So my wife got me a safety razor

[nelsonic21]

My wife gave a new safety razor as part of my Valentine's Day gift. I got it early since I was home when it arrived and she was excited for me to see it. It's a Haryali London TTO razor with a blue handle. She got it off Ebay and I think this is the one. She picked it out because she knows blue is my favorite color.

I thought it was a great gift, but was a little disappointed when I loaded it with a blade. I noticed it had a pretty large blade gap (a little larger than my Gillette Slim set at a 9) and that on one side the gap was uneven due to a slightly bent safety bar. I also noticed a little plate loss on one of the silo doors and in the middle of the base plate (the razor is chrome plated brass so I don't have to worry about it degrading). I shaved with it and the one side is way too harsh due to the bent safety bar.

So I'm wondering what should I do? Has anyone had a similar experience? I thought of trying to switch the base plate and doors with ones from an old Superspeed or bending the safety bar back, but am afraid of breaking the razor. So I figure I need to either ask my wife if she can contact the seller and send it back to be exchanged or just shave with the one side once in a while. I have 5 other safety razors so this isn't an issue of not having anything to shave with.

Here's a picture of the razor (I can't get a good shot of the blade gap issue)

 

[aldomarino]

My advice (as a happy married man) would be to kiss your wife, saying nothing about the bent safety bar, put the razor into your rotation as a single edge, tell her you love the razor and you love her.

 

[nuclearblast]

My advice (as a happy married man) would be to kiss your wife, saying nothing about the bent safety bar, put the razor into your rotation as a single edge, tell her you love the razor and you love her.

Zactly.

Congrats on the new razor and thoughtful wife.

 

[nelsonic21]

Yeah. I'm leaning towards doing that.

 

[slant81]

My advice (as a happy married man) would be to kiss your wife, saying nothing about the bent safety bar, put the razor into your rotation as a single edge, tell her you love the razor and you love her.

+1. Tell her you love it. I wish my wife would do that for me.

 

[DrAwkward]

Shave with both sides, but only when you are feeling wild and adventurous.
Lots of guys shave with no guard bar at all.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/437496-No-guard-DE

 

[Morman Bridge]

You might ask Captain Murphy to take a look at it. He may be able to repair it.

 

[TheRev]

My advice (as a happy married man) would be to kiss your wife, saying nothing about the bent safety bar, put the razor into your rotation as a single edge, tell her you love the razor and you love her.

Exactly...it is common knowledge that wives who make mistakes live longer than the husbands who point them out.

Just kidding. This was a grand gesture and loving gift on her part. Love it and her to the utmost.

 

[Teppanyaki]

My advice (as a happy married man) would be to kiss your wife, saying nothing about the bent safety bar, put the razor into your rotation as a single edge, tell her you love the razor and you love her.

+1

Also, +1 on asking Captain Murphy as well.

 

[Borderdog]

My advice (as a happy married man) would be to kiss your wife, saying nothing about the bent safety bar, put the razor into your rotation as a single edge, tell her you love the razor and you love her.

Sound advice.

 

[JohnG10]

I opened up the gap on my micro touch one, by bending the safety bar downward with the wide screwdriver blade on a Swiss army knife.
The brass bar took more force to bend downward than I expected, given how thin the flat mounting "pillars" are. I only had to use wrist strength, but it was a medium/heavy amount of torgue for a wrist.

However, the bar bent smoothly, not all at once --- so it was very easy to control. I also bent it several times to get the gap even on a side, and the same gap on both sides of the razor. I didn't feel any changes in the brass's pliability due to "work hardening" or anything like that. It also didn't crack the chrome finish anywhere. So apparently chrome and brass both stretch just fine

Based on that experience, I would try bracing the safety bar that is too low on a countertop, and pushing on part of the head that won't damage the door opening mechanism, until the gap closes. If you go a tiny bit to closed, it's easy to open the gap back up with a Swiss army screwdriver (which also makes a pretty good depth gauge to measur how even the gap is).

 

[JohnG10]

I just noticed that the eBay link is for a new razor, not a vintage piece.
Given that, I'd try contacting the vendor yourself and arranging for a warranty exchange. They should be able to look up the sales date with your wife's name, and ship the replacement to the same adress - without notifying her.

 

[BSAGuy]

+ another.

My advice (as a happy married man) would be to kiss your wife, saying nothing about the bent safety bar, put the razor into your rotation as a single edge, tell her you love the razor and you love her.

 

[jamesspo]

You might be able to get the vendor to replace it. A few have reported this with these razors. The one you have there is one of many rebranded under different names and often with different handle details (Cadet, Matador, HTGAM, Pearl, Razorock, others) made my an Indian company. They're inexpensive, and probably don't have the best quality control so some things slip through. Overall, they're fine for their very low price though. I've got that particular long handled TTO from Cadet (sans blue handle), and I like it quite a bit.

On the plating, you might consider returning if it's very bad. The handles on these TTO's are brass, but the head is either cast Zamak, or a stamped metal (likely not stainless for the price point). Both are going to be prone to some corrosion, the Zamak being a lot worse.

 

[cvargo]

Maybe it is because I haven't been married very long only 5 years. But I would let my wife know, it is not her fault, and you want the razor. But I am sure she wants you to have one that is perfect the way she intended. Ebay and PayPal have buyer protection for these very reasons. It is still an awesome GIFT! Sounds like your wife is enabling your hobby

 

[nelsonic21]

Update

I adjusted the safety bar with a screwdriver and tried to get both sides as even as possible. The next day's shave it was way too mild and barely getting any stubble. So I finished the shave with another razor.

I used a multi tool to bend the safety bars s little and used the razor this morning. While it wasn't as efficient as my other razors, it gave me a good shave. I had to go over my chin more than I'd like, but no irritation. So I'm glad it worked out ok.