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Merkur Futur - A Most Unlikely Razor

Based upon my general preferences in double edged razors, I shouldn't own, much less enjoy using, the Merkur Futur. I gravitate towards smaller, nimble and efficient razors, and I'm not particularly fond of adjustables. The Futur is efficient, so it meets that criterion, but no one would call it small or nimble. At one point I even sold my Futur because it just didn't fit my image of an ideal razor, but when I saw one on the BST a few months ago I couldn't resist the urge to buy another one. I will say that my current Futur is the matte finish version and as such manages to address one of the issues I had with the polished version - it doesn't feel as if it might slip out of my hand. Maybe that's just a mental thing, since I'm not sure how much grip is lost with the polished finish, but I'm much happier with the matte finish.

Despite its bulk and odd looking geometry, the Futur glides effortlessly over my face and neck. Most days that I use it I set it on 4.5 which yields a BBS or near BBS shave with no drama whatsoever. I've never had a cut, nick or irritation from a Futur shave. Occasionally I open it all the way up, but then I do have to pay more attention. If I manage to irritate my neck with one of my other razors, I lower the dial to 3.5 and use the Futur until the irritation subsides. The other adjustable razors I've owned are the Gillette Black Beauty (back when it was a current model) and a Merkur Progress. Neither one provided me with the comfort and efficiency of the Futur. I know that there are some high end adjustable razors out there these days, but I'll probably just stick with the Futur as my one adjustable.
 
One of my first serious razor and still one of my favourite .
I have both version but the polished is my favourite .

I have never had problems with grip even with a wet razor, perhaps due to the shape of the handle.
sincerely I have more grip problems with the Rocnel Sailor
Long life to the Future

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I just use my Futur for a final touch up these days. Set to number 6 it's very effective at getting rid of those stubborn bristles for a BBS. The only fixed DE I have that comes close is the Ikon Tek.

I have the shiny Chrome Futur and I've never had grip problems, even with wet hands. I wouldn't use any razor with soapy hands, though. That would be crazy.
 
Based upon my general preferences in double edged razors, I shouldn't own, much less enjoy using, the Merkur Futur. I gravitate towards smaller, nimble and efficient razors, and I'm not particularly fond of adjustables. The Futur is efficient, so it meets that criterion, but no one would call it small or nimble. At one point I even sold my Futur because it just didn't fit my image of an ideal razor, but when I saw one on the BST a few months ago I couldn't resist the urge to buy another one. I will say that my current Futur is the matte finish version and as such manages to address one of the issues I had with the polished version - it doesn't feel as if it might slip out of my hand. Maybe that's just a mental thing, since I'm not sure how much grip is lost with the polished finish, but I'm much happier with the matte finish.

Despite its bulk and odd looking geometry, the Futur glides effortlessly over my face and neck. Most days that I use it I set it on 4.5 which yields a BBS or near BBS shave with no drama whatsoever. I've never had a cut, nick or irritation from a Futur shave. Occasionally I open it all the way up, but then I do have to pay more attention. If I manage to irritate my neck with one of my other razors, I lower the dial to 3.5 and use the Futur until the irritation subsides. The other adjustable razors I've owned are the Gillette Black Beauty (back when it was a current model) and a Merkur Progress. Neither one provided me with the comfort and efficiency of the Futur. I know that there are some high end adjustable razors out there these days, but I'll probably just stick with the Futur as my one adjustable.

Bottom line: it just works! And that’s what really matters IMO! :thumbup1::thumbup1:
 
At least half of the DE users tend to hate the Futur. Different reasons are usually mentioned. Huge, heavy, bulky head, too aggressive for someone's skin, ZAMAK, looks like a toy etc., etc. I just don't pay attention to them. It is a very good razor. Calling it "effective" is not exactly the word I would use. You go above 4 and it is plain aggressive. I use it always @5. Never tried 6 or 6.5. Don't need to.
And about that mirror chrome version being slippery. Both my Futurs are mirror chrome. No slipping.
 
Good point. I just checked the cap of my Merkur Futur. And I say Ditto.

The razor in the picture is NOT a Merkur Futur that resembles any Futur I am familiar with. That picture may a misrepresentation, sad to say. What is it? I have no idea. But a disservice maybe is being done to the Merkur company.

Of the various complaints cited above about the Futur, the only ones that are valid to me are it's a tad heavy and it's overly aggressive for nine out of nine shavers. But there is a market for heavy razors. Altogether, can we say Gillette Fat Boy? Or (gasp!) Merkur Vision 2000? Both (to me) are stellar razors that I would never part with.

Their high weights contribute to their effectiveness and smoothness as shaving tools. A heavy weight razor is not necessarily a demerit, unless one has an arthritic hand.
 
I just use my Futur for a final touch up these days. Set to number 6 it's very effective at getting rid of those stubborn bristles for a BBS. The only fixed DE I have that comes close is the Ikon Tek.

I have the shiny Chrome Futur and I've never had grip problems, even with wet hands. I wouldn't use any razor with soapy hands, though. That would be crazy.
During the time I owned and used a shiny, chrome Futur i never actually had it slip in my hands; it just always seemed as if it might. I am fully prepared to admit that the problem may have been only in my head. Be that as it may, with the matte finish Futur, I no longer have that issue to worry about.
 
As others have pointed out, the picture in the post above is not of a Merkur Futur cap. The Futur cap has neither a threaded post nor the spring loaded receptacles for non-threaded posts. Those receptacles are on the base plate, and the Futur cap has two non-threaded posts as you can see in the picture below.
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I never used an adjustable before, so I recently acquired the much milder SNMIRN version of the Merkur Futur with the magnetic cap (under $9 on amaz0n.) Love using it, very smooth if a tad too mild. Nice heft to it. I have a goatie, so under the nose shaving is a non-issue for me. I use it at setting 8 with a 7 o'clock super platinum blade. Zero irritation or redness. Merkur designed a winner IMHO.
 

ERS4

My exploding razor knows secrets
I'm sure the photo of the corrosion is from the blade tray in the baseplate of the futur.
The complete breakdown of futur is very easy, there are many teachings on youtub.

I've completely disassembled the futur many times to clean and oil it, before I can't stand its huge head and give it away.
Futur's design has almost no change in 70 years.

In particular, the structure of futur is easy to retain moisture in the interior, and it is difficult to completely discharge it by shaking or tilting; it often drips out during the shaving head, causing the soapy water to flow to the eyes, which is very troublesome. This "easy to hold water" structure also accelerates internal corrosion.
 
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I'm sure the photo of the corrosion is from the blade tray in the baseplate of the futur.
The complete breakdown of futur is very easy, there are many teachings on youtub.
That makes sense. I haven't dismantled mine, so I didn't recognize it. Thanks.
 

Iridian

Cool and slimy
For those interested:

Gerd and Udo Fierus were the designers of the Merkur Futur.
08. December 1983. The razor was really ahead of its time.
(I would still like to rain on the parade and say that I have plenty of razors I prefer to the Futur & clones. Yeah, sorry, I am a nasty smurf.)

^ this is the description of the patent with a quite crude drawing of the Merkur Futur that almost made me wonder if it is the mentioned razor at all.

^ the full patent description, but for reasons beyond me this one only contains links to pdfs of patents RELATED to the Futur, dating back to a generic DE razor patented by a Wilhelm Maier in 1937 in the era of the Reich.
 

ERS4

My exploding razor knows secrets
Posting a photo of the futur fully disassembled, it can be seen that it has the same blade tray.
The construction is very simple and one of the easiest to dismantle adjustable I've come across.
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Demonstration video of disassembly.
The method is very simple, just squeeze the blade tray & base plate with three fingers to compress the spring, and then the handle can be rotated down.
The key to removing and installing is to keep squeezing until you get around the bump.

I wanted to write "30 years" earlier, but a few hours later I realized that I had written "70 years" by mistake, and the B&B cannot be edited again; "Okay, that's it" I thought.
It's interesting that someone had seen the same design in a Hoffriz store back in the 1970s, but not sure how Merkur worked with Hoffriz to make it, and why the patent application wasn't filed until 1983... it's all a mystery .
↓(A version of Hoffriz from the 1970s, you can see the Hoffriz lettering on the top cover)
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Obviously, due to the time-to-market and design-time gap, patents are limited in some countries.

Therefore, some people speculate that it is very likely that merkur is not the original design, but purchased the drawings of the old design; the current response to customers is dovo, the gold owner behind merkur, so in fact they do not know the real ins and outs, only know that Hoffriz and Merkur used to have close contacts.
 
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