The Shake Sharp Razor Pass Around, Round 2

At last... my arm is complete again!

 

You are like that...only you're the real thing...

 

Can't wait!

 

You lucky dog.... Just try to wipe that smile off your face....

 

Sorry, no can do.

On the other hand, not sorry at all.

 

Okay, yesterday the two razors arrived (at last! - I guess the mail was rowed accross the Great Pond: it took over five weeks to finally get here...).

So here's how I'm gonna do this: I'll take one blade and alternately shave with each razor using the same set-up for each two shaves. In between I'll swap the blade from one razor to the other (keeping the same edge in front, so only one edge will be used). I give it one shake between passes and about three after each shave. We'll see how long the blade lasts and where the difference in the razors lies.

Today was the first shave. Since I have used the chrome Shake Sharp on last round, I was mighty curious as to the bakelite Shake. It's a bit lighter than the silver Shake ( 42 gr / 1.5 oz against 55 gr / 2 oz) and the balance is a bit different. Here's the set-up for today's shave:

• Brush: Travel King boar
• Soap: vintage Williams
• Razor: Shake Sharp bakelite
• Blade: Gillette Super Blue (#1)

Fiesty razor, this is! It nicked me on the first pass and held me on edge ever since. But she did a great job and I came close to a BBS.

I do like the weight and the balance of this razor. What I noticed as well is the audio feedback. Sort of SE: quite loud, but with a different timbre. Probably because of the thinner blade, I guess.

The shake mechanism works quite easily. I start with the razor held horizontally by the handle with the back side down and the front side up. Then I make sort of an inverted U- turn: I move the razor up, turn my wrist so the back side of the razor is up and the front side is down, then move downward and make a quick stop, so the hone flips outward. Next I do the same backwards. Up again, turn my wrist so the back side faces down again and the front side faces up, then move downwards and make a quick stop so the hone flips in again. That's one shake, my way.

A small downside to this razor is that the lid isn't attatched with a hinge like the silver Shake. When you load a blade the lid is completely removed and the blade lies between low alignments, so it can easily fall out when you're atatching the lid again. I'll make some pics of that later on. I don't want to spoil all in the first post! Of course, normally you won't have to change blades very often, but for these tests I change the blade from bakelite Shake to the silver Shake in between the shaves.

More on the next episode of.... Shake Trek.

Anyway: I liked this shave a lot and am looking forward to the next 13 shaves with these razors!

 

The thing is, I'm no drummer, so I din't think of any other way to describe it. But yours is easier indeed!

 

Second day of the two week Shake test

• Prep: hot washing cloth
• Brush: Travel King boar
• Soap: vintage Williams
• Razor: Shake Sharp silver
• Blade: Gillette carbon Super Blue (#2)
• Shave: 3-pass + touch-up (1 shake between passes)
• Post: hot water rinse, cold water rinse, 3 shakes, load blade in Shake Sharp bakelite, DVH alum

View attachment 36870

The silver Shake has a different balance than the bakelite Shake. The handle of the silver Shake has a bit more weight to it than the bakelite handle. I guess I like the bakelite balance more than the silver balance.

I think the silver Shake is also a wee bit less agressive. Or perhaps my prep / lather/ whatever was better today than yesterday. we'll see what the rest of the fortnight brings.

When rinsing the razor between strokes I shake the water off to the side (so as not to make a sharpening shake). I thake care to shake in the same direction as the closing mechanism of the lid. I'm afraid if I shake in the other direction I might inadvertedly open the razor and drop the blade. Perhaps I'm over cautious, but I go by the adagium "better safe than sorry!"

All in all I've had nice shaves so far with both Shakes!

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind!

 

Not that it matters to me, but is the order still the same? I kind of forgot all about it until a couple days ago.

 

Oh fine by me. I just looked at the list and yeah never mind.

 

Days three & four:

• Prep: hot washing cloth
• Brush: Wilkinson Sword badger
• Cream: Palmolive classic
• Blade: Gillette carbon Super blue (#3 & #4)
• Shave: 3-pass + touch-up (1 shake between passes)
• Post: hot water rinse, cold water rinse, DVH alum, 3 shakes

Another two great shaves. The first three shaves I forgot to hold the razor quite flat against the skin (hence the feisty shaves...). Today I held the razor flatter, which resulted in a less agressive shave. I need to keep that in mind.

 

Days five & six

Tabac shave stick, Omega travel boar & shake is a good combination: 1 BBS & 1 colse to BBS!

I can already say I'm biased towards the bakelite shake. It just seems to fit in my hand and the balance is just right. The silver shake is really nice, but the bakelite shake is really really nice!

 

Days 7 & 8

During shaves 7 & 8 I tested both razors on performance with shave oil. Two great close shaves.These razors perform both great!

Shave oil shaves will never be a favourite, but when I'm in a hurry it beats having to whip up lather.



As promised: some pics on loading the razors. Notice the alignment where the blade fits over is quite low, so you have to take care when loading.


The bakelite Shake has a lid which comes off when loading the blade (click on the pics for larger size)/ The last pic shows the razor just before closing the lid by pushing it forward (from the camera's point of view).




The silver Shake's lid is attached by a hinge, so it doesn't come off. After positioning the blade you close the lid and push it to the side to attach it.

 

After shave #11 the edge gave in, so I flipped the blade over. Shaves #12 up to and including #14 were great shaves again.

After shave #7 or 8 I started to give 3 shakes between passes in stead of 1. I guess if I had given the razors more shakes in between passes and in between shaves I might have got more shaves out of the edge. Still: 11 shaves from 1 edge amounts to 22 out of a DE blade! That's 4 times the average of 5 shaves to a blade!

Final verdict: both Shake Sharp razors gave me excellent shaves. The shaking sharpening system works just fine. The bakelite Shake is more to my liking than the silver Shake, but YMMV. Still there's one thing: I don't like them enough to get rid of my other razors!

I consider anyone wielding these a lucky guy or gal!

Thanks again, Ryan for letting us have a go at them!

So... who's the next lucky one?