Atelier Durdan N°7 razor pass around.....

So sorry it took so long to do my first shave report on the N7, I wanted at least 2 day’s growth before using it. So I decided to started with the 7.1 plate and used a twice used Gillette Platinum blade. Lathered up and decided to do a 2 pass shave going both WTG and ATG as I wanted to see if the razor had any blade chatter which it did not on this shave. There’s a little bit of blade feel but it wasn’t a lot. As a comparison I’d say less than a SS Blackbird but more than a Paradigm Diamondback. As I mentioned before the razor seems a bit handle heavy and it’s not at the very bottom of the handle as most handle heavy razors I’ve shaved with have exhibited but more so a little above the halfway mark on the handle. It wasn’t a problem while shaving at all. I’m just expressing what I’m feeling I got in hand from the razor. This throws the balance off a bit but again nothing dramatic and it’s just an adjustment on my part to get it where I like it. 
On this particular shave I did a decent amount of skin stretching and I used a little higher angle on my cheeks and my neck but rode closer to the SB on my more sensitive areas around my mouth and lips. I was a little worried about the razor blade as I normally only do 2 shaves with a blade so for me I was pushing the Gillette but it preformed very well so this new to me blade has impressed me enough that I ordered a decent amount of them as I’ll put them into my blade stash and rotation. 

First pass went well and the razor took down my 2+ days growth with no problem on the WTG pass. Rinsed and felt my face and I was pleased with how much of the growth was gone. On the ATG pass I continued to skin stretch just a bit. I wasn’t real aggressive with it on this shave and I heard no chatter and there was no drag from this razor as well. After finishing the pass I decided I wasn’t going to do any buffing and see how the shave went. I ended up with areas on my cheeks that were what I call entry level BBS and the rest of my face and neck were a solid DFS. Overall I was pleased with the shave I got. No irritation at all. 

So I’m looking forward to using the 2 more efficient baseplates and see what changes with the shave. I’m going to wait until I have 2+ days growth again so I can compare Apples to Apples. 

Oh and if anyone is wondering all I have in my den right now is my own soap. So until I replenish a couple of my favorites I lost in the fire that’s all I’ve got so not trying to promote here as most of the time when I do a review I use other soaps or creams. Oh and that brush in the photo was sent to me by one of the members and if you see this post Chris, thank you! 

Have a great one guys. 

Last night I used the 1.1 baseplate and I loaded it with a new Gillette Platinum blade as I wanted to use the same blade each time to make things consistent. The shave went uneventful and I found that the razor with this baseplate had a bit more blade feel but again nothing over the top. I only did 2 passes as I want to be able to have my next shave on Thursday or Friday when I use the last most effective baseplate. With this shave I’m getting more used to the weight of the razor so not a factor in the end result. Probably in my 23 yrs of being in this hobby of traditional wet shaving I’ve shaved with a whole lot of razors between my at one time collection of almost 200 razors and the 2 different Shave Offs I did where members would send me razors to be put into the Shave Offs. I’ve shave with everything from extremely mild to extremely aggressive/efficient/effective razors including DE and SE razors and at this point I know my face well and have mapped it out a few times over the years. I’ve got my technique down so I can pretty much get a good shave out of any razor with slight adjustments and this razor is no different. I am however much pickier these days when buying a razor as what I look for in a razor is a great balance of smoothness, efficiency and maneuverability. So if a razor is missing any of those I may like trying it out but I’ll probably pass on purchasing it. Also a factor and this may sound weird to some but the people that feel the same as I do know what I’m talking about and that is a razor has to have a lot of character or what I call soul. If it feels generic and lacking this and I’ll note price is not always a factor then again it’s highly unlikely I’ll purchase it. Some examples, a Vintage Gibbs, Toggle, Aristocrat, a modern Wolfman, Paradigm. Ikon Tek or 2011 R41 as examples all have it where’s as for me a many RR razors like Game changer and the Gillette New, the Alfa, many of the Meckurs, Van de Hagen etc as examples are missing that thing. For some reason this razor so far unfortunately falls into the generic feel to me. It’s probably just me but I’ll give it one more go with the more aggressive plate and see if my opinion changes. I hate to be a downer but I also have to be honest in my experience and report. I’ll post my conclusion after the next shave and get it out to dtownvino Mike after that. BTW the 2 pass shave yielded a partial BBS and DFS result.

I will say the finish on the razor is very nice. The only two things I noticed are the lack of high polish on the underside of the top cap and the the lines in the top cap that are not straight across but at a slight but noticeable angle. This may be a prototype and that’s been fixed on the current production razor I’m not sure.

Also a factor and this may sound weird to some but the people that feel the same as I do know what I’m talking about and that is a razor has to have a lot of character or what I call soul. If it feels generic and lacking this and I’ll note price is not always a factor then again it’s highly unlikely I’ll purchase it. Some examples, a Vintage Gibbs, Toggle, Aristocrat, a modern Wolfman, Paradigm. Ikon Tek or 2011 R41 as examples all have it where’s as for me a many RR razors like Game changer and the Gillette New, the Alfa, many of the Meckurs, Van de Hagen etc as examples are missing that thing. For some reason this razor so far unfortunately falls into the generic feel to me.

Soul...Character....X-Factor .... people call it by different names but it is that intangible trait that makes me gravitate towards...or away from a razor.

The process is not rational and is based on how you feel when you look at a razor. Most of the time it happens at a sub-conscious level. I think this is one of the reasons why I have never even bothered trying some razors.

Also a factor and this may sound weird to some but the people that feel the same as I do know what I’m talking about and that is a razor has to have a lot of character or what I call soul. If it feels generic and lacking this and I’ll note price is not always a factor then again it’s highly unlikely I’ll purchase it. Some examples, a Vintage Gibbs, Toggle, Aristocrat, a modern Wolfman, Paradigm. Ikon Tek or 2011 R41 as examples all have it where’s as for me a many RR razors like Game changer and the Gillette New, the Alfa, many of the Meckurs, Van de Hagen etc as examples are missing that thing. For some reason this razor so far unfortunately falls into the generic feel to me.

Soul...Character....X-Factor .... people call it by different names but it is that intangible trait that makes me gravitate towards...or away from a razor.

The process is not rational and is based on how you feel when you look at a razor. I think this is one of the reasons why I have never even bothered
trying some razors.

I think the No7 does have some.
Many great razors I have tried didn’t, such as the RS-10 and BBS-1

Also a factor and this may sound weird to some but the people that feel the same as I do know what I’m talking about and that is a razor has to have a lot of character or what I call soul. If it feels generic and lacking this and I’ll note price is not always a factor then again it’s highly unlikely I’ll purchase it. Some examples, a Vintage Gibbs, Toggle, Aristocrat, a modern Wolfman, Paradigm. Ikon Tek or 2011 R41 as examples all have it where’s as for me a many RR razors like Game changer and the Gillette  New, the Alfa, many of the Meckurs, Van de Hagen etc as examples are missing that thing. For some reason this razor so far unfortunately falls into the generic feel to me.

Soul...Character....X-Factor .... people call it by different names but it is that intangible trait that makes me gravitate towards...or away from a razor.

The process is not rational and is based on how you feel when you look at a razor. I think this is one of the reasons why I have never even bothered
trying some razors.

I think the No7 does have some.
Many great razors I have tried didn’t, such as the RS-10 and BBS-1

Nothing lacked soul to me more than the Henson and Rockwell 6S.  Fine shaves from both but just no attachment to either.

The RS10 - I wouldn’t give up ever, and I feel similarly to the diamondback in Ti. Keepers for life.

Soul...Character....X-Factor .... people call it by different names but it is that intangible trait that makes me gravitate towards...or away from a razor.

The process is not rational and is based on how you feel when you look at a razor. I think this is one of the reasons why I have never even bothered
trying some razors.

I think the No7 does have some.
Many great razors I have tried didn’t, such as the RS-10 and BBS-1

Nothing lacked soul to me more than the Henson and Rockwell 6S.  Fine shaves from both but just no attachment to either.

The RS10 - I wouldn’t give up ever, and I feel similarly to the diamondback in Ti. Keepers for life.

1000% Concur about the new titanium Paradigm Diamondback. In my small arsenal of razors it’s quickly fighting for the top spot both in looks and shave experience. Wonderful razor.

Nothing lacked soul to me more than the Henson and Rockwell 6S.  Fine shaves from both but just no attachment to either.

In case of Henson (Ti) it may be just a matter of swapping out that soulless handle.
With a Wolfman WRH-7, perhaps?

Last Shave with the N7 

I used the most aggressive baseplate for this one and the blade feel did increase but it wasn’t as much as some aggressive razors I’ve used. The razor does feel a bit more comfortable in hand as I knew I’d get used to it but I still notice the handle heaviness but it doesn’t bother me as much as the first time I picked it up. This baseplate brought out some character but overall it still feels a bit to generic for my liking. A good razor, just not for me performance wise and I’m mixed on the overall appearance. I do want to be perfectly clear this is not a bad shaving razor and I think my favorite base was the .7 if I had to pick just one. 

Thank you GlazedBoker  Gus my brother for the chance to try it and for the owner of the company who’s name I embarrassingly don’t know. 

Great shaves all 

Pass around update:


N*7 Pass Around list:
1. GlazedBoker - North Brunswick, NJ - Completed
2. Phoenixkh - Gainesville, FL - Completed
3. cigarman - St. Louis, MO - Completed
4. rocket - Denver, CO - Completed
5. Dragonsbeard - Webster, NY - Completed & shipped
6. Dtownvino - Philadelphia, PA - in hand testing
7. Keto _ Aurora, MO
8. Big_T - King, NC
9. Spacemonkey42 - Williamstown, MA
10. Calm_Shaver - NY, NY
11. ewk - Goose Creek, SC
12. Bbssboss - Boston, MA
13. wyze0ne - Farmington Hills, MI
14. Marhos24 - Armada, MI
15. Stickshift - Chicago, IL
16. Einar - Appleton, WI
17. jbreakfield - Daphne, AL
18. Rudy Vey - South Plainfield, NJ
19. WVShaver - Mason, WV
20. Lesser - Chappaqua, NY

Good morning fellow wet shavers.  I want to thank Gus and AD for allowing us the test this fine razor. 

As I promised last night, I had my first shave in with the No7 using the .70 plate.  

First my impressions of the razor are very positive. While I didn’t study the head in detail yet, I did pay close attention to the handle.  The handle is a slightly larger diameter than most of my razors which does result in holding it a little closer to the head than I normally do.  It’s just where I found it best balance point for me.    

I loaded the razor with an Israeli Red blade and was off to a 2.5 pass shave.  I started with the normal WTG pass and things felt a bit tuggy.  That is likely to the fact that I had a full 2 days growth and did not want to do anything more than let the razors weight do the work.  The results of the first pass was that much of my stubble was mowed down and the razor performed excellent on my neck.  This is where it shines for me, neck comfort.  

As I rinsed and inspected my face, I felt a few more whiskers on my jaw line than I would have liked.  At this point, I decided I would likely need to perform an extra pass here along with my neck to get a BBS as that was my goal.  

Second pass, ATG and the razor was smooth for me not a single spot or irritation. I really liked how this pass went and after inspecting my face only the lateral aspects of my chin and neck would call for a 3rd pass, hence the 2.5 pass I normally do with most razors. 

For pass #3 I decided to J hook my jaw line which left me a DFS but not BBS here.  I proceeded to perform a standard X pattern on my neck and resulted in a BBS on the neck to match my cheeks and mustache area, without irritation.  Even my recent raised scar on my neck - no nicks or irritation (see bottom pic of scar). 

So all in all I ended up with a great first shave with the razor.  I will update here how long the BBS lasts and what the plan of attack is for the second shave.  

Update: BBS held up 6 hours (a little low for the amount of blade feel I had). Preparing for the 1.1 tomorrow morning with 2 days growth. We will see where it goes from there but I don’t know if I see the need to go above that plate for myself.