WetShaving
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Mailcall
I think project Moarteen has made me impatient and when I found a new Böker 14er at a shockingly high discount, I cracked and ordered this beauty.
I've been playing with the idea of buying one for close to two years, but at its regular price of €350+ it's quite the indulgence for me, especially since I prefer utilitarian design over lavish decorations. Function over form.
Further, it's this in-between level of lavish. Yes, it's goldwashed, but a bit sloppily, yes, it has a decorated face and spine, but it's cheap laser engraving. It's the Trump brand kind of luxury. Shiny on the outside, but only at first glance. However: every Böker I've ever tried was just fantastic quality work where it counts: perfect geometry with no wobble and perfectly even bevels, best-in-class jimping (which sounds a bit funny to me every time I mention it, but it makes the shanks just so damn ergonomic, clear straight lines in the entire geometry, without imperfections ground and filed away and polished over like Henckels, Filarmónicas, W&B, etc, (not that this last bit matters for shave quality, but I appreciate attention to such details, and it gives me confidence that the manufacturer has the right priorities).
Anyway, enough rationalisation of my impulse buy. I cracked and this pretty goldwashed modern 14 is the result:
I hadn't seen on the pictures that the scales are actually dark blurple, rather than black and I like it a lot. Note that the goldwash is uneven around the shank and even missing on a spot under the "14". The shiny decorated face and the little tree inlay in the scales look even better in person, but I didn't have the patience to fiddle with the photo setup to capture them right.
The shank shows what I mean when I say that Böker has the best geometric tolerances among all mass-producing straight razor manufacturers I know: The spine and tail are rounded for comfort, but the curvature flows into the perfectly rectangular cross section of the shank that makes Brad Maggard get all dreamy saying "there's just this nice, big, flat spot for you to put your thumb and fingers on". The transition is perfectly symmetric viewed from the top (should have taken that picture too, but oh well). You can already kinda see it in this picture, but the jimping is perfectly regular on both the top and bottom of the shank.
Here's a better view on it:
See it? Isn't that just the nicest grip you've ever seen on a mass-produced razor? BTW, It's the same quality on my vintage Böker S.S. Paris wins which I described in some details during last year's TabOKtoberfest, the pretty Abalone, and on VisceralWatch's Böker that I test-shaved recently. The QA in this company seems consistently good where it counts (i.e., not the goldwash 😅).
The spine is also prettily decorated similarly to a 472/472½ Friodur. Nice if you're into that kinda thing.
Finally, it wouldn't be a fancy Böker without the deadly point 💀
I'm looking forward to giving this new 14 a wirl. I'm also curious about the factory edge on this.
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Operation Moarteen – Sign up thread
This is not a drill! Operation Moarteen proceeds and the next step is you signing up.
What happens next?
1) Sign-up
You fill out this form with your name, address, reddit user name, email address (You need to specify the email address linked to your paypal account, so we can link you to your payment.)
Why do we need all that information?
We use your reddit user name do determine your priority in case we need to set up a wait list (more on this later).
We use your email address linked to your paypal so we can request payment from you.
We communicate your shipping address to Ulrik together with your email address, so he can ship your Moarteen and send you tracking info.
2) Prioritisation
In the unlikely event that we hit the limit of 50 razors we will prioritise members based on how active they've been in this last inter-sub-exclusive interval. (Measured by (a) the number of sub-exclusive hardware group buys they've organised and (b) the number of comments posted between the announcement of Moar Boar on Fri Aug 5, 2022, 10:51:31 UTC and the announcement of Moarteen on Fri Sep 20, 2024, 06:26:15 UTC). This seemed fairer than a first-come-first-served list which would favour some time zones over others. Note that this prioritisation scheme automatically allocates the highest priority to the three members of the Project Moarteen Organising Committee (PMOC/OCPM), I hope that isn't surprising to anyone)
People who don't make in into the top 50 get put on a wait list for any spots that might open up.
3) Confirmation with Ulrik
Once we have a number, we make the final confirmation with Ulrik of Koraat and get a formal offer where we and he commit to the price. At this point, we will also know whether Ulrik managed to source the exact colour of the Moar Boar handle for the scales.
4) Down payment
Once you've made it on the list and Ulrik has confirmed, we will ask you for a down payment of EUR 25. The goal here is to avoid flakes like we had with Operation Moar Boar my forcing you to have some skin in the game when taking up a spot.
5) Production
Ulrik produces the razors. The estimated timeline is by end of the first quarter of 2025, but Ulrik said that it could be longer if we order closer to the end of this year.
6) Final invoice
Once Ulrik is done with the razors, he will invoice us. At this point, we will request payment from all of you for the remaining cost of the razor, shipping and the 5% flake buffer mentioned in the announcement.
7) Shipping and ensuing happiness
Ulrik ships the razors and wetshavedom rejoices.
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Please put your questions, suggestions, and complaints in the comments here and we'll address them. If any changes to the procedure outlined here should become necessary, we will try to stick to their intent and meaning as well as we can and communicate proactively.
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Operation Moarteen – Because Moar Boar was so 2022
Alright, it's been a minute since the last sub-exclusive hardware announcement, and it's time for a new project. We all have our sub-exclusive Moar Boars, and they're clamouring for a matching sub-exclusive razor. But it can't be just any razor. In sub-exclusive hardware tradition, it has to be the very best razor of its class at an affordable price.
Project Moarteen Organising Committee (PMOC/OCPM), what is this about?
I'm glad you asked! One of the best straight razor formats in the world is the 14. You know it, I know it, deep down even Pudding and Infernal with their paddles know it. There are lots of great razors, but the 14 stands out as universally loved: the big size makes it run calm like a near wedge, the extra hollow grind makes it flexible and gentle as a feather, the square point with the slightly rounded point makes it forgiving. It's the best of all worlds for beginners and aficionados alike.
Yes, PMOC, but 14s are super expensive, aren't they?
You're right, good modern 14s like the Böker 14er, Koraat 14-2.0 or River Razors 14 are pricey.
But could I not just buy a vintage 14? I hear those are great!
Yes, you could! But mint or NOS vintage 14s like the Filarmónica, the Henckels, the Iberia, the Frio, etc, cost a lot too, plus probably need to be honed.
That's terrible! How will we get 14 goodness to the masses?
I have an idea: 1) The Koraat Sparschweinchen is an excellent and very affordable straight razor with a roughly similar shape as the 14. It has a thicker grind and a round (yet surprisingly pointy) point, so it doesn't feel like a 14 at all. But 2) Ulrik, one of the artisans behind Koraat, also makes the Koraat 14-2.0, a highly acclaimed 14 razor.
🤔 1) + 2) = 💡
We could ask Ulrik of Koraat to make us a 14 razor with the finish of a Sparschweinchen!
PMOC?
Yes?
You already asked Ulrik, didn't you?
Yes, we did! And he's all in!
Ulrik agrees to make a sub-exclusive Moarteen version of the 14-2.0 with the following modifications:
- Instead of the 14-2.0 stamp, these will be stamped with lathersnoo, a simplified version of the Moar Boar logo to mark them as our sub-exclusive.
- The contours (spine, tang, tail), will have the raw forged finish like the Sparschweinchen.
- The scales will have a simpler, turned spacer to simplify assembly.
- The scales colour will be RAL 6035, i.e., the exact colour of the Moar Boar handle (in J33p's voice: matchy matchy 💅).
PMOC, that sounds like all of the points that make the 14 a great format are still there‽
Why yes! It's a real 14 razor. It's 15/16" wide, has a full hollow grind, thin belly, and square point with slightly rounded corner.
Oh, but how much will it cost?
This is the great part! In this configuration, Ulrik is willing to make them at the Sparschweinchen price, EUR 165 a piece, as long as we order no more than 50 razors.
That's a great price! How about shipping?
All shipping is handled by Ulrik, and he only sends tracked and insured parcels.
Prices are in three tiers:
- EU: EUR 18, but EU group members will also have to pay 20% Austrian VAT.
- Near EU (E.g., Switzerland, UK, Norway): EUR 17, no VAT.
- Worldwide (excluding China and North Korea): EUR 25 - 30
That sounds fair, what's the timeline on this?
If we commit to an order in early October, Ulrik estimates that we'll have them in hand in Q1 2025.
How would we order this? Who would we pay?
It is a group buy, and we will reuse the Moar Boar infrastructure. If you commit to ordering a Moarteen, you will be asked to pay your part by Paypal to [email protected] like last time. Our treasurer gcgallant will hound the stragglers.
Important: From experience with the Moar Boar, we should expect that there will be some people who change their mind and ghost us after having committed. Some of the organisers ended up a couple hundred EUR short (Ok, it was me). We would like to spread that risk among all of us this time by raising the price of each individual razor by 5% (or EUR 8.25). If no one flakes, we simply leave the extra cash in the paypal account for the next sub exclusive project, and if too many flake and the 5% turn out to be insufficient, gcgallant and I will carry that financial risk.
Ok, where do we go from here?
We will publish a sign-up post soon™, but we wanted to make this pre-announcement to get some feedback in case we overlooked a major detail and to answer questions you might have.
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Best razor for tough whiskers
I'm not at all satisfied with my Edwin Jagger. I need a good razor it's fairly aggressive because my whiskers are like barbed wire. So please recommend me a decent razor that's fairly aggressive.
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Third Buena Vista Wetshaving Social Club Prep
Since we cannot trust postal services anymore: Nominate your soap for the October group shave!
