Project: "Shaving with Eight vintage SE Hoe razors in a row"

Beautiful razors. I don't see this as a problem. It just sounds like a great experience. I hope these "SE hoe razors" bring you much shaving joy and love.

 

Excellent review, thanks, keep'em coming !

 

on your very interesting review. Have you ever used a Rolls Razor? I wonder how the "Hoe" and the "Rolls" would compare?

 

I've never used -a Rolls Razor but so many people are recommending it to me lately that I am seriously considering getting one. In August

 

Three more to go
Got freshly honed wedge blades yesterday to use as well so looking forward to putting those to use.

 

Be sure to find one in "like-new" condition, so you can use the hone and leather ! They are more scarce of course, but not so much more expensive.

 

Yeah the good thing about Rolls Razor is that finding one in near-mint condition is actually possible AND won't break the bank.
Do you have one - and have used it? If so, how did you like it?

 

I do have one, in nice condition but more for show. I could restore the blade, but I don't think I could use the hone and leather, sadly. So I haven't tried it yet ! I did try my Leresche, which is very nice. I also tried my Wilkinson, but the shave was bad (the blade was not well prepared / lost its edge during the shave). A shame, because I love its rugged and complicated looks !

 

Received another three wedge blades from Glen / @gssixgun (in addition to the REX I had received earlier) - and they look great!

With three razors to go I'm thinking they will each get the first run with a new blade (if they all fit of course). Also going to see if any of these can fit the Roger razor that I had to pass up on earlier.

Purty:

 

Fascinating stuff, DB, and great write up with the usual great pics!!

And thank you for not referring to DB as the great 'hoe-monger.'

 

Excellent series, Dark! Thanks for sharing!

I feel a new case of RAD coming... Thanks again!

 

Shave Report 3B - Rasoir Roger

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This is a 'return' to the Roger razor that 'failed' in Shave report 3 above due to the fact that the REX blade didn't quite fit the razor.
I received another three freshly honed razors and ONE of them - the Rapide blade ended up being a perfect fit!

So, we're back to Shave Report 3..."B" - the second take.

Visually the Roger rasoi....razor is very striking with its spiraling handle and big, impressive back prominently displaying its name.
But there is somewhat of a 'disconnect' in what meets your eye and how it feels when you pick it up.
The handle is hollow and the razor is very lightweight - it almost feels toy-like when you pick it up and looking at the details and the pieces I would think that this was very much a lower priced item compared to the decadent L'Essor (I guess I should say "Radium" these days) - and some razors from Le Coq.
Having said that there is a certain charm about it and I was very curious to try it out.



Loaded it up with the Rapide blade, picked out my shaving gear du jour and headed to my salle de ba....my bathroom.


Lathered up some Fitjar Shea Pleasure soap w/ my Rubberset 400. Great, slick lather which I am thinking is really helping in tests like these, splashed some warm water on my face and went to 'work'....

[Pause for comment]
Glen / @gssixgun is a master honemeister....as I start sliding down the razor on the side of my face it is incredibly smooth...zero tugging or resistance....this blade was given a fan-tastic edge].
[/End of pause]

The ATG pass is going extremely well and gives a very close, comfortable shave. Sure, the razor does feel a bit 'tinny' when using it as there is a certain lack of substance, but the shave is going oh so well.
I finish the ATG pass and am rather perplexed. This shave was nearly as good as the one I got from the L'Essor. Am I truly reviewing razors or wedge blades or worse - my stropping skills.

I wanted to switch to the REX blade to see how it would feel with that blade but, well, it doesn't actually fit the razor so that'd be hard.

Mental note: For next shave report shave one pass with a freshly honed wedge and switch to another blade for the second pass. Something I should had done all along if I had had all the blades when I started this. Oh well...there's still three razors to get through.

Finish up my second pass - my XTG-ATG combo-pass - and it's equally smooth and pleasant. My face is in many places straight-razor-smooth. Some areas on my jawbone that has some stubble but all in all a good 90% fully shaved. Very nice.

So, in summary;
- visually very appealing,
- very light weight and lacking the perceived quality you get from other hoe razors of more substance, but
- able to produce an amazingly good shave. Seriously - that was a great shave.


Since the Roger was somewhat of a repeat razor it appears I still have three to go....

 

Keep 'em coming, please! They are a joy to read!

 

Excellent ! The Roger really seams more high-end, when you just look at the pictures, but I didn't know it was hollow and "tinny". By the way I shaved with one of my LeCoqs this morning, very nice ! I wantes to shave with my Gem Lather Catcher, but my blade didn't fit ='(

 

Shave Report 6 - Le Coq II (aluminum handle)
or "Move over L'Essor"​

It was really bound to happen at some point. The mighty L'Essor (ok, ok "Radium") saw itself dethroned this morning.

Now that I've ruined any sort of surprise this nerdy shave report might have held let's get into the guts of it.

I have to Le Coq SE hoe razors - the first one was covered in "Shave Report 5" above and was a more 'substantial' offering with a nice, solid handle.
The Le Coq I tried out this morning was the, I assume, more inexpensive brother sporting a smooth, lightweight hollow aluminum(?) handle that, I will admit, made me view as a bit of a lesser offering.

Le Coq (II) with its more plain looking and feeling handle:

For comparison, here are the two Le Coqs next to each other (Le Coq II on the left):

There was even some difference in head-design (Le Coq II on the left):

I loaded it up with a freshly honed Faynett wedge blade and was really happy to see that it was a perfect fit:
(@Cha-wing!! you really need to get some of your wedges honed)
Lathered up some Soap Commander Endurance with my L'Occitane Plisson brush and had at it.

Now....I did have some preconceived notions about it all before I started...I felt that the lighter handle indicated lesser quality and on top of that the handle seemed a bit too smooth so I was worried it would feel slippery.

Let me tell you.....I am not a very intuitive person...the shave was fan-tastic!
Sure the handle felt light in my hand but it also felt very balanced moving a lot of the weight naturally towards the head.
The handle also didn't feel slippery even though I certainly got some water and lather on my hand at times.

As I started shaving I could feel that the blade angle was near perfect and the OC teeth had juuust that right curve/bend to them to make them feel noticeable - and actually functional.

I didn't shave at all yesterday, as I'm sometimes lazy, so the razor did have to work a bit.

Now here's the thing...I did ONE WTG pass (and two small clean-up passes around my mouth/under nose) - and, are you sitting down? - I was clean shaven.
No really. I was. I'd say, using my rather soft number assignment methology, I was 90-95% clean shaven. We're talking smooth.

I didn't even bother doing a second pass.

Sorry L'Essor/Radium you are now #2. All Hail "Le Coq II" (I really need a better name for it).

Two more razors to go...will one of them jump out and surprise me in the same way as LCII (nah..that doesn't work either) did?

Stay tuned to find out.

​

 

Just read through this thread...

Amazing razors, photos and write ups! Thank you for sharing it all with us.

 

Thanks I'm enjoying the 'project' quite a bit.
Now I only got two more to go before I wrap it up

 

Nice ! I do have an "aluminum" handle Le Coq, but box-less unfortunately, and the design is quite different. I used it this week with my Leresche blade :



The light handle was not a problem, as the facets really help with the prehension.

 

Interesting - the handle looks very similar but I've never seen a Le Coq head like that.
Very nice.

 

I believe it to be older, as the shape of the back of the head is similar to your Roger (who I believe is older).