I'm pleased to report safe receipt of Nico's AS-D2 today (Saturday 10th). Royal Mail did us proud....just over 24 hours to get here and a signature duly requested at the door.
As was suggested it is beautifully made. I just this minute compared it side by side with the ATT S2, which I always considered to be a cracking item and really well engineered. The finish looks substantially different...a more even and uniformly matt finish than the S2, which is slightly shiny but with (not unpleasant) milling marks on the underside of the top cap , but it has to be said the Feather is finished to higher degree of engineering excellence. No-one will have grounds to criticize it on that front.
I confess to having taken it straight out Nico's box and whipped straight upstairs to give it a go.
Pre-shave soak in hot water.
Sainsbury's Tea Tree Cleansing Bar Soap 125g (50 pence and well worth every penny!)
Proraso green pre-shave, Village Barber oil plus one or two additional creams/oils/favourite bits and bobs (this includes Nishy's excellent pre-shave creams....remember them? I have all three and love them all).
Left the above to soak in for a bit.
New Feather blade.
Shavemac 24/50 bulb 2 band.
Tabac soap with a spot of glycerine and a spot of Palmolive Shaving Cream mixed with St. James Shaving Cream added to the puck. (I saw the addition of glycerine and cream to hard soap recommended on here somewhere and often do it now...to good effect).
And I can see why people say what they say now. Yes, it initially felt as though there was no blade in the razor. Yes, you need to alter the angle a bit. Yes you can press almost as hard as you want and not cut yourself. Yes it's a bit like using a cartridge razor as you can have a quick, careless whizz round your chops and not hurt yourself. But if you do choose to take your time and get the angle right and have a couple of passes with (for me) a quick buff up round the usual places, then it's quite an experience compared to, say, an R41 or the ATT S2. It dealt with my usually difficult areas (the neck either side of the adams apple) far easier than usual with no threat of drawing blood - as sometimes happens there unless REALLY careful. And it went over the adams apple with no drama...that's often tricky for me.
I'll try a different blade next time and see how it goes. But it was certainly hugely interesting and mighty impressive, that's for sure. I can see that you could easily use it as your only razor.
It's a bummer that you could/might get hit for 20% plus £8 Royal Mail fee on Massdrop...it's a gamble. £92 (at the current rate of exchange), delivered, is a cracking price. But the Connaught group buy price is pretty darn fair too and good for those not willing to take a chance of £118 (£92 + VAT plus £8 Royal Mail charges) ... plus the extra wait for delivery from the US.
If I got the figures wrong PLEASE let me know...I was never any good at arithmetic as school.
Enough said for now.