Thread: Weck sextoblade

I like my Sexto AA. I'm about 40 shaves in and it's my favorite shavette. Right now I'm using a Weck Carbon Steel. (I got a couple of boxes off of eBay.) I just today finished shave 10 on the blade and it's fine. I strop before (15 complete passes) and after (about 5 passes, to dry and protect the edge... Just like my Rolls). I did not like the Personna Stainless blade that I tried as much, even after I corked it. I also tried a Fromm, and it was OK. I'm not sure about stropping the Fromms as their coated and the strop will take the coating off. I've got some original Sextoblades coming this week. I'm looking forward to trying them.

I've been trying to pick up the case from a seven day set, but I'm not paying $99 plus.

I also have a Sexto Med Prep --i.e. full size stainless w/o the caduceus. I don't like it as much as the AA, as it's heavier. The heft of the AA is fine for me.

By way of comparison, I've tried a Weck Hair Shaper (with the Fromm blade), a Parker SR-1, and Venta 111 and 112. I got decent shaves from all of them but the Parker feels somehow "cheap" to me, right on the verge of falling apart. OTOH, I like the blade mechanism on that one. The Venta's are OK. They shave as well as the Parker, but feel a bit more solid. I like the 111 (full DE blade) better than the other.

Regards,
Jerry

I have Weck Sextoblade and have tried Diane, Personna, Vincent, Feather-cut and Kismet blades inside. Kismets are absolutely the best. Very smooth, sharp and long lasting. If you use Personna hair shaper blades be careful as corners are not round so injuries are more than possible.

PM me with where you buy your Kismet blades. I just bought some Weck NOS blades but have not had a chance to use them yet.

I love the Weck Sextoblade. The Wecks are my favorite shavettes, and I've tried many brands of them. I think they replicate the feel of a real straight razor better than any other shavette, so there is less transition going back and forth between them. I often take a Weck in my gym bag or on travel since I don't need to worry about stropping them. I've tried Personna and Fromm blades. I've also heard good things about the Pro-Mate blades but have not tried them yet. I think I have close to a dozen Wecks.

Originally Posted by RezDog

PM me with where you buy your Kismet blades. I just bought some Weck NOS blades but have not had a chance to use them yet.

Check on ebay uk but put EU in search mode. They are also available on deutsch amazon but I don't know about shipping. In Croatian store they cost about 10-11$ for 6 blades pack. Maybe I could get them for you if shipping won't be too expensive.

Well let's shake the dust off this old thread why don't we.

I have had a renewed interest in some Weck sextoblade razors recently that I've gotten in lots with other stuff. Long uninteresting story but I came across one with sentimental value and cleaned her up. I posted a SOTD a while back comparing a couple of different blades. Since I have picked up a few boxes of the original Sextoblades and I have to say that they all work pretty well in that razor functionally but the original Sextoblades seem more......made for it so to speak.

I get Shaun's original comment about the sterile feel. It might be interesting to hear your take on them now Shaun with this much water under the bridge. They all seem better to me after a stropping. I haven't done an out of package vs stropped out of pkg comparison, at least not in a single shave, but that might be a good test. I do really like the.shave from the original Sextoblades although I felt it is not as crisp as the Fromm and Personna. It feels more like a straight shave to me, at least from the one I have used so far. In general I find that the surgical/shaper type blades are pretty consistent but there is the matter of them (Sextoblades recentlyacquired) being carbon steel made in the 50s-60s so that might affect them some I guess.

Anyway, what led me to post was an interesting conclusion that came to me while messing around with these. Whether you love the Sextoblade and the shaper type razors and blades or throw rocks at them I think we can agree that they do all come out of the package pretty crisp with fairly consistent keenness. Also the Sextoblade razors shave pretty similarly to a straight, at least in comparison to some other disposable options. At least thats my take. As such they can be good for those learning how to shave with a straight for judging what the keenness level of the edge should be. Some may disagree but that is how I took it. But another thought I had is that they are a good benchmark to judge how you're doing while learning to hone. When you first start, all the effort of the process can make you want to be pleased with the results and perhaps not judge fairly, especially if you don't have good edges honed by experienced honers to compare to. Also a person might be "settling" for subpar edges not knowing that it can be better, especially if he is doing it all in a vacuum. An experienced honer should be able to consistently surpass the edge quality of the best prep/shaper blade. They then have at least that use, whether you choose to shave with them as part of a rotation or not.

At least those are my thoughts...currently. I'm sure this has probably all been discussed before.

What do you think.

One of the major differences between vintage blades and modern blades is that the modern blades are chemically sharped and the vintage blades are honed. I presume that the vintage blades can be touched up and stropped for very long use. The modern ones will likely not last long with stropping. At least that’s what I understand. I could be wrong on what you can and can’t put a moderne blade through. I’m going to take a wild guess and say that they effect of stropping a modern blade will be similar to what happens when DE users cork their blades.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Well let's shake the dust off this old thread why don't we.

I have had a renewed interest in some Weck sextoblade razors recently that I've gotten in lots with other stuff. Long uninteresting story but I came across one with sentimental value and cleaned her up. I posted a SOTD a while back comparing a couple of different blades. Since I have picked up a few boxes of the original Sextoblades and I have to say that they all work pretty well in that razor functionally but the original Sextoblades seem more......made for it so to speak.

I get Shaun's original comment about the sterile feel. It might be interesting to hear your take on them now Shaun with this much water under the bridge. They all seem better to me after a stropping. I haven't done an out of package vs stropped out of pkg comparison, at least not in a single shave, but that might be a good test. I do really like the.shave from the original Sextoblades although I felt it is not as crisp as the Fromm and Personna. It feels more like a straight shave to me, at least from the one I have used so far. In general I find that the surgical/shaper type blades are pretty consistent but there is the matter of them (Sextoblades recentlyacquired) being carbon steel made in the 50s-60s so that might affect them some I guess.

Anyway, what led me to post was an interesting conclusion that came to me while messing around with these. Whether you love the Sextoblade and the shaper type razors and blades or throw rocks at them I think we can agree that they do all come out of the package pretty crisp with fairly consistent keenness. Also the Sextoblade razors shave pretty similarly to a straight, at least in comparison to some other disposable options. At least thats my take. As such they can be good for those learning how to shave with a straight for judging what the keenness level of the edge should be. Some may disagree but that is how I took it. But another thought I had is that they are a good benchmark to judge how you're doing while learning to hone. When you first start, all the effort of the process can make you want to be pleased with the results and perhaps not judge fairly, especially if you don't have good edges honed by experienced honers to compare to. Also a person might be "settling" for subpar edges not knowing that it can be better, especially if he is doing it all in a vacuum. An experienced honer should be able to consistently surpass the edge quality of the best prep/shaper blade. They then have at least that use, whether you choose to shave with them as part of a rotation or not.

At least those are my thoughts...currently. I'm sure this has probably all been discussed before.

What do you think.

I agree.
I think shavettes are a good thing to start with and an aid to see what the edge should feel like.
The trouble for some is if they send a razor out to use as a benchmark they get exactly one shave to recall and use for future reference. If they are not proficient at stropping ,and why would they be just learning, they will mess the edge up and all reference is gone. Simply replenishing blades in a good shavette is invaluable.
I have tried a few over the years and unlike many I think the motion, care and technique required to use one efficiently is similar enough to a straight to see if its something you would enjoy.
Trouble is some are just awful - Parker for example. Size, weight, everything is off but the blade is well secured and that is a must!
Weck's are pretty good overall and they can be honed and stropped as an aid in stropping as well.
Sort of easing into the maintenance aspect as well although I think someone is better served using a dull razor to learn stropping techniques.
Finding one that is similar in size and weight helps for the transition.

Originally Posted by stoneandstrop

Sort of easing into the maintenance aspect as well although I think someone is better served using a dull razor to learn stropping techniques.

I used an dinner knife, sharp enough to eat with but it wont cut a strop unless your just that bad.

Originally Posted by STF

I used an dinner knife, sharp enough to eat with but it wont cut a strop unless your just that bad.

My Barber made me use a pencil for what was needed for the flip. Rolling the pencil and not flipping the wrist, easy enough to understand. Visual-good!