PAA Bakelite Open Comb Slant

Yesterday I gave a first run with the PAA Bakelite Slant. I don't know if anyone has posted on this little razor before but I thought I'd give my thoughts.

Its an open comb razor that severely torques the blade and also has a mildly disturbing amount of blade exposure. Fit and finish was all excellent. I loaded it with a Feather blade and lathered with B&M Hallows. This is one light weight razor and I do mean light and I found that it was a little, no actually a lot lighter than I care for. The blade exposure turned out not to be a problem and the razor did a very good job taking down the stubble. Its a fairly loud in a plastic-y sort of way sounding razor - not a nice metallic singing like I get from the AS-D2. I got a drama free 4 pass shave done with no nicks. weepers or irritation of any kind. I topped it off with Barrister's Reserve Cool aftershave (which is now available at IB for those who found it sold out at ME). All in all I'd say it was a Damn Fine Shave.

That said, however, I don't think I'll use this razor again and will probably sell/PIF it only because I don't like the weight, specifically the absence thereof, nor do I care for the sound it makes. If you are a person that enjoys a very light weight razor at a very reasonable price then the PAA Bakelite Slant would make an excellent choice.

Marko

I happen to like this razor quite a bit. I've been using it almost exclusively since I got it a few weeks ago. It is very light, but I don't mind. As long as you can adjust by keeping light pressure you shouldn't have any issues with it. I've tried 5 different blades in it so far. The GSBs and Astra SPs are great while Gillette Nacets, Gillette Stainless and Personna Platinums were only so-so or not good (of course, YMMV). It seems it may be finicky with blade choice. See, this is one thing I prefer about SE razors; limited blade selection. I don't have to keep trying this blade or that blade. Just pop in a GEM PTFE and it's smooth sailing. But I digress, I've found this razor to be quite efficient, but is probably not very forgiving of poor technique if you use too much pressure. It's based on an old slant called a Fasan, which I've never used so I can't comment on how faithful of a copy it is. I've pretty much moved away from DE razors for the moment, but this one piqued my curiosity because I've never tried a slant, much less an open comb one or an all plastic razor for that matter. To me the quality seems far better than the Fine Superlite slant (which I've only held). For the $20 price tag I'd say it's worth it and it will stay in my den because it's something fun and different.

I too like this razor very much. It's very effective, compensates its lack of weight with extra noise and is as good a razor as the Fasan that it was based upon. I made some side by side pictures, comparing heads of the PAA slant (black) with the Fasan Nr1 slant (white/cream). As you can see, the heads are very similar, the only difference is in the handles.
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Marko how would you rate its aggressiveness compared to the feather as-d2?

Marko how would you rate its aggressiveness compared to the feather as-d2?

I think its more aggressive feeling than the AS-D2 although the AS-D2 with a fresh feather blade is very efficient.

Thanks efsk, I was hoping you would chime in.

andrewjs18, I would rate it as medium on the aggressiveness scale even though the blade exposure looks rather scary. The blade gap, however, isn't very much.

You're welcome wyze0ne . You and Marko covered the razor pretty well in your descriptions.
andrewjs18 I'm not familiar with the AS-D2, but the PAA is not an aggressive razor. I 'd say most people will have more problems with its lack of weight because that is something you don't find much in new razors and these days it almost seems heavier is better. I think that this is a razor anyone can use, as opposed to for instance the Maggard slant that I wouldn't recommend to a beginner.

I've been using mine a lot since I got it, and the weight is not an issue for me. In fact I rather like how light it is. The aggressive torque is nice, and it shaves very well.

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An outstanding razor. I received it a few days ago, what a fantastic light razor it is. I am really enjoying it.

Okay, I decided to give this little razor another go because I'm a fair and reasonable guy. I loaded it with a Rapira Platinum Lux which is a nice blade and well worth trying. I made sure I tightened the handle down firmly which can be challenging because of the blade overhang on the ends. You know, it was much better than the last time - still a DFS without nicks or weepers of any kind but the sound was more muted. I wonder if I didn't have it properly tightened down the last time. I'm warming up to this baby, its not going to push my 102 out of top spot but its decent.