Gillette Fat Boy Disappointment

[PiperJon]

Yes, it's true. And I really don't know how it happened.

When I first logged on here, I ordered a beautiful new Gillette Fat Boy, and I used various blades and found some that I liked.

For some reason, though, throughout every shave after about the 5th or 6th one, I had to re-tighten the nut, as it would slip, and the blade would be just loose enough to cause some irritation.

Over time, it got worse and worse, and more and more difficult to tighten all the way, requiring retightening every 3-5th stroke. Finally, one day, I realized that one side of the blade barely cut my soft blonde hair, and the other just tore the crap out of my fair pale skin.

I took another look at my trusty Fat Boy. Looking at the side where the "elevator" (the platform the blade sits upon) is visible, when the razor is tightened the thing is actually at a significantly non-90-degree ANGLE. When the razor blade is at a nice perpendicular angle to the handle, it's so loose that the razor blade itself wiggles vertically. Unless someone has an easy fix, my Fat Boy is going in the trash.

At the same time I bought the Gillette, I had gotten a Feather. I was initially unimpressed by the light weight and the plastic handle, but by gar, it really has done the job and is still NOT WRECKED.

Okay, enough of my sad story. I'm sure glad to be back among my cleanly shaven brethren!

Pj

 

[sporkboy]

My first adjustable was a slim and I figured out that the bar was tweeked on one side, glad I didn't shave with it. The point is that there are a lot of these out there in widely varying conditions and they are fairly complicated tools.

I've seen regular posts about fatboy variability, someone with three of them and they all shave differently. I presently have a fatboy but I'm still not getting consistency out of it but I have two friends that I've given fatboys to and they just love them. Each one is different and each person is different as well.

 

[mr_baseball_08]

This is kind of the reason I hesitate about trying new razors. After all, I'm getting great shaves from my Merkur. And I don't mean good, I mean GREAT. Oh well..

I've got a Fatboy for sale if you're interested in giving another one another shot.

 

[JayKay]

My supers all screwed up and the blade doesnt sit flat on one side. I'm pretttttty pissed about it.

 

[prophetic_joe]

First razor I picked up was a Fat Boy and I thought it shaved well. My problem always comes from not having the patience to wait to try them all. I now have massed a pretty decent collection for only being involved in wetshaving for 6 months.

 

[Gafer]

Yes, it's true. And I really don't know how it happened.

When I first logged on here, I ordered a beautiful new Gillette Fat Boy, and I used various blades and found some that I liked.

For some reason, though, throughout every shave after about the 5th or 6th one, I had to re-tighten the nut, as it would slip, and the blade would be just loose enough to cause some irritation.

Over time, it got worse and worse, and more and more difficult to tighten all the way, requiring retightening every 3-5th stroke. Finally, one day, I realized that one side of the blade barely cut my soft blonde hair, and the other just tore the crap out of my fair pale skin.

I took another look at my trusty Fat Boy. Looking at the side where the "elevator" (the platform the blade sits upon) is visible, when the razor is tightened the thing is actually at a significantly non-90-degree ANGLE. When the razor blade is at a nice perpendicular angle to the handle, it's so loose that the razor blade itself wiggles vertically. Unless someone has an easy fix, my Fat Boy is going in the trash.

At the same time I bought the Gillette, I had gotten a Feather. I was initially unimpressed by the light weight and the plastic handle, but by gar, it really has done the job and is still NOT WRECKED.

Okay, enough of my sad story. I'm sure glad to be back among my cleanly shaven brethren!

Pj

The blade is not suppose to be 90 degree's to the handle. As you tighten the knob the elevator as you call it rises up, pushes the blade against the doors and as it does that it bends the blade into a curve. All DE razor's do this. The blade must be bent, curved, to provide stiffness to the edge. Otherwise it's just floppy and loose.

Now, with regard to the thing loosening while shaving it may be you and not the razor. When I shave with a Fatboy, and any razor for that matter, I hold it at or near the tip. I shave with one side and flip it over and shave with the other. The "flipping" is done by spinning the razor between my thumb and forefinger. It's a nice smooth motion that also has the effect of unscrewing the handle depending on which way you're rotating the razor. So, pay close attention to how you're using the razor and make sure it's not unscrewing as a result of the way you're shaving with it. If that's not the problem then I don't know. Maybe it is trashed - I'd be surprised though. These things are really tough.

 

[Radar O\'Reilly]

If you ARE, going to throw it out, Please give me the chance to rescue it. I just opened a sanctuary for mis-guided razors.

Just for my own morbid curiosity, can you upload some pictures of the conditions you speak of? Perhaps there is a problem with the way your tightening the razor(I'm not implying you don't know how to use it), or with the razor itself. with all the people on B&B, I'm sure some usedull advice/info could be generated from some pictures. maaybe some with the razor open, then closed with a blade in it, etc.