does the blade in anyone else's progress slant?

[drandall]

so i just bought a progress and i'm noticing that despite my careful attempts to load a blade, the blade exposure is not uniform. there is slightly more blade sticking out on the right hand side. almost as if it was ever so slightly slanted.

have other progress owners noticed this or do i have one with problems?

interestingly, my HD is perfectly uniform, perfectly straight side to side with far less gap between the blade and the guard. even on setting 1, the amount of gap on the progress is far more than the HD.

so far my shaves have been far more aggressive than my HD with the same red personna blades and a setting of 2 to 2.5. i'm concerned i might have a bad progress.

 

[Telecastick]

so i just bought a progress and i'm noticing that despite my careful attempts to load a blade, the blade exposure is not uniform. there is slightly more blade sticking out on the right hand side. almost as if it was ever so slightly slanted.

have other progress owners noticed this or do i have one with problems?

interestingly, my HD is perfectly uniform, perfectly straight side to side with far less gap between the blade and the guard. even on setting 1, the amount of gap on the progress is far more than the HD.

so far my shaves have been far more aggressive than my HD with the same red personna blades and a setting of 2 to 2.5. i'm concerned i might have a bad progress.

Yes, this is a common problem. Mine does it to. Just make sure you have the alinement markers on the head lined up. I have also found that different blades fit better than others.

 

[ateace]

Unfortunately, it's a common issue with Merkurs. Many require you to play around and reload the blade a few times to get it right, or as close to right as it can be.

 

[BeansBaxter]

I'm having this exact problem with my new Progress. According to Anne at Merkur, this slop is within tolerance.

I think I'm going to be returning my razor.

 

[FaPat5]

I noticed (when I still had mine) that if you look at where the blade sits, there are two lines which it sits on, and on each side, one of the lines is a little higher than the other, but on opposite sides of the head, so it creates a slight slant.

 

[Perfect_shave]

It happens to mine too. Doesn't bother me though, as the shave is on par with my vintage gillettes. I don't think it would affect the performance greatly.

 

[drandall]

i'm also a bit concerned about the gap between the blade and the guard. even at its lowest settings, it's QUITE a bit larger than my HD when viewed side by side.

if this is how the progress is, then that's one thing. if i've gotten a defective one, then i need to trade it out!

thanks to everyone for your input!

 

[Jarmo P]

If your blade gap, how ever uneven is basically larger than in HD at the lowest setting, I suspect it does not zero down properly. Perhaps something on the adjusting piece is clogging it?
When Progress is zeroed down properly it is indeed an overly mild razor.

 

[rodd]

I think the blade gap is normal. The blade is low, but the gap is bigger because there is more space side to side. I don't think this is a problem.

 

[doc_paul]

Does the slanting gap look like this (see below)? If so, your razor is one in many... I find Merkurs like this all the time... they just don't make them as good as Gillette did.

 

[NeckShaver]

Yep mine does the same thing but still works great for me, my progress at the lowest setting refuses to even cut my hair, I keep it at 3 for a mild shave. I'm using Dorcos by the way.

 

[RichmondR]

If you do a search, you will find a number of threads on this topic. I have a new "Mergress" (modified Progress) that has this problem. When the razor is fully closed, the blade appears to be well aligned on each side, but when I start to turn to a higher setting, the piece of metal with the triangle tilts slightly and moves the blade to one side, making the blade gap substantially larger on one side than the other. Very frustrating.

 

[SilkySmooth]

My Progress slants ever so slightly, and that is why I only own one Merkur razor.







==Tom

 

[drandall]

i've sent an email to ann rothenstein at dovo to see if there is anything she can add to this discussion...

we'll see what happens

 

[Milton]

Mine is the same way too. I ordered it two months ago, but it hasn't led to any actual shaving problems for me

 

[dreadpirate]

Does the slanting gap look like this (see below)? If so, your razor is one in many... I find Merkurs like this all the time... they just don't make them as good as Gillette did.

Holy cow!! You guys are not making me feel good about getting a Progress!! Every time I think about getting one - I see one of these threads.

That being said - I did own a 38C (traded for a Fatboy) which had no problems - certainly not what you have pictured.

 

[drandall]

Holy cow!! You guys are not making me feel good about getting a Progress!! Every time I think about getting one - I see one of these threads.

That being said - I did own a 38C (traded for a Fatboy) which had no problems - certainly not what you have pictured.

the problem is that i don't know if i really have a problem at all. it just seems to me that compared to my HD, the gap between the blade and the guard is far greater than i expected and there is a difference in blade exposure between the left and right hand sides of the same blade edge. is this intentional or merely accidental? is it a design flaw or is there a reason for it. virtually everyone says they get a good shave from their progress...so what's the story and how much does it blunt my enjoyment of the razor?

arrrgh! i hate not knowing!

 

[BeansBaxter]

David, did you ever hear back from Anne? I'm just about ready to send mine back but I thought I'd check to see if you got a different response than I did.

 

[RichmondR]

the problem is that i don't know if i really have a problem at all. it just seems to me that compared to my HD, the gap between the blade and the guard is far greater than i expected and there is a difference in blade exposure between the left and right hand sides of the same blade edge. is this intentional or merely accidental? is it a design flaw or is there a reason for it. virtually everyone says they get a good shave from their progress...so what's the story and how much does it blunt my enjoyment of the razor?

arrrgh! i hate not knowing!

I can't imagine its intentional as I haven't seen that discussed in any of the reviews of the Progress. If there was an intentional difference in blade gap, it would be well discussed on B&B.

On my "Mergress"--modified Progress, the problem is that there is a difference in blade gap from one side to the other when the razor is set to any position other than completely closed. When I adjust it from the completely closed position, the metal bar that has the triangle etched into it moves against one of the walls and tilts ever so slightly, but that's plenty enough to pull the blade off center. One side of the blade sticks out quite a bit, and the other side is almost hidden in the gap. I have tried different blades and brands of blades, but the effect is the same. I can hold the blade on each side with my fingers and try to hold the blade in one place, but its an inexact science, and the blade moves again the next time I touch the adjustment.

I also asked "Mer" (Eric ... the guy who does the Mergress modification) whether this is a characteristic of this razor, but I haven't heard back from him. Also (again as I posted in another message string on a similar topic), I should emphasize that this is not a criticism of the Mergress modification --the razor is beautiful. But the razor has no practical value to me with this problem.

 

[drandall]

David, did you ever hear back from Anne? I'm just about ready to send mine back but I thought I'd check to see if you got a different response than I did.

haven't heard back from her yet. i understand she travels quite a lot and can sometimes be hard to get a hold of. will let you know what she says...