Today’s SOTD:
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Razors: Rocnel Elite 2017 18/47 and 2018 04/55.
Blades: Gillette Swede and Rapira Swedish Supersteel.
Soap / Cream: J.F. Martin’s Pipes of Pan and Proraso uber lather.
Brush: Wild West Brushworks Cashmere.
AS Balm: eShave Almond.
I thought I’d experiment a bit with today’s shave.
The soap was gifted to me a few years ago and was, due to a manufacturing issue, quite runny. I’ve not used it is some time and the consistency has improved as a result.
I’ve generally stopped uber lathering these days as I find a mixture of soap /cream and glycerin does the job just as well. I needed to add the Proraso today as the lather was a bit too watery for my liking. The resultant scent was awesome, though.
I also decided to test a Swede against a Rapira Swedish Supersteel blade as I hadn’t used either in the Rocnels before, and Rapira are one of a small list of blades the 2017 model will take.
I started off comparing the Rapira in the 2017 model against the Swede in the 2018 razor.
Predictably there was no contest, with the Swede proving to be the smoother of the two.
One of the good things with these two razors is that the top cap from the 2018 model will fit the 2017 baseplate (it doesn’t work the other way round).
The two baseplates give a slightly different blade gap, with the 2017 model being listed at 1.90mm and the 2018 model at 1.95mm.
These sound larger than they are in practice as, instead of scalloped grooves, the Elite has what can best be described as inverted teeth. I suspect that the listed blade gap is measured from the bottom of these teeth and not from the part closest to the blade.
The result of using the 2017 baseplate with the Swede was one of the smoothest passes I’ve ever had with a razor. It was very much on a par with the best shave I’ve had from my RS-10.
It was great to use the eShave balm again after a long hiatus. I’d forgotten how much I like this balm.
Given the sad news if the passing of Toots Hibbert earlier today, there was only one choice of music to accompany this shave.
Have a great rest of the weekend guys.
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