OP
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El Jefe SE razor
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It is really too bad. It is a very good looking, good shaving razor. When you look at the changes that were made to the tabs between prototype and production, one can assume that they were made to save money in production. I would have gladly paid double for the same razor with first class machining. Again, too bad. This makes the third product in the Shavecraft lineup that I have had issues with in one form or another. I am not sure why it takes me so long to learn, but I think this will be my last go around with Ikon.
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OP
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OP
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Yeah I'm looking forward to see how it redeems itself in a shave.
Dumb question: did you ever find verified information about either material or manufacturing process?
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No, pretty much nothing. Greg posted this on TSN a few months back:
iKon' pid='692430' dateline='1461617318 said:Actual working head via full CNC stainless steel machining /
mass production will be via our ShaveCraft manufacturing method.
These are so nice we may run a limited 100 numbered heads in 316L stainless steel.
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Thank you for your first thoughts......interesting.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?
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What can be easier than dialing in the correct tolerances on a computerised CNC machine? Everything will come out perfect on every run.
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Was it CNC machined though, nobody seems to know, what is the ShaveCraft manufacturing method?
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We had a CNC at the factory.
it's a computerized lathe of sorts that works by programming it through your computer and it automatically makes what you ask of it. It even changes tools on its own for performing specific tasks. These CNC machines are extremely accurate and work in minute detail, so you get what you program it on. If your program is not accurate enough, the finished article will not be accurate also. we used to make plastics molds with these to a tolerance of a 1000 of a mm. For a CNC to make those top and bottom plates of the el-jefe mate perfectly would be child's play.
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They have always been talked about as machined, if you Google "Shavecraft Razor machined aluminum" you will find a ton of references to it being machined (Maggards etc..), but the actual Ikon site doesn't specify. I believe they are machined, but my opinion and $1 will buy you a cup of coffee.
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Yes, but the tighter the tolerances, the slower the process, thus the more expensive to make??? I don't know squat about running a CNC shop, but that would stand to reason.
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To my ears, machined means doing it on a manual lathe, which each operator may vary the dimensions of the plan given to him or her according to their individual ability of how close to a specific tolerance they can adhere to.
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I think it is safe to assume that we are talking CNC when we say machined. No production run of thousands and thousands of pieces is going to be done manually.
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Yes I understand CNC machining and I know how close tolerances can be that is why I questioned if thes were CNC machined or maybe cast and then cleaned up, why not say CNC machined rather than the ambiguous " ShaveCraft manufacturing method " if it is CNC its very sloppy indeed.
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I thought that the Shavecraft aluminium heads are made by the sintering process.