Active Pass Around: Fatboy

16388835331516300807121428276576.jpgThe Fatboy arrived well packaged today.
My initial observations are:
Nice weight to it.
Most surprisingly to me is how solid it is, 60 odd years old and no rattles what so ever.
Reassuring click on adjustment mech and nice quarter turn after. Obviously built well to last.
Opens and closes as it should.
Nice aged patina.

All in all impressive. I'll shave later and put my thoughts up.
I would also say I bought a pearl flexi recently which I use from time to time and the adjustment mech on this old timer is better than that on a months old newbie.
Next to the pearl I've only used one other adjustable a futur which people appear frightened of as of its some kind of beast. I didn't find it so but found the head too big to shave well above my lip. So let's see how this old time Fatboy holds up.
 
My first ever review.
Gillette Fatboy 1959 pass round
Feather blade
Sterling electric sheep soap. (Mutton tallow)
Big yaki artificial brush.
Floid vigorous menthol splash.

First ever shave with a fatboy.

Certainly looks impressive this Fat boy.
I normally use a single edged schick ac blade in an open comb Hawk mk3. Gives a lovely close shave. My beard is slow growing but thick. So I saved up a weeks growth for this test.

Blade drops in easily, set razor to 5 tighten. Then extra quarter turn. No rattle no play. Lovely and tight. There's years left in the razor.

With the grain. Ooh. Release the blade. Turn to 6. No still not right. Release turn to 7. That's better.
Effortless glide. Tempted to turn to 8. Does the job, smooth. slightly different angle to my ac hawk.
2 x cross the grain from right then from the left. Still smooth and effortless.

1 x against the grain. This is where I felt this razor was at its best. This for me can be difficult. Pressure on upside down razors can be difficult to gauge cause the weight of the razor pulls away from your face. No worry excellent.

Effortless smooth shave. Goes to show in over 60 years of razor development gillette have not improved on this, no matter how many blades you chuck in or raheem Sterling tells me it's the best a man can get. After the initial out lay for this razor in 59 the value is extraordinary.

It was only after the shave did I fully appreciate this razor. My skin felt great. No burn no knicks what so ever. Will try the 8 setting next time.

A real pleasure.

Go one get your name down for this pass round.
Any one want to loan me a slim please?
 

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16422448064585716200858719109896.jpghi guys. Been a while. Sorry Covid struck the family. I was spared but wife and kids weren't.
Any way haven't shave for 2 weeks! Quite a lawn to mow.
Interestingly I read a current thread stating he couldn't get a smooth shave out of a fat boy on 3. So I set it to three. Too smooth for me. Lovely glide. Tabac soap today. I've have many soaps. Preparing hard ones generally. Most cost more few preform better. Feather blade. Once you find the best why stray?
Anyway, 3 was too smooth for me. We're all different right! Skin texture hair etc and so on.
Wound it up to 7 and finished it off. With the grain, cross grain both ways and fourth up wards against the grain. Smooth as a babies bum. Its a great razor.
Head is big but using it across the grain you can get right under your nose.
Do I love it? Put it this way I went on the bay and discovered a 1965 slim. My birth year it was mislabelled as a tech adjustable. We'll I think that's miss labelling. Bought it for about £11! Postage and vat made it about 31 by the end. A real bargain. If they'd made fatboys in 65 it would have been a fat boy.
It's a solid well made razor a mear 63 years old.
A real pleasure.
How does it stand up against my hawk mk3 open comb? Maybe wasn't quite aggressive enough for me. Past 8 I didn't like it.
Hawk would have mowed my lawn far quicker. But it's not always about speed is it? Shaving is a pleasure now. A time to relax and enjoy. Fat boy slower less aggressive yet smooth soft and effortless. Rich soap warm water sharp blade a great half hour well spent.
Time to pass it on.
 
Great write up Gareth. Very interesting to read your thoughts on it, and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I've a range of blades to try in it but never had a feather, I mostly use Nacet in my Tech if I'm going DE. I'm curious to see how much difference different blades give, when used in an adjustable razor.
 
Happy to say the Fatboy has arrived safely this morning. I deliberately delayed shaving until the postie had been in the hope it would.
Too early to 'review' but here are my first impressions.
This does not feel like a 63-year-old mechanism, it's withstood not only all those years, but also being passed around heaven alone knows how many people, and feels nice and solid, no rattle or anything. Only signs of age are the patina.
It's a lovely solid feel in the hand. Holding it anywhere under the adjusting ring makes it head heavy. Heavy is the operative word: at 81.5g locked and loaded it's 22g heavier than my ball end Tech. Seeing the two side by side makes it clear why it's called Fatboy.
The head appears bulky but in every dimension that actually matters, it is very similar to the Tech.
A twist of the TTO knob opens the wings and the fresh Astra SP I chose from the samples included drops in, locating reassuringly on the chamfered central pillar.

Somewhat enthusiastically, I boldly set it to #7. After a hot towel and wash with Pears I'm using Truefitt and Hill luxury shave soap which is a good performer which I used for my last shave (straight razor, a day and a half ago). The angle is easily found and the weight does the work. A day and a half's growth is rapidly reduced on the first WTG pass. Rinse and repeat XTG. It glides effortlessly through the little stubble left after 1st pass. I am new to adjustable razors and its the first time with the Astra SP. I suspect #7/#8 was a tad hasty. Finishing ATG, with no problems on the top lip, but a tiny weeper on the chin, I am really impressed with the smooth result, but there is a little irritation, and I noticed a slight sensation when I applied Cien Hydroage moisturiser, which normally never stings. So basically that's given me a baseline. I wanted to find out what more aggressive razors felt like compared to the mild Tech. Now I can either dial back one or two notches, or start from the mild end and work back up to see where my sweet spot is. Exactly why I wanted to try an adjustable, and what better razor to pick than the legendary Fatboy?
As luck would have it, I've also just bought Tony's Pearl Flexi, so I'll be able to compare 2 different adjustable razors. I'll probably get lost in all the permutations of razor, setting and blade choice, but that's the fun isn't it? 20220124_120200.jpg20220124_120517.jpg20220124_120707.jpg20220124_120816.jpg
 

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Nice review.
Sorry I forgot to add some feathers to the box. Incidentally I have a pearl flexi which I bought new. I find it a pain in the arse changing blades. The gillette some 60 years older in design is far superior and in.my opinion gives a better shave.
Hope to read a further review soon.
Cheers
Gareth
 
Agree with your comment about blade changing! The TTO mech definitely is a luxury, and there's something slightly fiddly about screwing down the top cap on the Pearl that non adjustable 3-pieces (i.e. Tech) don't suffer from. I guess that's because with the Tech you're screwing the whole handle rather than a knob at the far end. Both lovely razors though.
 
OK guys I enjoyed my time with the Fatboy. It's a classic for a reason. I prefer the looks of it to the Slim, but I bought a mint Slim and I have to say I prefer the slightly, er, slimmer head. So I'm grateful for the opportunity to have tried the Fatboy, and I now own its successor.

Who's next?
 
On that note, what's the best way to clean it before I send it on? I've got 70% alc hand sanitiser gel, anti bac hand soap, toothbrushes etc. I don't want to do anything that might discolour it, but I don't know if I really need to go buying barbicide do I? Previous acquisitions I've just washed in anti bac hand soap and hot water before I've used them, I figured that was good enough for me, but when it's on someone else's behalf and someone else's property I want to do it right.

I'll probably continue to use it until someone says they want a go.
 
Is this still active? I'd love to give a fatboy a go... Would quite like to know how it matches up against my modern adjustables... Not sure if there are forum requirements I'd need to meet as it I've not been on here for too long?
 
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