Thread: Joining the Fillie Fanciers

Originally Posted by JimR

I still can't believe the edge--did anyone else have the same with an NOS?

Nice razor, congrats! My experience with the edge of my NOS Barbas Duras was the same - I was amazed at how sharp it was right out of the sealed plastic. Totally unexpected surprise.

The other thing I noted is that the Barbas Duras is not just a #14 with a rubber tang grip, as I expected. They seem to be different razors but both excellent. The grind on the Barbas Duras feels thinner to me, and it handles and shaves a bit differently. Mine lacks the typical smile of the #14 Doble Temple, is more evenly balanced, and is more aggressive. My #14 Doble Temple feels thicker, blade-heavier, and has a more forgiving-feeling edge.

The scales are different too. The Barbas Duras scales are harder and shiny, the Doble Temple scales are softer and dull (but with great vintage automobile/guitar colors). Both are admittedly cheap-feeling, but the Barbas Duras seems less so. I love the rubber tang grip too.

The shave from the #14 Doble Temple is unique, I haven't felt anything exactly like it in terms of how it handles and feels against the skin. Big, heavy, sharp, friendly. Like a more refined W&B chopper. The Barbas Duras reminds me a little bit of a really good Friodur, both in terms of how well it handles for it's large size, and for it's edge. Big, but precise, streamlined in it's handling, and just wickedly sharp and efficient.

Love them both. Those Spaniards got it right.

Originally Posted by SiRed8

Awesome piece there Jim! How's the balance?

She handles great...Fatboy Slim pretty much pegged it. Big, but nimble and smooth. Just a fantastic razor, all around...Another great shave last night!

Originally Posted by JimR

She handles great...Fatboy Slim pretty much pegged it. Big, but nimble and smooth. Just a fantastic razor, all around...Another great shave last night!

The weight of the blade alone is enough to sever the whiskers. All you need to do is guide it around your mug.

Out of the box mine needed a little bit of work. It shaved, but not quite as well as I wanted it to. But who else to hone up the 14 EPBD but Mad Max? Now mine is in a league of its own.

(I have the brown one with the muted square point)

Originally Posted by Oglethorpe

The weight of the blade alone is enough to sever the whiskers. All you need to do is guide it around your mug.

Out of the box mine needed a little bit of work. It shaved, but not quite as well as I wanted it to. But who else to hone up the 14 EPBD but Mad Max? Now mine is in a league of its own.

(I have the brown one with the muted square point)

Well, I have to say that I didn't find the EPBD that heavy, it is lighter than most 7/8 - 8/8 I've used.

I've opened and honed at least a dozen of these and out of the plastic pouch, these won't shave properly. They hone pretty fast and easy.

Yes, I fully expected to have to hone it to be shave-ready. In fact, this thought worried me for such an expensive razor. I didn't want to chance messing it up if it actually needed a lot of work to be shave ready.

But this one amazed me by easily passing HHT all along the length, right out of the sealed plastic. I expected that even if it somehow escaped the factory perfectly honed, sitting for almost 40 years (even sealed in plastic) would cause some degrading in the edge.

Because I'm obsessive, I did give it 20 strokes with a Nakayama Karasu stone and then stropped it before shaving. But the Karasu can't really salvage a mediocre edge, it can only refine an already really good edge, so I doubt my minimal "honing" made a substantial difference to the factory edge. It was more habit than anything. And it easily passed HHT out of the plastic, before it touched a hone or strop.

I've universally been disappointed by factory edges on new or NOS razors (unless a honemeister honing was added before shipping), which is why I had to comment on this one. Maybe this one was just a very well-honed fluke.

Beautiful Jim! Something about those just get under your skin. They'll just never got "old".