Plate a new Merkur?

When I received my new Mergress, Mark kindly answered a few questions. He stated the chrome was very thin. The owner of a local vintage car brokerage just drove by in one of those 50s sedans with the massive chrome bumpers inspired by Jane Mansfield's bras blinding passing bicyclists, joggers and low flying crows. I watched him make a sloppy left turn with the indifferent steering and drum brakes of those cars and for some reason
connected with the Kalashnikov AK 47; legendary for performing in filthy field conditions with loose tolerances and a hard chrome lined barrel.
Is it feasible to take a NIB Merkur, or any highly regarded Zamack razor and simply increase the chrome thickness, taking into account any critical
tolerances?
And while everyone is shaking their head; why not use a chrome paste wax? Yesterday he drove by in a Jaguar XK 120 grinding the gears and offending my sensibilities. I want to step out with a equally blinding Merkur raised like a bishop's cross and command him to get some lessons and sin no more.
Idiot has more money than skill

Kinda reminds me of the episode of hime improvement where tim Taylor was drag racing bob vila. Tim had JUST finished restoring his hit rod and vila had just bought a prowler. Tim lost the race on purpose because he hadn't tried out the nos yet. When jill asked why he didn't just blow vila away he responded with something like "bob went and bought his car, I've spent years restoring mine and i haven't tested it thoroughly and if I'd have blown him away i could've blown my engine. I wasn't gonna risk destroying something i love. "

Sounds similar to that knuckle head. He got his cars because he wanted them nit because he loved or appreciated them.

As far as extra chrome plating goes on the razor it'd screw up the threading possibly if it's too thick. But you'd have to talk to a plater about it

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Chrome is very tough with excellent wear resistance. Are there surface flaws that you can see? Any surface blemishes, pitting or corrosion visible? Is it not shiny enough? Is it possible you have a non-problem on your hands?

The Achilles Heel of MERKUR has always been a sometimes spotty finish quality control and the ever worrisome exposure via damage, wear or overzealous chemical cleaning to the Zamack. I have owned a HD, Slant, 1904 and currently Mergress. Specific areas of concern are fleabites ( fine crystal term) on the baseplate edges, rough finishing around the three holes for prongs and thread hole, and thread itself. My HD, still in use after 8 years by a nephew has extreme fleabites. My personal issue is not knitpic cosmetics but longterm integrity of the unit. I can crush an aluminum can with my fist. I cannot do so with a unmilled block of aluminum rawstock. The issue is thickness kept thin for unit cost. I like Merkurs enough the option of building up the chrome for longevity is worth looking into.

Good chrome plating isn't cheap. No, I haven't costed it out on anything in particular recently, but I recall a number of years back helping my old man (father), get some of the trim re-chromed for his MB 280 SE 3.5. Worked out well as I recall and was well worth it for that commodity. Personally, IMHO I wouldn't bother with a Merkur razor - unless it has some special place in your heart. Fwiw, I've owned some (not many) Merkurs in my time. All that remains is a 37C. It's a few years old and still appears as it did when I'd first opened it as new, but hey! have fun whatever you decide to do.

I wouldn't do anything unless there is a problem. There are some awesome companies that can put new finish on a razor, though it will likely cost more than the razor. I haven't have any issues with my Merkur's, though I've been wet shaving only about a year.

Merkur doesn't many different razor heads. All of the safety bar razors use the same head. I like heavy, fat razor handles. So, I bought the entry level Merkur razor with a two piece head and put it on a fat stainless razor handle.

On the two piece head, the 34C gets all the press, though I strongly prefer the 38HD. Same head, long heavy handle. Dovo, based in Solingen Germany, makes safety razors under the merkur brand and straight razors under the Dovo brand. I'm a huge fan of the Dovo brand.

Here is a link to an article with all you ever may want to know about Merkur.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564...627382.jpg

Attempting to put most any plating over old plating results in the new finish either 1) looking horrible or 2) flaking off.

Stripping chrome when Zamack is the base metal can often result in damage.

Like others said, the cost of refinishing is significantly more than just buying a new one.


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Pete, I am familiar with the article but others may not be. I have yet to pick up a new model Merkur and not feel instant familiarity and confidence using it. I personally never intended any replating. I just like to turn things inside out and reverse engineer my own assumptions. Sometimes you discover the unexpected or just look silly. In my wasted youth I resculpted and painted 54 MM lead military figurines ( toy soldiers) concentrating on the Napoleonic Wars. I won some awards and almost went blind painting buttonholes under a microscope with a camelhair paint brush stripped down to a single hair. I horrified a old modeling magazine writer doing an interview. I had a bare metal piece to demonstrate my tricks and he was curious why I didn't have a primercoat. Primercoat? I pulled out a French mounted dragoon soaking in white vinegar and explained most pieces are destroyed decades later by corrosion when white spots eat through the paint and 'pickling' in vinegar prevents it. Yes, but where did you learn that? I pulled out a 19th century Chandler's book on ship maintenance.
It's like the marvelous products mentioned in my museum wax thread. There is a lot of arcane or seemingly irrelevant and irreverent knowledge on this forum and a oddball idea may produce a practical application unthought of.