Alpha Shaving DE Razor Passaround - Call for Participants

Who wants in?



Details of razor here:



https://damnfineshave.com/thread-alpha-s...w-de-razor


Here is how this razor was born - warts and all. The story started in September last year, 2019, I was chatting away to my biggest customer, Brian from Executive Shaving, and he told me he was looking for a new DE to add to his range. Something akin to the aggressiveness of the Braveheart DE - so mid-aggressive, not kamikaze-banshee. He had a design ready from scratch - note NOT copied from another head which would have been easier believe me,  he had 3D CAD and 2D drawings so I offered to have it made for him in exchange for the "joint rights" to the design as I was also looking to add a DE to my brush and razor handle offerings but did not have a design to start from and did not want to start designing from zero given how long it takes and my limited CAD skills - I am OK at doing brushes but a razor was a whole new level of complexity. I don't know the legal terms but basically I can sell the razor and so can he - mine will be branded Alpha and his will be branded Executive Shaving. We knew that prototype #1 would not be optimized nevertheless we had to have it made in order to get a baseline from which to modify the design to give what we required in an end product. I won't bore you with the drawings but look what came out - a total disaster - it was clear that the blade angle was very poorly thought out and also the blade exposure and reveal... well you can see for yourself. The base plate and cap were clearly too narrow and not wide enough. The blade tabs stuck out of the edges by a mile.


Nonetheless it DID shave - I shaved with this more than once with a brand new Feather blade and lived to tell the tale. I would say that if I had to define prototype #1 I would say that it was/is an abomination - no way could this go mainstream or even be let out of our hands - there would be a lot of blood letting if this ever got out. Of course Brian agreed. Here is prototype #1 - anyone dare to try?

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So, onto prototype #2 - widen and lengthen the cap and base plate. Make sure the blade tabs are covered. Move the drain slots towards the safety bar edge. Revise the number of machined slots on the safety bar to make it look better. Make the cap slightly more curved. Here she is - you can see that the blade exposure is starting to come back and the blade angle too. For me this was a "go". I loved it. I shaved this 5 times with a fresh feather each time and no cuts. Then again I like a Merkur Futur on setting #6 and I usually use straights anyway so I am a pretty careful shaver who loves a bit of aggression. I sent one copy off to Brian and his able assistant Rob and they again told me no way this could be mainstream. Blade exposure still way too positive. Blade angle badly wrong. Another mess...





Prototype #3 - I revised the base plate and the cap. A little more width and length - 0.5mm more, blade exposure fixed, blade tabs totally covered Moved the drain slots again, changed the base plate geometry to give a better blade angle and less exposure - the goal to make it, if anything, neutral blade exposure. My own CAD skills were exhausted by this time so I found a talented CAD person to help me and with guidance from myself and Brian we made small changes. My CAD guy made the drawings "parameterized" so that we could change geometry quickly by entering variables into a parameters table. I asked him to dial it in at about 30º blade angle, neutral exposure or slight positive by about 0.05mm and a blade gap of about 0.71mm He also modeled a standard razor blade so that we could put this into the model to and see just how each parameter changed the way we thought the razor would handle. Making it a parametric drawing also means I can do stuff like new base plates relatively easily - so yes to pre-empt a question there WILL be new base plates later on to give a different shave depending on tastes. So here is Prototype #3 - basically the production candidate. The production model has a teeny-weeny change to the top cap to make it more easily machinable. NO geometry changed at all.







All in all it has been an almost 8 month process for me. It has been prototyped and tested 4 times if I include the nylon 3D print. Prototyping was NOT a cheap option with each prototype head costing over $320 EACH, but absolutely essential as using CAD alone and trusting to good luck would have yielded me a nice pile of scrap stainless steel. The blade gap turned out at 0.72mm and the blade angle at 30.5º - blade exposure basically neutral with most blades and about 0.05mm with some. It had been tested by the guys at Executive Shaving, by myself and by a few other guinea pigs. It is a good razor in my opinion. It may not please everyone but what does? If you want your fulcrum stimulated then stick to a Piccolos Fat Tip (I could not resist - sorry...) This razor met all it's design goals. The proof of the pudding they say is in the eating and I think and hope this particular pudding goes down very well.



Just to finish off - it is machined in 316L stainless steel, highly polished by hand. I will be making a limited run in copper, titanium and brass at some point next year. First additional items will be alternative base plates. If you want a good looking razor, designed with "efficiency" in mind but not suicidal in terms of its geometry then I think I did a good job with this one.

Count me in please. Las Vegas NV

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Please count me in

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I'm in. I live in WA.

Please count me in

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what state are you in?

Hi All,

Here's the pass around list. Vlasta is going to send out two brushes and two razors, one for the West coast and one for the East coast. As per the usual DFS pass arounds, keep the razor for a week or so and then send it along to the next person on the list for your area. Once you have time, please share some feedback in this thread, whether good or bad.

As a precaution for the covid19 stuff, please soak the razor in alcohol, or something similar before using the razor and prior to shipping it off to the next person to limit our risks.

West Coast:
rawfox1 (Nevada)
ppfingsten (Hawaii)
gvw755 (Washington)
ddk13 (Nebraska)
andrewjs18 (Pennsylvania)

East Coast:
troydclayton (Illinois)
shavemd (Ohio)
Gbsher (Pennsylvania)
Dragonsbeard (New York)
andrewjs18 (Pennsylvania)
velohammer (Alabama)

Please count me in

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what state are you in?

Illinois

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Each razor will also have a brush.

The Brush

This premium quality shaving brush is 100% animal friendly, no badger had to die for its coat. New generation shaving brushes perform to the same standard as the top-quality badger hair brushes, but without any of the drawbacks. They don’t smell, they don’t fan out, they dry quicker, and they don’t shed any hairs. They are stiff enough to lather soaps and creams with ease, but pillow-soft on the face.

Inspired by the Rubberset 400, and the Merit 99-x series, this brush is shorter, better in terms of its proportions, excellent handling and beautifully balanced in the hand. This brush, simply put, is class, but with big attitude!

The Outlaw has a super ergonomic handle designed to be palm held, not held with the fingertips. The belly sits nicely in your hand and your fingers are drawn automatically to The Outlaws neck. This brush feels superb in the hand and it's easy to grip thanks to the seven, beautifully engineered, deep flutes.
Outlaw is a unique brush, totally designed in house at Alpha. The material is 6063 architectural grade aluminium and it is carefully anodised to stop corrosion over time. The handle is turned on a CNC controlled lathe. Colour-anodising is not a plating, it cannot peel off. Composed entirely of aluminium oxide it is fully integrated with the aluminium substrate. The colour will not fade over the years and the finish delivers exceptional abrasion resistance.


The Razor Outlaw DE

This is the Bravo Handle edition which features our new Bravo handle - designed for optimum control and balance during shaving.


The head is suitable for most skin and beard types with a 0.71mm blade gap and neutral exposure.

However, The Outlaw is a close shaving razor, it will shave you very close and smooth in only one or two passes, fewer passes means less post-shave irritation.
The head is wider than most safety razors, the head fully covers the blade, this is a great safety feature. The head is also very low-profile which makes shaving under the nose easier.

• The head was machine-tooled from two solid blocks of stainless steel (+ or - 0.002 inches / 0.05mm) then the outer surfaces were hand polished to a mirror finish.
  
  
• The handle is lightly knurled so it feels comfortable in the hand yet it delivers a superb, reassuringly firm grip when wet.
  

Brush details:-

• Handle - outlaw v2in aluminum, anodized and dyed black
  
• Knot - G4 Synthetic
  

I'll be compiling the list Sunday afternoon and the razors & brushes will be going out sometime this week from Vlasta.

I would like to be in. Ohio