Weighing on my mind

[lordmerc]

Got my Muhle Rocca today and I’m confused. Can anyone help?
It’s advertised everywhere as weighing 80 grams but mine says 97 grams.
It feels slightly out of balance to me and it can’t be because I’m left handed.

Looks great with the other handle (guess which razor it’s from) and the balance feels spot on even though the weight goes up.

What’s the weight supposed to be on the supplied razor? Have I got a dodgy handle?
I need the truth the whole truth and nothing but.

Early days but the 1st shave was staggeringly close. I have about 15 razors ranging from Mercur Futur and 34C to Edwin Jagger Chatsworth to Rockwell 6S to Parker Variant to Feather ADS 1…etc…

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Big_T]

You got the Rocca with the stainless steel handle (R94 I think???) Appears that Muhle just cut and pasted the specs from the R95 and R96. Here's my R95 (birchbark handle) I think the R96 has aluminum instead of birchbark.

 

[lordmerc]

Ahh thanks Big_T
I’ve contacted Muhle about it. The handle material construction is going to affect the balance of the razor then.
Guess I’ll get used to it.


How do you like yours? The shave I got today was incredibly close but left some irritation. I’m used to milder razors and lower settings on my adjustable razors. Got the Rocca at a great price on an August sale here in the UK.

 

[Big_T]

I love the Rocca. It is a great razor for everyday use. I bought it used here on the BST. I have almost 40 razors and rate it at number 5 behind my Blackland Blackbird, Lambda Athena, Timeless, and Tatara Masamune Nodachi but those are twice the price so not really a fair comparison.

You may be able to buy the lighter handle from Muhle. Perhaps that would help; you should not be getting irritation from the Rocca....be sure you're not applying pressure.

 

[lordmerc]

Definitely not applying pressure. I’m guessing shouldn’t have gone against the grain until I get used to the balance a bit more. You have some great Razors. I’ve just ordered the Henson AL13 medium arriving Sunday.
Then no more razor buying for a while.

What soap and brush do you recommend for sensitive skin types?

 

[Big_T]

Definitely not applying pressure. I’m guessing shouldn’t have gone against the grain until I get used to the balance a bit more. You have some great Razors. I’ve just ordered the Henson AL13 medium arriving Sunday.
Then no more razor buying for a while.

What soap and brush do you recommend for sensitive skin types?

I'm no expert on soaps and brushes. I will say that my current favorites are Master Soap Creations, Stirling, and Proraso products, and synthetic brushes from Omega and Razorock.

I'll defer to the soaps and brush forums as the best source of information -

Shaving Soaps

This section is dedicated to shaving soaps of all varieties.

www.badgerandblade.com

Shaving Brushes

Kent, Shavemac, Savile Row, Vulfix, Simpson, Plisson.... What's your weapon of choice?

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[lordmerc]

Thanks Big_T

 

[Iridian]

This Mühle weight handle thing, I have seen this question on Reddit and numerous other forums.
The R94, the pure steel one, is the heaviest. The others fall in between and they for the *** use the wrong weight all the time or write nothing at all. That's including Amazon and their very own website.
Just tried finding the thread on Reddit, the results were spectacular. Even the supposedly same handles of the same type had quite a range.

 

[lordmerc]

That’s interesting Iridian.
My enquiry about this which I sent to Muhle in the UK has now been forwarded to Muhle in Germany.
These weight variations are going to affect the balance and to me that is important for a razor.
Here in the UK we have advertising standards to ensure accuracy of descriptions of products and clearly this standard is not being used when it comes to specifications of the various R94, R95, R96 descriptions.

Many thanks for your feedback.

 

[Iridian]

(...)

R94, just took out my scales: 56g. 96g for the whole razor.
Now notice I said and thought the R94 is the heaviest, but yours is 58g. And the whole razor 97g. Seems roughly the same.
Which is unexpected.

Let's make this even weirder: The black handle Rocca of the guy I talked with on Reddit was only 86g (!). That's for your model, or are there several ones with a black pattern inlay handle? He also said he felt the handle is hollow and didn't like it. Yes, he made photos of the scales.

HIS black handle was a black aluminum inlay, is yours coated steel or sth? It seems a lot more closer in spec to mine than his lighter Rocca.

 

[lordmerc]

The rabbit hole goes deeper
Mine is described as a stainless steel razor on the web site where I bought it. I got it in an August sale they had for £58 (about $70) the sale has now finished and the same razor is now $90 (£73.50). Most sellers in the UK sell it for £90 or more ($110) so I couldn’t resist buying it at £58 as I was looking at either the Muhle R range or an Edwin Jagger 3One6 to get a stainless steel razor.

Anyway I get the feeling it might be a shade too aggressive for me and perhaps with a lighter or different handle the balance might suit me better. Would changing the balance change the feel of the shave? Tomorrow I’m going to use the handle from my Grande DE85 as that razor gives me a superb shave. It feels much better balanced when I put it on the R94.

A BBS shave in two passes using a Derby extra blade today. The Derby blade feels rough compared to the Russian Perma Sharp I used yesterday which was an incredibly close shave but left me with irritation.

See pic of the gear I used today….