How to shim
- Thread starter breadstick
- Start date
Yeah you can just do it with scissors
How well does it work for you without shimming, is the real question to ask and answer first.
How well does it work for you without shimming, is the real question to ask and answer first.
My problem right now = not aggressive enough around the chin.
How well does it work for you without shimming, is the real question to ask and answer first.
My EJ 89 was and still IS a great, smooth razor even WITHOUT shimming. However, with 2 shims it achieves a closer shave in less passes resulting in me having to do less touch up in my usual problem areas of "swirly" beard growth. It also does this in a way that gives me less irritation than if I dial the slim or fatboy up to a high number (7+).
The trick is to only take one or two mm off the blade so that the cutting blade is well supported and less likely to "chatter" (using a snowboarding analogy when your edge kind of catches on icy patches and gives a bumpy ride). Folks that recommend against shimming and upgrading to a more aggressive razor are well entitled to their opinions; my shimming has meant that I keep shaving with a piece of hardware I like the look and feel of and can get a closer shave with minimal investment in time and effort. I only heard about it here and once I tried it have not looked back.
A good pair of office scissors will cut the edges off of DE blades. Office scissors can be purchased for a couple of bucks at a Dollar General or a Wal-Mart in the US. Don't cut blades with (expensive) hair cutting scissors as cutting DE blades could dull them enough that they need resharpening before they will cut hair properly again (costing more than a pair of office scissors in the first place).
Good info. I'm going to try this with my Muhle R89 as I have just about decided it is too mild to bother with. It is such a nice looking piece of hardware though I would love to give it another shot with a simple modification like this.
Any concern with cutting the shims perfectly straight? Seems like you would want them to be just about perfect.
Any concern with cutting the shims perfectly straight? Seems like you would want them to be just about perfect.
No reason for them to be that perfect at all, really. So long as you remove enough of the shim that it won't interfere with the blade edge of the good blade in the razor, it will do it's job just fine.
Thank you good sir!
I been thinking bout adding a shim to my Merkur 34C. Anyone have success/failure with a shim in this razor?
I can't say I ever wanted the 34c more aggressive. It was pretty solid for me right were it was in the milder medium. No reason it won't shim easily enough tho, if you want to try it.
i'm gonna give it a go. When I had a Slim my first pass would be at 8 or 9 then i'd dial it down to bout 5 for the rest of the shave. I got great shaves that way. That's kind of what I'm shooting for. Make it more aggressive for the first pass then take out the shim for the rest.
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