No guard DE?

Man, that's terrible about the BBX. Mine was shipped with the base in the same box as the razor! Luckily there were no scratches, but I did question the shipping.

If the stud on the top cap isn't perpendicular, is there a way that you can screw in just the handle, and fix the top cap in a padded vise so you can bend it straight?

The stainless on my BBX was polished and looked very nice. finish wise, I'd put it up against my Mongoose. The issue with mine was that the blade wasn't exactly perpendicular to the top cap. Since I shave according to the edge of the blade and not the cap, it was a non issue for me especially when the BBX is all stainless.

Best of luck to you in getting things resolved.

mjclark said:

1)Buy $5 RiMei from dx.com
2) Snap guards off baseplate using pliers
3) Insert blade as per usual
4) Enjoy the greatest shave of the 21st Century!!!!!

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Viseguy said:

Thanks to mjclark, I just bought some RiMeis and will see how the castrated base plates work as devette-enablers. BBX is still the one to beat, in my book.

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Those RiMeis are taking forever to get here. I'm looking to forward to trying this, especially in view of the apparent lack of interest in creating artisanal-quality devette base plates despite the QC issues with the Barbe Bleue Model X, which the seller is evidently unwilling to address or even acknowledge. (I say this, with great disappointment, as one who has bought four [4] BBXs for myself and as gifts for others.)

Viseguy said:

Those RiMeis are taking forever to get here.

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Most direct-from-China stuff does. With that stuff you don't buy it and wait for it; you buy it and forget about it. Then when you receive it, it's a gift from yourself in the past. "Thanks, past me!"

I don't know if purchasing of the RiMei has improved or if it's still a gamble whether or not you'll get the real thing, but if it's still a gamble then your best bet is to order from two or three sellers...otherwise it's a big disappointment when you have to wait again. I didn't know that when I ordered mine but I got lucky.

After my Personna dulled, and I was no longer able to tension-power my way into the follicles for BBS, I could still get a close, comfortable shave using the steep angle WTG. Trouble is, it really looked like #2. The tension power formula pointed to another way ATG: high velocity. After the relatively slow, gentle pickups on water, I lathered up again and used crazy blade speed with the guarded side.

It's a definite downgrade in comfort, but retains the "shine," suggesting that the damage is "intra-follicular," focused on the hair impact zone. Made the difference between CCS and DFS for me.

Probably not worth it for most of you, but I definitely see how cartridges last a month now.

CORRECTION: How soon we forget! Unlike the cartridge users, I still have access to fairly low angles with the safety bar, even without depressing the top cap into my face. So on my next shave, I made like a chopstick kamisori with the guarded side ATG, and got a DFS with damage shifted to surface redness, but not burning. Acceptable by my new standards of exfoliation, excellent by the old. And the kicker is, there was so little demand on the lather, the shave so gosh-darn quick, I used bath soap (with additives, the "Artist Method") without any concern as the lather began to break down, or discomfort.

I don't know if I'm coming around all the way to the "crazy freeblader" side, but I get it now.

UPDATE: Final shave on that Personna today, and my goodness, who would have thought? Near-BBS with a dull blade! The thing was pulling my hair at the steep angle, so I switched the baseplate to the slightly better edge when I got to my jawline. Of course I didn't want to switch it back just so I could use the guard, so, there I was, swinging it like the best of you. (I did chicken out on my upper lip, and use a post-shave lather soak to calm a bit of acute irritation.)

With my two easy half-sider methods covering the entire span of blade usefulness and every useful angle of pitch, there is just no good reason not to have a flawless shave, ever. I can easily see going forward with an Excalibur view of technical development.

captaincaveman said:

Most direct-from-China stuff does. With that stuff you don't buy it and wait for it; you buy it and forget about it. Then when you receive it, it's a gift from yourself in the past. "Thanks, past me!"

I don't know if purchasing of the RiMei has improved or if it's still a gamble whether or not you'll get the real thing, but if it's still a gamble then your best bet is to order from two or three sellers...otherwise it's a big disappointment when you have to wait again. I didn't know that when I ordered mine but I got lucky.

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Thanks, I'll forget about them and hopefully someday will be pleasantly surprised. It's not like they broke the bank or anything.

Viseguy said:

That's terrible. Did you buy it from Amazon or eBay? If so, did you try contacting their customer support?

I know the BBX has QC issues, but this is the worst story I've heard so far.

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ETSY and I did contact the seller. Granted, I've been working so much lately that I haven't been able to rapid fire emails but why should I have to either?

nomex said:

Man, that's terrible about the BBX. Mine was shipped with the base in the same box as the razor! Luckily there were no scratches, but I did question the shipping.

If the stud on the top cap isn't perpendicular, is there a way that you can screw in just the handle, and fix the top cap in a padded vise so you can bend it straight?

The stainless on my BBX was polished and looked very nice. finish wise, I'd put it up against my Mongoose. The issue with mine was that the blade wasn't exactly perpendicular to the top cap. Since I shave according to the edge of the blade and not the cap, it was a non issue for me especially when the BBX is all stainless.

Best of luck to you in getting things resolved.

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I've thought about using a vice to bend it straight but don't have high hopes for the operation. I'd probably fold the top cap to a V just trying to clamp it in. To be honest, for what I paid for it I'm ready to take it at a loss and move on. Here's a picture of how bad it is, it's actually kind of funny how bad it is:



D

What if you flamed the joint with one of those butane vortex lighters (?) and just tapped at the end of the screw to bend it? I don't know... seems more "smithy"

It's a shame the QC on the BBX is so poor, especially since it is the razor that inspired this entire thread.

For devette excellence, the RiMei is looking like more and more of a winner.
I turned to mine with a Gillette Bleue Extra last night and was once again amazed and astounded by the shocking efficiency and superlative comfort of the devette shave:
As has been pointed out with the Tech, the pointy corners of the RiMei cap required some extra care on my jawline below the ears but the result is just so good...so so so good!

I'm going to be using my 2013 R41 soon and am very interested to see how it's going to match up to the devette experience.

I think with a little patience, which I don't have, I could give this a run

That is sad, and I will rather stay with my DE89 without baseplate than buy BBX with such a cap... Especially that I have no complains in performance.

If I took one of my DE razors and instead of the base plate used a couple of washers, would that work?

I would be interested to try something like this... although it'd be one of my slowest shaves for sure.

shave/brush said:

If I took one of my DE razors and instead of the base plate used a couple of washers, would that work?

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It should work just nice. I use nothing instead of the base plate on EJ DE89

TheShaveProphet said:

I would be interested to try something like this... although it'd be one of my slowest shaves for sure.

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Psychologically it looks very dangerous, so there is slow speed. Later you will see the devette is not more dangerous as any other razor. Sure you need to be careful.

Here's my latest franken-devette: Fatip top cap (with Cerakote finish by B&B member SubSailor) + BBX base plate + UFO Kaiser Short stainless handle with Fatip threading. The blade exposure and the weight of the UFO handle make this the most aggressive devette I've used so far -- but also the most effective: BBS in two passes, easy. And, of course, no irritation.

Viseguy said:

Here's my latest franken-devette: Fatip top cap (with Cerakote finish by B&B member SubSailor) + BBX base plate + UFO Kaiser Short stainless handle with Fatip threading. The blade exposure and the weight of the UFO handle make this the most aggressive devette I've used so far -- but also the most effective: BBS in two passes, easy. And, of course, no irritation.

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Nice!!

So I guess we can all throw away the base plate on all our DE razors. Seems we don't need them.

shave/brush said:

So I guess we can all throw away the base plate on all our DE razors. Seems we don't need them.

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I think so. Unless we have shaky hands some day. Have you already tried devette? What are results?

My grandfather did this for a while with this very razor.


I've used it numerous times. It will give you the BBS shave. It is not nearly as bad as it looks. I really like it.