Differences in Super Adjustable settings

[jpkunst]

Have a look at the attached picture. Left: A1 Super Adjustable at #5; Right: O4 Super Adjustable at #3. To me both blade gaps look (more or less) the same. This makes me wonder if the precision suggested by the Double-Edged Safety Razors Ranked by Aggressiveness wiki page isn't unrealistic. If there are such obvious differences between different incarnations of the same model, can we really say that (for example) setting #2 on a Super Adjustable corresponds to setting #1 on a Slim Adjustable, as the wiki page does?

 

[mr-razor]

the left one looks damadged for me: the gap is not parallel

 

[soapbox]

These razor heads are made of a fairly soft brass. They could easily be deformed or manufactured differently.

Perhaps we could average a variety of measurements on the same model of razor? We could also break the list into finer gradations (the Gillette Super Adjustable went through at least one design change, e.g., as did the 195), or we could list each measurement that is contributed -- that way we'd have a good idea of the scope of variation and the average.

Thoughts?

 

[jpkunst]

the left one looks damadged for me: the gap is not parallel

Yes, the safety bar on the left one seems to be very slightly bent, but I don't think that that explains the difference in the settings.

 

[Oldguy]

..snip.. If there are such obvious differences between different incarnations of the same model, can we really say that (for example) setting #2 on a Super Adjustable corresponds to setting #1 on a Slim Adjustable, as the wiki page does?

I find the Super adjustable to be much less aggressive then the Slim at the same setting. So based on my experience I would say the wiki aggressiveness chart to be pretty accurate, at least between these two.

Len

 

[billc508]

Hi, these things are really not made to be all that precise, after all they were selling for something in the one to five dollar range when they were made. The Gillette people group them as 1,2,&3 for light shaves or tender skin and 4,5,&6 for normal and of course 7,8,&9 for tough beard range, this is from their own literature. You can tell a pretty big difference from 3 to 6 and a noticeable difference from say 6 to 9 but within a click or two there is not going to be much difference, they just weren't made that precisely. The razor on the left in your picture is dysfunctional because the blade is not parallel to the guard for some reason, the razor on the right looks like the correct adjustment, a 3 would be a 2 to 4 range or a little on the light side of normal, that's about as close as they get, good luck bc

 

[Oldguy]

I find a difference between 1 click on all my adjustables. The Fatboy, Slim and the Aristocrat are pretty close to each other. The Super is maybe 2 clicks less aggressive.

Len