Took a shave ride with my new SE friend...

[retturn2blades]

...the Valet Autostrop!

The Valet was paired with a Feather designed to work with this razor, and the only currently available blade (beyond the actual Valet blades); fortunately, it's a solid match. The Feather is sharp...so I proceeded accordingly. Yet the old Valet, with it's truly impressive engineering, helped me be the master of this shave. If you've never used a Valet, you owe it to yourself try one at some point...or at least inspect it's design. The lock-down on the blade leaves no room for blade movement. You open the razor and push the two side wings to the open position, place the blade onto the alignment pins, then close the side wings over the blades side edges. That blade is not moving in any directions.

BTW, this was a two pass shave and I ended up feeling comfortable enough to let the Valet shave off my goatee, which was pretty thick. I did no shearing or scissoring before shaving it off. The Valet/Feather team removed the goatee very nicely. I kept the moustache, and trimming and shaping it was very easy. I never could get a clean sharp trim with the Mach style razors.

I used a ShaveMac White Tip with a Schieck Shave Stick. I need a tutorial on using sticks, but I just rubbed my brush on the stick and took the brush to my face. Worked. (Tell me the better ways and next time I'll employee them.) This was my first time with this product and I give it the thumbs up.

Used Proraso Pre Shave and RazorRock After Shave wax. Both products worked well for me. I especially like the scent and feel of the RazorRock. I see why many rave about it. Then threw on some Chanel Pour Monsieur...a reward for having a successful shave with a razor my grandfathers may have used.

I'm the apprentice at this, so I won't sling around any comparisons or judgments. Let me just say this was my most interesting and challenging shave thus far.

I'll shut this down by saying...

Viva la Valet!

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[IainJ]

Good to hear that another Valet is seeing use again! They are a remarkable piece of engineering and superb shavers, I have several ranging in age from 1907 to a model similar yours.

[alex2363]

great,i dont hear many members using this razor much. I think its because it takes proprietary blades.

[woodfluter]

Thanks Jeff!

This is the first detailed account I've read of somebody using one of these. But you see lots of them up for sale. They must have been rather popular at some point.

Would be good to hear how the stropping feature works too, from somebody that has a suitable strop or has made one.

- Bill

[retturn2blades]

Thanks Jeff!

This is the first detailed account I've read of somebody using one of these. But you see lots of them up for sale. They must have been rather popular at some point.

Would be good to hear how the stropping feature works too, from somebody that has a suitable strop or has made one.

- Bill
Hi Bill,

I just got a Valet AutoStrop Kit = Razor/strop/unused Valet Blades. The kit is NOS. I will be using it soon and will report to the forum. I see from the response to my post there isn't a lot of interest. Or maybe the Valet has yet to be rediscovered. I like it so well I have ordered several others ones.

Thanks for your reply.

[retturn2blades]

They are a remarkable piece of engineering and superb shavers, I have several ranging in age from 1907 to a model similar yours.
I now own four with two NOS full strop kits. Glad to know there's other Valet admirers out there.

[Rob72]

Thanks Jeff!

This is the first detailed account I've read of somebody using one of these. But you see lots of them up for sale. They must have been rather popular at some point.

Would be good to hear how the stropping feature works too, from somebody that has a suitable strop or has made one.

- Bill
Very well, but you need to know what you're looking at, when you pick up a Valet/AS. If it is NOS, and the strop is "healthy", you could easily strop, hone, strop, etc., until the blade is too short to use. The problem is that many of these razors were run too hard & too long on the strops- the plating wears through, and the soft brass wears much faster than the steel blade. The result being flattened rollers that won't grab the strop and flip the blade, resulting in dramatically shortened strops, on the reverse stroke.:death:

Having said that, if you obtain an NOS set, and a decent hone & honing tool (Warner-Jones, King's, Scott's), you'll be properly prepared. I have too many razors to have developed a tried & true pattern, but my suggestion would be the same as using a straight- if you're not having a good shave, after a few days of shave-and-strop, its time to hit the hone.

My personal suspicion is that so many of the AS razors are so beaten because they were sold with the idea of absolutely minimal honing, and so the strop feature was over-worked.

[retturn2blades]

Very well, but you need to know what you're looking at, when you pick up a Valet/AS. If it is NOS, and the strop is "healthy", you could easily strop, hone, strop, etc., until the blade is too short to use. The problem is that many of these razors were run too hard & too long on the strops- the plating wears through, and the soft brass wears much faster than the steel blade. The result being flattened rollers that won't grab the strop and flip the blade, resulting in dramatically shortened strops, on the reverse stroke.:death:

Having said that, if you obtain an NOS set, and a decent hone & honing tool (Warner-Jones, King's, Scott's), you'll be properly prepared. I have too many razors to have developed a tried & true pattern, but my suggestion would be the same as using a straight- if you're not having a good shave, after a few days of shave-and-strop, its time to hit the hone.

My personal suspicion is that so many of the AS razors are so beaten because they were sold with the idea of absolutely minimal honing, and so the strop feature was over-worked.
Rob, great data. Thanks. Funny you mentioned honing because I just bought a couple off flea-bay. One I bought on a whim because it cost me .99¢. It's a Eastway concave stone for sharpening old DE blades. I realize you can't really resharpen newer DE blades but it might be fun to buy some vintage unused blades and see if I can "wake up" the blade's edge.

But for the Valet blades I got this Scott's stone and sharpening device which seem unused.

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[Rob72]

Rob, great data. Thanks. Funny you mentioned honing because I just bought a couple off flea-bay. One I bought on a whim because it cost me .99¢. It's a Eastway concave stone for sharpening old DE blades. I realize you can't really resharpen newer DE blades but it might be fun to buy some vintage unused blades and see if I can "wake up" the blade's edge.

But for the Valet blades I got this Scott's stone and sharpening device which seem unused.

240149240150
That was an awesome set!:001_cool: The opening is pretty narrow, but mine will accept wedge blades (Henckels, Heljestrand, Wester) as well, if you head that direction.

[themba]

Valets were advertised as being somewhat adjustable. It was done by controlling how far you closed the razor using the tab on the back. This would change the position of the blade to the guard bar thereby varying the shave.

[retturn2blades]

Valets were advertised as being somewhat adjustable. It was done by controlling how far you closed the razor using the tab on the back. This would change the position of the blade to the guard bar thereby varying the shave.
Interesting...

[Azarius]

I need to give my Valet a try, but to be honest lattely no matter which razor I start with, I find myself finishing with one of my 1912's.

I think I have hesitated due to the proprietarty blades, but that was my excuse for not trying any GEM as well, as I did not want to purchase another typeof blade.

I am going to subscribe to this thread to see how many others chime in on their impressions of this often overlooked razor.

[ERVARGASNY]

I have a British Made Valet, And i also ordered a Military set Valet i got on the bay Yesterday, That one is in more user grade then the British Made one, Were there several Different Models made by Valet? Either way i would give it a try, Like Daniel said, I didn't want to try my 1914 Every Ready because i didn't want to t buy a Gem blade, more like being lazy, But Guys Ever Since i Tried that 1914, Noting Compares to it, I Mean Nothing... Its not the Prettiest Razor, but it sure has given me the shave of my life ....

[retturn2blades]

I have a British Made Valet, And i also ordered a Military set Valet i got on the bay Yesterday, That one is in more user grade then the British Made one, Were there several Different Models made by Valet? Either way i would give it a try, Like Daniel said, I didn't want to try my 1914 Every Ready because i didn't want to t buy a Gem blade, more like being lazy, But Guys Ever Since i Tried that 1914, Noting Compares to it, I Mean Nothing... Its not the Prettiest Razor, but it sure has given me the shave of my life ....
Yes, there were several variations. I just bought one that shows a lot of razor blade, unlike my other Valet. I'll post some photos when I have everything in hand.

[echotron]

...the Valet Autostrop!
240009

I got my first Valet in yesterday - just like retturn2blades model pictured above - and just finished cleaning and sanitizing it. Today, I got in my 2nd Valet, a 1912 model. Of course, I made sure I have Feather SE blades in my hand before I bid/bought the 2 razors. (Blades came from razorbladesandmore.com )

I agree with rettunr2blades that my model like his has a Very Secure blade holding system - Very Impressive. My razor evens closes the side holders (wings) itself if I forget to, as I move the blade in position, ready to lock the safety bar in place

***************

The other Valet - 1912 - accepts the blade by sliding the blade in sideways into the holder then closing the bar which lifts the comb w/stops into position - the edge of the blade is grabbed by the stops. (Of course, one of my stops was completely closed when I received the 1912 and so I opened it and may do some more tweaking.)

Tomorrow, I will take my first Valet shave! Glad to see other Valet folks out there!

[SlyAggie]

I just received two of these in the mail today, as a part of a lot of 8 razors, and don't know the first thing about them. I really wanted the lot for the other 6 razors, but thought I would give them a good cleaning and a few rounds across the face.

But before I did anything, I need to figure out how the darn things work, and if they are in usable quality.

With that being said, does anyone have a reference they can point me to so I can check things out on these, like the strop mechanism, tightness of blade holder, etc.

Thanks again for all vast knowledge here!

[Rob72]

I just received two of these in the mail today, as a part of a lot of 8 razors, and don't know the first thing about them. I really wanted the lot for the other 6 razors, but thought I would give them a good cleaning and a few rounds across the face.

But before I did anything, I need to figure out how the darn things work, and if they are in usable quality.

With that being said, does anyone have a reference they can point me to so I can check things out on these, like the strop mechanism, tightness of blade holder, etc.

Thanks again for all vast knowledge here!
Hey, Sly,
The arms for the blade holder and strop-shaft (the two rods connected to those cool gears) should not have much "slop", i.e., they should turn, but not move all over the place. If they do, its been rode hard, and probably won't hold a blade securely. Regarding "tightness", the little lever in bac is what moves things into and out of position. It should move smoothly, and not wiggle out of place.

Lastly, if you decide to try & strop (I don't unless I'm using vintage blades- pretty rare), look at the blade-holder & strop-shaft arms from the rear- they should be nice and round. If you see any flat spots, it won't work off the strop, and you'll cut said strop in two. If the rollers are round, and you obtain a strop, try it very gently, at first. You should feel some slight resistance.

If the head doesn't rattle, and isn't bent, if you buy a pack of Feathers, you're good to go.:wink2: