First shave from a Valet

[HoosierTrooper]

I've had this Model C laying around for several months, it came from the same 100 year old man that I got the rocketfella's Wester from. I took the spine off of a GEM Blue Star blade and gave it a whirl this morning and all in all it gave a very good shave.

I decided to try a Blue Star first in case it didn't work, then I wouldn't waste a good Ted Pella or Walgreens GEM blade. And because the Blue Star is my least favorite blade I thought it would be a good test to the Valet's effectiveness. Next try will be with a TP blade.

While it worked very well I can't say that it is "better" than any of the other SE's I use. It's fun to use a piece of history, and I will use it again, but it won't replace any of my favorites. In other words don't expect a fire sale on my Clog Pruf's anytime soon!

[mrguy]

Pick up a strop if you come across one. I use PAL blades with my AS and the strop really puts a nice fine edge on the blade!

[HoosierTrooper]

Thanks, Andy. I've got a couple strops so I might try that. I'm curious to see how it does with a TP or WalgreensGEM blade.

[specialk]

I think you will like it better with a Pella but like you said its not going to be a "I've found the holy grail of razors" experience. Nice to have another piece of history to shave with though, huh....

[rocketman]

The Wester.....................droooooool........... (still rox!)



Ya know - you keep doing this to me HT!! I haven't tried out a model C for some time. When I last did, I went straight for one of the Japanese Haney Feathers - didn't do a thing for me. I found the razor dragged, for lack of a better word. Kinda like when you were a kid and would go down a metal slide - but because it was tarnished or whatever - your pants would kinda stick all the way down!! No fun for shavin.

But, you have me thinking outside of my normal box again darn you!! I absolutely lovvvve the TP PTFE SE ! I shall pop off the spine and whip one in - maybe there is hope for the Valet yet. I have written them off really - and too bad, because I still pick up sets if they are different than normal and in ok shape (and of course cheap!). So, it would only make sense to be able to use the gawl darn things.

VIVA LA HT RE THE TP PTFE SE IN A VAS!!!!!* WooooOOOohoOoOooooo!!!!

RocketFeller Away!!!!!!!


*sorry bout that - work in an acronym heavy workplace - major acronym listing went on all day!

[HoosierTrooper]

Thanks for the laugh rocketfeller! I tried a Walgreens GEM this morning and it definitely worked better. The VAS does a good job, and it's fun to use. It'll be used occasionally but I've got so many others to rotate through that it'll be awhile.

This set has 4 blades in the little red cardboard box. Three are the notched blades that the VAS uses, and the fourth one is the same size but doesn't have the notches. If anyone wants these shoot me your address and I'll send them to you. I have no use for them and would be glad to give them to one of you guys.

[rocketman]

Well, I have to go to work about three minutes ago - but just had to drop a quick line as I am still wiping up the body fluids!

I dropped in a Ted Pella as I mentioned I might above. Holy schmear that is one sharp darn blade! It really blows the Haney off the map. Unfortunately for me, it is sharper than the dickens and more dangerous once stuck in a Model C Valet!!! I got my first real cut in ages. Plus about half a dozen weepers. Yowsers!!!!! I only did one pass and I was a mess!!!!!!!! No problem with draggin this time. Had to finish up with a 1907 Gem. Unfortunately - I may be too scared to ever shave again! Gotta run - need more stypic powder!

[HoosierTrooper]

Dang, that sounds like an equipment malfunction. When I raise the little tab to lock the blade I noticed that it forced the blade edge over the tabs, so I hold the blade down with my thumb as I lock things down.

[rocketman]

Jul 7, 2010 10:33:26 GMT -5 HoosierTrooper said:

Dang, that sounds like an equipment malfunction. When I raise the little tab to lock the blade I noticed that it forced the blade edge over the tabs, so I hold the blade down with my thumb as I lock things down.

Well - two possible things here. I took a closer look and it is a Model B. Second, all I did was pop off the spine and stuff er in. When I compare it to a Model C with a loaded Valet blade, there is a HUGE difference in blade gap. Not sure why that would be - but that may explain the pain!

I really need to get a better handle on the model types for these Valets. I find it a little confusing as I haven't spent the time on it yet to figure it out properly. Perhaps we might be able to start a thread that identifies these darn things??

Signed - slowly healing

[HoosierTrooper]

I don't know the difference between them. I've owned a grand total of two Valets, kept one and sold the other one to Yohann at B&B. Both were in identical coffin boxes marked Model C on the inside of the lid and both razors looked identical, actually came from the same old fella, so I feel confident that I'm using a C.

If anything mine seemed a bit on the mild side, similar to a G or Pushbutton. Yours must be a lot different to have caused that kind of carnage with all of your experience using these machines.

[rocketman]

Well, the charge of 'equipment malfunction' was bugging me since I was sure I had loaded the blade correctly - so I had to do a little more digging.

Unfortunately, my brain keeps getting less and less supportive of the things I do as time goes on!! I dug up some Valet instruction sheets and advertising bits that I have around and I 're'discovered something I already knew - once!

The Model B is an 'Adjustable' razor. I just forgot. What appears to be the locking tab on these is actually an adjustor that sets the blade in relation to the guard. When the tab is all the way up, you have a 'close' shaving razor, 'medium' when centered, and 'light' shaving when the tab is at the bottom. The blade itself moves forward along the guard teeth towards the front of the razor to become 'closer' or more aggressive.

Of course, I had forgotten all about this and pushed the tab all the way to the tab as you would when locking in a Gem Jr blade. Well... tee hee ....... that of course makes this razor as aggressive as possible. Which would of course explain my nasty experience.

I am going to have a stiff drink tomorrow and give this machine another spin tomorrow - on 'LIGHT' setting!!!!!! I am gonna crank that adjustor all the way down and give it a whirl. Other than the fear factor ( ) am I looking forward to trying it out the way it should be. The blade fits fairly well with only the spine removed and I don't anticipate any difficulties there - we will see however.

Viva La Owwww!

[HoosierTrooper]

Ah-ha! said in my best Sherlock Holmes voice. I've read here or somewhere about adjusting the blade gap on the C model the same way. I tinkered with it and you can adjust it slightly the blade gap, but only until the blade slips out of the stops. I just pushed the tab all the way as far as it would go when I used it. I may try it this weekend and see if "adjusting" it makes any noticeable difference.

[rocketman]

After I wrote the reply above, it was still morning and I still needed to shave. I can finally join the successful VAS shavers club.

[HoosierTrooper]

When two brilliant minds work together anything's possible! I'm curious what the difference between the B and C models are, because they sound like they work the same. There's gotta be something different since I feltlike mine was a lttle on the mild side with the tab all the way in the fully locked position, which didn't work for you.

I'd like to see a picture of a B just to see what the difference is. Maybe I'll do a little searching and see what I can find.

Went to stropper.com, most of the pictures are of them in cases. The handles look different, but the heads look the same.

[ferroburak]

I have 4 Valets they're all different in terms of notches..