Who here has broken a razor?

[Macduff]

So i primarily shave with a Van Der Hagen long handled TTO which thus far has served me very well. But i’ve heard and seen many complaints about razor’s (especially Weishi’s) being “cheap” or not manufactured well. So my question to you all is, have you ever broken a razor?

Drops count since i assume something made of brass with few moving parts should survive a fall if my iphone can. Curious to see what everyone has to say and whether razors breaking is common or pretty rare.

 

[lancre]

I dropped a Merkur 23c about 2 months after I received it. It hit the shower floor and the post snapped off the cap. Merkur was not sympathetic, wouldn't sell me a replacement cap. I super-glued it back in place, but I have no faith in it anymore.

I've also dropped a Fendrihan Mk. I and a Ball End Tech. Both of those survived undamaged. Of course, neither of those were zamak....

 

[Macduff]

What actually prompted me to post this thread was coming across randomly scattered posts about someone’s merkur breaking. Despite the fact that everyone cited “excellent customer service” in getting replacements, I’ve seen more stories about merkur’s than weishi’s which made me start to wonder if th concept of “cheap” vs “precision” is merely a matter of appearances, price and subjectivity. But zamak isn’t brass so i suppose that model gets a pass.

 

[Raven Koenes]

What actually prompted me to post this thread was coming across randomly scattered posts about someone’s merkur breaking. Despite the fact that everyone cited “excellent customer service” in getting replacements, I’ve seen more stories about merkur’s than weishi’s which made me start to wonder if th concept of “cheap” vs “precision” is merely a matter of appearances, price and subjectivity. But zamak isn’t brass so i suppose that model gets a pass.

I knocked my Merkur 34c off of the sink while flailing my arms about. It bounced off the lid of our stainless steel trash can and hit the tile floor. It had no damage or plating loss. That was about four years ago and it is still pristine looking. Maybe I dodged a bullet?

 

[psychoman1128]

Only dropped one razor so far, my Gillette Slim Adjustable. I'm a shower shaver and my razor of the day usually hangs by a clawed hook on my mirror. Think I knocked it with my elbow and it jumped of the hook and my reaction was to step back and let it fall, and make sure it didn't nick anything vital on the way down. I am generally of the mindset that if its survived the last 50-some-odd years it'll survive me. Now a modern razor, that's a horse of a different color.

 

[Robbyboxers]

I knocked my Merkur 34c off of the sink while flailing my arms about.

I just have to ask...why were your arms flailing about?

 

[Raven Koenes]

I just have to ask...why were your arms flailing about?

I was having a moment.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I spent over 20 years with just a Wilkinson Sword Classic, which while plastic is very resilient to abuse.

Since moving to metal razors about 5 years ago, I've had a couple of dropsies, but no casualties.

 

[emwolf]

I've dropped a couple razors in my time, but only one break and that was my Star 3 piece. The top cap snapped off the screw post, leaving me with two useless pieces.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

I broke one in five decades. It was a disposable.

 

[BigJ]

Nope!! Guess that I have had good luck.

 

[Twelvefret]

$5 Techs never break. Everything else can break, but never a $5 Tech.

 

[Twelvefret]

Oh, one thing I do with my vintage arsenal is lay a towel down and assemble. When I am finished I use the towel again to disassemble and rinse off. They are never in a position to fall on anything but the towel.

 

[Macduff]

So far i think this validates what i thought: I.E. it’s pretty rare to break a razor. I was looking on amazon at the horror stories of micro touch one’s seizing up after only a couple uses and i’m starting to wonder what these people are doing to these razors?! Maybe they really are that cheap? Because if people on this board who use DE nearly every day don’t often see a razor sieze up or drop and break, i’m thinking maybe the weishi’s reputation is well deserved?

 

[Clay S]

I haven't seen any horror stories about weishi's or their rebrands here either. My VDH is treating me fine.

 

[Skeezixx]

I dropped a 65 Tech and the threaded stud snapped off.
I also have a Fatboy which somehow lost it's dial indicator spring.

 

[donttpanic]

A slim I bought on the bay has a misaligned base plate. It's very difficult to move, so I have to imagine someone in its life stepped on it. I haven't gotten it aligned yet, but I have to imagine its do-able.
My wife has dropped my EJ while "cleaning", but it only got the corners of the base plate banged up enough to be annoying.

 

[Rich lathers]

So far i think this validates what i thought: I.E. it’s pretty rare to break a razor. I was looking on amazon at the horror stories of micro touch one’s seizing up after only a couple uses and i’m starting to wonder what these people are doing to these razors?! Maybe they really are that cheap? Because if people on this board who use DE nearly every day don’t often see a razor sieze up or drop and break, i’m thinking maybe the weishi’s reputation is well deserved?

I have used the micro one touch for over a year. I have not had any trouble with it. I just recently retired it in favor of vintage. It is a very good razor. Very mild.

 

[shaveSymptomatic]

I dropped a Merkur 23c about 2 months after I received it. It hit the shower floor and the post snapped off the cap. Merkur was not sympathetic, wouldn't sell me a replacement cap. I super-glued it back in place, but I have no faith in it anymore.

I've also dropped a Fendrihan Mk. I and a Ball End Tech. Both of those survived undamaged. Of course, neither of those were zamak....

Merkur has pretty bad customer service. I won't ever buy a razor from them again.

 

[MntnMan62]

I dropped the top cap of a Schone Open Comb and one of the pins broke off. Since I'm no good with solder, I couldn't fix it. So I bought a new one.