Closed Pass Around - Feather AS-D2 - COMPLETE

Third shave with the AS-D2

A fresh Gillette Silver Blue (with four thumping great dobs of glue (not wax but bl**dy GLUE! which I had to clean off before use to save gumming this lovely razor up). Grrrr!

Le Pere Lucian soap and the floppy but highly effective new Vulfix 2235 (which I think lathers better than anything else I have.)

Usual OTT & OCD preparation with soaps, oils, creams and the like.... and of course a hot soak.

And this'll start to sound like a broken record now. Another really easy, relaxed, close, comfortable and nick free shave. It feels like you could abuse this thing left, right &centre and it refuses to bite you. A trusty old dog that the (hypothetical) kids roll round the floor with, pulling it's tail and generally annoying it and it keeps coming back for more, licking any face that comes within range of it's dribbling, lolling, warm tongue.

There are eight other razors here ranging from the two extremes of the R41 to the R89 and including two slants, an adjustable, a 'Standard Razor', a much loved Weber plus the worthy Gillette Sensor cartridge (that makes nine, not eight). If I'd got the AS-D2 at the outset I need not have bought any of the others...but would have missed the shaving education and experience they've provided. However I, personally, could happily use the AS-D2 as an only razor.

It's Sunday evening - I'll aim to get this off to Nishy 'First Class Signed For' on Tuesday and hopefully he might get it on Wednesday.

An additional vote of thanks to Nico is offered here which will be followed by full and final expressions of gratitude at the conclusion of my tenure.

Great stuff!
 
chris.hale said:
I know the list's full, but if anyone should happen to drop out this is one I've wondered about a for a while.
Click to expand...

Chris, you have two days left to go for the current Massdrop offering - which means £92 if you don't get hit, or £118 if you do. There are presently 33 people in the massdrop buy. I believe they have these razors come up from time to time ....it just happens that I believe this one was a bit cheaper due to the fact that someone drew the Amazon offer to their attention and they undercut it. It's possible that this is a bit cheaper than you might get it for another time - I don't know for sure.

Or take a bit longer to decide and go for the Connaught group buy if you decided you wanted one.
 
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Cheers Stan. My gut feeling is that it'll be too mild which is why I've never bought one, while I know I should be able to sell it on easily enough if I didn't get on with it, I'd definitely prefer to try one first.
 
Another shave today with Nico's AS-D2

Rapira Swedish
Soapy Bathman Bay Rum
Vulfix 2234 Silvertip

Again, a smooth, relaxed and pleasant shave.

Just a hint of a possibility that ...just maybe... the Feather blade is a tiny, tiny bit more suited to the razor....I could be wrong, more experience would tell better. It's just that after today's use of the above I put the same Swedish blade into the Weber and could immediately tell that there was more bite to the shave. It is very likely that the Weber took away a further infinitesimally tiny amount of hair and the shave a fraction closer. It just gave a sensation, that you could feel and hear, that you were digging a bit deeper and cutting closer. At the conclusion...and even now, fifteen hours later, I can say the Weber got a tad closer than the AS-D2. However the Weber passes weren't as smooth and cushioned as the D2 and it is a matter of debate whether you want or need to achieve the same degree of closeness as was achieved with the Weber. And if we did the same thing with a Feather blade things might have been different. I might try the same exercise, but with another blade, with the R41 tomorrow (Tuesday) before sending it off to the next user - Nishy.

It's still something I think I have to own.
 
Great observations Kevin @DevonStan.

I would agree with you - there are many other razors which can achieve (with care, of course) a 'closer' shave than the AS-D2, but as you can see the AS-D2 does its best work with really sharp blades like, say, Feathers or Personna Medi-Preps and, even then, there is no irritation whatsoever.
 
The razor is now on it's way to the next lucky fella...who in this case is Nishy. It went before the midday collection. It has gone First Class Signed For and with a bit of luck and a following wind will be there tomorrow.

Final shave this morning.

Plisson 22mm synthetic brush with a 50/50 mix of Tabac and Arko soap.

I used the Feather blade for the second time (practice seems to have told me that I can get more than one effective use from the these blades so I gave it a second go to see how it went). Again it was easy to think there was no blade in the razor. This time I pressed a bit harder and it all went well but I was gently reminded that you do still have to show respect to the razor and the fact that there's a sharp blade in it. I think I started to get a bit too casual and need to remind myself of all the rules and good practices that we have learned is required with a DE razor - even if it is as forgiving as this one.

I would imagine there will be an order placed for one very soon but in the meantime final thanks to Nico for the opportunity to experience this thing...I am inordinately pleased to have had the use of it for a few days and equally grateful.

Very many thanks.
 
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