Hi All!

One of my most recent acquisitions was a very small Boker, which looked to be in fantastic condition. I don't know a lot about it, other than that the tree design suggests it was an early 1900s blade (no surprise there, of course), and it looked like it had never been honed. Both blade and scales were in prestine condition.



Apologies for the image quality--I don't have any close-ups of the insignia, and the shadows on the tissue paper almost make the blade look crooked; it isn't.

Anyway, the most notable feature is, of course, its size. It's a tiny blade--4/8, I guess, and it was a stretch for me to even buy it, as I like the looks of the mid-size and larger blades. Despite that reservation, it honed up beautifully, developing a very small, even bevel, and holding one hell of an edge!

Now, having never used a small blade before, I was unsure what to expect, and I must admit that my first shave was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't really like the feel of it during the shave; it was obviously sharp, but it just felt odd on my face, and changed all my angles.

Last night was round 2 for the Boker, and after I finished my first pass with my Sheffield, and I decided to actually go for an XTG/ATG pass--something I usually leave up to my DE, as I've had trouble doing ATG with a straight. Wow. Just wow. I gave the Boker a shot, and it was an absolute revelation! The size of the blade let me contour around the curves of my face, and, for the first time, let me adequately navigate my chin!

Hooray for Boker, and hooray for small blades! My first truly decent full shave is under my belt, along with my first painless ATG pass using a straight!