The Shaving Cadre

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The Feather ASD2 pass-around

I had one last shave with the ASD2 yesterday. It was only a two passer...but it was a good one. So...I am glad I had a chance to use several different blades for a couple or three shaves a piece. Starting out with the Feather Hip-Stainless gave me a good shave...but I ended up with more irritation than I liked. The Voskhod gave me a completely thoughtless shave. Nice and smooth with no worries at all. The 7 O'clock Super Platinum was really the best of both worlds or the Feather and Voskhod...smooth and sharp. But having the experience of these blades really helped me hone my angle and pressure of the ASD2 and when going back to the Feather blade...I ended up with probably the best shaves yet. Yeah...I really think this razor was made for the Hi-Stainless blade.

I am getting the razor all cleaned up and I will package it and get it sent to @Somnos. Who knows how long it will take to travel to the Hinterland of the Great White North!
 
Happy Monday! Hopefully everyone enjoyed their weekend and visiting with family and friends if at all possible. Lots of BBQ and lounge lizard activity to report at Villa Somnos!

I recently picked up a NIB Feather AS-D2 and am quite happy for it. My wife found it, contacted the seller and got it for an extremely good price. So good in fact that even though I am involved in a AS-D2 pass-around it came home. So I will be evaluating mine and delivering the other minty AS-D2 to its rightful owner @woodpusher once it arrives.

Soap of the day was Stirling Tuscany. Love the scent and it is a wonderful Stirling soap. Lathers well and provides a very nice glide and cushion. I would love to see this one in a “chill” or “glacial” version from Stirling but as is it is, it is in my top three Stirling scents that I have and I currently have nine of his.

Now to the review of the razor. As I mentioned it is new in box and never used. Came with all the paperwork and a new unopened pack of 5 Feather Hi-Stainless blades. I am not a fan of Feather blades and find them harsh. If going on the “super sharp” side of the house I prefer Kai Super Stainless or Polsilver IR. However, this being a Feather created DE I figured I would take it out on its maiden voyage with the supplied blade. For informations sake my reference blade is Voskhod and it goes into every razor I own to remove the “blade variable” from the reviews of a razor. That will happen soon enough.

First off as has been mentioned by many members here on TSC who have tried this razor (and subsequently bought one) it is a solid and well manufactured stainless steel razor. Fit and finish is beautiful and it balances quite nicely in the hand with a good heft to it. Box and paperwork; everything really exudes class and attention detail.

Loaded up with a new Feather and proceeded with the first pass WTG. Angle came naturally and with 4 days growth the razor made short work of the first pass. I did notice that it is very quiet in comparison to many razors I own. Also, as mentioned by a few reviewers you get very little “blade feel”. I could hear it faintly cutting away and could see the whiskers disappear but I couldn’t feel it. Safety bar gliding along yes but not much more than that. Now that might be the super sharp Feather blade at its best but I will see how that progresses.

Second pass XTG was even more quiet as the first pass did all of the heavy lifting. So nice it was I threw some water on the face and went XTG the other way just with the residual slickness of the soap leftover. Quite nice indeed.

Third/Fourth pass was ATG to finish it all off. Alum block indicated no issues at all. I was very careful to just let the razor do the work. Impressive. Need to get a bunch of shaves with some different soaps and blades to see how really good the AS-D2 is for me. Very enjoyable maiden voyage and a close, comfortable BBS shave. Topped off with the matching Tuscany AS and Gucci Pour Homme...brilliant!

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Feather AS-D2
Blade: Feather Hi Stainless
Brush: RazoRock Chubby Extra - Silvertip Badger 27.5mm knot
Lather: Stirling Tuscany
Aftershave: Stirling Tuscany
Additional Care:
B.I.G. Co. Alum Block
Gucci Pour Homme

18789F48-D611-4F48-8BD7-03BCD3692FC0.jpeg
 
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I think the easiest way to get people to buy razors here is to start a pass around. About 75% seem to buy it before the pass gets to them.
That theory seems sound to me based on what I have seen (and experienced) myself...:cool:
 
Well shoot...why drop at 4 passes? There’s plenty more stops along the infinite number line!
 
Happy Monday! Hopefully everyone enjoyed their weekend and visiting with family and friends if at all possible. Lots of BBQ and lounge lizard activity to report at Villa Somnos!

I recently picked up a NIB Feather AS-D2 and am quite happy for it. My wife found it, contacted the seller and got it for an extremely good price. So good in fact that even though I am involved in a AS-D2 pass-around it came home. So I will be evaluating mine and delivering the other minty AS-D2 to its rightful owner @woodpusher once it arrives.

Soap of the day was Stirling Tuscany. Love the scent and it is a wonderful Stirling soap. Lathers well and provides a very nice glide and cushion. I would love to see this one in a “chill” or “glacial” version from Stirling but as is it is, it is in my top three Stirling scents that I have and I currently have nine of his.

Now to the review of the razor. As I mentioned it is new in box and never used. Came with all the paperwork and a new unopened pack of 5 Feather Hi-Stainless blades. I am not a fan of Feather blades and find them harsh. If going on the “super sharp” side of the house I prefer Kai Super Stainless or Polsilver IR. However, this being a Feather created DE I figured I would take it out on its maiden voyage with the supplied blade. For informations sake my reference blade is Voskhod and it goes into every razor I own to remove the “blade variable” from the reviews of a razor. That will happen soon enough.

First off as has been mentioned by many members here on TSC who have tried this razor (and subsequently bought one) it is a solid and well manufactured stainless steel razor. Fit and finish is beautiful and it balances quite nicely in the hand with a good heft to it. Box and paperwork; everything really exudes class and attention detail.

Loaded up with a new Feather and proceeded with the first pass WTG. Angle came naturally and with 4 days growth the razor made short work of the first pass. I did notice that it is very quiet in comparison to many razors I own. Also, as mentioned by a few reviewers you get very little “blade feel”. I could hear it faintly cutting away and could see the whiskers disappear but I couldn’t feel it. Safety bar gliding along yes but not much more than that. Now that might be the super sharp Feather blade at its best but I will see how that progresses.

Second pass XTG was even more quiet as the first pass did all of the heavy lifting. So nice it was I threw some water on the face and went XTG the other way just with the residual slickness of the soap leftover. Quite nice indeed.

Third/Fourth pass was ATG to finish it all off. Alum block indicated no issues at all. I was very careful to just let the razor do the work. Impressive. Need to get a bunch of shaves with some different soaps and blades to see how really good the AS-D2 is for me. Very enjoyable maiden voyage and a close, comfortable BBS shave. Topped off with the matching Tuscany AS and Gucci Pour Homme...brilliant!

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Feather AS-D2
Blade: Feather Hi Stainless
Brush: RazoRock Chubby Extra - Silvertip Badger 27.5mm knot
Lather: Stirling Tuscany
Aftershave: Stirling Tuscany
Additional Care:
B.I.G. Co. Alum Block
Gucci Pour Homme

View attachment 32846
Wait till you try it with a Voskhod Blade...... @Spider @dangerousdon
 
Wait till you try it with a Voskhod Blade...... @Spider @dangerousdon
The Voskhod was indeed superb right off the bat, and smoother than the Feather. But I found that the performance of the Voskhod dropped off rather quickly, like just after a few shaves, which is a bummer to me. I'm looking forward to putting a Personna in mine next.
 
Wait till you try it with a Voskhod Blade...... @Spider @dangerousdon
The Voskhod was indeed superb right off the bat, and smoother than the Feather. But I found that the performance of the Voskhod dropped off rather quickly, like just after a few shaves,
I'm with KJ on this one. The Voskhod was a super effortless shave and was really...really nice! But yeah...the blade didn't last that long. I did find, however, after using the Voskhod...going back to the Feather blade was better. I guess it was just getting the angle and the pressure down.
 
Wait till you try it with a Voskhod Blade...... @Spider @dangerousdon
The Voskhod was indeed superb right off the bat
I'm looking forward to putting a Personna in mine next.
I'm with KJ on this one. The Voskhod was a super effortless shave
Yes indeed the Voskhod I have a nice stash of and I loved them the first time I tried one so they get used in just about everything first. Which Personna are you going to go with @Spider? Not that there are a million variants of them. I use the Blues and the Platinum most. Both and a few more are on my test list for this razor. Lots of blades to try I have...
 
Happy Thursday Cadre! Second shave with the AS-D2 and a Feather blade on its second use. As I mentioned I am not a fan of Feather blades and so I normally don’t go past three shaves before I bin them. However, I will endeavour to get the most out of this one, in this razor. First shave was impressive and so I was looking forward to this one. Which I must say is rare because I rotate razors and rarely go back to back shaves with a razor. For test purposes why not.

Soap for today was Stirling Orange Chill. I believe I will be keeping to Stirling fare for the next few shaves with the AS-D2 because I am quite familiar with them and the performance is consistent tub to tub. Later I will throw some creams and veg soaps into the mix. Lovely mentholated citrus goodness here.

First pass with the AS-D2 WTG was as good as I remember the first shave. Some recommend a grip angle of 45 degrees vs the 30 degrees used with most razors and I would agree here. Angle is going to change as the razor moves over your face so unless you’re sporting a blockhead you’ll need to adjust. All good the pass was smooth and comfortable.

Second pass XTG and again quite nice and comfy. Some more water and XTG in the opposite direction. No issues here as the residual slickness of the Stirling just helped the razor glide along.

Third and final pass was ATG, nice and easy with not a lot of work to be done. Rinse off and grab the alum block. Oh my, now there certainly was more feedback this time around. First shave there was nothing to mention but the block let me know the Feather blade was certainly rewarding me for my efforts this morning. I guess it is true that they get sharper on the second shave because this one sure seems like it did. I added no more pressure to the technique. Need to revisit the angle. Well the “dolphins are crying” anyway to coin a term. BBS achieved. More on the AS-D2 next time. Have a wonderful day Cadre!

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Feather AS-D2
Blade: Feather Hi Stainless
Brush: Simpson Chubby 1
Lather: Stirling Orange Chill
Aftershave: Stirling Orange Chill
Additional Care:
B.I.G. Co. Alum Block
Bath & Body Works Citron
64268A54-D523-4BC1-9C82-28BA45AC9FD6.jpeg
 
A late afternoon shave today. Not really much to do really as yesterday’s shave was a BBS beauty. More feedback from the Alum block than expected. Reached for the AS-D2 again to carry on with the review. Loaded up with same Feather blade on its third use.

Soap today Stirling Satsuma with the matching AS. Great scent and a lovely spicy citrus scent.

First pass WTG, smooth and easy. Second pass XTG both ways and again nice and easy. Alum block yielded nothing to mention. BBS touchup shave and we are good to go. Followed up with the matching AS and some AdP Essenza.

Perfect on a Friday afternoon. I don’t believe the Feather blade will return for the next shave but I haven’t binned it just yet. The AS-D2 is a wonderful razor and has been a joy to use so far. Many more shaves to go though. Have a great Friday Cadre!

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Feather AS-D2
Blade: Feather Hi Stainless
Brush: Paragon Shaving BLS-1 - 25mm Boss Knot
Lather: Stirling Satsuma
Aftershave: Stirling Satsuma
Additional Care:
B.I.G. Co. Alum Block
Acqua di Parma Colonia Essenza
7D26752F-303B-47C3-87A1-DF152A8FFBA5.jpeg
 
I’m using Military rebranded Platinum Chromes. They have since switched to the SS version. Not sure what would be the equivalent of the PCs.
 
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