Rockwell Model T

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by Sabre, Mar 16, 2018.

  1. BaylorGator

    BaylorGator MISTER Fancypants

    +1. Pretty sure I remember the Rockwell comes with a 30 day money back guarantee, though, so it’s relatively risk free for those who bought in.
     
    Frijolero and DesertTime like this.
  2. John Ruschmeyer

    John Ruschmeyer Well-Known Member

    I agree that this is a pretty scathing review. I almost wonder if all the pressure from the community to make an all-Brass or all-SS version actually made things worse. Specifically, I'm wondering if an all Zamac version (like the 2C/6C) would have been a smarter move?

    As for improving on the old Gillette adjustables... I wonder if, somewhere in the former Soviet Union, the dies still exist for the old Consul and Rubin clones? :)
     
    Frijolero, Redfisher and DesertTime like this.
  3. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    I doubt the dies exist anymore.

    As for the community pressure...meh.
    The design of it hasn't changed much, if any, from the original prototypes, as far as I can tell. In hindsight, I'm sure he wishes he had purchased cheap razors from China, which are all brass, and designed his razor to use some of the components from them, like the silo doors, etc.

    I'm sure when I get my razor, I'll have some pithy things to say about it, but I'm hoping that I'll enjoy it as well.
     
  4. DesertTime

    DesertTime Well-Known Member

    Rockwell's attempt to make an all SS/Brass razor was short lived, having died in Spring 2017. I believe there are more ZAMAC components now than in the original design, before they attempted SS. Personally, I don't have as much a problem with zinc as others, but a premium price should yield premium materials and quality.

    Though I have problems with Rockwell -- that I do not need to reiterate here -- I did believe they would eventually produce a decent product. This review was a surprise to me.
     
    Frijolero, Str8on2 and Linuxguile like this.
  5. pvsampson

    pvsampson Member

    It was on loan from someone who received it from the original KS mailout.
     
  6. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    I was expecting a review on par with the 6S, at least, which has gotten rave reviews.
     
    Frijolero, Str8on2 and DesertTime like this.
  7. DesertTime

    DesertTime Well-Known Member

    It's odd that not one person on either the KS or GO campaign reported receiving a razor. I was starting to wonder if they were actually shipping. I know on the Parthenon KS, many backers posted when they got their razors. I guess the long wait may have dampened some of the enthusiasm.
     
    Frijolero, Str8on2 and pvsampson like this.
  8. pvsampson

    pvsampson Member

    It is indeed odd. Ruds confirmed to me,when I asked in the comments on the youtube vid, that the razor was loaned.Also on Reddit a user stated that it was his razor that he sent.
    Ruds also stated that he emailed Rockwell and they then replied to him that the razor used in the review is (one) of the final production models. So that is as good as it is going to be.
     
    Frijolero, Str8on2 and DesertTime like this.
  9. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    I think I posted earlier in this thread that the Rockwell Model T looked like a "Soviet era" razor. I backed it because it was the first TTO adjustable offered since the super adjustable. That's why I'm still backing it.

    Edit: has my enthusiasm dampened? Perhaps, but not much. I had fairly low expectations to begin with, and that hasn't changed.
     
    Frijolero and DesertTime like this.
  10. rbilly

    rbilly Well-Known Member

    The whole tto adjustable reminds me of the apollo rockets, once W announced we would return to the moon and then mars nasa announced that it would be harder to get back to the moon as the people who designed andbbuilt the parts used in these rockets were either gone or long retired, and the skills and ability to build the parts no longer existed, and they would basically be starting the process from ground zero. Seems maybe the best way to go about it is to ignore previous models and design and build something from scratch. It seems the methods used to build gillette adjustable are no longer a thing, so trying to copy it wont work unless you match the process and equipment.
     
    Frijolero and DesertTime like this.
  11. rbilly

    rbilly Well-Known Member

    Also the crazy thing is, the equipment gillette used to make these razors is probably sitting in some junk collectors yard collecting dust, or were parted out and sold to warsaw pact countries after the soviet union broke up.
     
    DesertTime likes this.
  12. Kypros Christodoulides

    Kypros Christodoulides Well-Known Member

    I have to say Rud's review was disappointing as far as the performance of the model T is concerned. I initially had my hopes up Gareth would deliver a product similar in quality and performance to the 6S. I have the Parthenon which was announced a couple of years after the T and it's in my hands and in use while the T is still to be delivered after countless delays and who knows how many more yet. Now we know it's nothing really worth writing home about, I don't know what really to do with it. I'll use it once, get disppointed and toss it to the back of the drawer to gather dust. With all due respect though I have to give it a fair chance, but I don't think it will live up to the Slim, FB, and now Parthenon performance. If a TTO is not an issue, then there are a lot more adjustables it will have to compete with. To tell the truth, I do like a slim head as it's far easier to shave around the nose.
     
    SpeedyPC, Frijolero and DesertTime like this.
  13. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    It's been pretty well established that the dies were used until they didn't work anymore. They just wore out. Gillette moved them to 2nd world countries, then moved them again when those second world countries became 1st world. Argentina was a dumping ground for a lot of the dies, since I've seen a number of Argentina marked Gillette razors.

    The razor blade production lines ended up in Eastern Europe, and I've read that many of those lines and machines are over 100 years old, leather belt driven. The line I read about was one of the Polish blade brands that was bought out by Gillette and moved to the St. Petersburg facility.
     
  14. rbilly

    rbilly Well-Known Member

    Yep, had an uncle who was a machinest at gillette in the 60s, 70s 80s, the indian and russian gillette blades are made on really old machines. That were once in the US, i believe i read somewere that ppi modernized them since they recieved them There was another big blade company out of new jersey that sold its machines in asia. To bad no one has the specs on those old dies. From what I remember my uncle telling me is the more usefull machines were bought by other companies and repurposed for other things, and some were just scrapped. Wish I would have been more into this hobby back when he was still around.
     
    PLANofMAN, Frijolero and DesertTime like this.
  15. Redfisher

    Redfisher Doesn't celebrate National Donut Day

    At the time Gillette was making thousands of razors, it was/is a large corporation. Producing razors for a small niche market the resources are just not there. Nice effort, poor execution. Oh well maybe another time. Adjustable razors are available, maybe not the fine looking REX but Merkur has some very nice razors at prices that are more realistic. I have a short handle Progress that works great for me and runs for about $ 60 bucks new give or take. If you want a Gillette style adjustable then just buy the real deal, nobody will ever be able to replicate the originals. Also why would I pay so much for this thing when vintage Gillette's are available for so much less.
     
    PLANofMAN, Frijolero and DesertTime like this.
  16. John Ruschmeyer

    John Ruschmeyer Well-Known Member

    Unless, by some incredible long shot, there is an abandoned adjustable razor factory somewhere inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. :)

    Hey! They had to make the Consul and Rubin somewhere, right?
     
    Frijolero, DesertTime and Redfisher like this.
  17. Redfisher

    Redfisher Doesn't celebrate National Donut Day

    Let's suit up and go have a look. Odds are good even if the goods are odd.....
     
    PLANofMAN, Frijolero and DesertTime like this.
  18. rbilly

    rbilly Well-Known Member

    I saw a show were the river monster guy was fishing there, i know you can spend some time in the zone before you get sick. I know a lot of people just left, there are probably a lot of razors left in the homes, im sure some of it was probably looted, i wonder how many radioactive razors ended up on ebay, you rubin users may want to check them lol, you will be growing more then just a beard.
     
    Frijolero likes this.
  19. blashe

    blashe Well-Known Member

    the bigger the better, no matter what it is, because that's what she said
     
  20. Whistle Pig

    Whistle Pig New Member

    Gotta say, rarely have I observed such moaning and peeing among grown men. Must be a slew of grumpy, unshaven men out there. I'd hate being the paper-boy who misses one of us some morining. I vote for cutting these young entrepreneurs a little slack. Seems they're working to get it right, and this is not life and death for anyone of us.

    Buck up guys. Rockwell's razor's past performance appears to have merited many kudos and compliments. And they've earned a 2nd chance on this one, imo.
     

Share This Page