At first they told me the top cap was Zamak, but asked again and this was the reply I received today:
"Hello,
the zamak as basic material is covered by layers of copper, nickel and chrome. Without plating is would corrode quite fast. If the plating is damaged lime and soap will movv underneath."
We all know Merkur has problems with plating QC, I have a couple of Merkur razors where there was some plating flaking off, frankly I haven't worried too much about a bit of plating loss, but can anybody confirm if Zamak or Zamak 3 corrodes really fast without the protective plating over top? If it is a zinc alloy, I wouldn't think it would corrode, but it is confirmed that the heads are not made of plated brass, it's Zamak underneath. But how does bare Zamak hold up to moisture, exposure to water? I'm assuming from the reply I got, possibly the whole razor is Zamak, head, handle, knob, etc. Again a better choice would have been to make the razor out of entirely brass, plated with copper, nickel, then chrome. In the event that that plating wore off, like some vintage Gillettes, at least the brass underneath would hold up pretty good without the plating, I don't think brass would corrode as easily like the metal they are using. I wish Merkur would just up the quality and make the razor out of solid brass, I would be happy to pay an extra $5-10 for each razor, if I knew the build quality and materials were better than what they use now.
"Hello,
the zamak as basic material is covered by layers of copper, nickel and chrome. Without plating is would corrode quite fast. If the plating is damaged lime and soap will movv underneath."
We all know Merkur has problems with plating QC, I have a couple of Merkur razors where there was some plating flaking off, frankly I haven't worried too much about a bit of plating loss, but can anybody confirm if Zamak or Zamak 3 corrodes really fast without the protective plating over top? If it is a zinc alloy, I wouldn't think it would corrode, but it is confirmed that the heads are not made of plated brass, it's Zamak underneath. But how does bare Zamak hold up to moisture, exposure to water? I'm assuming from the reply I got, possibly the whole razor is Zamak, head, handle, knob, etc. Again a better choice would have been to make the razor out of entirely brass, plated with copper, nickel, then chrome. In the event that that plating wore off, like some vintage Gillettes, at least the brass underneath would hold up pretty good without the plating, I don't think brass would corrode as easily like the metal they are using. I wish Merkur would just up the quality and make the razor out of solid brass, I would be happy to pay an extra $5-10 for each razor, if I knew the build quality and materials were better than what they use now.