Asylum McMurphy 17-4

First shave tonight with the polished version of the Asylum McMurphy 17-4. First of all, I have been shaving with the McMurphy for a while now since getting the raw machined version. That version was sanded down along the edges because the edges were a little sharp. Not sharp enough to cut or scratch, but enough to not have a pleasant feel on your skin while shaving. The comparison pics between the polished and machined razors show what the machined razor looked like after I sanded and filed the edges.






The polished razor is on the left, and there is a significant difference in the looks of the razors.

As usual for me when testing a new razor (even though the McMurphy was not new to me), I loaded a blade that had a couple of shaves on it. WTG pass surprised me because it was slightly more blade feel than I was expecting. I immediately adjusted my angle and rode the cap a little more and then the smooth shave I was expecting really showed. ATG pass was very efficient and comfortable. After the ATG pass, I found that thee wasn't much left over to do my usual XTG pass along the jaw line and under my chin and so I just did minor touch up. the two pass plus touch up BBS is something I come to expect from the Asylum 17-4 going back to my hacked "Oops" model and my raw machined finished razor.

One thing I did notice was that the polished version of the handle seemed to have no grip as the micro barber pole pattern got polished down to almost being smooth, however when shaving, I found it to have a feel closer to a very fine grit sandpaper and so it was not slippery as I was expecting it to be. As for the initial roughness went, I am believing that the polishing rounded out the head parts just slightly enough to make it a little more aggressive than the machined version. Most folks shaving with the McMurphy for the first time will probably find the correct angle immediately and get a comfortable and efficient shave from it.