Hard to believe that it has been two months since I received the Standard razor from Bespoke. I have maintained my subscription with those guys and very much enjoy the boxes thus far.
To the point at hand, I finally pulled the Standard razor out and loaded a blade [mine is the flat black "stealth" finish as previously mentioned].
The finish is solid and even. I like the flat aspect quite a bit. On loading a blade, I was actually very surprised at the amount of blade exposure and gap. I was expecting something with a bit less teeth!
I found the razor to be quite easy to use- most effective angle apparent, quite a bit of audible response too. I was somewhat concerned about the handle but it was very secure, despite lack of knurling, and provided great grip.
The shaves themselves were very nice, including trouble areas such as my neck area. Over the weekend I did 4x shaves without any irritation, weepers, etc. Today, a 3x shave provided a solid DFS if not slightly better. On the whole I was impressed with the effectiveness of the razor.
Concerns:
The weight is a bit off putting for me though. I like heavier razors and handles generally speaking and this by far is my lightest razor. It didn't cause any immediate issues but it was very noticeable and something that would not be easily remedied based on the construction.
Which brings me to my second minor concern. Standard uses a bi-threaded post, secured to the handle vs. the head so that you cannot easily swap handles to something heavier. I have heard that you may remove the post and thread to the head with Loctite but not worth the minimal effort for me based on return so I will stick with the stock setup.
Overall a decent little razor, something different and for $33 with the other goodies I feel quite a good deal. If you like lighter razors then I would say it is sure to please.