Black Beauty - uneven gap

Hi, sorry this has probably been asked to death, but I've not found any threads on this so far via search (will keep looking).

I bought the black beauty (my first DE razor) about 3 months ago, and have been using it ever since.
I also have about a dozen packs of different blades, & have been switching each week.

My technique is, I'm sure, pretty bad even now, although I can usually manage to get a decent shave (by my own standards) without too much blood on the carpet.
I use 2 passes, with the BB adjusted to setting 2, so pretty mild!

A few weeks after I started, I felt one 'side' of the razor to be noticeably more aggressive than the other. Have persisted with it, blaming myself rather than my equipment, but several weeks (and blade types) later, I am now convinced it is the case. It's always the 'reverse' side (ie with the adjustment marker furthest away from my skin).

The difference in the gap is visible, but small.

Is this normal? I can imagine achieving perfectly even blade gap would require very fine tolerances in manufacture of the razor, but I'll confess I was not expecting to have to check which side I was using each time, or to have to worry about flipping the blade around in order to use both edges.

I've also noticed the blade gap vary from one 'end' to the other, along the same side (if that makes sense). It's more noticeable with some blades than with others, but not helpful for developing good technique, or getting a nice shave!

My real question is, is there a way to fix this, or is it just a case of living with it or junking the razor?
Can the mechanism be adjusted or tweaked to correct this, with appropriate tools?
I really like the razor and don't want to stop using it, but I'm cutting myself far too often because of this issue for it to be workable.

ETA: As far as I know I've not done anything to damage the razor... I clean it thoroughly between blades, always slacken off the mechanism before adjusting the setting, clamp down the last quarter turn to 'lock' the blade in place etc. No excessive "play" after dropping in the blade (before closing) either. Thanks!

I bought a BB razor on eBay a few weeks ago and shaved with it for a week. The blade gap on my razor is uniform. I don't know how to fix it and hopefully someone will give you a remedy.

For me the BB shaves very similar to a slim.

Elev8, your razor is fixable and should not be either junked or just "lived with." It sounds like the razor has been dropped, and a safety bar is bent. Use a small screwdriver as a lever, hook into the relief slot on the corner that is bent, and gently tweak the razor back into a straight line. Go slow and be gentle - don't try to make the adjustment all at once.

The gap between the safety bar and the blade edge should be the same on all four "corners" . . . if you have a set of feeler gauges the gap should range from about .022 to .042 depending on the dial setting. If a gap difference is visible to the naked eye without measuring, then it is bad enough to cause problems shaving with the razor, as you have discovered.

Hi BBrad,

Thanks for your reply.
So it's likely to be a bent safety bar and not the clamp mechanism exerting unequal pressure at each end?
That's encouraging. I did consider a similar remedy but wanted to ask before potentially damaging anything.
Assuming I can straighten the bar so the gap is constant along on each side, should I then use the same method to try & even up the two sides, or must that just be lived-with?
Seems to me that could be difficult. I'm prepared to give it a go though, because I like the razor & really want to use it.

Thanks again!

Stick up a pic or two so we can take a look.

BlkKnight said:

Stick up a pic or two so we can take a look.

Click to expand...

+1 . . . pics from different angles so we can get a 3-D idea of how bent it may be. Sometimes a single flat two-dimensional picture can be misleading.

Elev8 said:

. . . So it's likely to be a bent safety bar and not the clamp mechanism exerting unequal pressure at each end?
That's encouraging. I did consider a similar remedy but wanted to ask before potentially damaging anything.
Assuming I can straighten the bar so the gap is constant along on each side, should I then use the same method to try & even up the two sides, or must that just be lived-with?
Seems to me that could be difficult. I'm prepared to give it a go though, because I like the razor & really want to use it.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

The center rod gets pulled down by the action of the TTO knob. It pulls the spider from a single point, and the spider in turn causes the doors to clamp down on the blade. Unless the spider itself is badly bent (very rare and quite obvious) the blade will always have equal pressure end-to-end and side-to-side. Differences in blade gap are caused by a bend in the safety bar or base plate. Therefore, adjusting the bar or plate generally solves the problem.

From your initial description, it sounded like you have a bent safety bar. Now you mention evening up the two sides . . . that would sound like the head is bent and is not square with the handle. Some times, that problem will also show a gap between a door and the spider on one side when the blade is fully tightened down.

But, yes, get the gap even from end-to-end first, and then tweak the head to get both sides within a couple of thousandths of each other.