I long ago concluded that I would never find my Holy Grail razor. Wrong.

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by HDSledge, Oct 19, 2021.

  1. HDSledge

    HDSledge Active Member

    Janus New Toggle Prototype #1. Only 6 were made.
    Janus New Toggle Prototype #1.jpg
     
  2. Angelo85

    Angelo85 Well-Known Member

    Congratulations.
     
    HDSledge likes this.
  3. Herm2502

    Herm2502 off to elf practice

    Simply wow...

    Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
     
  4. Dave in KY

    Dave in KY On second thought, Buttercup

    Congrats Sledge !!
     
    HDSledge likes this.
  5. Old School

    Old School *$&%@#~

    Supporting Vendor
    Wow. I was just reading about those somewhere...rare indeed, but how does it shave?
     
  6. HDSledge

    HDSledge Active Member

    As good if not better than the Gillette Toggle and my other favorite the Gillette Rocket HD 500. I love the weight of it. 122 grams. It is big too, much bigger than the Gillette Toggle. The Thor's hammer of razors.
     
    Tdmsu likes this.
  7. Old School

    Old School *$&%@#~

    Supporting Vendor
    I think that'd be WCS' 175...175 grams on insanity!

    Sent from my SM-G977U using Tapatalk
     
  8. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    I think I remember reading somewhere that the design was changed based on feedback from testers. The production razors shaved... poorly. The prototypes were by all accounts, good shavers, if a bit on the mild side.

    My recollection may be wrong, if so, please don't hesitate to correct me.
     
    brit likes this.
  9. HDSledge

    HDSledge Active Member

    You are correct. I will fill in a few blanks: The maker was not an avid wet shaver when he came up with the idea and he had to be brought up to speed on wet shaving by key initial backers of the project. They also tested the prototype. Someone else the maker trusted suggested changes to make the razor more aggressive but instead of giving more adjustability, almost every setting became aggressive, much to the dismay of the early helpers who were left out of the final edit decision and who had praised the prototype. The prototype is very mild on low settings and efficient but comfortable at the highest.

    The Limited Edition is aggressive with much blade feel. 51 were made. A few were returned. Those (most of them) have been sold at auction. The most recent one brought $1,500, 3 times retail.

    Imo the LE is an efficient razor but I have to keep it dialed down to below 4. The prototype I can use comfortably on 9.

    Although I think he should produce the prototype no more will be made unfortunately. The maker has redesigned the razor to mitigate the aggression and blade feel plus reduce the number of machined parts from 19 to 10. A V2 will be produced if he can find a suitable partner with a machine shop and a marketing/customer support platform. He is an engineer with a busy day job and is not that great at customer relations. Nice guy though.
     
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  10. tonich

    tonich Well-Known Member

    That project was never meant to be in the making so to sustain profit.
    No matter how much people pay on eBay for it.
     
    brit likes this.
  11. HDSledge

    HDSledge Active Member

    That is true and a good point. Profit was never the creators' main motivation. He just wanted to see if he could accomplish designing a modern version of the iconic Gillette Toggle, a notably different and cool DE razor. He was on the right track but acted on the wrong advice at a critical moment, when he had already achieved what he set out to do.

    I think it is curious that the creator was not a dyed in the wool wet shaver like the rest of us but nevertheless he became focused on the Toggle design. It is indeed unique from an engineering perspective. Being a tech nerd myself I understand completely. I also expected that once he had made a few that were not well received he would move on to other pursuits, but that is not the nature of engineers. They don't give up until they get it right.

    After texting back and forth many times and several conversations on the phone he made it clear that his primary goal now is to make up for his mistake to buyers of the 51 LE and other supporters, plus to leave the shaving world with a positively received product rather than one that is imperfect. To boil it down in his own words: "I just want owners of my razor to be happy with it."
     
    PLANofMAN, brit and Dave in KY like this.
  12. battle.munky

    battle.munky Has the menthol.munky on his back!

    That is an amazing razor! I didn't know I wanted it until you posted the pic...another unobtainium piece I will likely never hold. I'm glad that you have one though!
     
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