Old Tech safety razor - stand aside Gillette Mach 3 Turbo!

This is a post about my "new" safety razor - a Brittish Gillette Tech made mostly of aluminium. The handle and blade tray is aluminium, the cap piece is brass with a nickel plating and it is a mild, quite "safe" razor. And cheap too!

I think it´s funny that you can have something that works fine, and then someone makes a new version with better specs, more features, a more high tech appearance, and of course a heftier prize tag. Well, it's marketing and sales of course. And to be fair, most of the time the new stuff is better, and smoother, and nicer looking. More convenient too. But still, the old stuff worked, and sometimes it worked very well. But that's not enough now that the new one is here, right?

I would like to have a new car. I currently drive a Volvo 945 (you know I'm from Sweden, don't you?) with more than 430 000 km (update 2015: 443 000km heh heh) on it. Yes, it really has driven that far! 5 speed manual, noisy, and roughly as exciting as an old ice box on the road. Rust spots too. But it's cheap, it gets me from here to there, and here in Sweden you can buy new brake pads next to the milk. No, of course you can't, I'm kidding, but parts are readily available and cheap. Headlight blown? That's like ten bucks at most. Blow a Xenon headlight on a newer Volvo however and it's more likely 200 bucks. I can swap the camshaft drive belt myself in a few hours or so. But the newer Volvo with the expensive headlights and costly services is smoother, more comfortable and much quieter. Still, my 945 was the new and better one a few years ago!

What am I getting at? Shaving. Razors. The Sensor Excel is great and has a small head that fits nicely under my nose. But then came the Mach 3, wow what a smooth razor! Larger head of course since it holds one more blade. It's really easy to rinse clean due to the more open construction. Really great shaves, but following the newer = usually better = more expensive rule, it costs more. And now there is this Fusion razor, and Fusion Power if you feel like it. Or why not the newest Fusion Proglide with FlexBall Techblah blah blah....

Now here's my point: Some time ago I got interested in safety razors. And I got even more interested when my older brother told me the blades are much cheaper! So, meet my new friend:

  

 

British Gillette Alu Tech Ball End - iPhone 4s, square

This is a Gillette Tech, a British made mostly aluminum razor. Made somewhere along 1950 or so. I paid a whopping $1,50 plus postage for it on the Swedish equivalent of eBay. Blades cost me about 21 dollars for 100 Astra Super Platinums. That's like two years if I shave every day. Oh yes, with the Gillette alu Tech I can shave every day, both with and across/against the grain, something I couldn't do with the Mach 3. This double edge safety razor is mild, meaning it won't cut you so easily or expose a lot of blade to your face. Since I´m quite ham handed the mildness is a plus. You still have to understand that it is holding a very sharp blade, and it can cut you. Press it hard enough against your face and it will happily cut into it!

My shave routine goes like this: wet the face or take a shower, lather with brush and soap, shave with the grain, rinse, lather again, shave across or against the grain depending on what the area can take. One more rinse and I´m done. On the right side of my neck I get ingrown hairs if I go against the growth, so I try not to do that. Ingrowns are a bad idea - if you get them, adjust your shaving technique. Sometimes I shave a little extra if I´ve missed some spot.

After shaving I apply after shave or balm if I feel like it. Smooth, close shave and very little money spent. And if you are into that kind of thing, a nice feeling of doing things like the old days.

Try this for an aftershave: 1dl water, 1dl 95% alcohol, 5ml glycerine and 5 drops of peppermint oil. Nice refreshing scent!   

You can get as snobby or in depth about shaving as you like, join the different forums such as Badger & Blade, buy $200 razors, slants, vintages, different soaps, brushes (oh yes even those come in $250 versions), after shaves, balms, pre-shave oils, different blades, have your favourite razor gold plated and on and on and...

What you really need is a razor, a blade, some soap, a brush and water. You could even use canned gel instead of soap for convenience, or a Mach something instead of the double edge razor. But the cheapest shave would probably be with a vintage razor of a common model such as the Gillette Tech (very little investment up front, or if you prefer a new one perhaps a Muhle R89), Astra Superior Platinum blades, a cheap brush and a run-of-the-mill soap such as the Palmolive stick.

No, no links since I'm not selling anything, the expensive brush link above was just for fun.

However. Depending on how good your technique is, it may not be as smooth going as with the newer, more expensive stuff. It may not be as fast either. You can nick yourself or get razor burn if you or your razor is too aggressive. That's the trade off between old style and new style. You lessen the risk of nicks and burn if you use a mild razor like the Gillette Aluminum Tech.

If you don't mind spending the money, the Mach 3 is great! The shave gel in pressurized cans is very convenient, no doubt. But if you want cheap, good shaving and are willing to invest some time and skill, a double edge or safety razor, brush and soap is the way to go in my opinion. 

For a comparison to a Bluebeards Revenge shavette check out this post.

If you have nothing else to do you can use the dull razor blades to practice TIG welding on. Don't forget to shield the backside as they're stainless...


UPDATE April, 2015: Yep, I bought one more Aluminium Gillette Tech Ball End. They´re so good!

Biicado Touch Pro - CAD for iPad/iPhone that works! Perhaps something for you?

The iPad is the perfect portable device for writing, simple photo- and video editing, web surfing, education and a lot of other things. In my case it has replaced the computer for some 90% or so, a figure that would increase if I had an AirPrint-printer, and more memory in my iPad. Recently it fills another "need" for me - technical drafting. Thanks to BiiCADo Touch Pro:

BiiCADo, showing magnifying window and snap point - iPad mini screenshot

While it's no match against say AutoCad 3D, BiiCADo Touch Pro is still a very competent tool for creating technical drawings in 2D. It sports layers, colors, snap points, ISO-standard measurements, the usual tools like move, trim, radius, grid and much more. You can export DXF or PDF by mail or Dropbox. If you are used to working with programs like AutoCad 2D, Solid Edge 2D or Draftsite you will quickly pick up Biicado Touch. You really can make professional quality drawings with the help of this app.


I'm not going to attempt a tutorial here, but you can be sure this is a potent application that packs a lot for the price! The drawing and manipulating tools are real tools, not some halfway-there effort made to separate you from your cash. This is a real CAD app.


It took some time for me to find it as there are a lot of apps that claim to be "the best" in AppStore. Well, I'm not missing anything since I bought this one. A good stylus helps though, but that's more a thing with the tablet format than this app in particular. I use the iPad mini, and while it's lightweight and compact I think the larger iPads would be easier to draft with - bigger is better when it comes to screen size. But if you favour light and small the mini works well. And I don't even have the retina display!



A useful feature I'd like to mention that works very well is the way Biicado Touch handles drafting and selecting points. Instead of trying to hit the exact point where you, say, would like to start a line, you tap and hold the screen until a magnifying window appears (it appears quickly), then you slide to the point you want with the aid of the magnifier and crosshairs and then lift your finger to select it. Sounds confusing? It's not, just select your tool, tap and slide into position and release when you are there. It's a very clever and precise way, and if you two-finger move or pinch zoom while you are drafting, the current tool pauses, and you just tap-and-slide to resume right where you left off. That way you can draw a line right across a large drawing without zooming out, you can two-finger move several times while drafting the same line or using any other tool.
The magnifying window is actually rather necessary since your finger or stylus is blocking the view most of the time. Clever idea, nonetheless!

You also tap-and-slide to select a start point and then enter lengths, angles, radiuses (depends on what tool you are using) and so on using the input field at the bottom and the keyboard. Or even enter the start point coordinates and everything else without doing any tapping and sliding.


The snap function can be set to your liking or turned off completely if it interfers with your style of drafting. You can turn on or off snap for different points independently of each other. You can set grid snapping units as well, helpful if you want whole number coordinates for objects.


I had an issue with the "move" and "rename" functions not working, but after contacting BAST, the Germans, there was an update a week later that fixed it. Way to go, these are serious guys!



Those of you that know CAD will find Biicado Touch a great tool, but if you only want to make sketches or simple room plans this might not be for you. If you've never used CAD-programs before you might be put off by the learning curve. I find Biicado Touch to be the perfect companion to SketchUp for my needs. Having access to real CAD in a very portable and lightweight format is a winner for me!


UPDATE 13 september 2014:

I have found a few minor bugs and contacted BAST about them. Very fast response and nice guys to deal with. Thumbs up! Biicado will get even better by the next update!