I've been pleased to use both the Parker 99R TTO Butterfly and Parker 24C Open Comb 3-Piece razors. These are solid devices, which give me great shaves every time. Being a customer, my ears always ***** up a bit when Parker is mentioned on the B&B threads. In particular, I was interested in finding out more information on the materials making up the razors and how the various Parker offerings stack up to one another in terms of aggressiveness.
Over the summer, I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff Woda, brother of Howard Woda, who is the U.S. partner of Parker founder Deepak Grover. I wrote to Jeff yesterday with the following questions, and received the following gracious responses from Howard, which I am including in toto with Howard's permission.
My questions:
His responses:
"Relative to the questions below, all the Parkers are now chrome plated.. (None are just nickel plated). The handles on all the Parkers (except the horn and resin razors) are all brass.
Relative to aggressiveness, all of our butterfly razors have the same butterfly head. All of our 3 piece razors have the same three pieces head and all of the open combs have the same open comb head.
I believe our Butterfly razors are the least aggressive and our Open Comb and 3 Piece models are slightly more aggressive than the butterflies. Alot of the aggressiveness depends on
1) The angle the razor is held at when shaving
2) The particular blade used.
I believe These two criteria actually make a bigger difference in terms of the aggressiveness than the design of our razors."
Comments:
In contrast to Howard's comments above, I've found the 99R butterfly to be more efficient (aggressive?) than the 24C OC. I've tried a number of different blades with a number of different angles, and I always get to BBS in fewer passes with the 99R than with the 24C. For those of you who've tried both, are you getting the same results? With the eye test, the 24C does have more blade exposure but a minimal blade gap, whereas the 99R has less blade exposure and an appreciably larger blade gap. I believe the 99R is .2 ounces heavier than the 24C. Comments?
Over the summer, I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff Woda, brother of Howard Woda, who is the U.S. partner of Parker founder Deepak Grover. I wrote to Jeff yesterday with the following questions, and received the following gracious responses from Howard, which I am including in toto with Howard's permission.
My questions:
- Are all Parker razors brass under nickel plating, handle as well as head? If not, which ones are wholly brass and which ones only have a brass handle?
- Im looking to pick up another Parker soon, and Im wondering if the company provides any detailed descriptions of each razor. The information on the company website is next to not helpful. Im guessing that there are probably only three or four heads on a variety of handles. Is that so? Is there any information about blade gaps for the various heads?
- Is there any kind of chart that rates the razors in terms of aggressiveness from very mild to very aggressive.
His responses:
"Relative to the questions below, all the Parkers are now chrome plated.. (None are just nickel plated). The handles on all the Parkers (except the horn and resin razors) are all brass.
Relative to aggressiveness, all of our butterfly razors have the same butterfly head. All of our 3 piece razors have the same three pieces head and all of the open combs have the same open comb head.
I believe our Butterfly razors are the least aggressive and our Open Comb and 3 Piece models are slightly more aggressive than the butterflies. Alot of the aggressiveness depends on
1) The angle the razor is held at when shaving
2) The particular blade used.
I believe These two criteria actually make a bigger difference in terms of the aggressiveness than the design of our razors."
Comments:
In contrast to Howard's comments above, I've found the 99R butterfly to be more efficient (aggressive?) than the 24C OC. I've tried a number of different blades with a number of different angles, and I always get to BBS in fewer passes with the 99R than with the 24C. For those of you who've tried both, are you getting the same results? With the eye test, the 24C does have more blade exposure but a minimal blade gap, whereas the 99R has less blade exposure and an appreciably larger blade gap. I believe the 99R is .2 ounces heavier than the 24C. Comments?
