I Love The Karve Razor

I definitely agree that Karve > Rockwell. But in the end I wasn't impressed by Karve either. I think both are just not very efficient compared to better razors out there. Individual thoughts about each: the Rockwell is too mild in all settings, people equate the mildness with smoothness which I think is wrong. If the razor feels good on the face but isn't removing hair efficiently then that's problematic. I think the Karve moves more towards the right idea and is more efficient, but still I feel like for the face feel it does provide the efficiency is still severely lacking. I have had all the Karve plates, the face feel goes up but the efficiency is mediocre on all of them IMO.

This becomes obvious if you try something from Tatara or a Wolfman, where for the same face feel equivalent plates on either Rockwell or Karve the efficiency is much better. My Wolfman feels like a B or C plate but cuts better than the G plate. Made the Karve superfluous, what's the point of it if it's less comfortable, doesn't cut as well, and you have to own multiple plates to figure this out fully .... MOIMO YMMV etc

What you just wrote makes absolutely no sense. There is no such thing as this mythical "efficiency", hence the Kool-Aid drinkers who are never satisfied and cannot stop buying razors in their quest for this purported "El Dorado". Blade gap/exposure is everything. Period. A razor is merely a blade holder. What you call "efficiency" is merely aggression. Makers can only put the blade closer to the skin and vary the exposure. Nothing else can be done to change these two factors other than what I just mentioned. It is pure science and not alchemy. But hey, keep throwing barrels of cash to artisanal "alchemists" who claim to be able to turn lead into gold. It's sad that some people actually buy into this crap and funny thing is.............they never seem to find that perfection. Unbelievable. 

D plate is my poison and I’m not an aggressive razor man. I really get one with the Karve too.

Ordered my Karve on Monday. 
Departed from Edmonton on Tuesday.
Arrived in Saskatoon on Wednesday.
Departed from Saskatoon on Wednesday.
Arrived in Winnipeg on Thursday.
Departed from Winnipeg on Friday...
I live in Montreal!

My Karve is now in Ottawa!  What the hell is Canada Post doing?  Is the last leg by donkey?

Ordered my Karve on Monday. 
Departed from Edmonton on Tuesday.
Arrived in Saskatoon on Wednesday.
Departed from Saskatoon on Wednesday.
Arrived in Winnipeg on Thursday.
Departed from Winnipeg on Friday...
I live in Montreal!

My Karve is now in Ottawa!  What the hell is Canada Post doing?  Is the last leg by donkey?

Unbelievable - it must be going the whole way on mule.  A few years back I ordered some coffee from Mauro Coffee online.  I placed the order on a Sunday around noon MST.  It was delivered to my door on Wednesday morning three days later.  I assumed they had a distribution centre if not in Canada then at least in North America but when I looked at the waybill I realized that the order had been received in Bologna Italy around 11pm local time Sunday (when I placed it) and then had gone to Dresdan, Heathrow, Winnipeg and arrived on my doorstep in Calgary in three days.  Unbelievable.  I guess if you want to serve a global market from Bologna Italy you have to have the logistics to do it efficiently.  I was impressed.  Canada Post, not so much.

I definitely agree that Karve > Rockwell. But in the end I wasn't impressed by Karve either. I think both are just not very efficient compared to better razors out there. Individual thoughts about each: the Rockwell is too mild in all settings, people equate the mildness with smoothness which I think is wrong. If the razor feels good on the face but isn't removing hair efficiently then that's problematic. I think the Karve moves more towards the right idea and is more efficient, but still I feel like for the face feel it does provide the efficiency is still severely lacking. I have had all the Karve plates, the face feel goes up but the efficiency is mediocre on all of them IMO.

This becomes obvious if you try something from Tatara or a Wolfman, where for the same face feel equivalent plates on either Rockwell or Karve the efficiency is much better. My Wolfman feels like a B or C plate but cuts better than the G plate. Made the Karve superfluous, what's the point of it if it's less comfortable, doesn't cut as well, and you have to own multiple plates to figure this out fully .... MOIMO YMMV etc

What you just wrote makes absolutely no sense. There is no such thing as this mythical "efficiency", hence the Kool-Aid drinkers who are never satisfied and cannot stop buying razors in their quest for this purported "El Dorado". Blade gap/exposure is everything. Period. A razor is merely a blade holder. What you call "efficiency" is merely aggression. Makers can only put the blade closer to the skin and vary the exposure. Nothing else can be done to change these two factors other than what I just mentioned. It is pure science and not alchemy. But hey, keep throwing barrels of cash to artisanal "alchemists" who claim to be able to turn lead into gold. It's sad that some people actually buy into this crap and funny thing is.............they never seem to find that perfection. Unbelievable. 

I'm always amazed at just how much individual's experience of the same thing can vary.  I do agree with you BPman that the geometry can only be varied so much but there are other variables - the blade for instance.  It never ceases to amaze me at how different a razor can feel with different blades and how great a razor can be when you find the right match.  There is also the individual's face that can vary somewhat too although, given that wer'e all (I'm assuming) human I think the variability of skin type, sensitivity, hair type and growth patterns is relatively small.  Its the individual's experience of those factors that can vary widely.  I think maybe some people don't commit enough time and to determine the razor - blade combination that will work best for them with a given razor and just decide the thing sucks and move on too soon.  Something I've noticed from following DFS for a number of years is that some guys seem to really enjoy much more blade feel than I like.  Hard to say for sure because I'm just going by what I read but I take Thame at their word.  For instance, to say that the Rockwell 6s is too mild on all plates is surprisingly to me - I find plates 5 and 6 to be very blade feely / aggressive.  I don't use those plates very often because I don't care for that much blade aggression.  

But, getting back to the point of this thread - I love the Karve razor.  It ticks all of the my personal boxes

Hi Marko

Thank you for reply oh my gosh it’s my pleasure Marko Alberta it’s beautiful and great folks out there I know in Calgary it’s a big Croatian Community even soccer club lol.

We were supposed to be in Alberta upon arriving to Canada but my father settled in Ottawa 1997 as teacher and recently passed away so only my mother wife two kids here at the moment rest family in Germany and my cousin is a nurse in Zürich in Switzerland and some family in Croatia.

To be honest way before I join DFS I have been a huge Karve Fan so this is nothing new lol and I did share with lots of folks and even some Horology folks I knew they bough Karve and my coworkers at Transport Canada. Beautiful Razors as you said if your committed to it finding right plate, blade you will get Best of both Worlds..

I would like someday hopefully get aluminum Karve and Titanium when it becomes available and Karve Nut-Meg Brush ohh you should see that brush in person beautiful colours I don’t know how Chris does it but it’s another level and I love wooden brushes that polyurethane he is using gets outstanding colours of wood shine trough.

As per Wolfman Razors James does awesome work too as well outstanding quality fit & finish.
I didn’t even know about Wolfman Razors till later on never heard of it as I was focused on Karve and knew about few others that are popular like Joe at Italian Barber.

I did put my self on list to get Wolfman Razor from James with Darwin Handle probably dual comb but I’ll like to get it basic so I can polish it my self if I had money sure I’ll buy polished from James lol.

Also to mention when I was at Shouldice Hospital getting my hernia surgery last March one fella was from Alberta and showed me views at night at Grassland Park wow I have to make a trip there someday to see that scenery at night.


Take Care 

Alan H

Lucky you going to Shouldice for your hernia repair!  They turned me away a few months ago.  I have two hernias higher on my abdominal wall but I've had some blood clot issues this past year and Shouldice, like many private clinics I think, curates their patient list to ensure optimal statistics and I didn't meet their risk profile I guess.  Too bad because they have an excellent reputation.  My dad had. repair done there 20 years ago.

Yes, I do love Alberta.  I love all of Canada, the land and the people are incredible. The image below was taken last winter in Waterton in south western Alberta by a friend who is a professional photographer

Hi Marko 

Thanks for info and I’m sorry to hear that well I had my previous hernia done when I was a kid back 1988 in Croatia Non - Mesh tho..

Just as my father passed away recently moving my mother to different place and doing all by your self and I worked for armoured company with heavy lifting I realized one night taking shower it came back on same spot where I got surgery in past I was quite upset but too late I have to do what I have to do No Choice one more time once again..

I went to see my doctor and affirmed it’s a hernia so he recommend me to get it done here it’s a small surgery with Mesh he said lol, my heart tells me Don’t Do It and I followed my gut feeling.

Applied for Shouldice filled all up blood work and have to loose 25LBS and I did to make sure everything goes well and healing process.

Surgery went well and was 85 min long longest than all patients in my group and first one to get done surgery in morning at 9:00am sharp. And God was on my Side Had Head Surgeon to give me surgery I won’t say his name out of respect but I’m Thankful for that and my Luck.

I had hard time walking and sure there is pain that is hard to cope with but while at Shouldice Toredol Pill Helps to reduce that lol.

Also Doctor noticed I have small umbilical hernia as long I don’t gain weight won’t come out later as I age so I have to watch from now on but it’s tough not to eat certain Foods.

So far I’m healing well and I was lucky Marko to get my Hernia Surgery in time as Covid 19 exploded right on my date of Surgery March 13 so another group was returned back home sadly
Due to COVID19. Our group will be remembered that week what all went on.

Great Doctors and Stuff and it’s was Wonderful Place and experience for me that I can say.

Hope for you to get that done and taken care of it’s very important and Pray for you my Friend.

Take care 

Alan H

I definitely agree that Karve > Rockwell. But in the end I wasn't impressed by Karve either. I think both are just not very efficient compared to better razors out there. Individual thoughts about each: the Rockwell is too mild in all settings, people equate the mildness with smoothness which I think is wrong. If the razor feels good on the face but isn't removing hair efficiently then that's problematic. I think the Karve moves more towards the right idea and is more efficient, but still I feel like for the face feel it does provide the efficiency is still severely lacking. I have had all the Karve plates, the face feel goes up but the efficiency is mediocre on all of them IMO.

This becomes obvious if you try something from Tatara or a Wolfman, where for the same face feel equivalent plates on either Rockwell or Karve the efficiency is much better. My Wolfman feels like a B or C plate but cuts better than the G plate. Made the Karve superfluous, what's the point of it if it's less comfortable, doesn't cut as well, and you have to own multiple plates to figure this out fully .... MOIMO YMMV etc

What you just wrote makes absolutely no sense. There is no such thing as this mythical "efficiency", hence the Kool-Aid drinkers who are never satisfied and cannot stop buying razors in their quest for this purported "El Dorado". Blade gap/exposure is everything. Period. A razor is merely a blade holder. What you call "efficiency" is merely aggression. Makers can only put the blade closer to the skin and vary the exposure. Nothing else can be done to change these two factors other than what I just mentioned. It is pure science and not alchemy. But hey, keep throwing barrels of cash to artisanal "alchemists" who claim to be able to turn lead into gold. It's sad that some people actually buy into this crap and funny thing is.............they never seem to find that perfection. Unbelievable. 

Well I've actually tried all of those razors, have you?

My WR2 removes more hair, you whining about this here doesn't change that fact.

I definitely agree that Karve > Rockwell. But in the end I wasn't impressed by Karve either. I think both are just not very efficient compared to better razors out there. Individual thoughts about each: the Rockwell is too mild in all settings, people equate the mildness with smoothness which I think is wrong. If the razor feels good on the face but isn't removing hair efficiently then that's problematic. I think the Karve moves more towards the right idea and is more efficient, but still I feel like for the face feel it does provide the efficiency is still severely lacking. I have had all the Karve plates, the face feel goes up but the efficiency is mediocre on all of them IMO.

This becomes obvious if you try something from Tatara or a Wolfman, where for the same face feel equivalent plates on either Rockwell or Karve the efficiency is much better. My Wolfman feels like a B or C plate but cuts better than the G plate. Made the Karve superfluous, what's the point of it if it's less comfortable, doesn't cut as well, and you have to own multiple plates to figure this out fully .... MOIMO YMMV etc

What you just wrote makes absolutely no sense. There is no such thing as this mythical "efficiency", hence the Kool-Aid drinkers who are never satisfied and cannot stop buying razors in their quest for this purported "El Dorado". Blade gap/exposure is everything. Period. A razor is merely a blade holder. What you call "efficiency" is merely aggression. Makers can only put the blade closer to the skin and vary the exposure. Nothing else can be done to change these two factors other than what I just mentioned. It is pure science and not alchemy. But hey, keep throwing barrels of cash to artisanal "alchemists" who claim to be able to turn lead into gold. It's sad that some people actually buy into this crap and funny thing is.............they never seem to find that perfection. Unbelievable. 

Back to continue insulting people I see and then whine "I've been insulted" when someone responds similarly. Where was that ignore button again

Seriously, how has he not been banned yet?