Dial turned to 1 for a great shave!?

[eizan70]

A few months back I got a Feather AS-D1, and began shaving with it. As most of you have probably read or tried you will know that it is an extremely mild shaving razor with a somewhat tight sweet spot that is a bit different than many of the DE razors frequently discussed in this forum. Took me a few days to adjust my technique to consistently get a DFS and with a little extra work that bbs face. As I like to shave every day (simply for the pleasure of it) I was really enjoying the fact that this razor left my skin irritation, nick, weeper, burn free. I could even hit that little mole on my neck from any angle without fear of bloodshed. I was beginning to think that this razor has killed my RAD.

Well...No, just gave it a rest for a couple of months. I recently saw a fat boy that I just couldn't turn down, and of course dying to take it for a drive, dialed it down to three. Compared to the Feather this felt extremely aggressive, lightly nicked that above mentioned mole, and left me with a mild case of RB. I was not sure if this was due to slightly altered technique or changes in my skin from using such a mild razor for months. I figure I am doomed to shave with my AS-D1 for ever, I say doomed because I love the look, feel and style of vintage razors.

It occurred to me that there are numbers on the dial that go below 3 , Do I dare turn it back to 1 and risk having to turn in my manly man card (hmmm, they didn't take it when I started using the feather). So I broke out my super adjustable turned the dial to 1, put in a cherished SI blade and went to town, this time purposely shaving much as I would with the feather.

I got an amazing shave, mole went unscathed even though I attacked from multiple sides. I actually got what I thought was a closer shave, but again with the mildness of the feather and without any touch up. A way to reintegrate at least some of my razors back into a rotation.

I shaved two days with the SI and popped in a feather blade. Again amazing, smooth and mild DFS without touch ups.

I know the mild shaving razors are not for everyone, but some of us like them and will continue to use them. Personally I like to shave every day, and using a more aggressive razor or setting, usually means I have to work in off days to let my face recover. I can occasionally throw in an aggressive razor just for the feel of it, but don't make it a habit.

I will probably try my slims and fatboys next with the dials set to one (and yes the one is an actual setting not just a place holder )

Oh, And for those of you who are wondering, The Feather AS-D1 is milder than the super adjustable set to 1 (YMMV).

[cwnidog]

Where does a Real Man set his Fat Boy? Wherever the hell he likes it. Wanna fight?

[eizan70]

LOL!

[M80]

Where does a Real Man set his Fat Boy?

7.

[ERVARGASNY]

7.

Show off

[fcdiscus]

Guess now you know why Gillette made the settings 1 thru 9. YMMV!

[Doppelgaenger]

Not sure if it's true of the fatboy, but the slim gives more audible feedback the higher you set it. Turning it all the way up to 9 and going to town (carefully) will teach you a lot about proper pressure. If you hear the blade slicing hairs and you don't feel the blade on your skin that much then you're doing the right thing.

that said I do have trouble doing all 3 passes of my shave with the slim turned to max, I usually have to turn it down to 4 for the atg pass.

[senatorxmg]

I'm still awaiting the slim adjustable I purchased in the BST. However, I've read that others will do the first pass on a more agressive setting and then dial it down for each subsequent pass. Personally, I was interested in the adjustables for the ability to have a less aggressive shave...and I think I'm a man!

[cwnidog]

Show off

Turn it up to 11.

[eizan70]

So I took out the Fat Boy dialed it down to 1, thought I would use an SI today as I had used a feather the last time when I had tried this razor set to 3. Then I noticed the blade gap was all off. As I had stated in my OP this was a new razor for me and I was eager to try it out. It looked pretty immaculate and in my haste I had just assumed everything was in good order. I took out another fat boy swapped the blade over and yes blade gap looked good (bummer for the other razor).

Fat Boy at 1 was even smoother and milder than the super adjustable, I'll have to do more comparisons in the future. Great shave. This setting I felt was much closer to the feel from the AS-D1, but much cooler (it's with a fat boy).

So my feelings are mixed as to this revelation. It rekindles the RAD which is great, exciting and fun. The downside is that it has rekindled my RAD which can be expensive.

[Go West Young Man]

Fatboys are usually pretty easy to fix - what did you notice was off about it?
If you search on overclocking there's a lot of info adjusting FB's that get the dial and the actual bladegap out of alignment.

[mdevine]

When I first started shaving with a DE, I was under the mistaken impression that more aggressive had to mean a better, closer shave. A year or so into it, I pulled an old Tech out of a drawer for an out of country vacation. I wanted to take something that I wouldn't feel too bad about losing. I was surprised how well this mild razor shaved, now that I had good technique. While I can get a good shave with any of my razors, my pre-war Techs are now my favorites.

Mike

[eizan70]

Fatboys are usually pretty easy to fix - what did you notice was off about it?
If you search on overclocking there's a lot of info adjusting FB's that get the dial and the actual bladegap out of alignment.

I'll take some pictures as soon as I get a chance.

[cwnidog]

When I first started shaving with a DE, I was under the mistaken impression that more aggressive had to mean a better, closer shave. A year or so into it, I pulled an old Tech out of a drawer for an out of country vacation. I wanted to take something that I wouldn't feel too bad about losing. I was surprised how well this mild razor shaved, now that I had good technique. While I can get a good shave with any of my razors, my pre-war Techs are now my favorites.

Mike

I used to have that same (mistaken) idea. It's amazing how much better my adjustables work now. I get a great shave with a Futur set on 2.5, and a lot less bleeding. At 2.t there's still enough blade exposed that I get a good audible feedback to go along with the feel.

[jtb]

I've been setting my progress down to 1 and getting awesome shaves.

[eizan70]

Fatboys are usually pretty easy to fix - what did you notice was off about it?
If you search on overclocking there's a lot of info adjusting FB's that get the dial and the actual bladegap out of alignment.

I've been reading the threads on overclocking. I don't think this is the issue. I believe I have a bent safety bar, mild though so it was more noticeable when I turned it down to 1. One side, at one edge has an extremely narrow gap, while the other end I am guessing approaches normal.

After looking at this I took my other fat boy and noticed mild discrepancies in gap, nothing major. I just wonder at this setting is it just all the imperfections are standing out? Well, I still have a few more days with the fat boy before I go onto the slim dialed to 1.

Imperfections or not, my fat boys, will be getting more love from me in the future.

[Blue_2]

This may be of help on that safety bar.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...Boy-adjustable

[rxonmymind]

I set my Futur to 1 (3 for touch ups) Excellent shaves AND I noticed that the Pol silvers used on this setting somehow lasted five days. Never was the case in other razors. Enjoy your 1 shave:) setting.

[eizan70]

I just received a new (for me) replated slim that I was dying to try out. As I often do with a new adjustable, I place a blade in and set the razor to 1 then to 9 to ensure that the adjustment dial seems to be working ok. It looked like it was working fine. Set to 1 the gap appeared a bit wider that I am used to but I also notice that all my adjustables seem to have some minor variations in blade gap. I am not measuring but just eyeballing. Set at 9 the gap was looking pretty large, but 1 seemed fairly tame in comparison. Let me just say I thought I had a dud SI blade. The shave was incredibly smooth, but it seemed much more aggressive than I recall experiencing in many months. That was when I remembered this post.

Fatboys are usually pretty easy to fix - what did you notice was off about it?
If you search on overclocking there's a lot of info adjusting FB's that get the dial and the actual bladegap out of alignment.

I have 9 Gillette adjustables (FB, Slims and SAs) and have never gotten one that was overclocked. If it wasn't for this post (thank you Go West) I would not have thought about this. I double checked the gap at 9 and realized I could probably slide a quarter in there. So I followed the instructions for dialing back an overclocked fatboy, I figure the slim is the same process, and now those gaps are looking a little more familiar. Shaved again with a Gillette Silver Blue this morning (I had already tossed the SI) and got that amazing mild shave.

Turn it up to 11.

While it probably more the equivalent of turning it to 10 rather than 11, it is as close to 11 as I am likely to get. I did in fact get an amazingly close shave, I almost didn't need a shave this morning, and aside from 1 weeper below my lower lip it was a perfect shave. My skin though did feel it and I would have to take days off of shaving to continue at that high a setting. That being said maybe I'll turn it up to 2 or 3 on occasion just for fun.

[ironfisted]

I normally don't venture past two, and combined with an Astra SP I get BBS virtually every time (admittedly, with a little burn if I try to cheap out and keep the blade more than five shaves). I recently set it to five to see how that would work for my head shave, and then forgot to turn it back when I finished. I realized on the first stoke of my next shave that I had not turned it back down, but I decided to try my hand at a five shave and it was actually a fantastic result. I have to remind myself to try to mix things up once in a while. Even though I initially had a problem with something when I was learning to DE shave, my technique has improved and I need to revisit some of my past mistakes.