Sunday
my first vintage razors were Valet, numerous available on the net and I liked the idea of stropping a blade, remember my Dad doing this with his Rolls razor.
Original blades not now being available I first tried Feather FHS10 as the recommended option, although these don’t work with VB2 and VC2 (mid 20s to mid 30s). I found the shave grim with this blade to say the least. So moved on with a GEM, suitably fettled. For me these are as good as it gets, smooth, no tugging, bliss!
So, today for no other reason that I thought I needed to bottom out the Feather blade question, I decided to compare my VC4 (40s to early 50s) with the Feather blade and my VB1 (20s to early 30s) with the GEM.
Taylor Sandlewood soap with boar bristle gave a great lather as always, sad to say after a few short passes with the VC4 and not wishing further damage to my face I switched to the VB1 and finished with a couple of passes and no drama.
Can anyone say why the Feather and GEM blades can perform so differently? I really don’t think it’s the razor, although to be fair I would need to fit a GEM in the VC4 to be really sure. This would require either flattening the stubs in the VC4 razor closure or somehow drilling holes in the GEM first. I’m inclined to flatten the stubs.
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