The Society of Ancient* Rolls Razor Shavers (SOARRS)

Welcome to this most excellent society of Rolls Razor users. Are you man (or woman) enough to use a Rolls? Here is a place to ask your questions. The members have, oh--must be two or three Rolls shaves between them. And we like to tinker. Join us if you dare!

Rolls Razor Links:

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/wiki.badgerandblade.com/Rolls_Razor
-Here's the WIKI article about the Rolls. Start here for general information.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/346052-How-to-Date-a-Rolls-Razor?p=5117080#post5117080
-A thread on dating your Rolls.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/400451-New-Improved-21st-Century-Rolls-Razor
-This is mjclark's tread that discusses how to use lapping film to keep your blade keen!

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/431848-PIF-Rolls-Razor(s)/page4
-Starting with post 71 in this thread are Echo4Golf's (gdgeorge) set of restore / poor man's blade honing instructions with photos.

Great work! I'm in

In celebration of the creation of SOA*RRS, I'm going to break out the Rolls again this weekend! You should do the same! Post your SOTD with a Rolls pix today and tomorrow, and tell us about your shave!

SotD 10 January, 2015

Software
Homemade Vetiver and Tea Tree PSO
Derby Lemon Cream

Bloc Osma Alum
Thayers Lemon Witch Hazel Astringent

Fonex Lemon Cologne

Hardware:
MadeRite 100% Bristle w' TGN Bristle Knot
Rolls Razor

A very nice four-pass shave plus a bit of clean up under my neck led to a DFS. The Rolls is one of my favorites. I honed mine, and cleaned it up myself, so I especially enjoy using it!

I'll cash in my 3 Rolls shaves from last week with a blade honed on lapping film in the case
Used slick and ideal Williams soap plus Pur Tech/Plisson/ Silvertex synthetic brushes - gorgeous!

I'm in! But, what's with the asterisk?

First Rolls shave ever today... Unfortunately not so great. I'm not a honer. I've started collecting a few stones, but don't really know how to hone yet. I have tons of Rolls Razors, but none in shave ready condition.
At the last meetup, I have one of my Rolls blades to a honer there, who put it to the stones, but I think he said he'd only ever honed one before. Well, I thought it was good to go, but this mornings shave proved otherwise.

So for all you Rolls users out there. This thread needs some information!
- Tell us your method for honing a Rolls Blade.
- Do you use the hone & strop in the kit, or do everything externally?
- Share any existing links on how to hone or use the razor.
- Share links for how to refurbish the Rolls Razor kits.

This thread should be the repository of all Rolls knowledge!

GO!


Oh, and here's the razor I attempted to use today.

There's a big discussion on retrofitting the Rolls here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/400451-New-Improved-21st-Century-Rolls-Razor!!

I overlay the case hone with lapping film and paste the case strop with ferric oxide, after honing the blades outside the case without tape. This means that the in case honing creates a secondary bevel for a great shave.

I also continue my open offer to all members of this forum that I will happily hone your Rolls blades for you.
I'm in UK but have honed several blades for US members, so if you're interested then PM me.

I'm also willing to hone a blade for folks. I've got about half a dozen under my belt and the last four have come out nicely. If you guys want to post links, I'll be happy to copy them to the first post. I was going to put one to the Wiki and to the thread to which I just posted photos of a restore / cleanup.

Regarding the asterisk: I didn't (and still don't--too close to home?) particularly like "ancient" but no-one had a better idea. Perhaps it will change one day?

gdgeorge said:

Regarding the asterisk: I didn't (and still don't--too close to home?) particularly like "ancient" but no-one had a better idea. Perhaps it will change one day?

Click to expand...

How about "avant-garde"? That's the opposite of modern

First of all, the B&B Wiki entry is great!
Rolls Razor: B&B Wiki

This thread at TSD is the best, most detailed and complete, restoration thread I've seen anywhere. Great Pics
TSD: The What is and How to Thread for the Rolls Razor

And this thread over at SRP shows how to recover a broken hone.
SRP: Rolls Razor Hone Restore

gdgeorge said:

If you guys want to post links, I'll be happy to copy them to the first post. I was going to put one to the Wiki and to the thread to which I just posted photos of a restore / cleanup.

Click to expand...

You are only going to be able to edit your first post for about a week.

gdgeorge said:

Regarding the asterisk: I didn't (and still don't--too close to home?) particularly like "ancient" but no-one had a better idea. Perhaps it will change one day?

Click to expand...

Ahh, I see. We should have fleshed that out a bit first then.

There's a magnificent thread over on TOST where Brian Kampfert dedicates himself to honing and shaving with the Rolls:
http://theoriginalsafetytoo.proboards.com/thread/1452/

It's got lots of info about getting the blades shave ready and also a lot of focus on shaving technique.

Shaved with mine for the first time today. I'm a bit underwhelmed by it, I didn't even finish with it. I wasn't happy with the edge on the blade, because it tugged the first pass. I'll probably take a swing at re-honing/strop it by hand. Not too sure I like the hone or strop component within the case.

And if if it ends up being as much work as a straight, I'll probably stick with straights. We'll see how it goes.

KW Driver said:

Shaved with mine for the first time today. I'm a bit underwhelmed by it, I didn't even finish with it. I wasn't happy with the edge on the blade, because it tugged the first pass. I'll probably take a swing at re-honing/strop it by hand. Not too sure I like the hone or strop component within the case.

And if if it ends up being as much work as a straight, I'll probably stick with straights. We'll see how it goes.

Click to expand...

Yes - for the blade to give the superlative shaves it's capable of, it initially needs to be honed outside of the case.

See the extensive links in this thread...

...and yes for me too it is more work than a str8 but you get all the fun of playing around with edges plus the manouverability of a safety razor

Hey Driver,

If you've got the gear, give it a go! If you want to ship it back, I'll be happy to give it another go. I really like mine, so l hope that you can make it work for you!

Gents,

New blog post at Echo4Golf.com. It's a compendium of Rolls-related links. If you guys want, I'll ask a mod to include them in the top post here.

Marcus, would it be ok (or would you check with Brian) if I posted a link to your thread on The Original Safety Too board? I'm not registered over there.

Thanks!

I've PM'd Brian and alerted him to this thread so I'll let you know when he replies.

Yeah Brian's pleased for you to link to the TOST thread

Cool, thanks man!