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Merkur Blade Alignment

Do I really need to examine my razor & blade every time I change blades on my 34C? I've seen one reviewer on YouTube do this several times in videos, saying that he prefers to take a little extra time making sure the blade is perfectly aligned before tightening it down. Is this really necessary? All due respect to him, though - I like his videos, but that seems like something you shouldn't have to worry about when changing blades. Especially considering the history/reputation of most German-engineered things. You would think that if anything, tolerances would be something they have mastered. I've been using my 34C for a while now and I've never given a second thought to examining the blade alignment each blade change - I simply change the blade and gently tighten it down. So, seeing this reviewer spend extra time doing this, gave me a bit of pause.

So, is this OCD overkill or is this something I should actually be doing?
 
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I own a 34G and 42C (1904 Safety Bar), and each of those aligns the blade perfectly every single time. My FaTip Grande, on the other hand, can be just a bit finicky at times. I'm not sure why razor makers decided to stop including the alignment bar in the razor head.
 
I've never paid any attention with my 39C slantbar, and to be honest, I've never had any cause to feel that something was amiss with the alignment. Every blade fits like a glove.
 
Not necessary, but good to know that a simple look can fix a problem that might give you bad shaves.

You need to understand something about some Youtube shaving videos. Some of those guys are working into doing them as comprehensive as they can. The blade alignment issue might not address to you or me, but might help out a beginner that overlooked it or didn't thought about it. Might not be the case of many razors, but some of them have this specific issue.

That's the nice thing about "learning how to shave". You can watch videos of people shaving and picking up on little things that you might have not think about.
 
Yes. Seen the video. It also seemed odd to me. In fact, if I remember right, he saw that it was misaligned, opened it back up and realigned it. What the???
 
I have had cheap razors you had to double check, and expensive ones too. Even on my ATT M and H heads I check alignment. It goes in just right 9 out of ten times, but miss it on the tenth? Found out the hard way one time with my H2. The S2? Couldn't screw that one up if you tried to.
 
The 34C is one thing. Never needed anything, pop a blade and go. The 37C on the other, due to the torque, needs to be aligned every time. (This done by placing the razor cap down as it's tightened) usually aligns the edge parallel to the cap. Many posts talk about this one.

Once we spend time with a razor, and sort out which blade becomes preferred, it's all about the learning; and then it becomes fun. Hope that helps!
 
Ive yet to own a Merkur, that did align properly the first time. Ive owned a bunch. EJ's and Muhles are much, much better in this department. .02
 
IMHO I just take a quick glance to make sure it looks fairly even on both sides after I tighten any razor down. Not a close up inspection or anything just to check it. I don't think the tolerances are necessarily at risk for being off on the razor, I am more concerned with the possibility of a manufacturer defect or irregularity in the blade myself, that as well as the different manufacturers of blades also have different measurements even if it is just by a few micrometers or nanometers.

Just my 2 Cents though.
 
IMHO I just take a quick glance to make sure it looks fairly even on both sides after I tighten any razor down. Not a close up inspection or anything just to check it. I don't think the tolerances are necessarily at risk for being off on the razor, I am more concerned with the possibility of a manufacturer defect or irregularity in the blade myself, that as well as the different manufacturers of blades also have different measurements even if it is just by a few micrometers or nanometers.

Just my 2 Cents though.

That's a good point, too. Never really thought about the blade, but I will now. I seriously thought every single DE blade, regardless of the manufacturer, was the exact same size .... ?
 
That's a good point, too. Never really thought about the blade, but I will now. I seriously thought every single DE blade, regardless of the manufacturer, was the exact same size .... ?

Well they are very very close to all the same size as a general rule. However, I have taken a Dorco, A Feather, A Gillette Platinum and a Personna Super and stacked them up on top of one another and stood them on end on a plane flattened surface, (My Arkansas Hard White Stone to be exact), and I could see subtle differences in the cuts in the center as well as the width and length of the entire blade itself. The differences were very small but they were large enough to be visible to the naked eye.
 
Yes, agreed. Some blades have more 'wiggle room', meaning just a slight fingertip to the left or right of the ears to center them.
 
Ive yet to own a Merkur, that did align properly the first time. Ive owned a bunch. EJ's and Muhles are much, much better in this department. .02

I have to agree with this.

The Progress is my favourite razor and my daily for the last 4 years...but I have to be very cautious and check the alignment each time I change the blade!

I've had 6 Progress, 1 Vintage Progress, 2 Futur's, HD, 37C, 38C, 39C. Not one razor had perfect alignment the first time and I had to take so much care changing blades.

My current Progress still plays games sometimes but is well behaved most of the times.

Vintage Gillettes, Muhle, Ikon, EJ etc are definitely much more user-friendly in this regard.
 
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