Alpha Shaving Outlaw DE razor

alpha aimed for something just below the R41 with this razor. A Milder plate is also in the works. Don't know how long it is good for but "ATG10" discount code.

Yes, you're right.
But after using hundreds of different combination (I'm like a cat ... very curious!!), I've some experiece.
I know in deep all the other razors I've spoken about.
In addition, geometry and physics is the base of the behavior of a razor.
No matters the brand, just the specs.
From these, I've strong feeling too.

The most important spec is exposure about which nothing has been indicated.

Respectfully i take reviews from actual users with a huge grain of salt. Your leaps I can only politely describe as not terribly useful.

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The exposure is a fanny hair positive - and I mean a fine fanny hair - about 0.05mm with some blades.


P.S. - I forgot this is a USA based forum - to us Brits a "fanny" is at the front of the body - not the back. Work it out...

Thanks.

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.S. - I forgot this is a USA based forum - to us Brits a "fanny" is at the front of the body - not the back. Work it out...

Ass backward 

HI Guys - interesting thread. I can see the passing resemblance ot the V3A although I never know it even existed until today. This razor was designed from scratch. If anyone is interested this is how it was born - took almost 8 months to get it to market:


Right - you asked for it 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?

---

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.

I cannot work out how to get the photos bigger.

Well the Alpha does look a lot better built than the V3A, as it should. I swapped Maggard cap to the more Alpha similar Razorock cap and it did shave quite well with resulting decrease in gap and exposure. Quite noisy though. The Alpha gap of .71 would be greater than this hybrid from my eyeballing.

Certainly interested in giving the new razor a spin if a pass around comes about.

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Ho to do a pass around?

Ho to do a pass around?

Contact andrewjs18

.S. - I forgot this is a USA based forum - to us Brits a "fanny" is at the front of the body - not the back. Work it out...

Ass backward 

Well, can't expect the British to understand english...

Well I decided to take a chance on this one, seems well built , well thought through and well priced, my little experiment with the V3A confirmed basic geometry should be fine for me. FYI coupon code still working

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jmudrick -thank you Sir.