My first Valet Autostrop VC-1 all the way from 'merica.
Already was in pretty clean condition but cleaned off any remaining gunk and it looks like new. I had fun loading a de-spined Gem blade - this must be the most dangerous-to-load razors ever invented! Carefully designed to make you slide the naked blade lengthwise into the blade retainer just asking for your fingers to slide along the blade's sharp edge. No blood was spilled but I wouldn't want to do this on a groggy early morning!
Apart from its danger the design is quite neat and the blade can easily be flipped around to rinse out after shaving.
On with the shave. Boy this is a scratchy little beast! It may be because it was the first use of this Gem blade which I find can be harsh on the first shaves so I'll have to see if the keenness wares off with use. Getting the angle right was very different to other SEs but you can see the blade (it's the whole top of the razor) so it's possible to lie it flat to the skin so I don't think I was scraping at the wrong angle. It will take some practice over the next few shaves to make a proper assessment but the word so far is careful.
Afterwards I thought I should have left on the blade's cardboard protector/wrapper while loading the blade to make a safer job. Maybe I should run in Gem blade in another razor first before de-spining and using in this one.
The razor came in a neat metal box and 5 NOS Valet blades. Do you think I should use these or will their performance have degraded over time? No signs of rust and blades look new.