Thread: New DE razors -- Heads -- base material ?

I have (and love) an EJ DE89. And I was wondering:

. . . What's it made of, under the chrome?

The EJ marketing department replied that the _handle_ was brass.

. . . Does anyone know what the _head_ is made of?

I figure I'll be dead before the chrome plate wears off, and I see for myself. And I won't take a file to it!<g>

. . . Charles

PS -- the same question could be asked about any other modern DE. I suspect the vintage DE's are brass throughout.

Made of.....Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails. What else?

Charles,

I would suspect that they might be made of something like one of the Zamak alloys.

The current Merkur razor heads are made of these alloys.

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

My first reaction was "Zamak -- awful stuff -- never use it on a boat!". It corrodes in salt water environments.

But checking the mechanical properties of Zamak 3, it's not bad! It's a lot more brittle than brass, but the yield strength is similar. So it should do fine (protected by chrome) in a few decades of normal use. After that, I'll be dead.

Thank you . . .

. . . Charles

PS -- no word yet from EJ marketing. I think I've asked a forbidden question, and they're going to disappear my razor.

PPS -- the thing that will wear out first is the threads, and those are chrome plated. It should take a while.