Sorry, I gotta say that until there's a positive (many times over) review of this product (for the price) I'll sit here really happy with my finds and customs that are priced way below what this guy is asking
A few comments, based on my experience with this razor. My background with iKon is as follows: I bought the very first open comb he offered, but I found it to be (for me) somewhat harsh, so it drifted to the back of the cabinet and then went on its way. (The Joris OC, btw, has for me a similar harshness.) I later got a copy of the HP (highly polished---his abbreviation) long-handle stainless, and the head design had clearly been tweaked. That head gave an incredibly comfortable shave. I quickly followed up this purchase with an OC Bulldog and also a straight-bar head. My OC Bulldog was (for me) another great success: noticeably comfortable. The straight-bar head was, alas, slightly too mild for my taste. When Greg sent me this OSS, my first thought was the same as expressed above: OC for first pass, straight-bar for second pass and polish. And, just as expressed above, I found this process awkward: I'm used to shaving with one side until it's filled with lather, then flipping and shaving with the other until that, too, is filled with lather. Using one side only was no better than using a GEM or Schick Injector. (Just a mild poke---that's what I don't like about the single-sided razors, including the cartridge razors: too much rinsing time for the amount of shaving time I get.) So pretty quickly---the second shave, in fact---I tried using it as though it were a regular razor: ignore the edge format, and simply flip the head when the first side fills with lather. And I discovered I really like that. I'm a variety junky anyway, and this brings variety a little closer, so that you have intra-pass variety. This works well because the two different sides are "in tune", as it were: they do not have marked differences in (say) aggressiveness or blade angle or edge exposure or the like, and thus switching back and forth within a pass is pleasant rather than jarring. To me. YMMV. Obviously, this is not everyone's cup of tea: some shavers really enjoy a constancy in their shaving. One man's meat is another's poison. The straight-bar side on this razor is more aggressive than the earlier straight-bar head I got from iKon. It's very like other razors that are right for me on the aggression scale and feels quite good. We have lots and lots of DE razors with the two sides the same, but this is the only asymmetric model I know. It does offer a different shaving experience when used as I've described, and I like the difference. I still like other razors, too: as I said, I find variety appealing. Not everyone does.
I've had an iKon OC (not CNC) in my rotation for several months now. No QC problem I can see. The heft and balance are satisfying, and blade gap looks even (although I haven't measured). It gives me a great shave, especially with a German Wilk or a Gillette Yellow. Has anyone tried or seen Greg'sModern at $199?The info on his Web site is sparse, but it looks like it might be a winner in the penthouse category.
