New player in the DE world. Karve Shaving Company.

The Gentleman

The Gentleman

Forum GOD!
First shave with the F plate this morning. I matched the head with a Timeless handle and the balance got much better. Loaded with a 7 O'Clock Super Stainless on its third shave the razor easily removed two days of growth. Very efficient. Not super smooth, but not uncomfortable and the result was great. Tomorrow I'll use the E plate again with another blade, probably a Nacet. And I'll stick to the same handle.
20180816_092451.jpg
 
Str8Mug

Str8Mug

Forum GOD!
From my last shave with the Karve and E plate, I decided to give myself a couple of days of growth and see how the F plate would fair. I used the same Astra SP blade with one shave on it and got set up. I wasn’t expecting equal smoothness to the D or E plate and honestly I wanted a step up in efficiency and blade feel and wouldn’t mind sacrificing a bit of smoothness to get it.

Well, I got what I wanted and in spades. Yet, to me the F plate still gave me a relatively smooth feeling shave that was comfortable and easy to manage with sound technique. No, you don’t need Ikon Tech touch or technique, far from it but, you still have to show a tad of awareness cause if you slip up, it can bite a bit. I was actually quite surprised and pleased at the amount of hair it removed on the first pass alone. Like I said very good efficient feel with a nice forward blade feel to it. Not aggressive gents, just nice blade feel and a nice sounding cutting action.

I can’t compare the Karve with some of the Higher end razors such as a Timeless .95 SB/OC, Charcoal Goods L2 or L3 or any Wolfman in .80/.86 gaps for I don’t have either one of those. Plus the Gents that have posted prior to me here have given excellent renderings with the razors I’ve mentioned on comparison values to the Karve. I don’t have a high end DE to compare it to besides a Dart & Blackbird and a Rex Ambassador. The first 2 Blackland razors I get a bit more in blade feel and efficiency with just a whisker less smoothness compared to the Karve. With the Rex I get a bit less blade feel, but almost if not equally smooth to the Karve. Actually, the only razor that I have that actually feels like the Karve “F” in both efficiency and smoothness is an SE, the Cobra Classic. The Cobra feels like it hugs my face more but, they are very similar in feel and shave action.

To sum it up, it’s just an excellent shave system with perhaps the best bang pound for pound for your hard earned $$$. It stacks up very well with any razor I have in my den regardless of format, including straights. I’m going to put in a full months work of shaves just to fiddle with it a bit but, I know the outcome. It’s a hell of a razor.....

59C50109-9AFE-45BB-B800-46EAA906C777.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Holyzeus

Holyzeus

Forum GOD!
Just the smell, C plate wasn’t quite efficient enough for me either but at the time it only went up to D so thought C was more than enough.
Pretty much at that point he decided to trial two bigger blade gaps
 
  • Like
Reactions: p.b
Nishy

Nishy

Forum GOD!
Staff member
I'm glad I don't get any brass scent from mine, strangely it hasn't really dulled or developed a patina as yet either. @Str8Mug is spot on with the Cobra Classic comparison, very similar feel. @p.b I can send you my Karve if you fancy a try, just PM me.
 
p.b

p.b

Forum GOD!
Thanks @Nishy I'll give you a shout in a couple of weeks when I'm back from holiday. I love my Cobra so this offer is much appreciated.

Somewhere on this forum there's a statement that skin type affects how much the brass smells, plus also there's always nose sensitivity to certain scents. A friend of mine had cystic fibrosis and one of the results was very high levels of salt in his sweat. As a result rust would form on mild steel within 5 minutes of him touching it! I guess my skin my trigger the smell effect on brass.
 
Str8Mug

Str8Mug

Forum GOD!
p.b said:
Does ANYONE dislike this razor??? I'd love to try it, if only it wasn't made from brass.
Click to expand...
You know, you could get it nickel plated. It will stop the brass smell and give you a nice semi SS look to it. A couple of Gents I know have done it and it actually looks quite nice. Just a thought....
 
p.b

p.b

Forum GOD!
Str8Mug said:
You know, you could get it nickel plated. It will stop the brass smell and give you a nice semi SS look to it. A couple of Gents I know have done it and it actually looks quite nice. Just a thought....
Click to expand...
I had considered it and maybe if I’m bowled over by one it might convince me to do that. Ideally I’d like it in aluminium because I don’t like heavy razors and thought I’d heard rumours that was coming.
 
Wayne

Wayne

Forum Sod
p.b said:
Was it just the smell of brass that made you sell it or the shave it's self? I also hate the smell of brass
Click to expand...
It was two things with me, the smell lf Brass which I couldn't take and the awful design of the head with the cut outs that showed off too much blade I really didn't like that aesthetically.
 
vtmax

vtmax

Forum GOD!
Wayne said:
It was two things with me, the smell lf Brass which I couldn't take and the awful design of the head with the cut outs that showed off too much blade I really didn't like that aesthetically.
Click to expand...
I haven’t written YMMV in a while now but a clear case here. No smell of brass on my two Karve’s including the polished one but everyone’s nose is different.

Finest designed head I’ve used in years of wet shaving and tons of DE’s. The cut outs are perfectly designed around the blade. Chris built the Karve around the blade not the other way around. No extra bulk incorporated. Most (especially modern) DE heads are far too cumbersome in design imo, the Timeless and Variant for example. Charcoal gets closer to that ideal design like the Karve.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top