Best Yaqi Faceshaver Right Now?

[Halfbeard]

Bohemia is the best!

 

[Zafar_shaves]

I suspect technique is the determining factor in my case. The 90 is a little more capable, and the 70 is a little more forgiving. If I shave mindlessly, the 70 tolerates my heavy-handedness better. On the flipside, the 90 rewards good technique with less irritation.

Given that, if you were buying again, would you skip the 70 and go straight for the 90?

 

[Zafar_shaves]

Bohemia is the best!

Bohemia! Tell me more. What makes it your top pick? I'm also interested to know your experience with clogging and how well it reaches under the nose.

 

[Halfbeard]

Bohemia! Tell me more. What makes it your top pick? I'm also interested to know your experience with clogging and how well it reaches under the nose.

First of all it looks great and unique !

It shaves like a dream. It has plate to flip for two aggresion levels.
No clogging ! Note: I have lightish beard.

Under the nose I do only WTG and XTG so no problem ! I imagine that ATG may be problem due the big size of the head.

Take a look at Bohemia thread.

 

[esee]

I tried ghost 70, and it gave me a great shave, but considering the amazing blade clamping, I thought a smoother shave with less irritation should have been possible. I attributed this lack of smoothness and slightly more skin impact than I would’ve liked to the forced steep angle of the ghost. If I use a steep angle, the blade tugs at my beard. My fairly thick beard can only get an ultra smooth shave at a shallow angle. I sanded down the top corners to match the blade angle, leaving about 1 cm of height at the cap’s edge. Like this, I opened up a shallower angle and left the blade exposure on the steep angles alone. After my modification, the ghost 70 became one of my best razors. Ultra smooth, super close with almost 0 irritation, all while being very hard to hurt oneself with.

It’s funny, as I usually modify most of my Yaqi razors, but I bought one little-known Yaqi razor, the Yaqi Trifecta, for its own right and to help me improve some other razors. My two fundamental requirements that let the razor be amazing, is amazing clamping and an open shallow angle. For an all metal razor, I can usually sand down the cap, opening up a shallow angle, but improving the clamping and blade rigidity is usually harder. The Yaqi Trifecta, with its stainless steel shims, could probably make other razors like the Razorock mamba into an edge-to-edge clamper. Anyway, I can’t yet vouch for the Yaqi Trifecta as I have not tried it yet, but the Yaqi Trifecta looks like it might be an amazing razor.

 

[Zafar_shaves]

I tried ghost 70, and it gave me a great shave, but considering the amazing blade clamping, I thought a smoother shave with less irritation should have been possible. I attributed this lack of smoothness and slightly more skin impact than I would’ve liked to the forced steep angle of the ghost. If I use a steep angle, the blade tugs at my beard. My fairly thick beard can only get an ultra smooth shave at a shallow angle. I sanded down the top corners to match the blade angle, leaving about 1 cm of height at the cap’s edge. Like this, I opened up a shallower angle and left the blade exposure on the steep angles alone. After my modification, the ghost 70 became one of my best razors. Ultra smooth, super close with almost 0 irritation, all while being very hard to hurt oneself with.

It’s funny, as I usually modify most of my Yaqi razors, but I bought one little-known Yaqi razor, the Yaqi Trifecta, for its own right and to help me improve some other razors. My two fundamental requirements that let the razor be amazing, is amazing clamping and an open shallow angle. For an all metal razor, I can usually sand down the cap, opening up a shallow angle, but improving the clamping and blade rigidity is usually harder. The Yaqi Trifecta, with its stainless steel shims, could probably make other razors like the Razorock mamba into an edge-to-edge clamper. Anyway, I can’t yet vouch for the Yaqi Trifecta as I have not tried it yet, but the Yaqi Trifecta looks like it might be an amazing razor.

I'm very curious to see the results of your adjustments. Would you be willing to share some pictures of the modified cap?

 

[sylbub]

Yaqi Vostok 70sb is superb.

 

[esee]

I'm very curious to see the results of your adjustments. Would you be willing to share some pictures of the modified cap?

I’m still in the middle of playing with it and one side has a slightly steeper angle than the other. For reference, if the flat top is 0 degrees, one side tilts down about 25 degrees, where the other side tilts down about 20 degrees. I like the shallower side, the 20 degrees side more and will probably make both sides 20 degrees. Anyway, since I may never do a dedicated post to this procedure, here are some pictures of my unfinished, crude work.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I’m still in the middle of playing with it and one side has a slightly steeper angle than the other. For reference, if the flat top is 0 degrees, one side tilts down about 25 degrees, where the other side tilts down about 20 degrees. I like the shallower side, the 20 degrees side more and will probably make both sides 20 degrees. Anyway, since I may never do a dedicated post to this procedure, here are some pictures of my unfinished, crude work.
View attachment 2017360View attachment 2017361View attachment 2017362

I realize this is after the fact.... but it would be great to see a before and after photo of the cap itself.. thread pointing up... So we could see exactly what you do... I think it's cool you are able to do that....

 

[Zafar_shaves]

Thanks for sharing those pictures, even in their unfinished state! It's interesting to see the different angles and how they affect the shave. Looking at the cap, it does resemble a Wolfman Guerrilla. I'm keen to hear your final thoughts once you've dialed it in.

 

[esee]

I realize this is after the fact.... but it would be great to see a before and after photo of the cap itself.. thread pointing up... So we could see exactly what you do... I think it's cool you are able to do that....

Thank you. I didn’t touch the bottom clamping portion. Yaqi does a better job than I can ever do at matching the base to the cap and messing with the clamping would ruin the whole point of starting with a Yaqi. I don’t have before pictures but there are many online and the important thing is that before my modification I would lose the blade if I tried to shave at a shaving plan angle under 30 degrees (the angle that the blade contacts the face at). With my modification, I can still hit the blade at approximately a 20 degree shaving plane angle. On a side note, I am not actually measuring shaving plan angles, rather I am just eying the angles and giving an approximation.

Thanks for sharing those pictures, even in their unfinished state! It's interesting to see the different angles and how they affect the shave. Looking at the cap, it does resemble a Wolfman Guerrilla. I'm keen to hear your final thoughts once you've dialed it in.

It’s already dialed in. I just have to match the steep side to the shallow side, clean it up and polish it.

Wolfmans looks amazing and if I will spend $350 on just a razor’s head, the wolfman would be the prime choice after a Tatara muramasa. But I am having so much fun with vintages and the Chinese stainless razors and want to keep shaving fun. It won’t be fun anymore if I spend a ton on each razor. I would probably have to stop buying any more razors after one or two razors. If I average the cost of my 30+ razors, they will probably come out to be under $20 a piece, and 95% of them are brass or stainless. When it comes down to it, making a great razor is so simple, but for non zamak quality modern razors, only a few ultra premium brands get all the variables right.

After realizing that I could sand down the cap of the Yaqi razors, my appreciation for the Yaqi skyrocketed. DsCosmetic seems to get the variables a little better than Yaqi, but they don’t make many razors. DSCosmetic best offering the AX is never available in stainless. So I am left with a choice: spend a ton on one razor and kill the joy of buying razors, or mod some razors and make every razor a great razor.

 

[Zafar_shaves]

Thank you. I didn’t touch the bottom clamping portion. Yaqi does a better job than I can ever do at matching the base to the cap and messing with the clamping would ruin the whole point of starting with a Yaqi. I don’t have before pictures but there are many online and the important thing is that before my modification I would lose the blade if I tried to shave at a shaving plan angle under 30 degrees (the angle that the blade contacts the face at). With my modification, I can still hit the blade at approximately a 20 degree shaving plane angle. On a side note, I am not actually measuring shaving plan angles, rather I am just eying the angles and giving an approximation.



It’s already dialed in. I just have to match the steep side to the shallow side, clean it up and polish it.

Wolfmans looks amazing and if I will spend $350 on just a razor’s head, the wolfman would be the prime choice after a Tatara muramasa. But I am having so much fun with vintages and the Chinese stainless razors and want to keep shaving fun. It won’t be fun anymore if I spend a ton on each razor. I would probably have to stop buying any more razors after one or two razors. If I average the cost of my 30+ razors, they will probably come out to be under $20 a piece, and 95% of them are brass or stainless. When it comes down to it, making a great razor is so simple, but for non zamak quality modern razors, only a few ultra premium brands get all the variables right.

After realizing that I could sand down the cap of the Yaqi razors, my appreciation for the Yaqi skyrocketed. DsCosmetic seems to get the variables a little better than Yaqi, but they don’t make many razors. DSCosmetic best offering the AX is never available in stainless. So I am left with a choice: spend a ton on one razor and kill the joy of buying razors, or mod some razors and make every razor a great razor.

I appreciate you sharing your process and the photo. It's quite interesting.

 

[tropic]

Given that, if you were buying again, would you skip the 70 and go straight for the 90?

I bought the 90sb SS first, and the 70 Ti afterwards because the 90 in titanium had a dual comb that didn't appeal to me at the time. I'll say that the 70 is more likely to end up on the BST than the 90.