Today marks the first test shave of the Rockwell Model T (the razor in front), which I attempted to compare to the Gillette Fat Boy shown.
The prep was quite enjoyable. I really like the softness of the the Omega 21762 shown, but those who prefer a stiff, scrubby brush probably won’t care for it. It took about a week of daily use to break in to the point where it would sustain lather for an entire shave, but now it’s doing fine. It’s somewhat expensive for an Omega boar ($25 here).
Wickham’s Garden Mint shaving soap, with spearmint among the fragrances, fits well with a spring shave and is thus particularly pleasant in the dark days of winter. I easily loaded the brush and got a good lather, and that brings us to the razors.
I will say at the outset to do a good job of comparing two razors requires more facial territory being shaved than any one person has. I did only a little shaving with the Fat Boy, just enough to remind me of the feel. I use a Fat Boy on “5” (after several months on “3” and more months on “4”), and at that setting it definitely had a different feel from the Model T, though both performed well. It was hard to tell in just the few strokes I had, but the Fat Boy seemed to have less blade feel.
I tried the Model T on 1, which was quite efficient. I also tried 3—and you can easily turn the adjustment dial while the shave is in progress, with no need to open the silo doors (which operate with uncanny smoothness and precision). There is no click-stop on the Model T, like the Merkur Progress and unlike the Fat Boy, but the razor holds the settings and (as with the Progress) intermediate settings are possible: it’s a continuous scale.
I did most of the shave with the Model T at 2, which did a fine job. In this shave I didn’t attempt to compare the Model T settings to the Rockwell 6S baseplates: trying to compare three razors in one shave would be a mug’s game. The intent is that the six numbers on the Model T will replicate the comfort and feel of the six baseplates: setting 1 ≈ baseplate 1, setting 2 ≈ baseplate 2, and so on. I will leave that up to Rockwell and focus more on how this razor works for me.
The handle, oddly, does not seem so grippy as the Rockwell 6S handle, but I could not figure out why. Its knurling looks like the knurling on the 6S, but the grippiness was not quite so good. For me, the unknurled section above the opening knob at the bottom feels too extended, but in fact it’s the same length as the unknurled section of the 6S handle. Perhaps the odd feel is that on the Model T handle the unknurled section is a smaller diameter. The opening knob consists of the bottom two knurled sections and the narrow unknurled band between them, rather a lot for a knob. The overall handle length of the Model T is just a bit more than that of the 6S, but shortening that opening knob could make the lengths the same without causing any problems. But here we may be getting into personal preference.
For a first shave, the razor seemed on the whole quite good. Comfort and efficiency were good. I did not find big differences in performance in the range I used (1, 2, and 3) and had no trouble getting a BBS shave. In terms of smoothness of operating and precision of fit, the Model T is much better than the Fat Boy. (The Progess is a two-piece razor, without silo doors, so a direct comparison to that razor does not work.)
I’ll do three more shaves, and will compare it next to the Rockwell 6S.
A small dot of Esbjerg aftershave balm finished the shave: BBS without nicks, always a pleasure.
Filed under: Shaving
