I am thinking this gas been discussed before. I was looking at my Merkur, Jagger, and RazoRock shave heads yesterday and feel they are identical. Do most makers get them from the same source or at least copy them?
Sourced out razor heads.
- Thread starter pejay66
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Also Parker, Maggard razors, Weber, etc ... they all look alike.
I think this is a result of the fact that the basic 3-piece razor design hasn't been patentable since 1921. Many of the head designs are similar, but I think that's because of convergence on a design that has proven effective. In the case if EJ89 and Mühle R89, the heads are a joint venture made from the same CAD design, and completely identical. They're also different enough to be patentable. (i.e. the curved bottom of the baseplate.) OTOH, Weber, while similar, is clearly a very different head made from different materials. I used a R89 and a Weber PH this morning, and I can tell you they offer very different shaves.
I'm sure there is copying going on. It would be dead simple to take an older design like Merkur, make a cast of that head, then create a mold matching it almost exactly. Since there is no patent, it's perfectly legal, just like generic drugs. I suspect that is exactly what happened for some of the nearly identical, but slightly different designs, like Parker and Sabi.
I'm sure there is copying going on. It would be dead simple to take an older design like Merkur, make a cast of that head, then create a mold matching it almost exactly. Since there is no patent, it's perfectly legal, just like generic drugs. I suspect that is exactly what happened for some of the nearly identical, but slightly different designs, like Parker and Sabi.
From an interview I read with the President of EJ - Edwin Jagger and Muhle co-designed their SB heads. So, the DE89 and R89 are the same design, however they are manufactured independently of each other in each company's respective factories, with each company's respective QC and engineering. RazoRock razors are, I believe, re-branded Cadet razors and I believe their heads are based off the EJ heads. I'm not sure where Merkur fits into the equation, but it seems to me that the current production SB razors are either modeled after the Merkur head, or the Tech head. So while most razors seem to be based off of existing, popular, and effective designs, and there is a fair amount of re-branding, I believe (at least with the three razors that you named above) that most companies design, and make their own heads. And it seems that these designs are all based off the popular razors that we all know and love, but tweaked and re-worked just a little bit so they are not exact copies.
EDIT TO ADD: I did read, somewhere, that the RazoRock Mission was meant to be a slightly more aggressive version of the DE/R89. If you know your EJ razor, you'll notice that once you shave with the Mission it is precisely that; slightly more aggressive, slightly more efficient, and with a little more heft. So while the heads do look very similar, there is a noticeable difference in the shave. At least there was for me. In addition, the RazoRock SLAB head looks almost identical to the Mission head, yet it is appreciably more aggressive. So, if you lined up the head of an EJ DE89, RR Mission, and RR SLAB, the untrained eye might very well not be able to tell which one is which. However the performance between the three is noticeably different, despite their common appearance.
EDIT TO ADD: I did read, somewhere, that the RazoRock Mission was meant to be a slightly more aggressive version of the DE/R89. If you know your EJ razor, you'll notice that once you shave with the Mission it is precisely that; slightly more aggressive, slightly more efficient, and with a little more heft. So while the heads do look very similar, there is a noticeable difference in the shave. At least there was for me. In addition, the RazoRock SLAB head looks almost identical to the Mission head, yet it is appreciably more aggressive. So, if you lined up the head of an EJ DE89, RR Mission, and RR SLAB, the untrained eye might very well not be able to tell which one is which. However the performance between the three is noticeably different, despite their common appearance.
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Thx for the info folks. I had my first shave today with a Mission I received in a trade. It really went well and I do believe it is a bit more aggressive. I noticed the sound of the blade cutting was appreciably louder.
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