Wolfman WR2 Head Discussion

SOTD:


Wr2 1.45 DC
Bufflehead 5th Season
M&F Finest
Silver Blue

As requested by Giova1949
The focus of todays shave was aimed directly on the Open Comb side of the razor, same soap & routine as before for a fair comparison with the SB side.
Further to my previous post referring to the Wr2 wide shave angle, in this shave I specifically took great care to keep the razor 'handle down' to maximise the efficiency of the 1.45 OC, though not riding the bar.
The first pass left almost nothing of 48hrs growth! I could have finished with a few light touch ups and ended right there, but I continued to do a full second ATG pass, blade feel is forward and more so than the SB side-I knew I was getting a very close shave that's for sure! But I was thinking throughout the shave that this was one of the smoothest OC shaves I ever had. The blade feel reminded me of my first shave with the Blackbird-expecting soreness from the blade post shave, the Alum test revealed no Burn whatsoever equal to the SB side.
I must revisit the SB in my next shave taking stock again to ensure handle down maximum efficiency.

The 1.45 is a Beast of a shaver & I look fwd to future handle down first pass maximum efficiency followed with the handle up minimum efficiency for light buffing.....& all gaps available inbetween

The big gap Wr2 covers all blade gaps in one razor, happy days.......

Thanks, very very interesting.

Now, I have more doubts than before!

I have the RS10 with both mild & AP and I have a WR2 DC 1.25/1.35 in Ti with a WR2 DC 1.45/1.55 also in Ti being shipped tomorrow so if you want me to do a side by side using any of the gaps I’ve mentioned I’d be glad to if it would help you to decide which WR2 gap would be a bit more efficient and without sacrificing to much of the smoothness your used to with the RS 10.  It would give me a reason to do a side by side comparison.  I can say only by memory ( which I don’t really like to go by as a side by side gives me a much clearer comparison)  that my 1.35 SB Ti is definitely more efficient than the RS 10 AP and it is smooth but not as smooth as the RS 10 so it may fit your needs as you said you don’t mind giving up a little smoothness for additional efficiency and that’s pretty much what you’d get with a 1.35 SB.  Again this is from memory and a side by side may change all that. 

Let me know.

Wow!
That is very kind of you Dragonsbeard and I would gladly take you up on your generous offer! 

The blade gap of 1.35 has been mentioned a couple of times in relation to its proximity to the RS10 AP in comfort but with added efficiency. At the same time, two gents here have said that, in their experience, the sacrifice in comfort is minimal when going all the way up to 1.55 but with a HUGE gain in efficiency.

So, what I would ideally like to determine is whether the GAIN in efficiency when going from 1.35 to 1.55 is worth the LOSS in comfort when making the same transition. Obviously this would be a highly subjective measure, but your opinion on it would be very valuable to me.

To this end, at the risk of sounding like I am taking advantage of your kindness, may I ask you to do two side by sides, please? One would compare RS10 to 1.35 and the other would compare RS10 to 1.55. I’m not sure whether you’d need a third (1.35 vs 1.55) to arrive at a solid conclusion, but I will leave that entirely up to you. 

Many thanks for all your help!

Valkyrie
I’d be glad to and I also planned on going through a bunch of razors I have that are considered either very efficient or the new word/category being thrown around called  “ Hyper Efficient “ and do some comparison Shave Offs as I have a strong personal curiosity about these 2 categories of razors and would like to update my opinions on all of them on what’s gained or lost by using each one  of them.  So no problem sir.

Thanks again, Dragonsbeard
Looking forward to it!

I just got my order confirmation email. I submitted my order on 9/6 around 10:30 EST. I’m leaning towards the 115 OC since I already have avWR1. Before I place my order, how is the blade feel on the 115?

I just got my order confirmation email. I submitted my order on 9/6 around 10:30 EST. I’m leaning towards the 115 OC since I already have avWR1. Before I place my order, how is the blade feel on the 115?

Minimal on first pass to one-dish on second. It's there, but I have to pay attention to maintain the edge.

What WR1 do you have? What do you expect from the WR2? Daily shaver? What else do you have that you like?

Living on your knees, conformity...Or dying on your feet for honesty. James Hetfield

I just got my order confirmation email. I submitted my order on 9/6 around 10:30 EST. I’m leaning towards the 115 OC since I already have avWR1. Before I place my order, how is the blade feel on the 115?

Minimal on first pass to one-dish on second. It's there, but I have to pay attention to maintain the edge.

What WR1 do you have? What do you expect from the WR2? Daily shaver? What else do you have that you like?

Living on your knees, conformity...Or dying on your feet for honesty.  James Hetfield

I have the 61 OC. It’s my go to razor when my skin needs a break. I would like to get a 74 or 80 at some point to get a little more efficiency. For the WR2, I would like something efficient enough for when I skip a day or 2, but I also want to be able to use it daily. I like enough blade feel to know that it’s there. I generally prefer OCs. The razors I have been using lately are the Carbon, Charcoal Goods L2 OC, Timeless 95 OC, and Blackbird SB. I can only use the Blackbird about 4 days in a row. The others that I listed can be used daily without any issues. I usually shave with a pretty neutral to slightly shallow angle if that makes a difference.

I just got my order confirmation email. I submitted my order on 9/6 around 10:30 EST. I’m leaning towards the 115 OC since I already have avWR1. Before I place my order, how is the blade feel on the 115?

Minimal on first pass to one-dish on second. It's there, but I have to pay attention to maintain the edge.

What WR1 do you have? What do you expect from the WR2? Daily shaver? What else do you have that you like?

Living on your knees, conformity...Or dying on your feet for honesty.  James Hetfield

I have the 61 OC. It’s my go to razor when my skin needs a break. I would like to get a 74 or 80 at some point to get a little more efficiency. For the WR2, I would like something efficient enough for when I skip a day or 2, but I also want to be able to use it daily. I like enough blade feel to know that it’s there. I generally prefer OCs. The razors I have been using lately are the Carbon, Charcoal Goods L2 OC, Timeless 95 OC, and Blackbird SB. I can only use the Blackbird about 4 days in a row. The others that I listed can be used daily without any issues. I usually shave with a pretty neutral to slightly shallow angle if that makes a difference.

I'm a little odd in that the 74 was my least favorite. It's good but not as good as a BB, to me. The 80 head shines and they get progressively better.

The L2, T95, and BB are going to share the same WR1 80-86 gap space.

Those all are going to be roughly equivalent to the 115. If you want something to use on multiple days growth....I'd probably put a 135 in your hand. Its smooth enough to use daily and kicks the efficiency up to WR1 .94, L3, Ikon Tech levels....but without as much blade feel.

I'm only talking SB too. As stated repeatedly, I'm no fan of the SS OC WR2 head. I did send my SS125OC to a couple of guys who loved the OC face feel. I like the WR1 OC heads, not the WR2 tho.

If it's too much, you can trade down to a 125 pretty easily, I'd think.

I think if you get a 115, you are duplicating a couple of razors you already have in end result although the WR2 115 would be smoother.

Hope this helps.

Living on your knees, conformity...Or dying on your feet for honesty. James Hetfield

Minimal on first pass to one-dish on second. It's there, but I have to pay attention to maintain the edge.

What WR1 do you have? What do you expect from the WR2? Daily shaver? What else do you have that you like?

Living on your knees, conformity...Or dying on your feet for honesty.  James Hetfield

I have the 61 OC. It’s my go to razor when my skin needs a break. I would like to get a 74 or 80 at some point to get a little more efficiency. For the WR2, I would like something efficient enough for when I skip a day or 2, but I also want to be able to use it daily. I like enough blade feel to know that it’s there. I generally prefer OCs. The razors I have been using lately are the Carbon, Charcoal Goods L2 OC, Timeless 95 OC, and Blackbird SB. I can only use the Blackbird about 4 days in a row. The others that I listed can be used daily without any issues. I usually shave with a pretty neutral to slightly shallow angle if that makes a difference.

I'm a little odd in that the 74 was my least favorite. It's good but not as good as a BB, to me. The 80 head shines and they get progressively better.

The L2, T95, and BB are going to share the same WR1 80-86 gap space.

Those all are going to be roughly equivalent to the 115. If you want something to use on multiple days growth....I'd probably put a 135 in your hand. Its smooth enough to use daily and kicks the efficiency up to WR1 .94, L3, Ikon Tech levels....but without as much blade feel.

I'm only talking SB too. As stated repeatedly, I'm no fan of the SS OC WR2 head. I did send my SS125OC to a couple of guys who loved the OC face feel. I like the WR1 OC heads, not the WR2 tho.

If it's too much, you can trade down to a 125 pretty easily, I'd think.

I think if you get a 115, you are duplicating a couple of razors you already have in end result although the WR2 115 would be smoother.

Hope this helps.

Living on your knees, conformity...Or dying on your feet for honesty.  James Hetfield

That does help. The reason I was leaning towards the 115 is because I had the Karve F plate and it was just a little too much at times and I thought the WR2 might be similar.

Proceed with order received from 9/6
Invoice received & paid..........

Remember to look in your junk email folders folks!

Ps. based on what James has mentioned, He may be offering Ti in a year or so when the current stainless orders are fulfilled.

I have the 61 OC. It’s my go to razor when my skin needs a break. I would like to get a 74 or 80 at some point to get a little more efficiency. For the WR2, I would like something efficient enough for when I skip a day or 2, but I also want to be able to use it daily. I like enough blade feel to know that it’s there. I generally prefer OCs. The razors I have been using lately are the Carbon, Charcoal Goods L2 OC, Timeless 95 OC, and Blackbird SB. I can only use the Blackbird about 4 days in a row. The others that I listed can be used daily without any issues. I usually shave with a pretty neutral to slightly shallow angle if that makes a difference.

I'm a little odd in that the 74 was my least favorite. It's good but not as good as a BB, to me. The 80 head shines and they get progressively better.

The L2, T95, and BB are going to share the same WR1 80-86 gap space.

Those all are going to be roughly equivalent to the 115. If you want something to use on multiple days growth....I'd probably put a 135 in your hand. Its smooth enough to use daily and kicks the efficiency up to WR1 .94, L3, Ikon Tech levels....but without as much blade feel.

I'm only talking SB too. As stated repeatedly, I'm no fan of the SS OC WR2 head. I did send my SS125OC to a couple of guys who loved the OC face feel. I like the WR1 OC heads, not the WR2 tho.

If it's too much, you can trade down to a 125 pretty easily, I'd think.

I think if you get a 115, you are duplicating a couple of razors you already have in end result although the WR2 115 would be smoother.

Hope this helps.

Living on your knees, conformity...Or dying on your feet for honesty.  James Hetfield

That does help. The reason I was leaning towards the 115 is because I had the Karve F plate and it was just a little too much at times and I thought the WR2 might be similar.

A karve SB D plate was too much for me, and I now have a 1.55 wr2 that I can easily use as a daily driver because it's that smooth. so I think you'll be good with a 1.35