Mystery SE

[mrguy]

I picked up this neat little number a while ago. The head acts like a clamp when the handle is screwed down, locking the blade into place. It must have used a proprietary blade of some sort, since a standard SE blade requires some serious modification. I didn't think to keep any of the blades, so I'll have to get some pics when I use it again. The only marking on the whole thing is the "PAT. APPL'DFOR" on the underside of the "clamp".



Here, you can see the open space where the blade slides in.



She gives some nice shaves, but the time invested to mod and load the blade is almost not worth it. It will be in the rotation, but not too often.

[wchnu]

I would have to say that it is new to me. Looks like the Yugo of SE's. Some out of the way place put a razor out. Will be interesting to see the blade.

Fuzzy

[mrguy]

Alright, here's the blade mod process.
First, start with a regular SE blade.

Next, remove the spine.

The blade is too wide to fit into the clamp, so I start to clip the bottom corners. The angle doesn't have to be this extreme, but it doesn't hurt either.

Now, the upper edge must be trimmed. There is a small space above the clamp, so I just try to get close to the edge without damaging it.

The blade can now slide in from the top of the head.

The spine gets trimmed down and slips back on to the blade to keep the blade from sliding backwards.

The handle gets tightened back on, securing the blade in the clamp. You can see the small gap where the blade fits in the clamp. Without the trimming, the blade would never fit.


There you go, if anyone else ever finds another one of these razors you too can know the pleasure of taking a crazy amount of effort to shave

[wchnu]

Thanks for the pictures Andy. I have never seen a razor that needed a blade like that. Hope it shaves good enough to make the effort worth it.

Fuzzy

[mrguy]

If we're just talking flat out quality of shave, no it's not worth it. Better than a lot of razors, but I have a drawer full of SEs that can do the same. If were talking about the enjoyment of using a razor where it's possible I'm the only person in the world using it, then it's worth it every time ;D