Closed Pass Around: Asylum Evolution - Finished

From last Thursday......
Well I had my first shave with the Asylum today, so here are my thoughts.........
First off I know a lot has been said about the fit and finish of the razor and I have to agree. The finish is just ok for a razor at the price point, but I would have expected more tbh. The razor tolerances are poor and the amount of slop in the blade/cap and pins should not be there regardless, but in a stainless steel razor I think they could have done better. When I buy a razor of that cost I expect more........a lot more.
So having got that off my chest...............
I like the razor, with the caveat it needs to be cheaper or have better tolerances or both.......... or at least available at a sensible price point to the chaps on this side of the pond.
So the line up......
Asylum Razor.
Nacet Blade (new)
Rowl (super,duper, bestest brush ever) Shavemac Brush
Mickey Lee Soapworks Soap
Fine Italian Citrus a/s
4 days growth.........
Wow how small is this thing, love the way you can whip around all the difficult places with it. I like the design of the razor (well to be fair I liked the original one as well.......sellers regret is kicking in .......:confused:)
It shaves well after I had sussed out the correct angle, a bit tuggy at first tho. Such an easy razor to use, and achieved almost BBS in 3 passes.
From memory it is edged out by the original Darwin which is more efficient and produced a better end result but at up £1800.00 as opposed to £180.00 for the Evo maybe it's unfair to compare them.
So 1 shave in would I buy a new one...... No chance.
Would I buy one at a reduced price lovingly pre-owned.......maybe
I will try to use it a couple of times more over the weekend and post it next week onto the next lucky person....... Seriously give it a go, just make sure everything is lined up first.

From over the weekend.......
Well got another couple of shaves in before posting it to Blademonkey (TSR).
My opinion did not change about the Asylum I am afraid. Great shaver, poor build quality. A good buy if you want something quirky and a bit different and don't mind the faf lining everything up everytime you load the blade. But for me at that price point the Guerrilla is for me a much better razor and I am sure there are others as well.........so sorry Asylum nice try but no banana........:cool:
Many thanks to @Paul for the generous loan of the razor and samples and it is now on it's way to Blademonkey.
@riverrun
 
Blademonkey said:
@riverrun ,The Asylum razor and it's second handle and screw plus an assortment of samples, blades, soaps and EDTs has arrived all in good order.
Thank you @missingskin aka Steve :)
Click to expand...
Enjoy.
  1. Rowlers (ATG)
  2. chris.hale (ATG)
  3. p.b (ATG)
  4. missingskin (ATG)
  5. Blademonkey (TSR)
  6. Looney12345 (ATG/TSR)
  7. 2hot 2trot (ATG)
  8. MPH (ATG)
  9. Wayne (ATG)
  10. AndyMc133 (TSR)
  11. You?
The list is open.
Legend: Completed, Currently with, Waiting
 
A change to the list...
  1. Rowlers (ATG)
  2. chris.hale (ATG)
  3. p.b (ATG)
  4. missingskin (ATG)
  5. Blademonkey (TSR)
  6. Looney12345 (ATG/TSR)
  7. 2hot 2trot (ATG)
  8. MPH (ATG)
  9. Wayne (ATG)
  10. AndyMc133 (TSR)
  11. You?
The list is open.
Legend: Completed, Currently with, Waiting, Dropped out
 
Thank you to @Paul & @riverrun for making this pass -around possible.

My first thoughts about the Asylum Evolution , first things first , how does it look, is it pleasing to the eye?....well I think so but I feel it's going to be a design that you love or hate, of course based on the classic Darwin Razor with its Art Deco handle and rarther beautiful sloped cap, I think it looks quite elegant .

Secondly, the finnish of the razor.....for a razor in this price bracket I feel it could be better, my Supply SE razor is less expensive yet it's finnish is flawless, however I suppose a lot of this is down to where the razor was manufacturered and the inherent costs involved ,so that being said and understood I suppose the finnish is not bad ,to the naked eye it's acceptable .I don't mind razors with a machined finnish and this is nearly as good as other machined finnished razors I own so no real complaints there.

Thirdly, there seems to be quite a bit of play between the razor blade and the posts, now I realise the blade needs to pass over the posts with ease but the amount of slop between the blade and the pins should not be this great, this causes there to be a good chance that when assembled there is going to be some blade alignment issues and indeed there was, when I inserted the blade and tightened up the handle I found the blade was not aligned properly. So I tried another make of blade but still the same issue, these poor tolerances are not acceptable on any razor let alone one costing so much. I have read that not all the razors have this defect so maybe this one slipped through QC, although the fit between the blade posts and baseplate holes have no play to speak of. On a razor of this cost or any razor for that matter I can do with out trying to get an even blade alignment every time I use the / a razor. It is unacceptable .
After much fiddling and faffing I eventually came up with a solution to this problem.....by placing the blade over the posts and then pushing the blade lengthways up against the post as far as it will go eliminates any slop and still allows the handle to be threaded through the blade and still able to be tightened up, this will cause one side of the razor head to be showing about 1mm of blade tab and the other side of the razor showing hardly anything at all. This seems to me to be the best solution as it gives even blade exposure with the least amount of faffing around. You do however need to be mindful of the extra blade tab exposed on one end of the razor. Not good!

So, on to the shave now I've found a solution the alignment issue. I used a Iridium super extra stainless blade for this shave as I am familiar with the blade and how it normally performs and also with the soap so the only variable was the razor iself.
I found the razor was easy to hold with no risk of slipping even with wet hands, it is of a good weight and felt well ballanced . The perfect angle for shaving came quite naturally and the razor performed reasonably well and after a four pass WTG , XTG, XTG and ATG shave I was as smooth skinned as I require with just a little irritation on my neck but no blood loss so all in all not a bad first shave, I will get a better feel for how the razor performs over the comming week.
I will carry on shaving with this razor and give a final report at the end of my week with it. :)
Thank you once again to all those involved in this pass-around.
 
Last edited:
Hi @riverrun

I have spoken to Paul via Pm and can confirm that 2hot 2trot is my username next door.
A little confusing and unintentional.
When I signed up for membership on this forum I used my actual name instead on my username by mistake.
My only excuse is that I am 50 years old and perhaps not the most computer savvy amongst us ;):)

Will let you know as soon as the razor is in my hands.

Thank you for the opportunity and take care,
Wayne
 
My last shave was had with the Asylum Evolution this morning, after five shaves I feel I have had enough feedback from them to have a considered opinion regarding this razor.

I am a little disapointed that the tolerances on this particular razor are below par, the blade slop for me was unacceptable and had I not have found a solution to the blade alignment problem quite frankly I would have given up and sent it on, I can't be faffing around in the morning trying to get an even blade exposure , stress!

I have covered it's looks and finnish in my first post so I will carry on to how did it shave?

Well, it shaved very well indeed and from the second shave onwards I had zero irritation and it left me smooth skinned every time, so I was happy with that aspect of the razor.

Dispite it giving good shaves I would not consider buying one because the poor tolerances and Over all it did not feel like a razor in this price range when you consider the likes of Blackland, Timeless and ATT and the the razors they produce for around the same price.

It's a shame because with a little more attention to detail it could have been up there with the other names I have mentioned.

These however are only my opinions regarding this razor others may feel differently about it, so please don't let my feelings about this razor sway you, you must try for yourself and make your own mind up.

To @Paul a big thank you for your generous loan of this razor and to @riverrun another big thank you for your admin and making these pass-arounds work.

I will post on to the next recipiant ( @Wayne Pritchard ) tomorrow morning and he will receive it by 1PM on Thursday, the tracking details will be forthcoming . :)
 
Wayne Pritchard said:
Package safely received at around 12.40

I have PM'd @Blademonkey

Lots of loveliness inside that I cannot wait to try :)

Thank you so much @Paul & @riverrun and all concerned for the opportunity

Best wishes,
Wayne Pritchard / 2hot 2trot ATG :rolleyes::)
Click to expand...
Thanks, Wayne
  1. Rowlers (ATG)
  2. chris.hale (ATG)
  3. p.b (ATG)
  4. missingskin (ATG)
  5. Blademonkey (TSR)
  6. Looney12345 (ATG/TSR)
  7. 2hot 2trot / Wayne Pritchard (ATG/TSR)
  8. MPH (ATG)
  9. Wayne (ATG)
  10. AndyMc133 (TSR)
  11. You?
The list is open.
Legend: Completed, Currently with, Waiting, Dropped out
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom