A Few Good Men, Redux. $1.25 razor challenge…

[geneaut]

I took my AFM apar his morning and discovered rust on the threaded cap post. I had seen this on my earlier AFM razors.

That saddens me. With a decent blade this shaved adequately.

 

[cranewarrior]

I took my AFM apar his morning and discovered rust on the threaded cap post. I had seen this on my earlier AFM razors.

That saddens me. With a decent blade this shaved adequately.

Same with mind but in the handle. I oiled it to keep the razor longer. I have been drying the razor with a towel too, so the metal is particularly low quality.

 

[helicopter]

Same with mind but in the handle. I oiled it to keep the razor longer. I have been drying the razor with a towel too, so the metal is particularly low quality.

I have some exposed metal under the plating, on my threads, but it looks like reclaimed copper pot metal, not steel that would actually rust. More like oxidized copper.

 

[Chandu]

I'm sorry this is NOT for me. I've had too many times folks touted mid grade goods as great and I bit an thought they sucked. Low grade goods as good/great. I'm not even trying.

Once bitten, twice shy. The cheapest DE i have ever found that is acceptable is the Feather butterfly. Recently bought a Lord razor for cheap from AMZ. Got it, opened it and binned it. Junk. Period end of story. Not wasting my time.

 

[Lane101]

I'm sorry this is NOT for me. I've had too many times folks touted mid grade goods as great and I bit an thought they sucked. Low grade goods as good/great. I'm not even trying.

Once bitten, twice shy. The cheapest DE i have ever found that is acceptable is the Feather butterfly. Recently bought a Lord razor for cheap from AMZ. Got it, opened it and binned it. Junk. Period end of story. Not wasting my time.

Curious, what was the issue with your Lord razor? I also tried a Lord L6 and found it ridiculously aggressive to the point where I changed razors shortly after starting the shave. Never touched it again. Did you have the same problem?

I've found that the break point seems to be around $10. Razors I've tried under that price point, like the Lord and Ming Shi 3000 adjustable, have always has problems than made them unusable. Above $10 I've had great luck with all three of my current razors, that deliver excellent performance, in the $10 -$15 range.

 

[Tanuki]

Have I gotten AFM-comfortable enough to fall into a lazy shave? You decide.

Sunday evening, another full day's stubble. AFM shave 6, blade 3 third use.

Talked myself into another shave with blade 3 (still loaded)

The Sheep again - too good to miss (and already on the counter)

Omega 10066 - cheap boar, but excellent (don't tell @Chandu that!)

There is still no rust or discoloration on the razor head or the top of the handle, including the threads. I would claim that the threads were improving, but...

I know it is just that I have developed muscle memory for the careful male-female thread pre-alignment. And I now barely notice the loosey-goosey rattletrap tightening.

This was an extremely straight vertical stroke two pass shave. I did add XTG on the jawline and below. Tuggy as always, but with fast straight strokes I got closer results than my first AFM shaves that followed and respected the ski beard lines. Alum and Richard's Rub after.

Sharp - about the same as yesterday, so not sharp
Close - NO, but the best of a bad lot
Comfortable - no, but not terrible
Irritation - well yeah, but again the best of a bad lot

So much for planning ahead. I dried the blade and razor, reloaded the blade. Who knows what tomorrow's mix of apprehension, laziness, and (in)discipline will bring?

 

[cranewarrior]

I'm sorry this is NOT for me. I've had too many times folks touted mid grade goods as great and I bit an thought they sucked. Low grade goods as good/great. I'm not even trying.

Once bitten, twice shy. The cheapest DE i have ever found that is acceptable is the Feather butterfly. Recently bought a Lord razor for cheap from AMZ. Got it, opened it and binned it. Junk. Period end of story. Not wasting my time.

I am curious what made the Lord junk from your perspective? It is a low end item, no doubt, but mine has perfect blade alignment and shaves well. Putting the L6 head on top of a better handle is a good way to improve its performance even more for me.

 

[geneaut]

I'm sorry this is NOT for me. I've had too many times folks touted mid grade goods as great and I bit an thought they sucked. Low grade goods as good/great. I'm not even trying.

Once bitten, twice shy. The cheapest DE i have ever found that is acceptable is the Feather butterfly. Recently bought a Lord razor for cheap from AMZ. Got it, opened it and binned it. Junk. Period end of story. Not wasting my time.

I don't think any of us are claiming this razor or blade is great.

 

[geneaut]

Same with mind but in the handle. I oiled it to keep the razor longer. I have been drying the razor with a towel too, so the metal is particularly low quality.

In the AFM's defense, I took it to summer camp with me. I wasn't drying it, and it was sitting in a ziplock bag under my hammock tarp all week while I wasn't using it.

In the past I had purchased two of these, and chucked the heads after trying to use them. I had saved the handles thinking if I ever felt the urge for a lightweight handle to use these would do. Some months later I looked at them and the metal socket had started rusting. They hadn't been used in the interim.

The old AFM TTO had a rusting issue as well.

 

[JL 52]

I don't think any of us are claiming this razor or blade is great.

I'm claiming decent and functional for $1.25

 

[geneaut]

I'm claiming decent and functional for $1.25

With another blade, it was adequately usable. That said, even then, it was the worst shaving razor I owned. I agree with you though, with respect you can get a decent shave with it with minimal discomfort

$1.25 is a good deal, but I think I'd rather grab one of the Gillette Sterlings or Gillette Super Blue razors for $5 if price were just the issue.

 

[Rob72]

I am enjoying following the endeavors of all!

 

[Tanuki]

View attachment 1867585

I am enjoying following the endeavors of all!

I'm stickin' with the union, 'til the day I bleed!

Monday evening, full day's stubble. AFM shave 7, blade 4 first (and last?) use.
Mama Bear's Haitian Vetiver (great scent) and a Semogue 1250 boar.

Two passes, vertical shaving, long strokes. After evaluation, I did clean up work on the jawline and above.

Then neck left side got XTGish buffing with the AFM razor. For comparison, the neck right side got XTG and box-the-compass buffing with the AFM blade in the English Flat Bottom Tech.

Alum and Barbasol after.

This is as close a shave as I have gotten with the AFM combo. The EFB Tech comparison results: more comfort and a safer sensation, no significant improvement in closeness, irritation about the same, but I did more buffing with the Tech.

I know I will wake up tomorrow with more stubble than I would have with any other DE razor/combo in my extensive stable. Or even any of the razors I've kicked out of the stable.

So that finishes the baseline challenge. Massive thanks to GlazedBoker for tossing a fine group of gentlemen into the mire with me.

Bottom line - looking for a good shave mister? For $5 in my neck of the woods I can find a vintage Gillette Tech or crusty Superspeed more easily than I can find the three piece AFM. All other stainless blades are considerably better than the AFM blade, so a 7¢ or 8¢ blade is also a fully justified upgrade. A dime blade would be comparative nirvana.

So I can get at least 400 decent to excellent shaves for $12 to $15 and still have a perfectly good razor. Or for $1.25 get maybe 10 poor shaves and some iron and zinc oxide.

But no rust or corrosion on my AFM! Do I have a unique version of this razor?

 

[JL 52]

I was reading the other posts about the AFM razor rusting already, and thought “man, why aren’t these guys just drying their razors”….

Went to inspect mine and found said rust inside the handle 🫣🫣

I’ll push through my remaining challenge shaves this week and then the AFM combo will need to meet my trash bin.

 

[geneaut]

I was reading the other posts about the AFM razor rusting already, and thought “man, why aren’t these guys just drying their razors”….

Went to inspect mine and found said rust inside the handle 🫣🫣

I’ll push through my remaining challenge shaves this week and then the AFM combo will need to meet my trash bin.

Yeah, oddly enough, the only rust I've ever found on the AFM seems to be centered around the screw and thread elements. I had thought maybe I'd put a dab of Vaseline or something on mine, but I didn't get around to it.

 

[Tanuki]

I wanted to make absolutely sure that I was not deluded about my pristine AFM. I got out my 700 lumen bike headlight and my 7x magnifier. And a strong magnet.

The cap, including the post, is completely non-magnetic. Zamak I assume. No discoloration or corrosion of the flat surfaces or narrow edges even under this intense examination. The post - the thread cutting is one step below mediocre. The unevenly colored/finished threads never had the bright chrome look of the rest of the cap. There may be some zinc oxide now, or it might just be soap.

The base plate is strongly magnetic. Even under intense lighting and magnification there is no discoloration at all. I inspected all the narrow edges very closely.

The ferrule on the handle is also strongly magnetic. No sign of discoloration, but these poorly cut threads also look a little scummy.

After shaving I have rinsed with very hot water, but generally just loosened, shook it dry and stored it with the blade in place. No drying or oiling.

I don't think I'll be shaving with it again, but I'll keep it under observation. That's the BOSC way.

 

[Grundi]

I just pulled my AFM razor back out to look to see if mine had rust. It's been set aside since I finished my week of shaves.

What?!? The stem threads have quite a bit of "rust dust" as does the handle threads. You can't see it unless you take it apart. Everything else looks good. Nooooooo!!

 

[blethenstrom]

I just pulled my AFM razor back out to look to see if mine had rust. It's been set aside since I finished my week of shaves.

What?!? The stem threads have quite a bit of "rust dust" as does the handle threads. You can't see it unless you take it apart. Everything else looks good. Nooooooo!!

Now I have to check mine out as well.

 

[Ital_stal]

Hello my Fellow Gents,

As per Gus aka @GlazedBoker for this thread : $1.25 razor challenge thread, He wanted to let you gentlemen that were waiting on a razor from him that it will not happen as he no longer has access to their particular mailing addresses. Sadly, he informed me that Gus is not a member any longer of B&B, so no access to his account. I am just passing along the message from my good friend Gus, so I hope I don’t catch any heat or flak for it.

Just that Gus @GlazedBoker is no longer available to support the thread and that if someone wants to step up and take control, Gus gave permission to do so - “by all means they should”.

All the Best,
C_S

Calm_shaver can you pm me? I’m super new and it won’t let me message you. Question about your apex

 

[blethenstrom]

Calm_shaver can you pm me? I’m super new and it won’t let me message you. Question about your apex

I think you need a minimum of 10 posts to pm.