Uneven Blade Exposure

Uneven blade exposure has been discussed many times. Some Gillette TTO razors were among those with this problem. I do not own many DE razors, and have just examined three of them. Gillette Tech has pretty noticeable blade play, the DE89 is much better and a Chinese $3.45 razor is perfect. It is very easy to evaluate the blade exposure in a Tech or the Chinese razor (even or uneven) if you hold them against say window, aiming the handle towards yourself. The edges of the blade make slits with the edges of the back plate so you can see whether those strips of light through the slits are even or not. I think Gillette could do a better job tolerance-wise to ensure proper alignment of the blade.

All I can say is to wait a while and have a look at the DE89 or especially the Chinese thing in 20, 30 - 40 years time after being stored wet, dropped and basically abused. then see if they have a perfect alignment and give a good shave. Of course they may stand the test of time? but I wont be around to be proved wrong anyhow.

My guess is that the tolerances for the blades used to be loose at the time and Gillette had to deal with it in their razors.

Older blades were a bit thicker I think.....

kcb5150 said:

Older blades were a bit thicker I think.....

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It is not about the thickness, but rather about the tolerances of the blade cut out.

make sure you are screwing the blade in tightly. in a gillette tto you have an extra quarter turn to lock the blade in - there should be no 'play' once it is properly in place. as for a loose tech, that too is somewhat of an anomaly - are you sure you are tightening the razors sufficiently as there seems to be a common theme here? do you have the correct cap/handle for the tech?

here's a recent topic that may interest you => http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/335490-(Worse-than)-Rookie-Mistake

chilliman64 said:

make sure you are screwing the blade in tightly. in a gillette tto you have an extra quarter turn to lock the blade in - there should be no 'play' once it is properly in place. as for a loose tech, that too is somewhat of an anomaly - are you sure you are tightening the razors sufficiently as there seems to be a common theme here? do you have the correct cap/handle for the tech?

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When I say "play" I mean the play of the blade before tightening the handle up. In other words there are different positions the blade can take after it is secured . Just try yourself and you will see what I am talking about.

I've seen a variety of blade "play" and hence irregularities in blade exposure along one side (i.e. blade skewed) or from side to side (i.e. blade slid more toward one guard). It's usually very small but maybe not insignificant. It varies from one razor model to another. The three-hole design (e.g. the Gillette old-type, many Merkurs, etc.) seem to allow more of that blade play. Sometimes, maybe not always.

The difference in alignment doesn't necessarily go away when you tighten them up fully.

I really like the way blades are secured in 1947 Gillette Superspeed, and Ranger Tech/Milord. There's the center bar, and also short "wings" at the ends that come off that and engage perpendicular slots in the blade cutout. This seems to hold the blade *very* firmly in alignment and prevents any twisting. It's so restrictive that I've found a few blade makes (can't recall right now, not many and obscure) that are such a tight fit that they are qute hard to load.

I think they made a mistake in abandoning that design in favor of the notched center bar, just for the gimmicky metal blade loaders.

woodfluter said:

I've seen a variety of blade "play" and hence irregularities in blade exposure along one side (i.e. blade skewed) or from side to side (i.e. blade slid more toward one guard). It's usually fairly small but maybe not insignificant. It varies from one razor model to another. The three-hole design (e.g. the Gillette old-type, many Merkurs, etc.) seem to allow more of that blade play.

The difference in alignment doesn't necessarily go away when you tighten them up fully.

I really like the way blades are secured in 1947 Gillette Superspeed, and Ranger Tech/Milord. There's the center bar, and also short "wings" at the ends that come off that and engage perpendicular slots in the blade cutout. This seems to hold the blade very firmly in alignment and prevent any twisting. It's so restrictive that I've found a few blade makes (can't recall right now, not many and obscure) that are such a tight fit that they are qute hard to load.

I think they made a mistake in abandoning that design in favor of the notched center bar, just for the gimmicky metal blade loaders.

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Well, you understood what I was telling. I think Gillette could make that center bar just a bit thicker and it would align the blade perfectly.

HUF said:

I think Gillette could do a better job tolerance-wise to ensure proper alignment of the blade.

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HUF said:

I think Gillette could make that center bar just a bit thicker and it would align the blade perfectly.

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You seem to think that Gillette is actively making these razors. With the possible exception of India, I don't think that is the case. IIRC, the tech had neither a center bar nor the two rods that locked in the blade, but it used the corner cutouts on the blade to locate it and it was not a TTO, but a 3 piece.

Shutterbug57 said:

You seem to think that Gillette is actively making these razors. With the possible exception of India, I don't think that is the case. IIRC, the tech had neither a center bar nor the two rods that locked in the blade, but it used the corner cutouts on the blade to locate it and it was not a TTO, but a 3 piece.

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I do not know what in my posts made you believe that I think that Tech is a TTO. My 1953 Tech does have a center bar which aligns the blade together with the four corner notches (the notches are overkill, IMHO). See the picture attached. The central bar alone is able to properly align the back plate and the blade assuming all the blades have the same cutout configuration. I think everybody on this board knows that Gillette stopped making Techs many years ago but thank you for a grammar lesson. Indeed, "could have made" and "could have done a better job" should have been used.

The thickness of the bar is 2.00 mm. The cutout in a flat Astra blade is 2.20 mm wide. When the blade is secured it is bent, so that the projection of the cutout slit is less than 2.20 mm, but not much less.

Two pieces of transparent Scotch tape fixed the problem. I get very even blade exposure. See the picture.