Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread - October 29, 2023
djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social 11 months ago
Twenty-ninth Day of TabOKtoberfest
- Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts Tabak Oridjinal
- Razor: Zwilling J. A. Henckels Friodur Unnumbered 8/8" ( hollow ground, stainless steel, round point)
- Lather: Mäurer & Wirtz – Tabac Original
- Post Shave: Mäurer & Wirtz – Tabac Original
- Fragrance: Mäurer & Wirtz – Tabac Original
Ok, just wow. This big unnumbered Friodur is something else. I replaced its broken scales on Friday and honed it yesterday. The result not only looks stunning, but it’s also a heavenly smooth razor. I’ll try it again tomorrow, but my preliminary impression is that I think this must be my smoothest and sharpest edge to date. It felt almost like a coated Kismet, but with that calm weight and heft of a 14 (It’s not a 14, though, more on this later): It’s a little like starting on an incline, with a tractor. You have all that raw power, you give only a tiny hint of an impulse on the pedal and off you go smoothly, gently and in full control. Like resistance is irrelevant. The feeling of wiping off whiskers with a feather, but with the size of an FBU.
I’ve been trying to read about the unnumbered Friodurs, but I can’t find a any good info. Regarding its age, Griffith Shaving Goods is selling one that looks just like mine:
(they sell it as a 7/8", and mine is just a smidge over 8/8",
but it’s the closest I could find), they claim it’s from the 1980s or 1990s. So this might be from the last production runs before the Twin Works stopped making straights?
Either way, it seems to be ground “more hollow” than the 14, in the sense that thinned part of the blade goes closer to the spine, and it’s also a different blank, with a straight tang and spine, and absolutely no smile. So this is clearly not a member of the legendary family of “14” blades, see below for a comparison with a Friodur 14 (middle) and Filarmónica 14 (bottom):
but my initial impression couldn’t be better. Just wow.
Pinging @gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social, the search is not over with yesterday’s Frio 14, you’ll want this in your den, too. At the very least for science.
Stank ++;
gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social 11 months ago
I’ve seen the one on Griffiths, and have been tempted, but unreliable forum rumor suggests that the later Twinworks-labeled razors (as opposed to Zwillingswerk) are not considered to be as good. Of course, some folks don’t consider stainless razors worth using ;-)
The blade shape on my Frio 14 is similar to your unnumbered one, and I was noticing during this morning’s shave that access to certain hollow areas on the neck are a little more difficult with this one than with my two other 14s. It’s a solvable problem, though. Oh, and I have a fourth 14-style razor (“for science”) on its way to me from across the pond.
djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social 10 months ago
Both mine and the one on Griffiths are stamped Zwillingswerk, so problem solved 😅 But kidding aside, I find it difficult to get any info that isn’t just some dude’s opinion when it comes to Frios.
From the pictures, it seems like yours has the normal 14 blank, with the curved fat tang and the slight curve in the spine. The unnumbered 8/8" has a perfectly straight and more slender tang. and both the spine and edge are perfectly straight, too.
What do you mean? Access for cleaning?
Oh, “14-style”. So not a 14 per se? Let me guess: you already have the Koraat 14-2.0, it’s not a Frio 8/8 or you would just have said “me too”, so… you sprung for the Böker 14?
gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social 10 months ago
I was referring to the edge profile. Most of the 14s seem to have an edge with a slight smile. My Fili has it, and my Koraat has it, but my Frio 14’s edge is almost straight.
Access for shaving. I’ve found that the blade’s heel section does a great job of shaving hollow areas to either side of my Adam’s Apple. A tiny smile at the edge seems to help.
No. It’s a custom razor made by Boris de Riviere (River Razors). It will probably take 5 days to travel to the US from France, then it will probably sit in US Customs for about 3 weeks. With luck, I’ll get it towards the end of November.