Less than Snug Blades on Bullet/Post type DE Razors

[cyberdog]

Not sure how others feel, however, razors that allow a lot of movement in the blade, making them a real PITA to get the blade evenly aligned bug me. It's usually the Post or Bullet mount razors such as the Schone, Fatip, Pearl, Minotaur, and even to a much lesser extend with only some blades my Rockwell. The Schone, Fatip, and Schone are probably the worse offenders, where it sometimes takes several minutes getting the alignment perfectly even from side to side and edge to edge. While I sold my Schone, I have access to a friend's Schone to play with as I test the PIF sampler from Toothpick.

For those of us with those pesky lose blade razors, I found one in the PIF that fits snug, I mean really snug and doesn't move so much as a hair, even in the Schone and Pearl razors. I may actually need to use a toothpick or something to lift it off the cap, it fits that tight in the razor, absolutely no movement at all in the Schone. Since the Fatip is nearly the same, made in the same plant, I would expect it to fit similarly in the Fatip. Shaved with it this morning, three passes, surprisingly good shave, with only one small weeper on the upper lip, as I got greedy and rotated into full on ATG on my upper lip, which I usually don't do with an OC razor.

By now you probably just want to know what blade it is, and the answer is the Bolzano Superinox Platinum Coated Stainless. Good sharpness and smoothness, maybe not Wilkinson (India) or Rapira Plat Lux smooth, but not Feather edgy either, somewhere in between. If you have one of those problem childs and hate fiddling with the blade like me, give the Bolzano Superinox a try.

 

[jmudrick]

I use the SABI/Mariner/Mastiff/Boss Razor cap with the Pearl baseplate. Better.

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[DE Steve]

No blade movement in my (2017) Merkur Progress.

 

[jmudrick]

No blade movement in my (2017) Merkur Progress.

They redid the molds.

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[cyberdog]

Glad to hear Merkur redid the molds, because the one I had maybe two years ago was really annoying to get the blade just right. I usually ended up loosening up the razor and fiddling a bit to get perfectly even blade alignment. It annoyed me enough that I sold the razor on eBay.

If I had found the Bolzano blade back then, I might still have my Progress. But for those with a razor that has less than stellar blade fitment, and usually that means excessive play, this blade makes a profound difference. The shave was also really good, I struggle a bit with most OC Razors and making three full passes, and the Bolzano provided a really nice shave. The ONLY other time I've been able to complete three passes in a Schone with comfort was with the Wilkinson Sword from India, otherwise, it always seemed too aggressive. - I sold my Schone, my buddy who ironically talked me into buying mine, still has his but doesn't use it and passed it along to test the dozen or so blades from Toothpick.

 

[santamariasteve]

Dear Cyber,

Thanx for sharing your experience. Respectfully, there is something wrong with your premise, though. It should not take "several minutes" to center a DE blade on a razor where the fit is a bit sloppy. I'm a ham-fisted 80 year old and I can do it in 15 seconds maximum. The symmetry of the fit is not so important length wise. It is only important for the width of the blade and head, as we want the blade expose to be equal on both edges.

 

[matwho]

I have a nickel and a gold Schone and I use a variety of blades in them and I have never had a problem with alignment issues. My piccolo is a different story.

 

[arrowhead147]

I have a Shone.
I read an alignment technique here I will pass on.
Place the cap face down on a soft surface ( like a towel).
Lay the blade on the cap. You don't have to be fussy with it.
Next lay the base plate on top of the blade.
Here's the important part. Place 2 fingers on the bullet points and hold the cap steady while you screw on the handle.
For a final snugging lay the razor down on the towel.
Hold the head and give the handle a little more torque.
This has worked every time in the Shone with a variety of blades.
By the way, The Shone has turned out to be my favorite razor.
I shave every day including against the grain and get excellent results and no irritation.
Voskhods have been the best , but it seems this razor makes every blade I have tried better.

 

[cyberdog]

Respectfully, there is something wrong with your premise, though. It should not take "several minutes" to center a DE blade on a razor where the fit is a bit sloppy. I'm a ham-fisted 80 year old and I can do it in 15 seconds maximum. The symmetry of the fit is not so important length wise. It is only important for the width of the blade and head, as we want the blade expose to be equal on both edges.

I'll swear that sometimes I slightly loosen the cap on some razors 3, 4, or 5 times to nudge the blade around to get equal exposure on each side of the razor, and at the same time even from end to end. The something wrong might be that I want the blade perfectly centered in head of the razor, and will turn it to check side to side and if it looks as though it isn't perfect or darn close, I'll loosen and try again until it looks strait and even. On the Schone, Pearl, and Minotaur razors, it seems like there's a whole lot of slop in the position of the blade, or there is with some blades.

I do actually lay the cap down, not always on a towel, sometimes the sink or in my palm, add the blade, base plate and screw on the cap while holding it. It will usually be fairly close, but there's almost always that half a mm or so difference along the edge of the blade, some blades have more slop than others (a feather floats around in the Pearl). Guess I've been spoiled by the TTO Gillettes, New Types, and Tech razors that align perfect every time, thanks to their center alignment bars. - Maybe I'm a little too particular in getting the blade aligned just perfect.

Could be worse, I must have pulled and re-applied the screen protector on my wife's S6 Edge Plus a good 6 times before I felt it was properly aligned. It wasn't even my phone and I couldn't stand it not being strait. Damn, I know the problem, I'm turning into Felix Unger.

 

[TheKman]

Ah, at the risk of sounding obvious, why are you not pushing the blade parallel to the edge to locate it? To be clear, pushing the blade around perpendicular to the edge is doing it the hard way, with diamond shaped cavities in the blade it self aligns when pushed parallel to the edge.

I have a Rockwell and this bugged me too. Yeah, you get more ear on one side than the other, but you don't shave with the exposed tabs. Can your inner Felix deal with that?

 

[TheKman]

Having looked at this a bit closer I realise it's quite possible this won't work with some razors because of the round whole in the centre. Still, it's less play than the alternative.