So, my Moarteen has been marked as delivered at 10:34 today, which means that mine was probably the quickest to reach its destination. I was surprised by how nervous I was about it. What I convinced y'all to buy a piece of shit? So here's a quick post about unboxing, first impressions, a few detail and comparison shots, and a first shave with that thing.
So first things first: It's really sparkly 🎇
That thick red slab you see in the picture is the stamp that created the little Lathersnoo logo on the tang (@[email protected] and I had it made for this and it was returned to me so that it can be reused for future sub exclusives. If you have a project in mind that could benefit from it, let me know) and you won't get that, but otherwise, that parcel, box and razor is what you can expect to show up in the next few days (it has already happened for our German members, not sure about others). In this picture, the glare makes it look like the tang is a similar colour as hollow grind, but it's really dark forge finish, just brushed and lightly polished over. It looks really nice in person, but I like this kind of utilitarian minimalism.
This image shows the finish much better:
You can see that it has the Schmiedehaut, the raw texture from the forge, and after being brushed and polished over, you can see the dark colour in the valleys and shiny steel on the peaks. The Lathersnoo and the Koraat logo look nice next to each other. The hollow grind is satin and polished over as well (the polishing is done to avoid rust nucleation sites). And look at the sparkles in those scales!
The grind:
Nicely hollow with a gently rounded belly. Very promising.
So all of this looks good, but is it a 14? Here, I have to say "almost":
On the left, you see the sparkly Moarteen, on the right, my cherished Frio 14. You can see that the shape fits, but the Moarteen is a touch smaller than its inspiration. The blade, tang, and tail are all a tad shorted, and my Moarteen is just a smidgen over 7/8" wide while the 14 is 8/8". But my Filarmónica 14 Thiers Issard 14 are also a bit under 8/8, so I'm not crying foul here.
Since the Moarteen is supposed to be the fourteenised version of the Sparschweinchen, it makes sense to also compare those two:
The reflections on the hollow grind visualise a bit that the Moarteen has a more pronounce belly, and a finer polish. The point is also different. The Sparschweinchen has a deceptively round point, but the end of the edge is actually a live point/corner, so the overall more square Moarteen point with the actually rounded end of the edge is clearly more beginner friendly ("It’s the best of all worlds for beginners and aficionados alike." was one of the goals of this whole operation). The Moarteen blade is also a tad wider than the Sparschweinchen's but not to a significant degree IMO.
Here are the two cousins next to one another, and you can also get a better idea of how the finish looks. It's also kinda cool that the sparkles on the inside of the scales get reflected in the hollow ground blade face.
Does this thing shave?
(Naturally, I had to choose sub exclusive hard and software for this shave). So right off the bat, this thing feels comfortable, like a 14. The weight and handling feels right. I did give the blade a good stropping on canvas and leather before the first go.
To quote @[email protected], "That super thin grind combined with a little heft from the size give the blade gentle conviction.". This razor is a 14, and I can breathe a sigh of relief. Y'all didn't buy a piece of shit, this thing turned out great. Pheeeeeew
Yeah, that's my plan 😊