Thread: The great experiment

My favorite blades are large Sheffields, or larger blades period, and framebacks, the French ones, Swedish, and I have a Wosty and W&B frameback.

They are lighter, many have blades that can be swapped out as in two, three and seven day sets, and basically I find them no different to shave with except for one caveat - they tend to be so much lighter, that you need to use a more firm stroke with them.

Once you have a shave with a frameback a few times, you'll come to see how unique they are, and I seem to consistently get great shaves from them. Here's a couple of my favorites, with the Thiers #69 being the first frameback I used and which surprised me at the perfect shave it consistenty delivers.

TI #69 - I have two of the #69, and a TI #19



W&B Frameback



A Japanese Frameback, much heavier razor, a superb blade, an NOS Toyo 666:



Personally, the edge feels somewhat different when I use them, but once you realize that framebacks are just "different", and adjust your hand (again, I find they need a firmer hand), you may find, as I do, that they are superb razors.

A myth about framebacks is that they were a cheaper version of a "real" straight, while this might be true in some cases, the vast majority I've seen are of superb and intricate construction. Give it time, make sure it's got a great edge, and I'm positive you'll come to really enjoy these blades - aside from the big Sheffields, these are the other type of razor I'm a collector of.

And then you get into the large, what I call, "faux framebacks" or "Rattlers", and there's a whole other world of fun....this is a big, honkin' W&B faux frameback/Rattler, this is an 8/8 and it's a monster to use, but always delivers.

Not so much a firmer stroke with one's like these, but as Tom mentions, you have to adjust your angles slightly:

Phrank, the similarity of what you & Tom both said is EXACTLY my experience with that Tally Ho. Both shaves with it my beard was heavy, and I tried my normal grip and technique. It skipped, even though I had a good lather. So I did use a firmer stroke and it got much better. I also have re-looked at it, and it is very much a wedge, as Tom said, so moving to a larger angle also worked better. I may (or may not) shave with it again tonight on a lighter growth to see if things change,

It does have a great edge and I have stropped the dickens out of it, thinking that maybe it needed to be smoothed out some, and I'll give it a fighting chance again either today or tomorrow.

I can't express how well built it is and how good-looking. The scales remind me of old silver cutlery (my mom was a collector of sorts of fine sterling flatware) and the blade is gorgeous. I also love the point, which allows for sneaking into some sometimes inaccessible nooks and crannies of my increasingly fleshy face.

Bad picture of the blade, but best I could do:

Originally Posted by Haroldg48

Phrank, the similarity of what you & Tom both said is EXACTLY my experience with that Tally Ho. Both shaves with it my beard was heavy, and I tried my normal grip and technique. It skipped, even though I had a good lather. So I did use a firmer stroke and it got much better. I also have re-looked at it, and it is very much a wedge, as Tom said, so moving to a larger angle also worked better. I may (or may not) shave with it again tonight on a lighter growth to see if things change,

It does have a great edge and I have stropped the dickens out of it, thinking that maybe it needed to be smoothed out some, and I'll give it a fighting chance again either today or tomorrow.

I can't express how well built it is and how good-looking. The scales remind me of old silver cutlery (my mom was a collector of sorts of fine sterling flatware) and the blade is gorgeous. I also love the point, which allows for sneaking into some sometimes inaccessible nooks and crannies of my increasingly fleshy face.

Bad picture of the blade, but best I could do:

The razor looks like it might actually be a bit off - perhaps you could send it my way and I'll check it out for a couple of decades - wow! What a gorgeous razor!

Originally Posted by Phrank

The razor looks like it might actually be a bit off - perhaps you could send it my way and I'll check it out for a couple of decades - wow! What a gorgeous razor!

HAY! That's MY razor!

Those are all gorgeous Phrank. If you'd like me to PM my mailing address, I could expand the experiment

Originally Posted by Phrank

And then you get into the large, what I call, "faux framebacks" or "Rattlers", and there's a whole other world of fun....this is a big, honkin' W&B faux frameback/Rattler, this is an 8/8 and it's a monster to use, but always delivers.

Not so much a firmer stroke with one's like these, but as Tom mentions, you have to adjust your angles slightly:

Had to give the Tally Ho a fair shake, so I put it back on the strops, lathered up my 24 hour growth with Castle-Forbes, and followed the leads provided by Phrank and Sharptonn. I used a firmer grip and stroke, increased my angle some, tried some different XTG approaches and got a great shave.

Guess that proves learning is a part of the experiment. Tomorrow's another step on the trail!

Originally Posted by Haroldg48

Had to give the Tally Ho a fair shake, so I put it back on the strops, lathered up my 24 hour growth with Castle-Forbes, and followed the leads provided by Phrank and Sharptonn. I used a firmer grip and stroke, increased my angle some, tried some different XTG approaches and got a great shave.

Guess that proves learning is a part of the experiment. Tomorrow's another step on the trail!

Cool, Harold! Goes to show that all I ever needed was Phrank's (and my own) advise.
I am secretly using you to strop my blades into submission, I must confess....
"Too honest for his own good", said my Mum.....

I too have an affinity for the large blades and i was lucky enough to score a huge frame back when I first started collecting. This one is a 9/8 Joseph Eliott FBU.
I love the look of these razors. They have amazing lines..especially this Joseph Eliott.
The feel in hand is pretty spectacular as well. I love the heft of these big blades.

Cheetah

Originally Posted by cheetahmeatpheonix

I too have an affinity for the large blades and i was lucky enough to score a huge frame back when I first started collecting. This one is a 9/8 Joseph Eliott FBU.
I love the look of these razors. They have amazing lines..especially this Joseph Eliott.
The feel in hand is pretty spectacular as well. I love the heft of these big blades.

Cheetah

Wow! One of the nicest razors I've seen.....

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