I have been using and R41 (2013) for a couple of months now after using a Merkur C39 Slant exclusively with Feather blades for almost ten years. As an experiment I dropped a new Feather into a Slim Adjustable I have not used in those ten years, set it to 8 and made a start on 2.5 day's growth. After a single stroke said to myself "This is a toy" and upped to 9. I got an OK shave with three passes and a lot of buffing especially around my troublesome area. (The right heel of my jaw.) I got a pleasantly close shave - about as good as the Slant but with more effort and therefore a little more irritation as judged by my use of an alum block. It was nowhere near as close or as effortless as the R41+ Feather using two passes (with and across) and some modest touching up. I will put the vintage Gillette away again. I used it effortlessly even though the handle is shorter and lighter than I prefer. I did like the secure grip afforded by the deep grooving of the handle, but I will not be using it again any time soon. My wirely white whiskers need a more robust razor. Half an hour on, and my face is still mildly complaining though the shave is very close and nick free. Comments?
The more experienced I get with a DE, the more regard I hold for the R41. I've been away from my R41 for a couple of weeks and need to get back to it.
I have recently done a similar thing but enjoyed the result a bit more than you did. Since my DE89 decided to come unplated, I now look at my R41 askance because it is so close. I may just force myself to get good with my Slim (set to 7, a very mild 7 compared to the beastlyness of the R41) simply because it won't lose plating.
I really like the muhle r41 but my face can not take 6 daily shaves a week with it I now save it for days I skipped shaving a day or so.
I've used it for 4 or 5 months I get a build up of irritation I do not get from the futur or mergress I may try again this summer when it won't matter if I have face rash for a few days and see if I can remaster it. Currently I get no irritation if I just use it out of the blue but if I use it daily for a while that is where it happens the irritation and razor hurn on my neck
