Thread: are all DE razors adjustable?

Gillette Slim Adjustable on the left, Gillette Superspeed (non-adjustable) on the right.

I have a Merkur 34C, or rather, my wife now has my 34C. It's a great razor, but it is not adjustable.

I think the idea with the newer ones is though they are fixed they are supposed to be optimized. I know my EJ Chatsworth which is not adjustable outshaves my Gillette Fatboy no matter how I fiddle with the settings.

Hello, 2ringers:

Yes, of course, some double edge razors obviously are manufactured as adjustable. Not all double edge razor are adjustable, though.

The Merkur 34C is not an adjustable DE that I know of. I have owned it in the past and found nothing adjustable about it.

I, too, use the Edwin Jagger "Chatsworth" barley and find it sweet. I also have the Muhle-Pinsel R89, which is the rich brother to the Edwin Jagger L89, and they are both sweet razors. Nothing adjustable about these either. They are almost perfect the way they are.

Regards,
Obie

Merkur do make adjustable razors, but as far as I know the 34C is just a regular non-adjustable three piece razor. The somewhat notorious Merkur Futur is a modern adjustable (by reputation it's very aggressive, so people tend to stick to the lower settings); the Progress is another.

Unlike Obie I don't have any experience of modern safety razors, but I heartily endorse what he says in general terms: if you find a fixed razor which is just right, there really isn't any need to change anything about it. Both my favourite Gillettes don't adjust, and furthermore, the Fatboy and Slim (which do) stay on the same setting all the time nowadays.