Shave review of Janus Adjustable razor and Shave Off vs Gillette F4 Toggle

I was at the shop this afternoon/evening.
 
Here is what we agreed on. I have queued up another shop; the current shop will cover to expedite making the parts if by the end of the month they are not at least ½ way done with what is left. I know this is getting old really really fast! Obviously, my preference is not to take the work to another shop because most of what we learnt from prototyping won’t transfer and it is not guaranteed that this other shop will be better. Plus, I like these guys a lot. However, we can’t wait forever. I'm speculating that even with super talented machinists in this small shop, there are too many promised jobs going through a few machines with little allowance for hiccups here and there.

All laser marking is complete.





All the packaging stuff is complete. Initially, I wasn’t too sure about cutting the packing foam without a razor in hand. I got convinced we can cover the bases by checking fit using a partial assembly along the handle & dial during set-up.



[font=Helvetica, sans-serif]Polishing & passivation is partially done. Once the remaining parts are machined, they will just get the same treatment. [/font]We got couple more working days in Feb, and I will have an update before the month is up.

February Update

Just like in January, there are 3 PNs still to machine. They started on the toggle stem and paused to get work done for two much larger accounts they were in jeopardy of losing because of delays. So, I have enlisted a new machine shop to finish the remaining parts.

This new shop has slightly more capabilities and capacity. Additionally, they showed me examples of milled and turned parts that resemble the remaining parts. It sucks I had to get another shop in the mix. They are talented machinists but they have struggled to meet my internal timelines several times. Since they are familiar with the parts from prototyping, they agreed to share notes on the 3 remaining parts with the new shop, if need be, so that the project gets across the finish line properly.    
 
Here is the revised timeline based on the agreement I have with the new shop.



All the packaging and laser marking is complete. Most of the polishing and passivation (>80%) is done. This is the simplest work that is left. Assembly isn't hard because the parts are screwed together instead of press fits. 

Look at the results from the 2-step polishing and laser marking. I got a sample of the door blanks to be polished alongside the other finished parts. 







‘Mid’ March Update
First and foremost, I hope that everyone is okay, keeping well, staying safe and coping with the massive disruption to normal life and misery/stress from COVID-19.

The machine shop is still open but with a skeleton crew working staggered, shorter and flexible schedules that allow for appropriate isolation distances and to accommodate family arrangements the crews are grappling with. Also, the shop is not allowing customer visits to protect their crew and do their part in preventing/arresting the spread. I fully understand, support and endorse these measures from experts. Everything is much slower but not halted. It is not lost on me that this sounds like endless excuses. Also, I don’t wanna chalk it all up to COVID-19 because they weren't ahead of schedule anyways.

We are making some progress. The 1st set-up for the doors is almost complete. There’s some work still left to do – like get some dimensions right and minimize tool marks and burrs. Here is a photo from the on-going 1st set-up work. The 2nd set-up, side holes, will wait until I have a razor assembly.





The toggle stem programming was completed on Fri 03/20; set-up could start as early as Mon 03/23. And then the toggle knob. I will provide a shipping timeline update at the end of the week 03/28 after the shop updates me on 03/27.

I really appreciate the patience the customers are affording me as I work with the machine shop. It is not lost on me that the project has dragged on much longer than almost all are comfortable with.

Appreciate the update Eric, Janus Razors . It is what it is and honestly, health for humanity and it’s well being surpasses everything else. That being said, I’m extremely excited and anxious to get this piece in my hands. Though it has been hampered by production delays and now a global health threat, it most definitely is worth the wait. Stay frosty and be safe my friend....

Thanks Janus Razors for the update. Happy to wait another month for this fantastic looking razor. It’ll arrive just in time for my birthday, a pleasant surprise.

AQU,  My apologies because I doubt the razor will make it to you before your birthday. However, what I'm promising is that I'm not compromising on the quality of what is being produced.

Hey, no worries. Would rather have a quality product and knew well in advance that timelines could change. Your constant, transparent updates are all we could ask for as customers. Do what you need to, and hope you and yours are safe and healthy

Thanks Eric Janus Razors for the update. Looks like another month to go but that's ok. The knurling looks "sick" - that's what the kids say, right ? And looks like we are getting some sharp KAI blade tucks which is always appreciated but Eric is there a preferred or optimized blade(s) for the Janus ?

Also guys if you zoom in on the photo can anyone determine if their individualized serial number was in the photo - not mine.

The Janus is optimized to use Kai blades (from several lots) because they were recommended to me by several people (including Dragonsbeard) to get me off the Derbys ASAP. I gave them a try and really liked them. They were not harsh compared to Feathers I had tried in the past. By optimized, I mean the bridge thickness is dialed in such that the Kai blade slips in with the least amount of play. While we were dialing in the bridge thickness, I made sure it fits Feather HS (2nd), and then Astra SP, Astra SS, Gillette Platinum, Gillette SB, Personna PC and Rapira. In the future, I will not post photos showing serial #s (other than mine) so that I don't take away the opportunity for someone to do a razor reveal.

Great work Eric! With this being a small scale project with many parts and precise dimensional requirements, I’m surprised it isn’t way beyond the initial timeline. I’m sure if you slacked off in any way with the shop we’d be looking at August or beyond. Your communication every month about what is going according to plan and what isn’t leaves me with every confidence in receiving a razor that I’ll be proud to own.

I can't touch base with them everyday day coz I will drive them crazy. I know it would drive me crazy if I were on the other side. And, they need at least couple days to have something meaningful to share or discuss. We (shop manager, programmer & I) are going back and forth (via text, calls) often though.

February Update

Just like in January, there are 3 PNs still to machine. They started on the toggle stem and paused to get work done for two much larger accounts they were in jeopardy of losing because of delays. So, I have enlisted a new machine shop to finish the remaining parts.

This new shop has slightly more capabilities and capacity. Additionally, they showed me examples of milled and turned parts that resemble the remaining parts. It sucks I had to get another shop in the mix. They are talented machinists but they have struggled to meet my internal timelines several times. Since they are familiar with the parts from prototyping, they agreed to share notes on the 3 remaining parts with the new shop, if need be, so that the project gets across the finish line properly.    
 
Here is the revised timeline based on the agreement I have with the new shop.



All the packaging and laser marking is complete. Most of the polishing and passivation (>80%) is done. This is the simplest work that is left. Assembly isn't hard because the parts are screwed together instead of press fits. 

Look at the results from the 2-step polishing and laser marking. I got a sample of the door blanks to be polished alongside the other finished parts. 







‘Mid’ March Update
First and foremost, I hope that everyone is okay, keeping well, staying safe and coping with the massive disruption to normal life and misery/stress from COVID-19.

The machine shop is still open but with a skeleton crew working staggered, shorter and flexible schedules that allow for appropriate isolation distances and to accommodate family arrangements the crews are grappling with. Also, the shop is not allowing customer visits to protect their crew and do their part in preventing/arresting the spread. I fully understand, support and endorse these measures from experts. Everything is much slower but not halted. It is not lost on me that this sounds like endless excuses. Also, I don’t wanna chalk it all up to COVID-19 because they weren't ahead of schedule anyways.

We are making some progress. The 1st set-up for the doors is almost complete. There’s some work still left to do – like get some dimensions right and minimize tool marks and burrs. Here is a photo from the on-going 1st set-up work. The 2nd set-up, side holes, will wait until I have a razor assembly.





The toggle stem programming was completed on Fri 03/20; set-up could start as early as Mon 03/23. And then the toggle knob. I will provide a shipping timeline update at the end of the week 03/28 after the shop updates me on 03/27.

I really appreciate the patience the customers are affording me as I work with the machine shop. It is not lost on me that the project has dragged on much longer than almost all are comfortable with.

Appreciate the update Eric, Janus Razors . It is what it is and honestly, health for humanity and it’s well being surpasses everything else. That being said, I’m extremely excited and anxious to get this piece in my hands. Though it has been hampered by production delays and now a global health threat, it most definitely is worth the wait. Stay frosty and be safe my friend....

Stay safe as well. I hope that this threat ends soon and the lessons stay with us for a really long time.

Eric Janus Razors thank you for the continued updates Staying safe during these times is the number one priority. I look forward to getting mine when the time is right.

I was at the shop this afternoon/evening.
 
Here is what we agreed on. I have queued up another shop; the current shop will cover to expedite making the parts if by the end of the month they are not at least ½ way done with what is left. I know this is getting old really really fast! Obviously, my preference is not to take the work to another shop because most of what we learnt from prototyping won’t transfer and it is not guaranteed that this other shop will be better. Plus, I like these guys a lot. However, we can’t wait forever. I'm speculating that even with super talented machinists in this small shop, there are too many promised jobs going through a few machines with little allowance for hiccups here and there.

All laser marking is complete.





All the packaging stuff is complete. Initially, I wasn’t too sure about cutting the packing foam without a razor in hand. I got convinced we can cover the bases by checking fit using a partial assembly along the handle & dial during set-up.



[font=Helvetica, sans-serif]Polishing & passivation is partially done. Once the remaining parts are machined, they will just get the same treatment. [/font]We got couple more working days in Feb, and I will have an update before the month is up.

February Update

Just like in January, there are 3 PNs still to machine. They started on the toggle stem and paused to get work done for two much larger accounts they were in jeopardy of losing because of delays. So, I have enlisted a new machine shop to finish the remaining parts.

This new shop has slightly more capabilities and capacity. Additionally, they showed me examples of milled and turned parts that resemble the remaining parts. It sucks I had to get another shop in the mix. They are talented machinists but they have struggled to meet my internal timelines several times. Since they are familiar with the parts from prototyping, they agreed to share notes on the 3 remaining parts with the new shop, if need be, so that the project gets across the finish line properly.    
 
Here is the revised timeline based on the agreement I have with the new shop.



All the packaging and laser marking is complete. Most of the polishing and passivation (>80%) is done. This is the simplest work that is left. Assembly isn't hard because the parts are screwed together instead of press fits. 

Look at the results from the 2-step polishing and laser marking. I got a sample of the door blanks to be polished alongside the other finished parts. 







‘Mid’ March Update
First and foremost, I hope that everyone is okay, keeping well, staying safe and coping with the massive disruption to normal life and misery/stress from COVID-19.

The machine shop is still open but with a skeleton crew working staggered, shorter and flexible schedules that allow for appropriate isolation distances and to accommodate family arrangements the crews are grappling with. Also, the shop is not allowing customer visits to protect their crew and do their part in preventing/arresting the spread. I fully understand, support and endorse these measures from experts. Everything is much slower but not halted. It is not lost on me that this sounds like endless excuses. Also, I don’t wanna chalk it all up to COVID-19 because they weren't ahead of schedule anyways.

We are making some progress. The 1st set-up for the doors is almost complete. There’s some work still left to do – like get some dimensions right and minimize tool marks and burrs. Here is a photo from the on-going 1st set-up work. The 2nd set-up, side holes, will wait until I have a razor assembly.





The toggle stem programming was completed on Fri 03/20; set-up could start as early as Mon 03/23. And then the toggle knob. I will provide a shipping timeline update at the end of the week 03/28 after the shop updates me on 03/27.

I really appreciate the patience the customers are affording me as I work with the machine shop. It is not lost on me that the project has dragged on much longer than almost all are comfortable with.

March Update - II

There’s some progress…the toggle stem is done. This took a while to get done! The programmer/machinist assigned to Janus is working a weird schedule (staggered, shorter, flexible). This wasn’t the case when the shop took on the project. COVID-19 threw a wrench into the works. Onto the toggle knob starting tomorrow 03/30.






The new shipping date is April 24th. We worked on this together considering the reality on the new working hours and mutual agreement that this must be the last reschedule I issue. The machine shop is still open because it is classified essential in Minnesota because they work on parts for medical devices. This means stuff will keep moving forward, although slowly, instead of grinding to a halt. Polishing & passivation takes couple days because the Janus parts will wait to be batched with other customers’ small 316 SST parts.


Keep well and stay safe.

Eric Janus Razors Thank you for the update. These are really tough times, so I just appreciate the updates on progress. Stay safe my friend and all members of this great forum.

Thanks Janus Razors for the update. Happy to wait another month for this fantastic looking razor. It’ll arrive just in time for my birthday, a pleasant surprise.

AQU,  My apologies because I doubt the razor will make it to you before your birthday. However, what I'm promising is that I'm not compromising on the quality of what is being produced.

Hey, no worries. Would rather have a quality product and knew well in advance that timelines could change. Your constant, transparent updates are all we could ask for as customers. Do what you need to, and hope you and yours are safe and healthy

Thank you for understanding. Same to you as well; hope you, the family & friends are safe and healthy.

Eric Janus Razors thank you for the continued updates  Staying safe during these times is the number one priority. I look forward to getting mine when the time is right.

Thank you. Hope you and your clan are keeping well and safe.