Why would a Ranger Tech be louder than a Red Tip?

Shaved with both tonight, one on each side. Two days growth, brand new stainless blade swapped between the two, and lots of equally slathered VDH lather. I did the first 1/2 of my face with the RT, then switched the blade to the Ranger.

The Ranger was noticeably louder...not SE loud, but louder.

Assuming the blade exposure on the Ranger is milder (again, that's only an assumption), why would the presumably milder razor make more noise with absolutely no variation in any factor from when I used the RT two minutes before? Quality of shave felt the same...what gives? Same beard, blade and lather, doors closed equally tight, same technique...I'm mildly puzzled and open to theories.

EDIT: Checked up on it and found the Ranger is measured to be 0.02 mm milder than the Red Tip.

 

I used only a Red Tip, but it struck me as a solid heavy razor. Could its weight and heavy construction just dampen any sound. I was using a ABC razor and it was really loud , its a very light razor despite a solid handel and the head seemed small and the parts of it thin by comparison with the RT.

 

Could be there's more blade vibration inside the head of ranger tech which produced the perceived acoustical difference...

 

Good thought and I don't disagree, but I can tell you that the construction on the Ranger is one of the things that sets it apart...it's deceptively solid and better/more tightly engineered than many later Super Speeds. Still, you could be on to something there.

 

Another good thought. I just eyeballed them side by side and the Red Tip's head is very slightly taller. What that means in this case, if anything, I have no idea, but you may be on to something as well.

 

I'm not sure why you would assume the Ranger Tech is Milder then the Red Tip. My experience is the opposite. The Ranger tech I had was more aggressive than any super speed I've tried, but in-line with say a 1934 Aristocrat. That kind of makes sense to me. I've observed a trend where earlier razors tended to be more agressive than newer ones. If you look at the dates, it more or less coincides with the advent of indoor plumbing. Think of it this way. A milder that works great on a days growth may not work as well on a week's growth. So it makes sense that as folks started bathing more regularly, and therefore shaving more regularly, milder razors became more popular. That's my theory anyway for whatever it's worth about why earlier razors tended to be more aggressive.

Not sure "aggressiveness" would make a difference in the sound though. I find the Slim quite loud. louder than the Fat boy, or any super speed. Perhaps there is something to a more massive handle dampening vibration. I'm not sure the reason, but I definitely do find some DE razors to be louder than others. I put it down to any number of factors that may dampen or enhance vibration.

 

hello Matt, love the lid! What make is it?

Only because of gap measurements. It's almost negligible but it's there (reportedly, anyway; I didn't measure either one myself).

If you say it's more more aggressive for you I don't doubt you, even if I can't say I notice THAT much of a difference between the two, bite-wise...maybe just a bit more with the RT, but maybe it's just my imagination of what I think 0.02 should feel like.

What I do know is that the Ranger is a consistently smoother shaver than any other Gillette SS-type of any era that I've ever tried, and I believe I've tried them all (I count various Diplomats and Aristocrats = President). It's very probably the one razor I'd keep if I had to part with them all forever, because I'll take dependably smooth over nice long handles, chunky grips or adjustability any day. But that's just me.

 

Forgot to ask; do you note anything unique about the Ranger, sound-wise?

 

Thanks the hat is a Stetson 3x. It's sort of a beater, but it's a very good looking beater which is as it should be.

I think there is more to aggressiveness than blade gap, angle, and other head dimensions also play a role. That said, I think a lot of people equate smooth with mild, but I don't necessarily, I find some more aggressive razors to be exceptionally smooth Red tip (really not that agressive) and slant are both exceptionally smooth for me, and open comb Aristocrats have an excellent balance of smooth and efficient that I love.

I really didn't have the Ranger Tech that long it wasn't much of a looker. It was an OK shaver for me, but not among my favorites. I really can't remember how it sounded. Chances are I'll give another one a try some day.

 

It would be interesting to see if this holds up across different brands of blades. In general when sounds tend to amplify it's because the sound is at a natural frequency of the amplifying board (in this case the blade) or a multiple thereof. The natural frequency of the blade will change based on how much it's stressed in the razor, the distance between stress points, and the rigidity of the point loads (where the razor touches the blade).

If the trend continued across different blades, I'd lean to it being something about the razors. If it changes with blades, then I'd put it up to simply a match in natural frequencies between the razor and that blade.

 

I mostly just use Personna labs or NOS Personna 74 these days, but when I fist started shaving I was using mostly Derby's and tried a raft of other blades to arrive at my favorites. I'm pretty sure I've used several different blades in Gillette Slims, and I pretty much always find it loud. I think it's safe to say all blades vibrate, the fact that SE blades are significantly louder does suggest that thicker blades are louder, but I do think that the razor also matters. I might even go so far as to put forward the Hypothesis that the differential between the blade and the razor is the key factor. In other words a stiff blade vibrating against a less dense razor is louder than a flexible blade vibrating against a more dense razor.

 

Interestingly enough, since my 20s I have been harder of hearing (about 40% loss last time it was checked) in my right ear...and that is exactly the side on which I used the Ranger.

 

I used my Merkur Vision this morning for the 1st time in over 3 months. I've been playing around with different open razors. I 1st thing that I noticed(after how much easier it was) was the noise!! Never really thought it was that loud before!
Noise might just be a function of the moisture in the air, the atmospheric pressure. The soap I'm using. It still was a great shave! Loud but nice!

 

I actually prefer loud razors. The auditory feedback adds to the information I have about how the shave is going. "SKRITCH" means it's cutting hairs. When there's no skritch it either means the blade angle is wrong or there are no hairs left to cut. My fingertips give a similar information, but it's nice to get multi-sensory feedback.