Grudge Match: NEW Deluxe versus Raised Flat Bottom

Thank Heavens! I thought I was losing it.

I delayed the start of this to finish off the blade in a razor I was trying and because I wanted some hair on my face for the first round. I also changed handles on the RFB to get the razors closer in wieght. This is what I'm useing.




First round was yesterday mourning. Both razors got a new PolSilver from the same tuck. Face lathered with a Muhle v2 synth. and a stick I made of Cella. After shave was Pinaud Clubman Classic Vanilla. NEW Deluxe on the left and RFB on the right.

Efficiency: It's the next mourning and I'm not sure I can tell but : NEW Deluxe buy a hair.
Smoothness: RFB
Ease of the shave (grip, stroke and angle....): RFB
overall experience: RFB

Winner of round one: RFB

Never did a side buy side shave before so it was a little odd changing razors from one side to the other but I don't think it affected the shave. Both razors mowed through the hair as a new blde would be expected to. Deluxe did seem to be a little more angle sensetive. Got a small weeper and slight stinging from the aftershave on the left side of the neck.

This has always been my caveat with the New Deluxe. It's a great razor and I love the feel of it mowing through the hair. If I shave slow and deliberate then it's fine but if not then it bites me or leaves me feeling razor rashed. Only on the neck tho, it's never been a problem on the face.

A recap – 1934ish RFB proudly holding onto most of its original nickel vs a 1935ish 15mm NEW Deluxe resplendent in a Chris E. nickel replate. Triad stainless steel handles with Aristocrat knurling under both. Feather Blades from a new tuck. Round 3 began with some changes: each razor head got the other’s blade and handle. The RFB came out swinging on the left side, and I checked to make sure the blade was not off-center in the head, because I couldn’t feel it: I guess this is what the “smoothness” comments mean. The Deluxe dismissed the right side with little fanfare. The results:
Efficiency: Eight hours later NEW Deluxe side is still noticeably smoother and cleaner.
Smoothness: RFB (but this has never seemed to be important to me).
Ease of the shave (grip, stroke and angle....): Draw
Overall experience: I love the look of the RFB on a Triad handle, but efficiency is King here (the reason I shave!), so I have to give it to the Deluxe
Winner of Round Three: The Deluxe

Some Observations – the right side seems to have an advantage. When the Deluxe took the right side (Rounds 1 and 3) the shave was much closer and longer-lasting. When the RFB took the right side (Round 2) the closeness was a draw. I am going to push this to a Round 4 to verify the findings.

Round Three:

NEW RFB Chromium Big Fellow on the left
NEW Deluxe Chromium Big Boy on the right

I loaded the RFB with a Schick Platinum and shaved the left side, then loaded the same blade into the Deluxe. Rather an odd way to do it, but I had no choice (see this thread for an explanation).

Smoothness: RFB, by a surprisingly wide margin. The Deluxe actually skipped a few times, which is uncharacteristic. No cuts, nicks, or weepers, but the RFB was very smooth and the Deluxe was not.
Efficiency: Tie. The Deluxe required quite a bit more effort on the clean-up pass. Ordinarily, the Deluxe side is a bit closer 8 hours after the shave. Today, the Deluxe's advantage in this regard was barely perceptible, at best. I'm calling this category a tie.
Ease of use: RFB.

Round two winner: RFB.
Overall winner: RFB 2 wins and one tie.

Both of these razors are members of the NEW family and I can't think of any NEW that I don't like. That said, the RFB is a remarkable combination of smooth and efficient. We are all looking for the perfect combination of those two elements. Admittedly, the Deluxe is slightly more aggressive than the RFB, but the RFB is a more impressive combination of the two elements. It gives up very little in efficiency/aggressiveness compared to the Deluxe, while being noticeably smoother and more forgiving.

I love them both, but the RFB is special.

Gents!

I am sorry for not being present in this thread, but my way of shaving is hindering me.

I have now done 19 shaves on a red IP blade and run it through my Techs (US C2, British Flat Bottom and US pre war) and today loaded it into my US LC NEW. The blade clearly shows character and because of this I will not rush it into the RFB and the Deluxe. The comparison between these two favorites of mine would not be fair to the Deluxe if the blade is not mellow enough for it. In order to mellow out the blade it needs at least one week in the LC NEW of daily shaves.

My plan now is to be able to make this comparison between the RFB and the Deluxe before the end of the month of February. This situation occurred only because I did not remember the red IP as a very lasting blade - but I was wrong. It's been a couple of years ago since I used this blade, but then again that is less than eight blades for me - and I have a rotation consisting of six types of blades...

So this is now my plan and I hope none of my other NEWS ( especially the SC on its way from the US) will postpone this comparison. We will see.

Round 2:

Last shave was on several days growth and today's was just on a single days. This fact was really an disadvantage for the Deluxe. Without the additional growth the extra efficiency of the NEW Deluxe was muted.

SCORE CARD:

Efficiency: Not a huge factor on low growth. Winner: Tie
Smoothness: Smooth as glass. Winner:RFB
Ease of the shave (grip, stroke and angle....): NEW Deluxe is more sensitive to angle but the more I use it the easier it is to find and keep. Winner RFB
overall experience: Both are a joy to use. The smoothness of the RFB just is great though.

Winner of round Two: RFB

RD #3

SCORE CARD:

Efficiency: NEW Deluxe
Smoothness: Smooth and very comfortable---Draw
Ease of the shave (grip, stroke and angle....): Draw
overall experience: Both are 2 of The Best Razors I have and be hard pressed to find a better shave

Winner of round 3:by a very slim margin The Gillette NEW DELUXE


[/COLOR]

Round One was an unrushed Saturday mid morning shave using new Gillette Silver Blues from the same tuck.
In the interest of total disclosure, I have logged many more miles with the RFB models and the Deluxe I am using is a loaner. (Thanks Todd, aka. bakerbarber.)

Efficiency I am rating as a tie for this round. It felt like a closer shave on the LHS / NEW Deluxe side right after the shave, but 24 hrs later I would have to give the nod to the RFB.
May have not found the Deluxe sweet spot on the LHS, (being right handed). We will see if this repeats on the right side in round two.

Smoothness once again I'm calling a tie, though there was a subtle difference. The Deluxe removed hair like the RFB but the skin felt just slightly abraded.
The results in the first two categories tend to make me think my angle was not right with the Deluxe so I am giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Ease of use and overall experience is where I saw one start to stand out. It may be that the Bar handled NEW Deluxe is not in the same league No.77's balance, weight etc. Maybe with a different handle the Deluxe could of held it's own, but the RFB took these two categories.

Copierguy said:

... Maybe with a different handle the Deluxe could of held it's own ...

Click to expand...

For me this remark carries a lot of weight.

IMHO the handle plays a major role in how the razor feels on the skin. I have been thru a lot of trouble regarding the choosing of the handle for my 3 piece Gillette heads. In my current rotation I use only one handle but I am considering adding a couple of the originals, perhaps with some added weight.

I will be comparing the heads with the same handle and the same blade when the blade has mellowed to the point I want it to be in when I load it into the razors.

Of course there will remain the problem of my bizarre beard growth pattern. The growth on the sides of my face is not in any way symmetrical. I do have two eyes and one nose and mouth - but that is the only symmetrical property of my face... . I will probably solve this by doing a complete shave with each razor and wait for the 24 hour stubble as the metric for closeness.

bosseb said:

For me this remark carries a lot of weight.
***

Click to expand...

Good one.

bosseb said:

***Of course there will remain the problem of my bizarre beard growth pattern. The growth on the sides of my face is not in any way symmetrical. I do have two eyes and one nose and mouth - but that is the only symmetrical property of my face... . I will probably solve this by doing a complete shave with each razor and wait for the 24 hour stubble as the metric for closeness.

Click to expand...

We share many of the same attributes, eyes, nose, mouth, etc. and my beard pattern that looks like a weather map of the Atlantic Ocean in mid summer.

Round Two.

Turns out much of the perceived differences in the first round where me on that steep learning curve with the less familiar Deluxe.
We'll see how round three goes.

Keep it coming, guys! At some point we need to tally up the scores and declare a winner, but we wouldn't want to do that until all the scores are in.

Looks like it continues to be a much closer race than the Fatboy/Slim grudge match.

imatabor said:

Winner so far:

Spoiler

View attachment 635203

Click to expand...

I have a #77 coming in the mail , when it gets here I would like to do another match with the 77 and my 17mm
would that be alright?

Graydog, absolutely! Go for it. The more comparisons the merrier.

Round three:

Efficiency - Deluxe

Smooooooothness - RFB

Ease of shave /overall experience - Tie

Both razors are great shavers after 2 passes and touch ups they both give a DFS shave .The Deluxe side took longer to grow out but had very slight irritation .The RFB was smooth and irritation free but the shave didn't last as long ,both are a joy to use and the angles are easy to find .

Winner round #1 - Deluxe
Winner round #2 - RFB
Winner round three - Tie

Overall a tie after the three rounds .I decided to do an extra shave with each to determine a winner, my first shave was with the RFB alone and the next shave I just used the Deluxe and used the same blade for both shaves and I still can't pick a winner. All round Deluxe for efficiency and the RFB for smoothness and both are a joy to use. On one day growth I'd pick the RFB on two days growth the Deluxe.



The co-winners

Glenn

Great thread! Championship match for sure!

Hey what's going on I had to go back 4 pages to find this what nobody's shaving anymore?
Well Anyway I have a new match a #77 RFB vs. Deluxe 17mm

Round 3:

Today's shave was on several days growth, same blade and same soap. Spending a little time with the Deluxe has made finding the angle very easy and natural.

SCORE CARD:

Efficiency: After using both razors and getting their angles down I didn't notice a huge difference. Winner: Tie
Smoothness: More blade feel with the NEW Deluxe but not harsh. RFB is Smooth as glass. Winner:RFB
Ease of the shave (grip, stroke and angle....): NEW Deluxe is more sensitive to angle but the more I use it the easier it is to find and keep. I had no issues with either. Winner Tie
Overall experience: Both are a joy to use. The more I use them the harder to judge them. I'm going to give it to the RFB just for being a little smoother.

Winner of round Two: RFB by a hair.

I'm glad that this is the last round because I think that any more use may bring these to a tie. Edgar would never let me live that down.

Round Three - One and a half days since last shave:

A relaxed shave rewarded me with a BBS shave.

NEW #77 Raised Flat Bar on the left side of my face
NEW Deluxe Criterion on the side side of my face

Blade: Polsilver Super Iridium blade with two half-shaves (the two prior rounds) for each.

Preshave: Crown Pre-Glide Gel

Soap: Haslinger Schafmillch

Post-shave: Myrsol Antesol


Three pass (WTG, XTG, ATG) shave.

Smoothness: TIE.
Efficiency: TIE. Three hours later, both sides feel amazingly smooth. A tiny bit of irritation in one spot from over-buffing on the RFB side, but that's my fault and not the razor's.
Ease of Use: TIE. On my first pass, I felt as if the Criterion felt better in my hand. On my second - the RFB. I could feel the difference between them but neither was convincingly better than the other.

TODAY'S RESULT: TIE Obviously, I can get a great shave out of both of the razors if I use a great soap and take my time. I'm not convinced that one of these razors is better than the other. Both are great and I guess I'll have to keep them both for a while.

imatabor said:

I'm glad that this is the last round because I think that any more use may bring these to a tie. Edgar would never let me live that down.
[/COLOR]

Click to expand...

John, I knew that in the end you'd still prefer the RFB, but at least you admit that the Deluxe is also a fantastic shaver.