Review Alpha OUTLAW - DE 316L STAINLESS. FULLY MACHINED Prototype V3

Mr Bigmem

Forum GOD!
I can see aggressive in a razor like the R41, effective yup! close yup! but harsh nah! that I connect with the shaver being aggressive.
Or you could choose to state its not harsh if you are able to learn its proper technique. There are many razors that people will just say they are this or that. IMHO we can only make a full data driven informed decision once we've tried a Razor
 

AlphaShaving

Alpha Shaving Works Owner
Vendor
My straight razors excel in blade exposure, if handled with sufficient skill very effective/aggressive/close but not harsh, would that be possible in a safety razor design?
Ha Ha - wait until you see prototype #1 - which I shaved with quite nicely... not for the feint of heart though.
 

AlphaShaving

Alpha Shaving Works Owner
Vendor
Right - you asked for it warts and all. The story started in September last year, 2019, I was chatting away to my biggest customer, Brian from Executive Shaving, and he told me he was looking for a new DE to add to his range. Something akin to the aggressiveness of the Braveheart DE - so mid-aggressive, not kamikaze-banshee. He had a design ready from scratch - note NOT copied from another head which would have been easier believe me, he had 3D CAD and 2D drawings so I offered to have it made for him in exchange for the "joint rights" to the design as I was also looking to add a DE to my brush and razor handle offerings but did not have a design to start from and did not want to start designing from zero given how long it takes and my limited CAD skills - I am OK at doing brushes but a razor was a whole new level of complexity. I don't know the legal terms but basically I can sell the razor and so can he - mine will be branded Alpha and his will be branded Executive Shaving. We knew that prototype #1 would not be optimized nevertheless we had to have it made in order to get a baseline from which to modify the design to give what we required in an end product. I won't bore you with the drawings but look what came out - a total disaster - it was clear that the blade angle was very poorly thought out and also the blade exposure and reveal... well you can see for yourself. The base plate and cap were clearly too narrow and not wide enough. The blade tabs stuck out of the edges by a mile.

Nonetheless it DID shave - I shaved with this more than once with a brand new Feather blade and lived to tell the tale. I would say that if I had to define prototype #1 I would say that it was/is an abomination - no way could this go mainstream or even be let out of our hands - there would be a lot of blood letting if this ever got out. Of course Brian agreed. Here is prototype #1 - anyone dare to try?

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So, onto prototype #2 -
widen and lengthen the cap and base plate. Make sure the blade tabs are covered. Move the drain slots towards the safety bar edge. Revise the number of machined slots on the safety bar to make it look better. Make the cap slightly more curved. Here she is - you can see that the blade exposure is starting to come back and the blade angle too. For me this was a "go". I loved it. I shaved this 5 times with a fresh feather each time and no cuts. Then again I like a Merkur Futur on setting #6 and I usually use straights anyway so I am a pretty careful shaver who loves a bit of aggression. I sent one copy off to Brian and his able assistant Rob and they again told me no way this could be mainstream. Blade exposure still way too positive. Blade angle badly wrong. Another mess...

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Prototype #3 -
I revised the base plate and the cap. A little more width and length - 0.5mm more, blade exposure fixed, blade tabs totally covered Moved the drain slots again, changed the base plate geometry to give a better blade angle and less exposure - the goal to make it, if anything, neutral blade exposure. My own CAD skills were exhausted by this time so I found a talented CAD person to help me and with guidance from myself and Brian we made small changes. My CAD guy made the drawings "parameterized" so that we could change geometry quickly by entering variables into a parameters table. I asked him to dial it in at about 30º blade angle, neutral exposure or slight positive by about 0.05mm and a blade gap of about 0.71mm He also modeled a standard razor blade so that we could put this into the model to and see just how each parameter changed the way we thought the razor would handle. Making it a parametric drawing also means I can do stuff like new base plates relatively easily - so yes to pre-empt a question there WILL be new base plates later on to give a different shave depending on tastes. So here is Prototype #3 - basically the production candidate. The production model has a teeny-weeny change to the top cap to make it more easily machinable. NO geometry changed at all.

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All in all it has been an almost 4 month process for me. It has been prototyped and tested 4 times if I include the nylon 3D print. Prototyping was NOT a cheap option with each prototype head costing over $320 EACH, but absolutely essential as using CAD alone and trusting to good luck would have yielded me a nice pile of scrap stainless steel. The blade gap turned out at 0.72mm and the blade angle at 30.5º - blade exposure basically neutral with most blades and about 0.05mm with some. It had been tested by the guys at Executive Shaving, by myself and by the fellow who wrote the review that Mem so kindly posted. It is a good razor in my opinion. It may not please everyone but what does? If you want your fulcrum stimulated then stick to a Piccolos Fat Tip (I could not resist - sorry...) This razor met all it's design goals. The proof of the pudding they say is in the eating and I think and hope this particular pudding goes down very well.

Just to finish off - it is machined in 316L stainless steel, highly polished by hand. It is going to come with the handle pictured and a choice of one other handle that I designed based on the Braveheart handle - but better. I will be making a limited run in copper, titanium and brass at some point. First additional items will be alternative base plates. If you want a good looking razor, designed with "efficiency" in mind but not suicidal in terms of its geometry then I think I did a good job with this one.

The price point at $129.99 also sits nicely with ATG members getting it for $109.99.

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Nisse

Old geezer
Prototype 1 shave: guessing it would be like using a shavette but with less feel for when and how blade is making contact so a slow hand is recommended while learning and reaching a natural effortless shave might be a challenge even for a fan of aggressive razors
 
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AlphaShaving

Alpha Shaving Works Owner
Vendor
Prototype 1 shave: guessing it would be like using a shavette but with less feel for when and how blade is making contact so a slow hand is recommended while learning and reaching a natural effortless shave might be a challenge even for a fan of aggressive razors
BBS pretty much in one pass. I have a very gentle shaving action so I really did not feel in too much danger.
 

Nisse

Old geezer
Wow, BBS in one go, never achieved this with any of my razors, still result is very much a question of stubble, mine is not following any rules so I need to touch up left and right to get a satisfying result.
 
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