the back as possible. When I put it together the first time, I wasn't paying much attention, and slid the plate to the front. See the picture above that shows the blade? Does it look like a lot of space between the blade and the plates? If you don't slide the plate to the back of the cap, the handle will tighten the two pieces together, but not clamp down on the blade at all. The blade is actually so loose in there it rattles. The alignment and exposure looked even, but I guess that was just dumb luck. I only noticed because I actually sort of shook it, feeling the heft. Now that could cut a guy. I'm sure it is fine if you pay attention and get it right, but make sure you get it right.
I cannot form a final opinion yet, but solely based on the tolerances this razor is built to, I would have passed. I know it is only a $40 razor, but I am seriously kind of surprised Ikon would put their name on something this bad.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I haven't shaved with it yet, but some first impressions:
It looks typical of the Shavecraft line, blasted aluminum. It has a moderate weight to it, sorry I didn't weigh it. It is nice looking, and a little rounded on the cap.
Top view compared to a Mongoose:
So far that's the only good I can say about it. The thread post is so long, that I tried four different handles, and the only one that would fit is the Maggard in the picture. (The only Ikon handle I have is at my son's, while he tries out some different ones.) A couple would come close to tightening up, but I didn't dare put any torque on the aluminum threads. Shavecraft's have enough of a reputation for easily damaged threads, I can't believe this was overlooked.
The tabs that the blade sit on allow a ton of play between the top and bottom head. It isn't hard to do, but you will need to square it up when you tighten the handle. You can tighten it down with the blade mis-aligned a little. Probably not enough to be cutting yourself, but enough to have an uncomfortable shave.
Now the bad part: You need to make sure that when you slide the head tight up against the tabs on the cap and tighten down, that you slide them TO THE BACK. Try to have the two pieces as flush on the back as possible. When I put it together the first time, I wasn't paying much attention, and slid the plate to the front. See the picture above that shows the blade? Does it look like a lot of space between the blade and the plates? If you don't slide the plate to the back of the cap, the handle will tighten the two pieces together, but not clamp down on the blade at all. The blade is actually so loose in there it rattles. The alignment and exposure looked even, but I guess that was just dumb luck. I only noticed because I actually sort of shook it, feeling the heft. Now that could cut a guy. I'm sure it is fine if you pay attention and get it right, but make sure you get it right.
I cannot form a final opinion yet, but solely based on the tolerances this razor is built to, I would have passed. I know it is only a $40 razor, but I am seriously kind of surprised Ikon would put their name on something this bad.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Last edited:
- Joined
- Wednesday July 20, 2016
- Location
- Sunny Cornwall
Thank you for your first impressions, I would be interested to hear how you get on with it when shaving.The El Jefe has Arrived:
I haven't shaved with it yet, but some first impressions:
It looks typical of the Shavecraft line, blasted aluminum. It has a moderate weight to it, sorry I didn't weigh it. It is nice looking, and a little rounded on the cap.
Top view compared to a Mongoose:
So far that's the only good I can say about it. The thread post is so long, that I tried four different handles, and the only one that would fit is the Maggard in the picture. (The only Ikon handle I have is at my son's, while he tries out some different ones.) A couple would come close to tightening up, but I didn't dare put any torque on the aluminum threads. Shavecraft's have enough of a reputation for easily damaged threads, I can't believe this was overlooked.
The tabs that the blade sit on allow a ton of play between the top and bottom head. It isn't hard to do, but you will need to square it up when you tighten the handle. You can tighten it down with the blade mis-aligned a little. Probably not enough to be cutting yourself, but enough to have an uncomfortable shave.
Now the bad part: You need to make sure that when you slide the head tight up against the tabs on the cap and tighten down, that you slide them TO THE BACK. Try to have the two pieces as flush on the back as possible. When I put it together the first time, I wasn't paying much attention, and slid the plate to the front. See the picture above that shows the blade? Does it look like a lot of space between the blade and the plates? If you don't slide the plate to the back of the cap, the handle will tighten the two pieces together, but not clamp down on the blade at all. The blade is actually so loose in there it rattles. The alignment and exposure looked even, but I guess that was just dumb luck. I only noticed because I actually sort of shook it, feeling the heft. Now that could cut a guy. I'm sure it is fine if you pay attention and get it right, but make sure you get it right.
I cannot form a final opinion yet, but solely based on the tolerances this razor is built to, I would have passed. I know it is only a $40 razor, but I am seriously kind of surprised Ikon would put there name on something this bad.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
- Joined
- Tuesday May 1, 2012
- Location
- West Norfolk. UK
Greetings
Both fascinating and disappointing, please keep us posted.
Regards
Dick.
Both fascinating and disappointing, please keep us posted.
Regards
Dick.
- Joined
- Sunday December 27, 2015
- Location
- Minnesota, USA
I just now shaved with it, and I have to say I am pretty impressed. If my grade on it was a D before, I would give it a B- now. If I was only grading based on the shave, it would get an A. It is a very efficient razor, and similar to my feelings about the Blackbird, it feels a LOT milder than it is. It definitely left my face with an R41/H2/Mogoose smooth shave. I did irritate my neck a little bit and left a couple of weepers when I went ATG, but I blame myself not the razor. The razor deserves respect, but it shaves so mildly that by the end of the shave, I really wasn't paying much attention. My bad.
This thing definitely shaves like it cost more than $40, even if it was built like it cost $10. I am kind of on the fence with my opinion about this one. I know it was cheap, but Razorock built the Hawk for half the money, and it fits together to tightly Joe should have charged two more dollars and sent a shoehorn along with it.
Some pictures of it next to the Razorock Hawk for a comparison:
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
This thing definitely shaves like it cost more than $40, even if it was built like it cost $10. I am kind of on the fence with my opinion about this one. I know it was cheap, but Razorock built the Hawk for half the money, and it fits together to tightly Joe should have charged two more dollars and sent a shoehorn along with it.
Some pictures of it next to the Razorock Hawk for a comparison:
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
OP
- Joined
- Monday February 9, 2015
- Location
- California
- Thread Starter
- #73
I just now shaved with it, and I have to say I am pretty impressed. If my grade on it was a D before, I would give it a B- now. If I was only grading based on the shave, it would get an A. It is a very efficient razor, and similar to my feelings about the Blackbird, it feels a LOT milder than it is. It definitely left my face with an R41/H2/Mogoose smooth shave. I did irritate my neck a little bit and left a couple of weepers when I went ATG, but I blame myself not the razor. The razor deserves respect, but it shaves so mildly that by the end of the shave, I really wasn't paying much attention. My bad.
This thing definitely shaves like it cost more than $40, even if it was built like it cost $10. I am kind of on the fence with my opinion about this one. I know it was cheap, but Razorock built the Hawk for half the money, and it fits together to tightly Joe should have charged two more dollars and sent a shoehorn along with it.
Some pictures of it next to the Razorock Hawk for a comparison:
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Interesting. Now I can't wait to get home to check mine out
- Joined
- Thursday October 20, 2016
- Location
- Cyprus
you do that and report back. the more reports, the more I get envious.Interesting. Now I can't wait to get home to check mine out
- Joined
- Wednesday July 20, 2016
- Location
- Sunny Cornwall
Need more input....on the fence!
- Joined
- Sunday December 27, 2015
- Location
- Minnesota, USA
I don't know how kosher it is to post links to other forum pages, so if I'm out of line, please remove.
There is more input, and some better pictures demonstrating the issue here:
http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=40075&page=7
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
There is more input, and some better pictures demonstrating the issue here:
http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=40075&page=7
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
- Joined
- Wednesday July 20, 2016
- Location
- Sunny Cornwall
Thank you.
OP
- Joined
- Monday February 9, 2015
- Location
- California
- Thread Starter
- #79
Had a chance to take a look at my El Jefe razor when I got home.
I can echo pretty much exactly everything that @PickledNorthern said about the head.
Aesthetically it's not a bad looking razor at all but the El Jefe is just the head - not a 'complete' razor - so let's focus on the two parts that makes up the head.
The Good:
Once again, visually I rather like the look of the 'matte'/blasted look of the top cap and base plate. Sure there were some minor scratches on the base plate but as per the disclaimer on the iKon site it might not be completely perfect so I was fine with that
(I bought my El Jefe with the iKon SE razor handle as per below and once again, they pair beautifully I think;
The head was on sale for $35 (regular price will supposedly be $40) - so that's good.
Well, that's kind of where this section ends.
The Bad:
Yikes.
The head assemply/blade loading
As people have already noted (@PickledNorthern in this thread - and others in the TSN thread) - the machining fit is, in lack of better word, shoddy. Unacceptable might be another. Hilariously poor might be another way to look at it.
For some reason the tabs on the production version got shrunk down so that they do a very poor job securing the blade and aligning the head. Two things you sort of expect a razor head to accomplish.
If you get really bored you can play a little game with the head to see if the tabs will end up to the left, right up or bottom of the slits - and hey, sometimes they are both different.
If you load a blade and simply assemble the razor you are likely to end up with something as below where the top cap and base plate is not aligned...and the blade is not fully secured inside the head
To load the blade - in such a way as to avoid the amusing number of things that can go wrong - you have to ensure that you in essence force the top cap 'backwards' so that the back of the top and base are aligned. When you do - the blade seems to lock in place and does not move.
Once you do that, you end up with a nice looking back...
...and a well aligned, secured blade;
The head-to-handle assembly screw
Now this is one long screw. So long in fact that it prevents you from successfully attaching the head to many handles.
"Luckily" it's, as mentioned earlier, it's a perfect fit for the iKon handle. So perfect it almost feels proprietary.
I am still, after all this time, not sure on either how the head was made (CNC machined?) or what material it is (aluminium alloy?) - and that fact that basic data points like that is not readily available from the manufacturer raises another slew of red flags (in the forest of already existing ones).
I am actually wondering if the reason for the sale price of $35 on this batch was because of the shoddily (the term is growing on me) made tabs and overall fit on this head. I am very curious to see if this will be addressed in future batches and if that is the case...then this batch was just a firesale to get rid of a flawed set of razors. That, is a pure speculation though.
The Maybe
I haven't had time to actually shave with the thing yet and from what I've read once you get the blade seated correctly the shave is actually rather decent. Looking forward to experience that for myself this coming week
So far, sadly, the El Jefe is on my personal short-list of "Razor flops of 2016" and that is a very, very subjective opinion based solely on playing around with the head for a good 45 mins tonight so do not let that fully discourage you from the razor. [Insert "YMMV clause here"]
Now, where's @Fergiebilly to make fun of a modern razor when I need him?
I can echo pretty much exactly everything that @PickledNorthern said about the head.
Aesthetically it's not a bad looking razor at all but the El Jefe is just the head - not a 'complete' razor - so let's focus on the two parts that makes up the head.
The Good:
Once again, visually I rather like the look of the 'matte'/blasted look of the top cap and base plate. Sure there were some minor scratches on the base plate but as per the disclaimer on the iKon site it might not be completely perfect so I was fine with that
(I bought my El Jefe with the iKon SE razor handle as per below and once again, they pair beautifully I think;
The head was on sale for $35 (regular price will supposedly be $40) - so that's good.
Well, that's kind of where this section ends.
The Bad:
Yikes.
The head assemply/blade loading
As people have already noted (@PickledNorthern in this thread - and others in the TSN thread) - the machining fit is, in lack of better word, shoddy. Unacceptable might be another. Hilariously poor might be another way to look at it.
For some reason the tabs on the production version got shrunk down so that they do a very poor job securing the blade and aligning the head. Two things you sort of expect a razor head to accomplish.
If you get really bored you can play a little game with the head to see if the tabs will end up to the left, right up or bottom of the slits - and hey, sometimes they are both different.
If you load a blade and simply assemble the razor you are likely to end up with something as below where the top cap and base plate is not aligned...and the blade is not fully secured inside the head
To load the blade - in such a way as to avoid the amusing number of things that can go wrong - you have to ensure that you in essence force the top cap 'backwards' so that the back of the top and base are aligned. When you do - the blade seems to lock in place and does not move.
Once you do that, you end up with a nice looking back...
...and a well aligned, secured blade;
The head-to-handle assembly screw
Now this is one long screw. So long in fact that it prevents you from successfully attaching the head to many handles.
"Luckily" it's, as mentioned earlier, it's a perfect fit for the iKon handle. So perfect it almost feels proprietary.
I am still, after all this time, not sure on either how the head was made (CNC machined?) or what material it is (aluminium alloy?) - and that fact that basic data points like that is not readily available from the manufacturer raises another slew of red flags (in the forest of already existing ones).
I am actually wondering if the reason for the sale price of $35 on this batch was because of the shoddily (the term is growing on me) made tabs and overall fit on this head. I am very curious to see if this will be addressed in future batches and if that is the case...then this batch was just a firesale to get rid of a flawed set of razors. That, is a pure speculation though.
The Maybe
I haven't had time to actually shave with the thing yet and from what I've read once you get the blade seated correctly the shave is actually rather decent. Looking forward to experience that for myself this coming week
So far, sadly, the El Jefe is on my personal short-list of "Razor flops of 2016" and that is a very, very subjective opinion based solely on playing around with the head for a good 45 mins tonight so do not let that fully discourage you from the razor. [Insert "YMMV clause here"]
Now, where's @Fergiebilly to make fun of a modern razor when I need him?
Last edited:
- Joined
- Monday February 23, 2015
- Location
- Rebublic of Scotland
Had a chance to take a look at my El Jefe razor when I got home.
I can echo pretty much exactly everything that @PickledNorthern said about the head.
Aesthetically it's not a bad looking razor at all but the El Jefe is just the head - not a 'complete' razor - so let's focus on the two parts that makes up the head.
The Good:
Once again, visually I rather like the look of the 'matte'/blasted look of the top cap and base plate. Sure there were some minor scratches on the base plate but as per the disclaimer on the iKon site it might not be completely perfect so I was fine with that
(I bought my El Jefe with the iKon SE razor handle as per below and once again, they pair beautifully I think;
The head was on sale for $35 (regular price will supposedly be $40) - so that's good.
Well, that's kind of where this section ends.
The Bad:
Yikes.
The head assemply/blade loading
As people have already noted (@PickledNorthern in this thread - and others in the TSN thread) - the machining fit is, in lack of better word, shoddy. Unacceptable might be another. Hillariously poor might be another way to look at it.
For some reason the tabs on the production version got shrunk down so that they do a very poor job securing the blade and aligning the head. Two things you sort of expect a razor head to accomplish.
If you get really bored you can play a little game with the head to see if the tabs will end up to the left, right up or bottom of the slits - and hey, sometimes they are both different.
If you load a blade and simply assemble the razor you are likely to end up with something as below where the top cap and base plate is not aligned...and the blade is not fully secured inside the head
To load the blade to avoid the amusing number of things that can go wrong you have to ensure that you in essence force the topcap 'backwards' so that the back of the top and base are aligned. When you do - the blade seems to lock in place and does not move.
Once you do that, you end up with a nice looking back...
...and a well aligned, secured blade;
The head-to-handle assembly screw
Now this is one long screw. So long in fact that it prevents you from successfully attaching the head to many handles.
"Luckily" it's, as mentioned earlier, it's a perfect fit for the iKon handle. So perfect it almost feels proprietary.
I am still, after all this time, not sure on either how the head was made (CNC machined?) or what material it is (aluminium alloy?) - and that fact that basic data points like that is not readily available from the manufacturer raises another slew of red flags (in the forest of already existing ones).
I am actually wondering if the reason for the sale price of $35 on this batch was because of the shoddily (the term is growing on me) made tabs and overall fit on this head. I am very curious to see if this will be addressed in future batches and if that is the case...then this batch was just a firesale to get rid of a flawed set of razors. That, is a pure speculation though.
The Maybe
I haven't had time to actually shave with the thing yet and from what I've read once you get the blade seated correctly the shave is actually rather decent. Looking forward to experience that for myself this coming week
So far, sadly, the El Jefe is on my personal short-list of "Razor flops of 2016" and that is a very, very subjective opinion based solely on playing around with the head for a good 45 mins tonight so do not let that fully discourage you from the razor. [Insert "YMMV clause here"]
Now, where's @Fergiebilly to make fun of a modern razor when I need him?
On Call Sir..
Billy