Karve Shaving Co. A new DE Brass razor to market.

Somewhere in this thread I mentioned they did too much too quickly. I’m on their email list and received an end of year note on where they are and where they’re going. The notice goes thru the chronology of brass up to polished silver; with a lot of free form thinking on where they want to go. The aluminum caps had a problem and they were held back. The polishing of the SS is hand done and that takes time. They’re looking at a re design to cover the tabs on the original Karve. There’s too much going on. Hindsight is 20/20 but you remember the plastic razor they worked on, then in the midst of that the Aluminum, then the SS, then the polished SS.
I guess my point is I’m hoping they’ve learned something over the past year on parts availability. The only parts available on a regular basis is the brass. After that it’s a crapshoot.
I’m not saying the plastic and aluminum were wrong, just ill timed. You can’t order a SS razor, or an aluminum razor, or their parts. Moving forward Karve has done brass well. Now do SS well.

I got the update email with all that info as well. My beef is Karve showing "Add To Cart" on the day they announced the polished SS would ready. Go to the site now and it says "Sold Out."

If they didn't have them in stock they should have said so. Now we're told 'Chris' is a one man operation and please be patient.

Brian Twilley is a one man operation at Charcoal Goods and I ordered on Saturday and received a gorgeous SS razor on Monday. If he says it is "Ready To Ship" it is ! 

I don't know what Karve's problem is, but I'm not going to be patient too much longer.

Instead of purchasing a polished stainless razor and trying to figure out when the hell I would get it and spending more on another stainless version, I am just going to send my current stainless to Razor Emporium and have it rhodium plated. The only way I will ever purchase another version from Chris is when or if I actually see a titanium version actually available or when or if I see an adjustable version. I find all of that doubtful this coming year because they can’t even ship what they have sold. I think they actually used the money from all of those preorders and orders for product that he didn’t have to update the website. The website looks great! Now let’s see if they can actually deliver on some of the products that they said were ready to ship!!


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Somewhere in this thread I mentioned they did too much too quickly. I’m on their email list and received an end of year note on where they are and where they’re going. The notice goes thru the chronology of brass up to polished silver; with a lot of free form thinking on where they want to go. The aluminum caps had a problem and they were held back. The polishing of the SS is hand done and that takes time. They’re looking at a re design to cover the tabs on the original Karve. There’s too much going on. Hindsight is 20/20 but you remember the plastic razor they worked on, then in the midst of that the Aluminum, then the SS, then the polished SS.
I guess my point is I’m hoping they’ve learned something over the past year on parts availability. The only parts available on a regular basis is the brass. After that it’s a crapshoot.
I’m not saying the plastic and aluminum were wrong, just ill timed. You can’t order a SS razor, or an aluminum razor, or their parts. Moving forward Karve has done brass well. Now do SS well.

I got the update email with all that info as well. My beef is Karve showing "Add To Cart" on the day they announced the polished SS would ready. Go to the site now and it says "Sold Out."

If they didn't have them in stock they should have said so. Now we're told 'Chris' is a one man operation and please be patient.

Brian Twilley is a one man operation at Charcoal Goods and I ordered on Saturday and received a gorgeous SS razor on Monday. If he says it is "Ready To Ship" it is ! 

I don't know what Karve's problem is, but I'm not going to be patient too much longer.

Well you can’t say you weren’t warned.

Somewhere in this thread I mentioned they did too much too quickly. I’m on their email list and received an end of year note on where they are and where they’re going. The notice goes thru the chronology of brass up to polished silver; with a lot of free form thinking on where they want to go. The aluminum caps had a problem and they were held back. The polishing of the SS is hand done and that takes time. They’re looking at a re design to cover the tabs on the original Karve. There’s too much going on. Hindsight is 20/20 but you remember the plastic razor they worked on, then in the midst of that the Aluminum, then the SS, then the polished SS.
I guess my point is I’m hoping they’ve learned something over the past year on parts availability. The only parts available on a regular basis is the brass. After that it’s a crapshoot.
I’m not saying the plastic and aluminum were wrong, just ill timed. You can’t order a SS razor, or an aluminum razor, or their parts. Moving forward Karve has done brass well. Now do SS well.

I got the update email with all that info as well. My beef is Karve showing "Add To Cart" on the day they announced the polished SS would ready. Go to the site now and it says "Sold Out."

If they didn't have them in stock they should have said so. Now we're told 'Chris' is a one man operation and please be patient.

Brian Twilley is a one man operation at Charcoal Goods and I ordered on Saturday and received a gorgeous SS razor on Monday. If he says it is "Ready To Ship" it is ! 

I don't know what Karve's problem is, but I'm not going to be patient too much longer.

Ever notice when Brian’s inventory of a particular item gets low it immediately kicks off a counter?  5 left in stock, 4 left in stock etc....  Just sayin’

Onwards and upwards in 2020! 2019 was a great year and we want 2020 to be even more exciting.


Here's what we have planned:

An Alternative Top Cap Design

We've listened and we’re working on a CB top cap that covers the blade tabs. The second most important feature is compatibility with existing Karve hardware.

A Titanium CB Razor

We’re incredibly surprised by the reception the Aluminum razor and it's apparent to us that people want a lighter razor. We believe that Titanium gives the ideal balance between saving weight and high tolerances and this is something we want to bring to the market this year. Titanium is a fairly similar material to stainless steel when it comes to cutting, but like everything, some tweaks will be required to be made to make this possible.

A V2 Razor

This won't be a completely different razor, and frankly, we don't want to throw away the blade geometry of the Christopher Bradley that so many of you like. This razor will include a few minor tweaks in design to improve the overall performance of the razor. Aside from design, it will also be a different aesthetic experience.

Ladies Razor

We've had quite a few requests to develop a ladies specific razor and we think it's a great idea. We're not quite sure what this entails yet, so we'd like to hear from you about what you'd look for in a razor. What design features do you think would be useful? A pivoting head? A different handle shape?

Adjustable Razor

This is still far off but we've been thinking about an adjustable razor for some time. The way we envision this working is that it would utilize all of our current base plate as settings (AA-G). Where we feel this is possible, we won't know how feasible this actually is until we get into the nitty-gritty of R&D. Rest assured, it will definitely have the Karve flair you've all come to expect from us.

While history does not indicate future performance, I'd say it's a bit unreasonable to say you will design two completely new razors (Ladies / Adjustable), one major rework (V2), one minor rework (top cap) and another material (titanium).

If they are swamped now, they will also be swamped in the future. However the most recent instagram post has indicated that two new employees were hired to do machining.
Maybe this will improve the situation, but the bottleneck has always been finishing and shipping afaik.

Somewhere in this thread I mentioned they did too much too quickly. I’m on their email list and received an end of year note on where they are and where they’re going. The notice goes thru the chronology of brass up to polished silver; with a lot of free form thinking on where they want to go. The aluminum caps had a problem and they were held back. The polishing of the SS is hand done and that takes time. They’re looking at a re design to cover the tabs on the original Karve. There’s too much going on. Hindsight is 20/20 but you remember the plastic razor they worked on, then in the midst of that the Aluminum, then the SS, then the polished SS.
I guess my point is I’m hoping they’ve learned something over the past year on parts availability. The only parts available on a regular basis is the brass. After that it’s a crapshoot.
I’m not saying the plastic and aluminum were wrong, just ill timed. You can’t order a SS razor, or an aluminum razor, or their parts. Moving forward Karve has done brass well. Now do SS well.

Seems like sound thinking to me. Focus on doing less (brass and SS for now), but doing it very well. I would only add that Karve is skating on thin ice with many customers, so "doing it very well" will have to include getting product to the shipper shortly after it is sold.

Why the great attraction towards this razor? I just can't seem to see what so many of you see. Maybe I'm missing something?

Why the great attraction towards this razor? I just can't seem to see what so many of you see. Maybe I'm missing something?

I have the matte SS, and for me I would say:

1. Build quality is amazing. Very solid and sturdy, but still simple and elegant. Not like a Rockwell 6S, which is very industrial.
   
2. Finishing is amazing. Even under the top cap where the posts are is beautifully clean and perfect. Under the base plate has these nice concentric circles. The handle screws in very smoothly.
   
3. I like the flat top cap.
   
4. Blade rigidity is really nice, especially for me for ATG BBS shaving. I know there are other razors with a rigid blade design, like Timeless, but for me this was my first.
   
5. I actually like that the sides of the blade are slightly exposed. Easier to remove, and it also means the top cap has a nice shape and design to it, not just plain rectangular.
   

This is presently my second favorite and a keeper. It may not have the wow factor of a Wolfman or a Timeless, but it's just a really, really well done razor in all areas. High quality. If your Wolfman is a Bentley and your Timeless is a Rolls Royce, the Karve is more like an Audi, whereas a RazoRock may be more of a Volkswagen.

karve has an AMA scheduled for Saturday on r/wetshaving. Maybe Chris addresses the elephant in the room and future fixes. He's got to know several people are going to ask. Would be poor to dance around the issue.

Why the great attraction towards this razor? I just can't seem to see what so many of you see. Maybe I'm missing something?

I have the matte SS, and for me I would say:

1. Build quality is amazing. Very solid and sturdy, but still simple and elegant. Not like a Rockwell 6S, which is very industrial.
   
2. Finishing is amazing. Even under the top cap where the posts are is beautifully clean and perfect. Under the base plate has these nice concentric circles. The handle screws in very smoothly.
   
3. I like the flat top cap.
   
4. Blade rigidity is really nice, especially for me for ATG BBS shaving. I know there are other razors with a rigid blade design, like Timeless, but for me this was my first.
   
5. I actually like that the sides of the blade are slightly exposed. Easier to remove, and it also means the top cap has a nice shape and design to it, not just plain rectangular.
   

This is presently my second favorite and a keeper. It may not have the wow factor of a Wolfman or a Timeless, but it's just a really, really well done razor in all areas. High quality. If your Wolfman is a Bentley and your Timeless is a Rolls Royce, the Karve is more like an Audi, whereas a RazoRock may be more of a Volkswagen.

Agree completely! You summed up the Karve very well. Funny you mentioned the Rockwell 6S, as those two razors are my favorite DEs to use (of what I have on hand). The Karve gives you tons of value. It’s certainly a step into a higher-end quality razor, for a fair price. If I could only choose one DE razor to have as my only DE razor, the Karve wins it. I have the brass, however you couldn’t go wrong with any of their offerings.