Today's shave:
- Tallow + Steel West Indies
- Semogue 1250
- Rockwell 6c (R6) w/ Windrose D7 handle and Sputnik blade
- Pitralon Pure Aftershave
The T+S "West Indies" features a rather potent peppery bay scent, which reminds me very strongly of my mum's Béchamel sauce; a weird association to have right before breakfast. I have to say I much prefer the fainter and more cloves-centric Bay Rum offered by Barrister & Mann.
I decided to replace the Rockwell's handle, because the original one looks and feels tacky to me, like one of those cheap China knockoffs you can get for a few bucks. I've read somewhere that it's made out of Zamak like the head, not stainless steel. However, it's not very easy to find a replacement, as the handle has to be quite narrow at the upper end (no more than 9mm in width!) to fit between the ridges of the base plates, otherwise it won't hold securely and/or straight. Luckily, this older Windrose handle works like a charm, balances the razor comfortably and doesn't look too bad either!
I've spent the whole week with the Rockwell, progressing through the plate numbers in ascending order since Monday, always with the same blade (on average, I get 8-10 shaves out of a Sputnik blade, so that shouldn't be a problem). My sweet spot appears to be the R4 or R5 plate, as they provide the best compromise between a close shave and the possibility to roam freely without much fear of cutting some flesh, but further testing is needed. I'm glad I didn't get the 2c version with only the R1/R3 base plate.
My first impression overall is that the Rockwell is a nice razor, but I would not give up either my Edwin Jagger, my Timor or my Parker Variant for it. Maybe the Merkur. Straight off, both the Parker Variant and the MÜHLE R41 have given me closer shaves than the Rockwell.