I recently picked one of these razors up on a whim and after a couple shaves, I can say that its a keeper. Smooth, close and mine is flawless in terms of quality and blade alignment. I like it so much, infact, that I decided to pick up an aluminum one in addition to the bakelite one that I already have. Its got an interesting design feature in that one half of the top cap comes to a point on the top, like a triangle. Supposedly, the design is to ensure that you find the perfect angle. Thus far, I believe that it works and makes it almost foolproof. Its also got another interesting design feature in that while it is a slant, it doesnt twist the blade. It basically just takes the head and keeps it straight but puts it at an angle, which is unlike pretty much any other slant on the market. All in all, its a very efficient razor and is just a really cool.
Well, this is a picture from the PAA website and I must say it does have a different approach to the head design. Looks more like a roof that a razor head. Tell us more as you use it, it may be a contender for my want list after a few more English sets.
I was checking out the brass version a while back. The head design does look cool, curious to see how it effects the shave. It may make it easier to "ride the cap". Have been wanting to try a bake lite slant but the weight of the Fine Slant seemed way too light for my taste. Has anyone tried the Fine and can compare the 2?
Until I picked up a Lutz slant I questioned if there was a Left Handed version where the blade was twisted the other way. Turns out like all the other tools designed by Right Handed engineers I can adapt. So on this razor it lays the blade on a flat (non-twisted) base plate, but the whole head is slanted? Then if you use one side or the other there IS a right/left slant! How does it rate as far as mild to aggressive?
It depends if you ride the cap as intended. If you do then it's Low to Mild. But if you hold it at angle more similar to a normal Safety Razor it start getting more aggressive. Even so it is still very efficient.
Thus far Ive only tried it with Feather blades and I find it pretty aggressive with those blades. Im going to try other blades in it and see how it goes. Im going to try some Wilkinson Swords, Cromas, Timors and Bolzanos. The Feathers are too sharp for me with that razor. Theyre great blades in my Feather AS-D2 but the PAA has a bit too much blade exposure and blade gap for such sharp blades though. The razor is kind of interesting to as the direction of the slant changes when you turn it around and use the other side. As someone who keeps a close cropped beard, its certainly different adjusting to the change of angle as you turn it.
Id say its a typical slant. It feels moderately aggressive but being a slant, its so efficient that it feels less aggressive than it really is.
I forget where I saw it... But I did see somewhere a suggestion not to start with a sharp blade in the Alpha Ecliptic. You should start with a low to mild blade that you are familiar with, i.e. something more forgiving... I started with an Astra SP (Green Pack), and have not tried anything else. The suggestion was stay to with these until you get a hang for the angle, then switch to something more sharp if you want. The Alpha Ecliptic is my only Slant that I have. So I do not have the same point of reference that you do. Also we established that we both used blades of different sharpness. I can only report what I felt with the Alpha Ecliptic and apparently my experience was much different than yours, YMMV. As I said, it felt very smooth when I kept on that triangle cap angle. But if I started to come off that angle it started to feel much more aggressive. Above you mentioned blade gap. Due to the geometry, if you stay on that triangle cap I really don't think that the blade gap is that significant. But that moment that you vary your angle off of the cap, the blade gap is huge. Also I only have the Bakelite version in Ox Blood. You mentioned that you have both Aluminum and Bakelite versions. Have you noticed a difference between the two?
Aggressiveness is subjective, so it's a ymmv thing. Combine that with the slant design that masks the aggressiveness and the same razor can feel different to different people. About the blade, I probably should have used something milder but Feathers were all I had.
3rd shave with the PAA and 1st with the Personna Red tonight. It was much smoother than with the Feather. I still can't do a true ATG pass without nicks but that's the case for me with a slant. The hair grows sideways on my neck, so it's a challenge but I can do a North to South pass and 2 south to North passes and get about 90% BBS, which is more than adequate.
