Stirling Soap 316 Stainless Steel Razor

In my experience with razors that have the posts or nubs on the baseplate, you don't have to put the blade on them to load it. It's just as easy to set the blade on the upside-down top cap and then put the baseplate on like any other razor. Sort of a non-issue to me.

In my experience with razors that have the posts or nubs on the baseplate, you don't have to put the blade on them to load it. It's just as easy to set the blade on the upside-down top cap and then put the baseplate on like any other razor. Sort of a non-issue to me.

That was my assessment when I tried them in the pass around. I would prefer them on the cap, but it's a nitpick.

Overall wyze0ne is correct of doing it that way. You can misalign slightly when doing this way, but it is trivial I feel and you can get it to line up fairly easily. I understand others might have another preference though and that’s cool. I think the posts on the baseplate makes it easier to potentially keep it better cleaned and polished.

This is an interesting project  - Regarding the couple of nits raised by andrewjs18  first I'm curious about the registration posts on the baseplate - is there a functional reason or is it just an aesthetic design choice?  Second, the blade clog - solution is shave daily.  I figured this one out a few years back when I got my son a his own Ikon 102 slant so he'd stop using mine.  It was a favourite razor back then although I don't use it much now.  In any case my sone said he liked it but it clogged.  I thought that was weird until I realized that as a younger guy he didn't shave as often as his old dad did.  Young guys often will go a few days between shaves which means longer whiskers which can clog tight tolerance razors like the 102.  While its true that for most young guys the solution would be use a different razor rather than shave more, there it is.  You can also try disassembling and rinsing out the razor after every shave.

In my experience with razors that have the posts or nubs on the baseplate, you don't have to put the blade on them to load it. It's just as easy to set the blade on the upside-down top cap and then put the baseplate on like any other razor. Sort of a non-issue to me.

I tried that a few times last night before taking a shower, just to see, and while it was ok a few times, I also had issues where the blade slightly canted during the process of putting the top cap on the base plate so the base plate wouldn't go on. I also had a 2nd instance where after installing the top cap on the base plate, the blade came out of alignment and the 2 pieces couldn't go together as usual.

unless there's some engineering/mechanical reason for having the posts on the base plate rather than the top cap, I think it's actually less practical and potentially introduces a higher risk of someone cutting them self for no good reason.

I'm pretty sure having the posts on the baseplate are easier to machine and cut down on machine costs. Why the gamechanger and CG everyday razor have them like that, more cost effective so the razor can be offered at a lower cost.

I'm pretty sure having the posts on the baseplate are easier to machine and cut down on machine costs. Why the gamechanger and CG everyday razor have them like that, more cost effective so the razor can be offered at a lower cost.

A concave vs convex thing?  Theres a good reason for everything...well, maybe not always good.  I would have thought that with CNC milling machines it wouldn't be an issue but I guess if there is even one extra step then its extra cost.

If you're machining some kind of posts onto the top cap, thats a lot more material that needs to be removed in different steps opposed to just machining the profile of the top cap and a few indentations for the base plate posts. Atleast thats how I look at it, lol. Although, the threaded post still needs to be put in.

And yes, the concave vs concave makes sense. Easier to machine an extrusion on top of the baseplate vs "inside" the topcap?

So I've been bringing my hyper aggressive plate out the last week to run it again. Recently I'd only been shaving with the ST plate because during the winter I typically shave in the shower as I like to steam myself for as long as possible. I've tried shaving with the HA plate once in the shower and I will never make that mistake again. It just requires too much attention for that. I came out looking like a horror film extra.

That being said, I got a couple of weepers the first time, as I used too much pressure. The second and third time went off without a hitch. However, my face has been so smooth and irritation free that I think I'm just going to suck it up and not shower shave anymore for a while. Plus, I just get a longer time without being able to feel new growth when I use the HA. It's definitely going to be a very small market for the HA, but I think that it will fill a void for that small niche.