Ssseygus Class 2015 / Spain 2015 DE Razor

Father Ted

Father Ted

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Round the bend
I love my 1940's English Tech heads - the heavy ones with the flat head/base plate.
Love 'em, really do - FrankenRazor ( my rhodium plated head with UFO Godzilla Handle) is my daily go-to razor and I get superb results with very little in the way of cuts, weepers or nicks.

So what can I tell you about the Seygus (Ssseygus?)
Well, not a right lot apart from what bits I have gleaned from looking at the Spanish shaving forums and what bits @Thalasos has told me via PM and in his posts on TSR. It took me a while to work out that Mangos means handles, not fruit.
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DESIGN:
The razor is manufactured out of CNC milled "T6 aeronautical" grade aluminium and some are available polished, some anodised coated in black - mine ( an October made razor) is unusual in that the SSseygus wording is highlighted in white - a nice touch. Others are not. The razor is also a four part design having head, baseplate and handle but an additional weighted component to the handle - the razor looks superb without this, but feels better with this attached (more on this later). Weight is 54g. Cost was 75 Euros shipped.
Finish looks good, some milling marks are visible, but I like that as it looks more artisan produced and not mass produced.
Im also a bit unsure about the name as some I have seen pictured have three S's and some only two.
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PERFORMANCE:
I assembled the razor with the head weight and loaded a Gillette Super blade. From reading some reviews from early testers in Spain there seemed to be an overall conclusion that the razor was mild with some shavers saying that they had loosened the head from the handle a quarter turn to adjust the blade gap to give more aggression.
For me (and YMMV) I prefer the weight - my daily razor tips the scales at 120g so this was under half my usual razor weight, without the head weight it felt too light and I would probably have to apply more pressure than I was comfortable with.
With the razor assembled properly the blade alignment was good and gap even.
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I lathered up and took my first pass.
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There is a reasonable amount of feedback from the razor, but yes it is mild, however, my usual two pass and touch up over my (many) chins gave a very good result. Certainly comparable with my daily FrankenRazor shave. I would say that this is on a par with the Tech head in terms of aggression.

OVERALL:
This certainly is a mild razor, I would compare it directly with the Tech head myself ( YMMV) but for me, I like this - it has far more bite than the first iKon standard bar head from 2009 ( remember people shimming them out to get a better blade gap?) I dont feel there is any need to faff about with the head on this to make it "a quarter turn loose" in order to get a good shave from it - I will try it with a heavier handle behind the head and see how that affects the result. Its a lovely looking razor and one that will make it into my rotation (rather than the 2009 iKon that has simply made it into a drawer).
 
FOLLOW UP:
I tried one of my heavy Windrose handles on the razor for a shave - bringing the weight up to about 80g, Stil with the Gillette Super blade.
This made an appreciable difference - this time I could feel the "combs" on my face and the razor felt more "presence" on my face. The resulting two pass shave was very very good, maybe not BBS, but certainly DFS.
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The more I use this head, the more I like it
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I agree with you, many light weight heads increase their effectiveness with a heavy handle. I myself love the way this one behaves with my OSS and Atlas handles and the feedback sound that can be obtained due to the way blade is fixed just by the center plate. New ones are more standardized and the steel gets more support in the plate. Better for some beards that wish the three passes BBS, albeit less fun than this one.
 
If you have followed the sale thread for these razors you may have picked up on the fact that I have purchased the production (Spain 2015) head to compare with - it arrived today ( sadly too late for my shave) but I had a look and compare with the Class head.
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Immediately you can see the difference in head design, and when loaded with a blade it sits subtly differently with slightly more exposure than the Class head. I tried to photograph this but my pictures were a bit naff Im afraid, so you will just have to live with thetwo heads side by side - the Class on the left the Spain on the right.
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I'll try the head with the original handle and then a couple of my custom handles ( UFO and Windrose) to see how it performs in comparison with the Class head. Still looks a bloomin smart bit of hardware though.
 
Dear Father Red, you would watch at the four 'arrows' across the comb. That's the huge difference. New ones are taller and the blade lays along them. This way is more efficient with tough or long whiskers, but doesn't vibe...
The cap, also, is a little bit different.
 
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So, where do I start with the new head - the production Spain 2015 one? I'll write up as before with my views and compare as I go along.

DESIGN:
As previously, the head is CNC machined from T6 aluminium and this one is presented in and attractive anodised black (the same sort of finish that you get on Maglite torches) with the production name and razor name and year picked out in white.
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Pre Production on the Left - Production head on the Right.

Hopefully the picture above will give you an idea of the changes from the pre-production Class head to the production Spain head - the blade is angled differently and exposure is more than the original head. The four support bars down the length of the razor are now slanted and support the blade. @Thalasos says (above) that the cap is different, though to the eye I can not see this, but in the hand it does appear heavier than the Class head and cap. The head came without a handle but production razors will be shipped as a complete unit with the handle and boxed.

PERFORMANCE:
I loaded this razor with a vintage Gillette Super Stainless blade (yeah thanks for introducing me to that @dodgy you enabler you!), lathered up and fitted a handle from my collection as this was supplied as a head only.
This is where I made my first mistake as I coupled this up with quite a heavy razor handle ( see photos in the post above) and expected it to perform not dissimilarly to the Class head, it is quite a bit more aggressive.
The Class I would rate on a par with a Gillette Tech or somewhere about 2.5 to 3.5 on the Slim Adjustable scale of things, quite mild - by comparison, this head moves this up to nearer 6. I launched this at my face as I had done the Class head and my first shave was incredibly close! The blade gives a very audible feedback as to how it is cutting and you can feel the blade more on your face. If you have a tough whisker type then this is much improved over the Class head design. Almost like a closed comb R41. Maybe not quite that aggressive, but certainly that was what sprang into my mind when I used it.
So shave one, two pass and polish of my chins left it in places BBS - in fact I kept feeling my face during the day as I was impressed, however my first foray also left me with some razor burn which I don't normally suffer from.
The second and third outings were better as I used the original ( lighter) handle with its steel head weight. Again the same blade for consistency and same soap and brush ( my daily prep simply consists of trying to wake myself up in a very hot shower and rubbing myself liberally with a cheap bar of soap). Shaves two and three were definitely better in the razor burn stakes as I didn't apply much pressure and used the stock handle - again there is a lot of audible noise of cutting and an obvious result.
Again, BBS in places, slight roughness in others, but getting better as my technique is improving and I get to know the razor.
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OVERALL:
More aggressive than the pre -production head, its quite likely that if you like an open comb shave you will get on with this razor.
Nicely presented, only time will tell how well the anodised coating stands up to repeated use and wear. I'm not sure if the production razor will be offered in Naked Aluminium as the prototype was, though experience with Aluminium razors in the past suggests that over time the polished presentation will dull as aluminium naturally develops a coating of oxidisation ( one of the reasons why aluminium is used in many applications is once it has developed this initial coat which dulls the surface, further oxidisation and decay are vastly reduced and so the material lasts a long time). This is something the anodised one won't have to suffer as the coating is bonded with the oxidised layer.
The machining and quality are superb, both in the head and the handle, the addition of the steel weight nicely balances the razor and gives the end user a little option in handle length and overall weight.
Service from @Thalasos is excellent with both razor and head arriving from Spain within a very few days of being ordered. Personally ( and as someone who likes mild razors) I prefer the pre-production head, but of course as ever YMMV!

If you get chance to try one of the new razors on the block, give it a whirl - however I wont be parting with mine any time soon.

Roll on tomorrow!
 
After reading this thread I immediately contacted the seygusrazor people - next Monday they will send me a proforma invoice.
It is such a nice looking razor, and according to Father Ted a good one.
Its looks are industrial, almost futuristic ...
Just wonder - what is it ? An open comb ?
If the Muhle R41 is an open comb razor - this one certainly is one too .... :cool:
 
I have one en route to me via Correos at this very instant.

The service is first-class, considering that I've been dealing with Seygus over the Christmas period. They answer emails promptly and responsively, raised an invoice and got it posted in the course of one day.

I'm really looking forward to receiving and using this novel design.
 
Ferrum said:
I have one en route to me via Correos at this very instant.

The service is first-class, considering that I've been dealing with Seygus over the Christmas period. They answer emails promptly and responsively, raised an invoice and got it posted in the course of one day.

I'm really looking forward to receiving and using this novel design.
Click to expand...

Same for me - ordered a razor December 25th, got an invoice December 26th, Gustavo will send the
razor early in the morning Monday, December 28th.
Expect to receive it this year ... :)
 
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