First off, I know this probably isn't worth the slight effort involved for anyone else to try it with his Segal. However, I love to experiment and I can say to you with all confidence that yes, you can get a decent or even good shave using modern blades with your obsolete Segal razor. There's just three things to keep in mind: 1. A modern stainless blade is flexible enough to slide over the cap and rod of the Segal without torquing or deforming the blade, but it's going to scratch and gouge up the cap.* If you're okay with that, getting the blade on will take you maybe 15 seconds. Once the blade is fully down the rod and underneath the cap, turn the knob to lower the rod slowly, so that you can eyeball the squareness of the blade against the edges of the cap. The cap naturally centers the blade almost perfectly, so the need for adjustment is minimal. 2. Once a blade is on, it isn't coming off nearly as easily as you got it on. Best thing to do is treat it kind of like a disposable: use up the blade you loaded, then when it's shot, lift the cap and bend/snap one end of the blade to remove it.* * 3. When using a standard blades, there is a sweet spot on the Segal between too tight (minimal exposure and almost too mild a shave to bother with) and too loose (the cap will start out tight but imperceptibly works itself looser and looser as you shave, thus loosening the blade, which is dangerous). I discovered the "too tight" factor yesterday and the "too loose" factor during tonight's shave - luckily, I did so before I cut myself badly. Instead I got only a streak of burn and a few nicks on the adam's apple. Now that I know it can work loose, I can watch for it and have used a Sharpie to place a small tick mark on the handle and knob, showing where to keep the sweet spot dialed in. Other than that slight mishap, the three-pass shave tonight was DFS+ (yesterday's Segal shave with a Thin blade was clamped too tight; tonight's shave was MUCH better, no doubt because I found the sweet spot as well as using an Astra). It is true that, due to the odd design of the Segal's blade bed, the body of a non-Segal blade will be all mashed up in there. Regardless, the blade's edges themselves will be straight, square and shave-safe. So is this worth hunting down a Segal if you don't already have one? Absolutely not. Even when it works, the shave is only good - meaning it's no better than you'd get from any other of your razors. The only reason I did it is because my reckless mad scientist side pulled this Segal out of the travel box. If it weren't for that, I would never have even thought of getting one. Is it worth doing if you already have a Segal? Sure, if you don't mind the scrapes that will end up on the razor's cap as you fiddle a blade onto it. If you're okay with that, you will be able to get a perfectly acceptable shave from what's otherwise a paperweight. *See "Eureka! (?)" down below. * *It just occurred to me that it should be possible to carefully pre-slit or pre-snap one end of a blade to make loading it much easier. I have not tried that but see no reason it should not work or negatively affect the blade or shave. Maybe I'll try that next time.
Excellent discussion points. On one of the forums a person stated that they liked the Segal so much that they went to a metal shop and either had them stamp the Segal center hole in a batch of blades, or make a special punch so that the user could stamp them out. I can't remember who it was, but that is dedication to a favorite razor.
Thank you, sir. I don't recall seeing that one (he must really love his Segal!) but I do remember someone grinding off the proprietarily-shaped blade form on the Segal's blade bed. What he did with it after that point, I do not recall...if memory serves, I think he just gave up.
Well, I think we both realize that the modification of the razor would not be the right approach. It would just make a mess of things.
Eureka! (?) I snapped one end of the Astra to remove it by sliding it off the rod, beneath the cap instead of over it. I just put it back on again the same way. It reloaded with ease and I see no problems at the edges. I'm going to use this for tomorrow night's shave to make sure but if snapping one end is harmless, shave-wise, then the Segal razor may have just gained new usefulness!
If it already had scratches on it...that was from me. I loved the concept, and liked the razor weight and design, but figured out that it was not designed for standard DE blades and reluctantly put it back in the box for someone else to marvel over. I'm glad you were able to make it useful.
I looked into having someone make a punch to stamp out the center of standard DE blades. Cost - $200. Of course, once you have the punch you don't need to buy another, but it would take decades just to break even!
No, you had no scratches on it that I noticed; just some natural wear and a spot of pitting started under the plating.
