Right on the money!
As I said, the photograph is exactly what mine looks like when the blade is loaded.
On the Slant
- Thread starter Labarum
- Start date
Right on the money!
As I said, the photograph is exactly what mine looks like when the blade is loaded.
Mine is in the post office waiting for me to kick over the customs fees. Just got the delivery notice today. Oh boy! Slant shave this week sometime for sure!!
How about an ADJUSTABLE SLANT?
Wouldn't THAT be cool ???!!!!
Wouldn't THAT be cool ???!!!!
I have found a slant from Mulcato and Pomco. The Pomco however, appears to be identical to the Merkur. I'll see if I have a picture of the Mulcato or I can take one and post it.
Here's a picture of the Pomco slant:
And the Mulcato Slant:
Thanks for posting these pictures! I've never seen these before.
But it is possible to load your slant in such a way as to make uneven exposure real, not just an illusion. I just loaded mine and the first attempt produced an unevenly exposed blade - you could tell by the ends protruding from the thin (non-cutting) sides of the razor. I loosened the screw, realigned and - hey presto! - even exposure. So just to get this straight (no pun intended): The cutting edge of the blade is supposed to be parallel with the cap of the razor, not the safety bar, right?
Another point to add...I used a Lunawerk from Solingen for a while and used cheap Wal Mart blades with it. I got wonderful results with it, and I'm convinced it's because of the razor, and not the blade.
The blade is held in place the same way as an ordinary DE. It's the safety bars that are slanted. As the bar moves to the right its distance from the edge increases.
You use the razor the same way, by resting the safety bar on the skin, but that causes the edge to be on a slant relative to the direction of movement. As a result, the edge slices across the hairs (like a guillotine) and cuts more effectively.
You can use a standard DE that way by hoding the handle on an angle relative to the direction of movement, but it takes some pratice, and it doesn't work as effectively.
The blade is in its normal arched position. A really sharp blade should not pull or lift the hair. It will cut it clean. You'll notice that the pulling starts when you've used a blade for a while. That'a a goos time to change blades.
The lift and cut was the supposed theory of the multiblade razor. I don't know if it really works, because I can get a much closer shave with a DE than a multiblade. If there was a lift and cut, the multiblade would cut the hair shorter and give you a closer shave.
The slant has a reputation for being harsh, and the reputation is well deserved. But surprizingly, when you use a Feather blade the razor becomes wonderfully smooth.I just had my first slant + feather shave this morning after being a new DE shaver with an HD for about 3 weeks. Do not sweat this razor, if you can use a regular DE without mangling yourself, you can use the slant. I absolutely love it, got very close with no irritation or cuts. It's simply spectacular.
BroJohn's comment about the twisting is very accurate. Hold your hand in front of you parallel to the floor and imagine that is the razor. Now if you simply slant it you'd have e.g. the left side up and the right side down on one side, and if you could flip it over, as in your razor, you'd have left side down right side up. They wouldn't be the same, so it's not really a simple slant.
If you had fingers of steel you could imagine holding a blade at opposite corners, say at the NE corner and SW corner. Now bend each of those corners downward, that's the slant. In that fashion looking at it from either edge you'd have a curve going downward left to right.
I truly love this razor. It is a piece to be admired and respected, but never feared. Get one!
-Scott
I think you need to look more closely at the razor. The blade is held the same way as in the HD. It may even be the same cap. It's the safety bars that are slantedso the edge is held at an angle to the direction of movement. That gives you a slight scythin motion instead of a push cut.
I think my slant gives me the best shaves of any DE. It puzzled me at first as to why exactly, and how it worked. The entire head is subtly twisted, to allow the angle of shave to be slanted relative to the handle, so when you draw the handle in the desired direction of shave (in other words, use a "normal" DE shaving stroke) the blade (head, guard, blade, the whole business end of the system) is actually presented to contact with your face at a slight angle. This makes shaving more like slicing and a lot less like scraping. It is a noticeable difference in terms of reduced razor burn and a closer shave with less effort. In general, the Slant has a lot of blade exposure. Shaving with any DE which has a lot of blade exposure can cause razor burn and cuts if too much pressure is used. The same is true for my Vision when it is used opened all the way up. I have found that in areas of the chin where a lot of little adjustments are needed, it took time to use the Slant without getting nicked. I think the angle of the blade plus all of the other considerations of the little angles around the chin required retraining my hands. I think the slant more than any other DE rewards consistent use-- I found I was getting much better shaves when I used it more often and made it my almost every day razor.
Vin
Vin
I thought the same as you, then I took it apart and looked more closely. The whole head is canted, not just the safety bar. Take the blade out, and the head off, and look at the area where the blade sits on the head. You will notice that that area has one side higher than the other. If you look closely or take out a ruler you will also notice that the distance from the safety bar to the blade is virtually the same all the way across-- it looks like the distance varies because of the overall twisted configuration. It is an optical illusion.
Vin
My new Slant arrived yesterday, (The Gentleman's shop Hungerford Berks) thoroughly recommended service. I had decided not to shave from when I ordered the razor, (Saturday) until it arrived, (Tuesday pm), so I had a good growth for it to have a chew at. How did I get on? Well, I have a very good shave, did I cut myself? Yes, a few tiny nicks which were all down to my clumsiness and a little razor burn as evidenced when I applied alum. Am I happy with my new beauty? Yes I am! I alway cut myself with a new razor until I get used to it, also I always find a new blade to be rather harsh the first shave. (I used a Derby BTW). I look forward to my next outing, Jeez, it sure is a pretty li'l thang!
John.
John.
I just ordered a 2nd Slant for the shave den as Jenesee has claimed my existing one because it gives her such a great shave. She is brand new to DE shaving and handles the Slant like a champ so it's all cheers as far as I'm concerned.
In my experience the Slant handles better than the HD but that might be because of the months of HD use as a training-wheels precursor to tackling the (the) fearsome Slant. In retrospect though, I would probably have been OK starting with the Slant because it's a pussycat in tiger's stripes.
In my experience the Slant handles better than the HD but that might be because of the months of HD use as a training-wheels precursor to tackling the (the) fearsome Slant. In retrospect though, I would probably have been OK starting with the Slant because it's a pussycat in tiger's stripes.
That is not the case in the slant I have (Merkur). The blade is twisted, whereas in a regular HD it is not. I must admit, however, that I don't fully understand the implications of the twisting. The edge of the blade is perfectly straight (it would be a disaster otherwise). The twist therefore may not have much of an effect.
Not so. The distance between the safety bar and the blade changes from left to right. It's like a Futur that is set to 3 on the left side and to 10 (if there was such a setting) on the right side. As a consequence, the aggressivenes of the razor changes from left to right. If that wasn't the case, there wouldn't be much of a difference between the slant and a regular razor.
The only impact of the slant I can see is that it results in a guillotine-type slicing action as stated above.
The effect of the slant can't be denied. Still, I haven't decided yet if the slant isn't too aggressive for me. I think I would prefer having a somewhat shorter distance between guard and blade, thus reducing the aggressiveness while maintaining the guillotine-type slicing action, but I'll keep on working on it.
OK, having first tried the Slant with an IP, I loaded a Feather this time. I'm told that Feathers are super-harsh first time around (I discovered as much when I put one in my Progress), so maybe I should reserve judgement until tomorrow, but today's result was this: BBS in most places, though with no less effort than a conventional DE razor, and some nicks. All in all, I have done better with a Progress or Super Speed (even using Merkurs, on a good day). I fear the Slant itself may soon be getting the chop.
If you look at the razor from a bird's eye point of view, ie from the top, you will see that the edgeds of the cap of the razor and the safety bar are exactly parallel. So it would make no difference which you use to guide you to align the blade. To me, it does not look that way until I close one eye, squint and look at it just right. But they are perfectly parallel. I use the bar to guide me as I find that the "bumps" on the safety bar catch light and I see it as a straight line of points of light.
Best
