Super Adjustable

So I used my Super Adjustable for the first time today. In keeping with the 30 day rule, I used a new razor, blade, brush and cream. (Yes, I have a problem. I swear I will stop changing everything soon.)

Anyway, I wanted to go with the adjustable so that I could try different levels of aggressiveness with the same razor and blade to sort out what I liked better. The only razor I have used to date is a '47 Super Speed. I was given to understand that the SS is a pretty mild razor, though I have no frame of referance.

I lathered up with KMF Lavender cream using a boar brush. I did not like the lather and found it just disappeared. I set the Adjustable to "3" loaded with a Personna , possibly lab blade? not sure, it comes in a blue wrapper. My first swipe I could tell something wasn't right. It felt like nothing was happening. I went through about half of my first pass and saw that the blade appeared to be more or less passing over the whiskers without cutting. I lathered back up and tried adjusting the angle and trying to find the sweet spot. There was no sweet spot. I dumped the Personna and replaced it with a Shark Super Chrome, which I have had luck with in the past. Lathered up again and again not much in the way of whisker cutting. I dialed it to five and found a bit more. It wasn't until I dialed it to "7" when I noticed a shave equivalent to my SS.

I actually ended up with a pretty good shave after about four passes or so. I think I can end up with excellent shaves from this razor, just using the top end of the aggressiveness spectrum.

After all this blathering on, my question is: Is there something amiss with my Super Adjustable considering that a relatively mild razor is roughly equivalent to the top end of the adjustable? Is the Super Adjustable just not that aggressive a razor? do I need to find a different adjustable in order to really expand my aggressiveness horizons?

Thanks in advance for your patient responses and tolerance of my ignorance.

Ed

 

Thanks for the reply.

Hmmm, the tray seems to adjust appropriately (AFAIK, I'm not what you would call an expert). Perhaps the SA isn't all that aggressive. Or my SS is particularly aggressive. Or perhaps I don't know what the hell I'm talking about (most likely)

I don't know if there's any way to even fix it if there's anything wrong with it. Oh well, at least I can still get a good shave out of it.

 

As far as I can tell, it's gonna take me a bit to come up with pics. What angles or whatever would I need to get pics of?

 

Cool, OK, I'll get them up as soon as I can. Thanks again.

 

Here are some pics, I don't know how good they are but here they are.

The third pic is of the razor on 1 and the fourth is the razor on 9.

Thanks for humoring me.

 

Well I can't find anything wrong with the mechanism, it seems to adjust and nothing seems out of the ordinary. I will shave with it again in a few minutes here so I'll report back tonight or tomorrow. I think when I shave today, minus the panic of yesterday, I should be able to better evaluate what's going on. It's probably just my inexperience at work here.

Also I inspected my SS as was sensibly suggested by JoAnna and I can find nothing amiss.

It's all a learning experience, thanks for putting up with me.

 

If it helps you any a 1947 Super Speed is considered by many as the more aggressive of the Super Speed series except of course for the Red Tip Super Speed. Do you have the long handle Super Adjustable or the short handle? Shouldn't make any difference as far as aggresion I'm just curious....

 

Mine is a '72 short handle, I think. It is about 3 1/2 " and as far as I can tell the long handle is about 4 1/2 ". It makes sense if the 47 is a bit more aggressive because I'm not finding the SA to be much more aggressive.

I shaved today with the SA set at 7 and found it was still not all that aggressive. I am thinking of dumping the Shark blade in favor of something a little sharper, I have Feather, Astra SP and 7 o'clock blacks and yellows to choose from. It seems like I am having trouble finding the right angle with this razor. I hope I can figure it out because I really like its heft and the adjustability aspect.

 

I used my slim adjustable with feather blade last night. My very first pass I noticed the same thing. I stepped it up from 3 to 4. Same thing. I changed my angle steeper and bingo! Had the blade singing on 2.5 days growth. It may help you as well. Just a thought...

 

Sounds good, I'll give it a shot.

 

IMHO... Focus on the angle. Though the pics aren't that great, the SB looks to be straight, no different than my Super Adjustable. And if the blade bed is rising and falling, and the doors are closing tight.. Well, mechanically, is sounds good.

My SA as well as my Fatboy (virtually the same head with a different handle) both have clearly identifiable sweet spots.. And I use Personna blades about 90% of the time, for what that's worth.

 

Yes the short handle SA is about 3 1/4" the long handle is right under 4 about 3 7/8". I'm not a Feather fan as I find them overly harsh "YMMV". I do like and get good results from Astra SP's(what I used this morning in fact) as well as Gillette 7 o'clock Yellow and Green packs. PolSilver Super Iridiums are also a treet for me,but they are in the Feather price range....

 

This morning I dumped the Shark (jumped the Shark?) and put in an Astra SP @7. Much better on the wtg pass. I switched it to 9 on the xtg and it was great. I rolled the dice and did the atg at 9 as well. Dialed back down to 7 for some buffing around the mystery spot that exists, in violation of all laws of thermodynamics, under my chin, and viola, a very good shave. No cuts, no nicks, no razor burn. Only stopped from being a DFS by the aforementioned stupid area under my chin. I think my razor does not like Sharks.

I'm pretty happy with the razor, though I wish it were a bit more aggressive. Thanks for all the help (and for listening to me complain).

 

Hi Friends,

i just picked up my 1960 Gillette Fatboy from customs.

Here are some pictures of my Baby...



















Maybe some of you can tell me something about the blades...i will not use them because they are out of 1938 but it is interesting to hear if someone has experience with these blades.

It´s an ordinary Fatboy but for me Fatboys are the most beautiful DE Razors ever build.

Lovely Greetings
Thorsten