Prewar Tech + one Shim =...

[rabidus]

...The only way I can use it.

The postwar Tech is by far my favorite Tech do to its rigidity over the prewar Tech. I started out with a prewar Tech and other razors designed like it and the shaves were great until I discovered more rigid razors. They are simply smoother and more efficient and removed my coarse stubble with ease ATG, leaving my face smooth and irritation free.

Shimming the prewar Tech one time makes the cutting blade rigid enough to slice through my coarse stubble smoothly ATG. It is said that Kai blades, while being the same thickness as other blades, are more rigid. I have not tried Kai blades to confirm though. The .004" blade gap increase probably helps also.

I used the shimmed prewar Tech today with a Polsilver SI that had two head shaves on it for my face and head shave. Nice smooth BBS results.

If you want to make a razor more rigid, shim it one time. Make sure you cut as little as possible off the blade leaving the shim as wide as possible.

If the razor is already rigid like the postwar Tech, a shim is not going to make it anymore rigid. But it will increase the blade gap like an adjustable.

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A shim will help the bottom razor design but not the top razor because it is already rigid.

 

[Highspeedlane]

Great post. Now I want to break out my post-war tomorrow!

 

[mgbbrown]

Rabidus; Can you please post a picture of your shim? Thanks! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

 

[rabidus]

Great post. Now I want to break out my post-war tomorrow!

If I recall correctly, you had a similar experience when you shimmed your R1. just didn't know why.

 

[Highspeedlane]

If I recall correctly, you had a similar experience when you shimmed your R1. just didn't know why.

That's exactly what happened. Shimming the R1 made a huge difference.

 

[TobyC]

BOO!

 

[rabidus]

Rabidus; Can you please post a picture of your shim? Thanks! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

The Astra SP is the shim.

 

[BSAGuy]

Nice photos.

 

[mgbbrown]

Thanks Rabidus! I have never shimmed a razor before, so it appears that the cutting edge is removed about a millimeter on each side of the razor blade to be the shim by cutting with a pair of scissors. Thank you Sir! God Bless! Tony

 

[TobyC]

I played around with shims for a while in the OLD type before I came to the conclusion that they shave better without them. I would install an old blade in the razor that I was going to shim, and mark the blade using the cap as a template.

 

[santamariasteve]

Brother TobyC, I consider you to be the Gillette Old Type expert. Do you recommend tightening the handle "fairly firm" (without damaging anything, of course), or do you recommend tightening with "moderate to light firmness?"

I love the looks of the Gillette Old Types, thin cap and thick cap, but they seem to shave somewhat harsh for me. I've experimented with different angles, and with hot water/cold water shaving, with no real improvement.

I have a coarse beard and I use Personna Lab Blues or Gillette Silver Blues.

Thanks for your guidance.

 

[TobyC]

Moderately firm, I guess, the words are relative, and therefore meaningless. Firm enough that nothing can move, a touch more than snug, just tighten without thinking about it and it will just stop on it's own. Avoid white knuckles!

 

[bahomebrew]

To the shimmers out there. I have never shimmed(I hesitate to admit, but there it is). Does it make a difference if you shim above or below the cutting blade? I have a pre-war Tech that I love, but it is a bit too mild and maybe some rigidity and a bit of blade gap would help the situation and give me that bit of shave I am missing with it now.

Also, rabidus, that shim looks very precisely cut. Well done. Is that just scissors or do you have another tool or process that you use?

 

[rabidus]

To the shimmers out there. I have never shimmed(I hesitate to admit, but there it is). Does it make a difference if you shim above or below the cutting blade? I have a pre-war Tech that I love, but it is a bit too mild and maybe some rigidity and a bit of blade gap would help the situation and give me that bit of shave I am missing with it now.

Also, rabidus, that shim looks very precisely cut. Well done. Is that just scissors or do you have another tool or process that you use?

The shim goes between the blade and baseplate, that's the only way you increase the blade gap and add rigidity.

If you put it between the blade and cap, you will ultimately reduce blade exposure, moving the cap away from the cutting blade. Basically making the cap thicker, making a razor milder.

So, if you add a shim between the blade and baseplate to increase rigidity on an aggressive razor, you can counter it with a shim between the cap and blade to smooth things out. one above the blade and one below the blade. That's how it worked for @Highspeedlane with his ATT R1.

To make the shim, I have a no guard postwar Tech DEvette. I put the blade in it and put the handle on it and went at it with a file until I reached the results I wanted. It was easier to just move the razor back and forth while the file remaind still.

 

[rabidus]

I played around with shims for a while in the OLD type before I came to the conclusion that they shave better without them. I would install an old blade in the razor that I was going to shim, and mark the blade using the cap as a template.

The more shims you add, the more you increase the blade gap giving you more angles to play with. It would be exactly like an adjustable. If you add enough shims, you can make the Old type have the same blade gap as a Fatboy or Slim on 9. In an adjustable, the blade is simply moving closer to or further away from the baseplate. Adding shims to the Old Type will give you the same adjustments.

To the initiated, one shim on a razor that has max rigidity, like the Old Type or NEW SC, is not all that noticeable. With enough shims, ultimately, you can have an open comb Fatboy on setting 9.

 

[rabidus]

Used a Clix razor today, which lacks rigidity like the prewar Tech. I had it for some time but never got around to using it after discovering more rigid razors.

Shimmed one time for my face shave, extremely mild razor, took a bit of work but the results were BBS, no irritation. Nice and smooth ATG. It took more work than the single shimmed prewar Tech yesterday.

For my head shave, I shimmed it twice, both shims between the blade and baseplate. It definitely increased efficiency, it took the same amount of work as the singled shimmed prewar Tech yesterday. BBS results as well.

 

[Slapo]

For what's it worth, if the top cap doesn't hug the blade well and neither does the base plate, sandwiching the blade between two shims made from old blades by filing/grinding off their sharp edges so they're as wide as they can be does help, although it varies by head design. I don't remember where I used this last, most likely an R89/Edwin Jagger style closed comb heads.

 

[rabidus]

Stiffened up the NEW Deluxe today with one shim, my ATG pass was smooth as silk. Used it with a fat Tech handle with a half ounce of tungsten added. I was reminded why I don't use aggressive OC razors on my head shaves though.