What's new

Adjustable DE Razor mega thread?

I love adjustable razors. I have a Fatboy, a Slim and a Super Adjustable (Black Beauty). Love all three. My favorite by a large margin is the Rex Ambassador. It provides a flawless shave. I had, and liked very much, the Pear Flexi. It was my travel razor. Sadly it was lost by USPS when my send mailed it home to me after a trip to his house. Very very heavy but well built and well priced. I had a Merkur Futur. Great shaver but horrendous beast of a razor. Too big for my liking.
 
I love adjustables. 4 Rocnel sailors (my favourites) Also have the tatara maramusa, Homelike taiga, Rex Konsul and of course a Gillette fatboy and slim.


Rocnel Evolution.jpg



Rocnel Evolution 2.jpg
 
Always been intrigued by adjustable safety razors, whether they are adjustable on the fly or come with different head combinations. Tried searching on here but didn't see a thread on it. My only adjustable on the fly is a Merker Futur. I had a DE back in the day and I wish I could remember the name but it came with 3 heads in varying aggressiveness and I really enjoyed it. I ended up selling it when I sold off lots of my shaving gear.

Thinking of picking up a Rockwell T2 and maybe a Vikings Blade Meiji. What adjustable DEs do you all own, and what are your thoughts on them?

A quick type in the search box in the top right corner for adjustable razors will bring up quite a few threads. This one here is one of the better ones.

 
My passion is Merkur Progress adjustable razor, Ariana & Evans shaving soap and gillette 7 o'clock yellow razor blade. Light touch with setting 4 on 3 days of growth, and a beautiful sound that only Merkur Progress can make.
 
Get a Pearl Flexi. Probably the highest quality, moderately priced adjustable. They are plated brass and built like a tank. Excellent razors in the adjustable category. Shaves, functions and built like a $200 razor.
And I agree with others that a multi plate razor is not an adjustable!
My Karve offers multiple plates and nowhere does it get classified as adjustable.

How do the Karve (assuming its the CB?) and Pearl Flexi compare?
 
I am a sucker for adjustables. My current stable includes
Toggle
Fat Boy
Slim
Super (several variants)
Gibbs
Futur
Futur clones
Progress
Rex Ambassador
Q-Shave Parthenon
Pearl Flexi
Rockwell T2
Global Shave Fat Guy

After finally successfully adapting modern blades to fit the Gibbs I'm really enjoying that. There's only a couple from the list I don't use anymore: The Merkur Futur because it's just too aggressive, and Q-Shave Parthenon because it's a V1 and complete rubbish.
 
Such a beautiful razor. It's a shame that the handles were so poorly made that they cracked when you tried to "adjust" the screw. Especially considering that $5 in 1910 is $150 in today's dollars.
I believe the cracks were caused by stress on the tubular handles during manufacturing from off tolerance end pieces being press fit into the tubular handles, whose walls were imo too thin. Many pristine NOS examples exhibit the cracks so user applied force was probably not the main cause. Tightening too much could certainly have contributed to widening cracks that were not visible though.

The problem affected just about every vintage Gillette razor with press fit handle parts. I have many with tubular handles and I often tighten down for a milder shave but have never had a new crack appear where one did not already exist.

Of course many vintage Gillette's have solid handles and don't have the problem.

Here are 2 of my favorite adjustables: Toggles. One Gillette, one not.
Janus Toggle vs. Gillette Toggle.jpg
 
Last edited:
My preference is wider open for the first pass, and then dialed down for subsequent passes. I have heard of others that did it the exact opposite way.
When I used my Variant I tried both techniques, and found that I liked less aggressive settings at the beginning. I also varied by pass, depending on how I felt that day. For more aggressive settings the first pass tended to catch, and I drew blood more often. I am convinced now it was my technique, I was using too much pressure. I haven’t used the Variant in a while, I have switched over to vintage razors. I usually start with a mild one (and shallow angle) during the early stages of a new blade. Then as the blade gets older switch to slightly more aggressive razors and I am more comfortable with a steep angle.
Also: someone mentioned elsewhere that the early Gillettes could be promoted as adjustable because the blades were thicker and had less give to them. There would still be tension on the blade if the head were loosened a bit, so no wobble. I wonder if this tension also contributed to the cracked handles.
 
Last edited:

ERS4

My exploding razor knows secrets
IMG_20220727_001854.jpg

The continuously adjustable razors in my collection are the Muramasa+Slim+Ambassador.

Not as luxurious as a gentleman's list, but the adjustable razor does give me the ease of changing efficiency versus comfort.

And the creativity and finer details of the mechanical design are more fun to play with, and I can sit at my desk and play with these razors for hours.
 
I'm curious, for those who use "live" adjustables (razors you don't have to disassemble and reassemble to change aggression): Do you change aggression in the middle of a shave? (I ask because
Many adjustable users have said they find the setting they like and leave it alone.)
I use different levels of aggression for different parts of the shave, so yes. Lower settings for ATG on the lip for example.
 
I REALLY like the Muramasa. It looks so beautiful. That might be my next adjustable...
I have the Rex Ambassador and the Muramasa. The Muramasa is just something else. The quality of the machining is just perfect.
I would like to get the rex konsul, but if they are not able to get the tolerances correct with the Ambassador, how are they able to get a more complicated design machined within acceptable tolerances.
Adjustable are greate in my opinion.
I like my Rex to after I did some modifications to it's top cap.
 
I'm curious, for those who use "live" adjustables (razors you don't have to disassemble and reassemble to change aggression): Do you change aggression in the middle of a shave? (I ask because
Many adjustable users have said they find the setting they like and leave it alone.)
I start on lower settings then move up, this delivers less irritation for me. The idea (to me) is to remove hair gradually, not mow it all down in one aggressive pass. I do like to feel the blade doing its work though, so I don't generally go for mild razors (or settings in the case of an adjustable). If I'm using my Ambassador I leave it at 3-3.5 for the whole shave, it does a fine job at that setting and only leaves minor stubble on my neck unless I do an ATG pass (which I often don't because of the high chances of irritation, and if I do I lower it to 1).

I REALLY like the Muramasa. It looks so beautiful. That might be my next adjustable...
I keep saying the same thing to myself, but I've already got a brass Yaqi TFC incoming, and I'm working a deal for a Homelike Taiga too. I may have to hold off for a little while on the Muramasa. :(
 
Last edited:
I have several, Fat-Boy (G3), 2 Slims (H3/H4), NDC Super-Adjustable, Schick M, MingShi, QShave, and Rex Ambassador. By far the Ambassador shaves the closest, although the caveat being it also has the most blade feel of the bunch, and by a pretty good margin.

Don't use the MingShi/QShave much, although they're nice and smooth razors, the Fat-Boy is possibly the most comfortable, but doesn't shave as efficiently as the Slim or Super-Adjustable. All depends on how I'm feeling in the morning, do I want the somewhat less smooth/comfortable, but closer shave of the Ambassador, or do I want super easy/smooth, and not quite the glass smooth high level BBS of the Ambassador.
 
I am a sucker for adjustables. My current stable includes
Toggle
Fat Boy
Slim
Super (several variants)
Gibbs
Futur
Futur clones
Progress
Rex Ambassador
Q-Shave Parthenon
Pearl Flexi
Rockwell T2
Global Shave Fat Guy

After finally successfully adapting modern blades to fit the Gibbs I'm really enjoying that. There's only a couple from the list I don't use anymore: The Merkur Futur because it's just too aggressive, and Q-Shave Parthenon because it's a V1 and complete rubbish.
I also forgot my Vikings Meiji razor. Out of all of them, then ones that stay in regular rotation:
Slim
Super
Gibbs
Ambassador
Flexi
The others just don't thrill me as much anymore.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
I'm curious, for those who use "live" adjustables (razors you don't have to disassemble and reassemble to change aggression): Do you change aggression in the middle of a shave? (I ask because
Many adjustable users have said they find the setting they like and leave it alone.)


I've used a few DE adjustables - Gillette Slim and Fatboy and Executive, Gillette Black Beauty, Rex Konsul, Yaqi TFC, Pearl Flexi, Muramasa, Taiga, Sailor, Denali, VISION, and probably some adjustables I'm forgetting at the moment.

I've tried all sorts of adjustment schemes and plans. I've fumbled about a good little bit.

What I've settled on is this: To begin with I use a fairly low setting. Then I use a fairly high setting. My finish is with the lowest setting which will cut ATG on my upper lip.

On the Sailor this might mean setting #1, then #5, then the fully closed Zero Dot.

On the Muramasa, I'd begin right below setting #3, then use the fully open setting #5, then finish with the fully closed setting.

Is this right for everyone or even for anyone but me? I have no idea.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Top Bottom