Muhle R41 review

[Ad Astra]

Mike, try it with a very steep angle and your sharpest blade. You may be surprised by how smooth it can be.

I will! Thanks, Dan.

I'm in a phase where I want to revisit everything, challenge what I think I know.

Had such a great shave last week with a thin cap OLD - like driving a sports car; amazing blade feel. Have so many razors in rotation, forgetting aspects of some.

I do recall R41 as one I backed off from though. Maybe I just didn't give it enough time.


AS

 

[Ad Astra]

Mike, try it with a very steep angle and your sharpest blade. You may be surprised by how smooth it can be.

Yeah. I just did ... blade feel: like an OLD thin cap x 1000!

"Yikes," and "Get me out of here" were the two immediate thoughts I just had.

However. Since the R41 was on deck, I remembered an experiment I wanted to try ...

@les24preludes has a setup he likes: the cheapie Yintal "bronze" razor's topcap on the R41 baseplate. Since I have both - and the Yintal's really a so-so shaver - I tried the combination.

Noisy! Which implies blade chatter (though not as noisy as the '47 Aristocrat- noiseiest shaver I have) but you know what? It worked. Very well.

An efficiency tiger, was my thought. Smooth shave, much less danger than the unadulterated R41.

Needs another trial, tomorrow.

Makes you wonder what other topcap-baseplate combos are better than the sum. Not ordinarily something I try; think you can make a very bad combination just as easily.

(Apologies for side-tracking OP's post, but it's all in the name of R41 exploration)

AA

 

[xiletero]

Mike, try it with a very steep angle and your sharpest blade. You may be surprised by how smooth it can be.

+1. There is something strange with your setup, I get NO chatter with mine (relatively new R41 using all OEM setup). I have chatter w Fatip MK1 and Merkur Futur.

Blades I have used w R41: Nacet, Crystal,7Oclock rusky, USTA. No weepers/cuts but apply no pressure. It's all good.

 

[xiletero]

Recently got this new 41 variation, R103?. The handle is different, but it was cheap. Will try soon. I am not sure if my "grande handle came w the R41 or the R89 (which I will probably never use).