Replacing progress...

I got the progress about a month or so ago to replace a broken Parker 96R. I really liked that guy, but thought I would 'upgrade' since I felt I was getting the hang of the whole wetshaving-with-DE-thing. At the same time I got my first straight razor, so much of my attention has been on that. About a week ago I noticed how badly aligned the thing is. It wasn't until I saw that did I check here to see just how prevalent this problem is. I would've noticed it earlier, I think, except I was using the DE mostly for cleanup while I learned my way around the straight. In the few cases that I have shaved solely with the DE since I got it, I just chocked the mediore results to my inexperience with that particular razor.... Granted, this may still be the case, but the misalignment bothers me.

So now I've got a few things to figure out. I definitely still want a DE, and my plan is to split my shaves between that and straight once I feel I'm proficient with the later. I'm looking at the Merkur HD, but after this experience, I'm not so sure... they seem to get great reviews, so I'm not unwilling to go that route. However, because I only plan on using DE as a secondary shaver in the near future, I might go ahead and get the feather popular (I think that's it) since I wanted to try one of those anyways. Then of course there's always vintage, which I might be able to get off BST or the bay... but that'll be an acquisition of opporunity, I think.

Until then, though, I'll keep using the progress as it's not impossible to use... but I don't see myself hanging onto it. In that case, though, *** do I do with it? I wouldn't feel right selling it or even PIFing it... perhaps it would make a nice decoration?

You might be interested in the Feather Portable as well. Well built as it is a 3 piece razor, well respected, and slightly more aggressive than the typical Gillette Tech/ Superspeed. As an added benefit, it is also available for less than $10 shipped:

Buy Feather Portable from Pauldog

gurana said:

In that case, though, *** do I do with it? I wouldn't feel right selling it or even PIFing it... perhaps it would make a nice decoration?

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Sell it on the B/S/T for a good price, with full disclosure of it's flaws. If the alignment is horridly off, you can also investigate the possibility of returning it to Merkur. Finally, Eric/ Mer (maker of the custom Mergress upgrade for the Progress) might be able to correct some of it's flaws if you are willing to send it his way.

My feather certainly eats my progress alive.

~Tom~

michiganlover said:

You might be interested in the Feather Portable as well. Well built as it is a 3 piece razor, well respected, and slightly more aggressive than the typical Gillette Tech/ Superspeed. As an added benefit, it is also available for less than $10 shipped:

Buy Feather Portable from Pauldog



Sell it on the B/S/T for a good price, with full disclosure of it's flaws. If the alignment is horridly off, you can also investigate the possibility of returning it to Merkur. Finally, Eric/ Mer (maker of the custom Mergress upgrade for the Progress) might be able to correct some of it's flaws if you are willing to send it his way.

Click to expand...

That feather portable looks interesting... I'll look into it. I had thought about seeking Mer to do a fix, but I figured I could just get a new/different razor instead. I wasn't attached in anyway to the progress, so I figured this is a good excuse to try something new (though, in many ways, I've not gotten to really try a progress.)

I had a progress and shaved with it for about 1.5 years and recently acquired the open comb HD (11c I think). It gets much closer than the progress. I am happy with the open comb.

FYI... I'm going to order the feather popular (that comes with a case right?), and I've PM'd pauldog about the feather portable.

I think after christmas I'll get the HD... that's got a short handle right? That's one thing I really enjoyed about the Progress. I thought I'd hate it, but find it quite comfortable now.

Still on the fence re: what to do with the progress...

The blade exposure can manually be adjusted. This is a problem with many Merkurs. I really love the shave from the progress and slant so I just deal with the blade alignment issues. You could always go vintage gillette. No problems there!

rainman said:

The blade exposure can manually be adjusted. This is a problem with many Merkurs. I really love the shave from the progress and slant so I just deal with the blade alignment issues. You could always go vintage gillette. No problems there!

Click to expand...

Trying to guide the blade as I tighten does seem to help... But it is still pretty off. on each edge one side is a little further out than the othere. Also, the distance between the blade and the bar is not consistent.

gurana said:

Still on the fence re: what to do with the progress...

Click to expand...

I'll save you the distress of trying to make a decision and take the progress off of your hands

gurana said:

Trying to guide the blade as I tighten does seem to help... But it is still pretty off. on each edge one side is a little further out than the othere. Also, the distance between the blade and the bar is not consistent.

Click to expand...

That can manually fixed as well unless your talking about the head piece being cut farther on one side than the other causing an uneven blade gap.
Is it an older Progress? I've found those very hard to fix the blade exposure.