USPS has both boxes. Box 1 has ETA to @Bristle Me on Saturday. Box 2 should be to @Mr. Droid on Friday (he's closer). HUZZAH! :mail:
Oh!... Almost forgot... I saved about $1.80 by sending it First Class, but had to pay an extra $1 for the joy of a tracking number. First class doesn't come with insurance, so I shipped without it. For an additional $0.80 I could have used their smallest flat rate box and it would have been insured! Geeze-Louise! Guys... you are welcome to repackage however you like. However, I applied some redneck engineering to the packaging that woulda made my momma proud! The homemade IdC was loose in the Ziploc bowls and prone to crumbling until it is well seated. I decided to protect it. The protection is extreme overkill — just a bit of packaging largess inspired by silliness. ... oh, you'll see...
You would be surprised how excited I am about this! How quickly should we pass the box along? A couple days too fast? A week too long? Should we set a standard 'test' period, or should everyone take whatever time suits them to get a read on it?
I sort of hesitate to pick a limit for a couple of reasons. Some may try it once and be done. Fer good! Others may want to try dfferent blades and different soaps... and maybe do not shave every day! I dunno... My gut feel says "Do you really need more than two weeks, fella?" It took me a week to almost figure out the FaTip Grande. The second week was tweaking it in. Now I love it. I don't think the Yuma is as big an adjustment as the Grande, but who knows? I vote to treat people the way you want to be treated. If you know someone is next in line, take the time you need to decide if you like the razor or not. Do not rush, but consider the next guy in line who might feel a little excited about his turn. Everybody should get at least a week, right? ALSO... for me, half the fun is the collaborative review. If you take a full two weeks, but are posting your impressions along they way, then keep on keepin' on! If you are next in line, I don't see that a gentle PM asking "Have you enjoyed your two weeks? I've really liked your posts and can't wait for my turn! Do you think you will be headed by the post office pretty soon?" would hurt anyone's feelings. However, at the end of it all, there is always the possibility that the project derails. <sigh> I hope it doesn't, but can accept it if it does. "The glass is already broken." Know what I mean?
I agree with @maltedmilk 3-4 days is probably not enough time to form an educated opinion but 2 weeks should be plenty. So enjoy your time with the razor and don't feel rushed to pass it on but don't forget about it and let it collect dust either.
Well, currently, based on the way I work my own shave equipment evaluations, I am going to compress my process down to a week... a 5 or 7 day week, depends on how the first couple days go. My test, as I have proposed it to myself, is this; 3 shaves/ 3 blades (with 1st blade used being a favorite as baseline)/ 3 days. 1 day clarity break. 3/3/3 same cycle repeat. Daily posted feedback. That is the 7 day proposal. Now, if the first two days are just absolute shave heaven, if the third day isn't going to bring anything to the table, then I may cut it to 2 shaves/ 2 days/ 2 blades (1st blade favorite), 1 day clarity break, 2/2/2 (2 different blades). So that is the plan. We will see if it survives contact with the enemy mice and men, or however that saying goes.
Got the box yesterday. Here is is the first impressions, from my SoTD post... today, this is in both spots. After today, all the meat will be in this thread. SoTD, Sat, Nov. 22, or traveling Yuma, first impressions. Music- De La Soul, De La Soul is dead Water- soap hot/shave cold Soap- Tweex Mug- Golden Knight Brush- vintage brass boar, unknown manufacturer Razor- Yuma Blade- Derby Rinse- Thayers lavender Aftershave-Seaforth scotch leather Lotion- score Cologne- Grey Flannel So, it arrived, the fabled Yuma razor. For those of you who have not seen the original thread, this is one of two travelling boxes. Both contain a Yuma razor, a selection of blades, and some great smelling hand made soap. My box was waiting for me when I got home from work. Thus, the adventure begins! As today is the first shave day in a projected week long review process, I just wanted to establish a minimum baseline. So I used a trusty, quite neutral soap, a blade which works perfectly for me in most cases, and decided that for today, not to go for BBS. I set my goal as DFS. I decided to do this to a) get maximum regrowth for testing tomorrow and b) to test its efficacy in a one pass shave. For now, I didn't want to mask mechanical function with technique. I wanted to see exactly how this razor performed, and therefore kept today at a rigid level of control. So, my initial thoughts; The Yuma is cheap. It looks cheap. The metal is some kind of low grade alloy. It appears blueish... like hardware, a galvanized steel bolt maybe. It is actually a sort of cool effect... cheapened only slightly by the fact that it has very soft detail. It looks like it was made using sand casting. The bright side, is that the geometry is good. The blade sits evenly, the parts assemble well, and it actually feels pretty good in the hand. The blade gap was a bit worrying at first, as it looked a lot like the cheap Bulgarian razor I had a not-so-good morning with a couple days ago. But, nothing for it but to try! Bottom line, it went very well. Due to the limited nature of the shave, I am going to refrain from any conclusions about the razor until I get another shave or two in on it. But for now my feelings on the Yuma are positive. I am looking forward to using it again tomorrow. Today I was a bit pressed for time, in fact I skipped breakfast in order to give myself an extra 30 min for shaving. I will provide more detail photos, and break down the box contents.
@youngunn you can still get in on this. By my count: ODD Box BristleMe —> Bama Samurai —> Chuck F --> Shotwell EVEN Box Mr Droid —> Mr Shaverman —> Flightmedic --> Youngunn
From now on when we post in this thread lets copy and paste the recipient list after our message so it's always at the bottom for newcomers. Ie: ODD Box BristleMe —> Bama Samurai —> Chuck F --> Shotwell EVEN Box Mr Droid —> Mr Shaverman —> Flightmedic --> Youngunn
Odd box has arrived! Sorry, I didn't take the time to put it in a nice shaving scene like Mr. Droid. I'll try to "doll it up" a bit and post another shot tomorrow. For those who may be interested, the Yuma appears to be very similar in form to a Merkur 1904 Classic. (safety bar type) I don't own a 1904 safety bar type, but I do have a 1904 open comb, so I snapped a shot or two for comparison. Here's the Yuma broken down. Very light, hollow handle, and obviously a casting. I'm going to be extra careful, it seems a bit delicate. Not quite sure what the finish is. And here is the Merkur. Sean sent along some Treet, Bolzano, Bic (chrome platinum), and Baili blades with the Yuma. I'll not be using any of them, because I'd like to know how it does with some of my favorites. My three blades will be the Derby Extra, the Astra SP, and the Big Ben Stainless. Well that's it for now. I'll mow 'em down tomorrow morning and let everyone know how it went.
As promised, a mug shot. The rundown for the first shave with Yuma. This is going to look a bit like a brand new wet shaver set-up, and purposefully so. I wanted things to be about as simple as I could get them. Warm shower and face wash with Ivory bar soap. Derby Extra blade (new) Arko stick (chopped up and pressed into a bowl) Omega 48 boar brush (the ugly one with the chrome removed - my fav) Cool/warm rinse in between passes and a cool final rinse Thayers Witch Hazel w/Aloe for AS treatment I approached this shave the same way I do each weekday morning. I do 2 passes, and try for a DFS. I don't always get the DFS, but that's what I'm after. Right off the bat, I've got to say two things. 1. When I loaded the blade in the Yuma, it looked terrible. (dude, I mean really bad....) 2. It shaved surprising well. (1) To be honest, when I positioned the blade on the top cap and put it on the base plate, I just about stopped and put the razor back into the box. Ughhh... The Yuma base plate has a significant curve, and on this razor it isn't even close to symmetrical from side to side. In short, the base plate looks as though it was either cast in a damaged mold, or damaged at some point later in handling. This un-even shape also keeps the top cap from pressing down evenly on the blade. (note the gap on the right side) Screwing the handle onto the threaded stud once the top cap and base plate were mated was a bit scary. Because of the curvature of the base plate, the handle can only engage 1 or two threads before it contacts the base plate begins to force the top cap & blade into its loaded position. Because the Yuma is so light in weight (thin - really thin) I was worried about stripping the threads before the handle was fully tightened. Thankfully, that didn't happen. I have a habit of assembling any three piece razor whilst holding the ends of the base plate and top cap between my pointing finger and thumb. I do this to center the blade along the long axis, and to try to get the blade exposure on each side as close to even as possible. Well...... Side 1 and side 2 Holy un-even blade exposure Bat Man! At this point, I stopped again and considered putting the razor back into the box. But this is an evaluation, and Sean went to a lot of expense and trouble to send these razors out. So, nothing for it but to give it a go, and verify that Godzilla shaves like she looks. Well, Duh! It shaves surprisingly well. No kidding. Now, it has it's problems. Mainly the uneven blade exposure and the uneven blade to safety bar gap causes some trouble, (you have to rinse the razor quite often, the shallow gap on one side clogs quickly) but all things considered, I was pleasantly surprised. Also, when I first saw the Yuma, its looks led me to associate it with the Merkur 1904. I was rather expecting it to feel something like a 1904 too. Wrong again. For me, the Yuma shares not even 1 trait with the 1904. Turns out, it's a first cousin of the FATIP! No joke. The face feel is much like that of the Fatip. It is about as aggressive as the Fatip, and the angle and holding feel is very similar to that of the Fatip. The main difference of course is the weight, with the Fatip being much heavier. I was able to finish my shave without a nick, cut, scrape, or de-capitation. I rinsed and applied my normal amount of Witch Hazel, and I can truly say that a few hours after shaving with the Yuma I'm feeling no ill effects. I didn't get the DFS I was hoping for, but actually, I didn't miss it by much either. So, tomorrows shave will be with an Astra SP blade, and all other parameters the same. Hopefully, the Astra might get me to DFS. But if not, that's OK. This first shave has been a real eye opener for me. Maybe all of the perfection we demand in a typical DE razor just isn't all that critical, or maybe I'm not all that much a newb anymore, and I can adjust for some of the this razors shortcomings. Either way, I'm surprised at the Yuma, and I'm glad to be a part of this Razor-A-Round experiment. Happy shaving everybody!!
Fantastic review! ... this is exactly the sort of perception-altering revelation I had secretly hoped to find, but... WOW! Great job! I sort of eyeballed the 5 Yumas when I received them and thought I noted some differences. I momentarily considered test-shaving all 5, but that would have delayed everything. Profound thought, isn't it? I've shared many times how I think DE razors and woodworking handplanes are close relatives. I've seen debates rage over the "correct" angle at which you should grind the blade's bevel. Then one day, back before Fine Woodworking started charging to use their site, I was watching Tage Frid show how to hand cut dovetails. As an aside of the video, he took a moment to sharpen his chisel by hand. No micrometer. No jig. No super secret angle. Just zip-zap-done! Razor sharp chisel and back to the main video. Some may argue that he is a master woodworker and used ninja-like wood skills to achieve zen sharpness. I say "hooie!" and believe it is pretty easy for anyone to become distracted from the main objective and"major in the minors." The poor overall QC on the Yuma is well-documented, but many folks (besides me!) still give it good grades. This collective review may explore new territory. IF we all agree that it delivers a good shave — especially given its low price and lackluster quality — it might still be a long time before we agree on why! Man, I really appreciate you guys' participation. This is a blast... and informative! My thanks to you all.
