Closed Pass Around - PILS 101NE DE Razor Stainless Steel Matt-Finished - COMPLETE

Tuesday. PILS with Gillette Silver Blue
Wednesday. PILS with Personna Med
Thursday. PILS with Feather
Friday. PILS with Gillette Silver Blue (from Tuesday)

I think it'll come as no surprise when I say this razor has a very narrow operating / cutting angle. BBS can be achieved but, for me, it requires too much effort and too many passes, I have other razors I enjoy using that give me a great shave with less effort. The Feather was the best blade for me in this razor which is unusual as normally I prefer the GSB and Personna in all my other DE razors.

Once again thank you to Martin for his generosity in passing this expensive razor around and allowing me the opportunity to give it a whirl as I don''t think I would have otherwise ever tried a PILS razor, but it's not for me.

cheers, Paul
 
First impressions

The PILS has finally arrived. Two things are immediately obvious: it's different and it's heavy.
Onto the scales it goes and weighs in at 119.6 grams. Wow. That's slightly heavier than even my full metal Digress at 111.2 grams. The Digress is probably my favourite DE razor, so weight shouldn't be an issue for me.
It also also very different from other DE razors. The handle rotates freely in the base plate, so to open the razor you hold the head and rotate the entire handle. Simple, yet effective. The handle is smooth with no knurling or grooves. Quite elegant, but I'll see what that does to the grip.
The head is where this razor is really different. The base plate is absolutely flat. There is no curvature whatsoever. The blade is held in place by the thread going from the top plate into the handle and two tiny protrusions in the base plate. This makes putting the blade in the razor a bit fiddly, but not annoyingly so. Close inspection confirms that the blade is not bent by the head. It seems to sit absolutely flat in the razor. Wondering what this will do to the shaving angle, I put the razor head on the back of my hand and check at what angle it starts cutting. 70 degrees or thereabouts. Now (that's) quite steep. At the normal 30 degrees the razor does exactly nothing. This should be interesting and might need a little practice, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Overall it's quite a handsome brute. Well engineered and nicely finished. I had a marvellous shave yesterday with a Voskhod blade in my dinky Bigelow & Parkin razor, so I'll use the same blade for my first shave with the PILS. I will report back later.
 
@riverrun - thanks for checking in.

1. Chris.Hale - complete
2. Nishy - complete
3. The Geordie Shaver - complete
4. p.b - complete
5. riverrun*
6. mattyb240
7. Omp
8. rowlers
9. Stacy555
10. DevonStan

*Currently with

LIST CLOSED
 
It's been a few hours since my first shave with the PILS. I used the same Voskhod blade that gave me an incredibly close and long lasting BBS shave in my Bigelow & Parkin yesterday. I picked Castle Forbes Lime shaving cream again. It worked yesterday as it always works for me. With rock hard London water Castle Forbes outclasses everything else I've tried.
The razor has a nice feel to it. It's quite heavy, but well balanced. Despite its smoothness the handle didn't feel slippery at all. The angle, while different from other razors wasn't too difficult to find. I think (see below). I always dial in the shaving angle of a razor by ear. The PILS gives reasonable audible feedback.
The shave itself was very mild. Not once did I think I might cut myself. That's a good thing, by the way. I adored that quality in the Feather AS-D2. Now that I have said the F-word, I'll have to compare the two razors. I will. The PILS in the meantime did a good job. The areas next to the corners of my mouth are tricky for me, but the PILS did better than most razors there. Even hours later I'm impressed. Another of my tricky areas is just under the chin. Here the result was not so good, but that might be an issue with the angle. I'll have to try again. Other than that I finally got to BBS.
BUT (â—€a big fat but), I needed five passes to get there. Yes, that's right. Five (5) passes. Amazingly the alum block and after shave had no complaints afterwards. You (well, I at least) can do five passes with this razor without getting into trouble. No nicks, cuts, irritation, nothing. But it is a bit of a hassle. If I don't figure out how to get a close shave with less passes, I'll declare this razor too mild. Maybe a fresh Feather blade will improve things tomorrow.
Talking about Feather.. So how does the PILS compare to the Feather AS-D2 then? So far it doesn't. While it is a good looking, well designed and well engineered Teutonic brute, it doesn't make me drool. As I write this, the PILS is in the bathroom and I have no urge to go over there and fondle it. The Feather did that to me...
Also, while both razors are very mild, the Feather got better results right from the start. They are roughly in the same price bracket, so I'd go for the Feather any day.
Then again - I'm not done with this razor yet and YMMV. More tomorrow.
 
Shave #2 with the Pils

The morning after the first shave, and the newly grown stubble is slight to moderate. A decent job by the Pils, but I don't think it will deliver the closest shave ever.
I decided to go for the full Speick:

Shower with Speick Men shower gel,
Face wash with Speick soap,
Lather up with Speick Men Shaving Cream
Shave with a Speick blade
Speick Men after shave lotion
Speick Men Intesiv Creme
Speick Natural Deo Spray
Speick Men EdT

I do love a little bit of Speick.
As Speick doesn't actually do blades, I put a fresh Feather blade in the Pils, hoping this would get me a closer shave in less passes than yesterday's Voskhod blade.
To cut a long story short: Again a very close shave. The difficult area just below the chin is much closer today, but still not as close as it can get. I paid a lot of attention to angle there and I'm pretty sure I'm not to blame. Even with a Feather blade I don't get perfect results. And the bad bits: I still needed five passes. With a Feather blade that is not a good idea, even in this razor. A few nicks (nothing Proraso riparatore couldn't fix) and both alum block and after shave had their fair share of complaints.
So far I'm impressed by looks and build quality, but (that's) about it. Tomorrow I'll do a shave off with either the Standard razor (to politely show the Pils how it's done) or the Schick Golden 500 (to make it weep).
 
riverrun said:
It's been a few hours since my first shave with the PILS. I used the same Voskhod blade that gave me an incredibly close and long lasting BBS shave in my Bigelow & Parkin yesterday. I picked Castle Forbes Lime shaving cream again. It worked yesterday as it always works for me. With rock hard London water Castle Forbes outclasses everything else I've tried.
The razor has a nice feel to it. It's quite heavy, but well balanced. Despite its smoothness the handle didn't feel slippery at all. The angle, while different from other razors wasn't too difficult to find. I think (see below). I always dial in the shaving angle of a razor by ear. The PILS gives reasonable audible feedback.
The shave itself was very mild. Not once did I think I might cut myself. That's a good thing, by the way. I adored that quality in the Feather AS-D2. Now that I have said the F-word, I'll have to compare the two razors. I will. The PILS in the meantime did a good job. The areas next to the corners of my mouth are tricky for me, but the PILS did better than most razors there. Even hours later I'm impressed. Another of my tricky areas is just under the chin. Here the result was not so good, but that might be an issue with the angle. I'll have to try again. Other than that I finally got to BBS.
BUT (â—€a big fat but), I needed five passes to get there. Yes, that's right. Five (5) passes. Amazingly the alum block and after shave had no complaints afterwards. You (well, I at least) can do five passes with this razor without getting into trouble. No nicks, cuts, irritation, nothing. But it is a bit of a hassle. If I don't figure out how to get a close shave with less passes, I'll declare this razor too mild. Maybe a fresh Feather blade will improve things tomorrow.
Talking about Feather.. So how does the PILS compare to the Feather AS-D2 then? So far it doesn't. While it is a good looking, well designed and well engineered Teutonic brute, it doesn't make me drool. As I write this, the PILS is in the bathroom and I have no urge to go over there and fondle it. The Feather did that to me...
Also, while both razors are very mild, the Feather got better results right from the start. They are roughly in the same price bracket, so I'd go for the Feather any day.
Then again - I'm not done with this razor yet and YMMV. More tomorrow.
Click to expand...
You fondled Nico's Feather? I knew it ;)
 
Pils 101NE - Shave #3

Two days worth of stubble and it's shave off time.
The contender: Pils 101NE with a fresh Voshod blade
The reigning champion: Schick N3 injector with a fresh Personna 74 blade
This is a fight between the heavyweight, groomed gentleman from Chelsea vs the skinny bare knuckle fighter from South East London.

Both are using T&H Lavender shaving cream. Hmmmm…. Lavender….
Four passes later and the winner is…… Hang on… what's that?
The Pils demands to get its usual fifth cleanup pass. The referee ((that's) me) rejects the demand and the Pils leaves the arena sobbing and sulking.
The winner is of course the Schick. Baby smooth all over. The Pils put up a decent fight, but even on the cheeks the skin feels not quite as smooth as on the Schick side.
The Pils is too mild even for my taste. I like mild, but I need to get a close enough shave out of a mild razor. The Pils just doesn't deliver for me.
It is a good looking hunky beast, but this is not a beauty contest. Even in a beauty contest it would lose out to the Feather AS-D2.
So the final verdict is: Too mild even for me. YMMV

A few hours later and I regret not having had the fifth pass with the Pils. One half of my face is still smooth, the other half is a bit rough. Weird. I'll sort that out tomorrow with my black Standard razor, before it goes on its pass around journey.

I have PM'd @mattyb240
 
riverrun said:
Razor thoroughly cleaned, barbicided and posted by special delivery. Should be with you tomorrow before 1pm.
Enjoy!

OMG! OMG! I don't have any pass around razors left to play with!!! Where's the 'hyperventilating' emoticon when you need it? :eek: ?
Click to expand...

Should be next up on the extreme slant Neo Gam, be interesting hearing how it compares to the heavy hitters of the Pils and Feather as its another mild razor.
 
Thanks for your thoughts and observations Andreas @riverrun - they are always welcome.

Yes, it's an enigma is the PILS razor. Here's an interesting review I came across when researching for the purchase.

1. Chris.Hale - complete
2. Nishy - complete
3. The Geordie Shaver - complete
4. p.b - complete
5. riverrun - complete
6. mattyb240*
7. Omp
8. rowlers
9. Stacy555
10. DevonStan

*Currently on way to

LIST CLOSED
 
Guys just to let you know the razor is at the Post Office and is being collected Sunday, I've been unable to arrange re delivery after missing it the first time for a day when someone can sign for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom