First shave this morning, paired with a 1960s ASR hospital stainless. GOOD: Build quality, heft and balance are excellent. When you hear "plastic lower half," do not picture the end of run Super Adjustables. The plastic here is integral to the unit and is in no way cheap. Nothing on this razor shakes or rattles. It's solid. The sticky feature is more of a slight tack when the handle or fingers are wet. Maybe the stickiness has faded in 50 years. It is noticeable and useful but doesn't adhere like a silicone sleeve. MEH: The shave feels about like a Red Tip and a little more than a Krona. Which isn't bad at all, except that the angle isn't as intuitive as with most other razors. Ended up needing 2 solid passes with a 3rd for cleanup under the jawline, and pressed too hard trying to clean the neck. Got a decent nick on the apple. That's really not due to it being under-aggressive because it isn't -- it's just the odd angle which I rushed past figuring out, so it's my fault. Result was BBS just the same. Overall, I'm not disappointed but can't help but think if WS had engineered it to be a more intuitive, this would be a MUCH more sought after classic than it is. Not just for rarity but for what could have been an phenomenal combo of build quality and shave quality. But as it is, it's seems to be a fantastically put together razor that shaves...okay. And it was the final razor on my bucket list.
I had one years ago. The sticky has a beautiful design and feels good in the hand, but I also had a hard time shaving with it. I found it too harsh, but maybe I couldn't get the angle right.
Apparently they're prone to minor cracking after so long but plastic model glue (toluene/solvent) and JB Weld puts that right. I'm going to stick with it a while to see if I can get the angle down, it's just too nice a razor to give up on before a fair trial. Enrico, if I can't get to liking it I will PM ya.
