Some time ago a new, old razor surfaced and got everyone excited – a stash of new old stock of bakelite slants, probably from the dusty shelves of an old abandoned warehouse or something.

Well, the truth of how they were sound is probably less dramatic, but they did cause a stir and suddenly everyone wanted one. I was lucky to get one through my favourite shaving forum, thanks to a fellow shaver who found it too mild for his taste.

The manufacturer of this razors are unknown, although speculations abound.  A popular theory seems to be that they are from Merkur, based upon the similarities to the Merkur 45 in the handle.

The razor itself is very lightweight, due to the all Bakelite construction – the only metal parts are the blades and a small brass nut. This makes for a very manoeuvrable razor, while the small blade gap and large blade angle makes for a reasonable mild razor.

This is not an aggressive slant – but it is still a slant and as such well suited for going through several days worth of beard. If you can live with the idea of a mild slant, and like owning a small piece of history, I can strongly recommend this German Bakelite Slant – if you can find it.

For those curious, bakelite – formally known as polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride – is the first synthetic thermosetting plastic. Invented in 1907 it has found use in everything from saxophone mouthpieces to heatshields for Soviet ICBM warheads… and razors.

I have to admit that I like TTO razors; not only do they represent a neat little bit of mechanical ingenuity but they are easy to load with a fresh blade. So when a new player came onto the scene with a range of TTO and three piece razors, I put one on my wish list.

The one I picked was the TTO-13, available from Shave A Buck for a little under 25$. I couldn’t not avoid the temptation of ordering a few more things though… so my total was a bit higher.

The Cadet TTO-13 arrived in a decent blue plastic box, just as their three piece TP-01 Open Comb did. The craftsmanship is excellent, even more so when you consider the low price, and the fit and function is close to flawless. It’s worth nothing that you twist the whole handle to open the doors on the Cadet TTOs, not just the know on the bottom. In that regard it is similar to my Parker 22R, and unlike my Gillette TV Special. What you prefer might vary – I’m fine with both systems.

The first thing you’ll notice when you pick up the TTO-13 is that it’s a hefty piece of metal. It’s heavier than my Parker 22R, a razor some people are already claoming as being too massive. However the balance on the Cadet is excellent, with the CG being just below the ‘double ball’ on the handle.

The handle itself is comfortable to hold, and the machined chequerboard pattern makes it near impossible for it so slip even with wet and soapy fingers. It’s a quite long handle, so if all you’re used to are short handled razor it might take a while getting used to – on my hand I seem to prefer the longer handled razors, so to me the length was a plus.

The head itself is – as mentioned – well made and functions smoothly, and loading a blade is so easy a child could do it. It is worth noting that the Cadet TTO head has a flatter blade angle and a larger blade gap than either my Parker or my Gillette TTO have. This gives a more aggressive shave, and means it’s less forgiving to errors in the shave angle. It also means that you can get a potentially closer shave – however that also depends on the blade you’re using.

The Cadet TTO-13 shaves very well, and I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone who are in the marked for a long handled, hefty TTO razor.

This has been sitting in my den for a while, not getting much use because I just couldn’t get it to lather properly – which I though was a shame since I really like the scent it has.

As they say, well, duh! A bit of digging recently showed me that this is a cream meant to be used with no brush… so no wonder I couldn’t whip it into a lather – it’s simply not meant to do that, so adding water to it and whipping it just made it runny.

Using it the way it was intended to was a significant improvement, but it can’t compare to proper lather in my opinion. Plenty of glide, fairly moisturizing and a pleasant scent… but no cushion at all. Nada. Zip. In that regard it was little different than shaving with just water.

For a brushless cream it’s decent enough – so if you’re in the market for that you could do worse than picking it up. For a proper ‘at home’ shave with a brush and enough time to use it…. no.

I bought this from Shave A Buck a little while back:

It’s alum, it’s in a sturdy container, it’s the size of my thumb… what’s not to like? If you use alum and you like to keep some in your GoBag, you can probably do a lot worse than spending three dollars (US) on this.

I’ve been trying out various blades in my various razors, and so far this is the ones I remembered to make notes about, ordered alphabetically:

• Astra Superior Platinum: A blade with a well deserved reputation, smooth and sharp and suited for every razor I’ve tried it in.
• BiC Chrome Platinum: Okayish for the first shave, horrible on the second go. Firmly off my list.
• Feather Hi Stainless: A wicked sharp blade that performs well in any razor, but is best tamed by my Feather Popular.
• Gillette Goal Stainless: Works rather well in my 22R and 39C – four shaves and still smooth.
• Laser Super Platinum: Middle to bad blade – sharp enough, but not very smooth. A decent choice if no better blade is available.
• Lord Platinum: Works very well in my 39C, my 985CL and my 22R.
• Racer Super Stainless: A middle to good blade, depending on the razor. Worked better in my Parker 22R TTO and in my Racer razor than in my Merkur 39C Slant, no tugging but not the smoothest blades out there.
• Shark Super Chrome: A middle of the road blade in my 22R and 39C – but gives a very good shave in my Merkur 985CL open comb travel razor. Also works well in the cheap YUMA razor.
• Treet Platinum Super Stainless: A Pakistani made blade that works well in my 25C open comb and my 958CL. Well worth looking into.
• Willikins Sword: Shaves well in any razor, especially so in my 39C slant.
• Zorrik Super Stainless: A pretty decent blade, works fine in my Yuma and 985CL.