Current status on the Merkur HD?

Dave_D · Post by **Dave_D** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 7:43 pm

A few years ago before I got into Str8s, the merkur HD worked pretty good but their quality control wasnt exceptional ie: one side of the blade was more agressive than the other due to being non centered.
Ive heard that Merkur went through a substantial revision of its manufacturing and QC process sometime around 2008 and that the quality has gone way up. Any updates of the current status or confirmation of this info?

Dave_D · Post by **Dave_D** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 7:52 pm

D'oh!

Just found a previous thead on this, moderators please feel free to delete this one.

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:21 pm

Let it ride Dave, someone may want to add a thought.

ateace · Post by **ateace** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 7:24 am

Dave -- good work on searching out the info you needed.

For anyone else who may be interested,
you are correct. I don't recall exactly when Merkur overhauled their manufacturing process, but my everyday HD is a "post-overhaul" example.

With mine, at least, I still have to position the blade manually to center it, but it takes only a few seconds and the shaves are great.

KAV · Post by **KAV** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 11:40 am

My HD, purchased @ 2 years ago is mechanically well made and aligned. It is however already beginning to pit in 3 places inside one guard on the head. It's cosmetic, but irritating. I'm saving for a new razor from Phil.

techjunkie · Post by **techjunkie** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 2:51 pm

My HD (which I have since sold) was a 2010 model, sharp flashing edges, plating put over pits in the head... overall very poor build quality, although the blades were aligned.

I purchased a Futur in satin. The satin obviously hides *some* of the imperfections, but not all. Finish is still pretty poor, considering the price of the razor. The worst part, with the Futur, however, is the sloppy tolerances in the head/adjustment area to the guard part of the razor. It is sloppy enough that you can significantly have the top/blade far out of alignment with the base/guard of the razor by simply turning the head of the razor to adjust it. After turning it to a higher setting, you have to turn it back a fraction of a turn to get the blade better aligned. The mis-alignment of the blade can be upwards of 20% of the blade gap from one end to the other.

There is a home-remedy, of placing some plastic or metal shims on either end of the razor to keep it aligned,but for the price you should NOT have to do this.

Although, when aligned, it's a good shaver, I haven't touched it for several months, just so disappointed in the quality of the thing...

I'll definitely NOT be purchasing another Merkur/Dovo product in my lifetime.

Dave_D · Post by **Dave_D** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 6:48 pm

Thanks for the replies.
The one I had shaved pretty good and despite the QC issues, it was a nice looking simple razor. I just bought one off the forums so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

ateace · Post by **ateace** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:40 am

Good luck, Dave - keep us posted on how it works out for you.

Racso_MS · Post by **Racso_MS** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 2:10 pm

techjunkie wrote:My HD (which I have since sold) was a 2010 model, sharp flashing edges, plating put over pits in the head... overall very poor build quality, although the blades were aligned.

I purchased a Futur in satin. The satin obviously hides *some* of the imperfections, but not all. Finish is still pretty poor, considering the price of the razor. The worst part, with the Futur, however, is the sloppy tolerances in the head/adjustment area to the guard part of the razor. It is sloppy enough that you can significantly have the top/blade far out of alignment with the base/guard of the razor by simply turning the head of the razor to adjust it. After turning it to a higher setting, you have to turn it back a fraction of a turn to get the blade better aligned. The mis-alignment of the blade can be upwards of 20% of the blade gap from one end to the other.

There is a home-remedy, of placing some plastic or metal shims on either end of the razor to keep it aligned,but for the price you should NOT have to do this.

Although, when aligned, it's a good shaver, I haven't touched it for several months, just so disappointed in the quality of the thing...

I'll definitely NOT be purchasing another Merkur/Dovo product in my lifetime.

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Come often and stay long.

JarmoP · Post by **JarmoP** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:50 am

Mine are fine. Except my 34G has the head piece a bit reduceda bit on one side so if i shave under my nose the blade end "flap" edge sticks more than in my 34C, so the blade flap might stick more and scratch my nose when i shace sideways, but well, my Gillette Super Speeds have more protruding blade flaps anyways.

I always load the blade with dropping the blade on the headpiece on the table, connect with the handle piece and rotate a while until they connect, then lift from table and tighten upside down. Never need to adjust the blade any.

Though my golden HD HAS also this thing that it has not much screw windings, just less than a full circle and it is tight. Also a bit more aggressive than my 34C

Go figure out. My main shavers are Gilllette aluminum handle Tech and my 34C, both quite mild shavers. The 34C was my first DE and it was not liked at first. But now it is my most trusted shaver.

Dave_D · Post by **Dave_D** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 7:43 pm

Well, it came in a few days ago and I assembled a blade into it... these things still need work. I was able to get the blade centered by manually moving it around and holding it in position while tightening, somewhat clunky imo.