WR1 .86 OC review

Figured I’d start this new post to give people some idea of the Wolfman WR1 .86 OC. A good member here loaned it out to me and I know a lot of us loose sleep over which Wolfman to get, so hopefully some find this helpful. 

First a little background. I’ve been lucky enough to have had some amazing razors come through my shave den and while they all work well to some degree, not all have stuck around. I’ve moved along a RS-10, WR2 1.15/1.35sb, tatara Nodachi & Matsume, Karve brass all plates, diamondback, lots of vintages, H&S no75 & 17-4 po76, timeless .68 & .95, Blackland vector, Carbon SS .68, and probably others that I’m forgetting. I enjoy the idea of being somewhat minimalist which seems to be difficult in this hobby. The ones I’ve kept are charcoal goods gen 1 (brass dc) & 2 (copper) lvl 2, a gen 1 brass lvl 3, and a carbon Ti .68 (my favorite currently). I’ve known for a while I wanted a WR1 but so much talk of the WR2 lead me to purchase it instead when my name came up. It was great but not enough to knock out my keepers. having sampled a WR1 .61 had me still wanting a WR1 but wasn’t sure which gap since the .61 was on my lower end for efficiency. I prefer positive blade exposure but not too much, there is a sweet spot for me which the CG and Carbon seem to fall into.

Which brings us to the Wolfman .86 OC I’ve been using the past couple days. There’s perfect blade feel but the gap, while amazing is possibly a bit much for me for daily shaves. I’m thinking the .80 in a dual comb is my golden ticket. Or making the OC side .86 and sb .80.  Having heard from numerous individuals the WR1 is smooth in .56 and then not again until .80, I’m weary of going lower than .80. Especially because I’ve been able to use the .86 OC daily well enough. I generally don’t prefer OC razors but it is true that the WR1 in OC is a smooth criminal. The first WTG pass with the .86 OC knocks out 60-70% of the facial hair. Subsequent passes (XTG & ATG) is where it seems to get a bit less comfortable. I could see myself using this OC for the first pass and a lower gap SB for the rest. It has less blade exposure than the Charcoal Goods lvl 3 for sure and is smoother. The trade off being reduced efficiency. In the next few days I will run it against my lvl 2s.

Ill be following closely! We seem to have very similar preferences in razors. I'm currently on the list for a WR2 1.45 SB, but may change that depending on your findings. What did you not like about the WR2?

The 0.74 is magical, give it a try. Very little more blade feel than 0.61 or 0.67 to me, but more efficiency. I also have a 0.80 on the way.

Ill be following closely! We seem to have very similar preferences in razors. I'm currently on the list for a WR2 1.45 SB, but may change that depending on your findings. What did you not like about the WR2?

It simply didn’t have enough blade exposure for me on the 1.15 side. After the first pass I got that phantom blade feel everyone talks about with the WR2 and couldn’t tell where the stubble was getting cut. Had to feel after and keep going over that same area. was nice but couldn’t seem to get the desired results in 3 passes. The 1.35 had more of the exposure I was looking for but had a bit of harshness to it for 3 passes.

Expecting to receive my WR1 DC soon, it shipped last week. Went for .74OC/.86SB
With all talk on WR2, hoping it’s a good match, my current WR2 is a 1.15OC/1.25SB


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

.Which brings us to the Wolfman .86 OC I’ve been using the past couple days. There’s perfect blade feel but the gap, while amazing is possibly a bit much for me for daily shaves. I’m thinking the .80 in a dual comb is my golden ticket. Or making the OC side .86 and sb .80. 

The only WR1 Ive used (and sold) is a DC...86 SB and 80 OC...good combo.
But the WR2 head beats the WR1 on all parameters.
If I had to have just ONE razor, after all the $$$ Ive uhhh...invested in R&D...
it would have to be a WR2 DC...1.35 and 1.55 SB on either side.

Today’s shave was my gen 1 lvl 2 dc (using only the OC side) vs the WM .86 OC. The first thing I noticed was there was much more audible feedback from the Charcoal Goods. I found I could use some decent pressure on the CG but had to use much less on the Wolfman. The day before I had “reset” my facial hair growth with my carbon Ti .68 so there wasn’t a whole lot of hair to start with. I was going to give it 48 hrs growth but I’m looking for daily shave characteristics. Unfortunately I didn’t concentrate too much on which had more blade feel so I will be more cognizant of that tomorrow as it didn’t stand out very much on today’s shave. The Wolfman was smoother in the fact that it glides across my face without me really noticing any resistance or feel. The wolfie took out more on the straightaways but the CG did better in my trouble areas on my jawbone as it usually requires a little more fitness. Ended up only doing a WTG & ATG pass. Thinking of trying a sharper blade for the wolf tomorrow since I can’t really use pressure anyway with the milder blade. For me personally, the CG had more character and won this round. 

Soap: GD otium
Brush: Paladin Buck Rogers Neptune E5
Charcoal Goods Brass lvl 2 dc w/personna medprep
Wolfman WR1 .86OC/UFO colibri w/treet platinum

Seeing in the pic where/how the blades are clamped and the Wolfman clearly clamping it closer to the cutting edge, it doesn't surprise me the CG sang more audibly. Nice thoughts so far

I received my WR1 0.86 DC last week and I am very surprised at how smooth it is. It has more blade feel than my WR2 1.25 DC but remains ever so smooth at the same time. I also like the slimmer head profile of the WR1, which provides a good head to handle balance with the Darwin.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How do you rate the smoothness of this razor ATG?