Parker Variant

The Parker Variant is manufactured in India and as an adjustable is pretty good value for money. As a beginners "new adjustable" razor, there is not much out there that competes with it.
It's a two-piece and is cast and plated zinc (Zamak). The adjuster knob is held in place by a compression ring.
That said, it is one razor that I have never really managed to come to grips with. I think that the handle is a bit too long as find the balance all wrong.

A short note on the "Shorty".
I tend to favour shorter handles've considered shortening the handle on my original many times, but have never done the deed. So when the shortened one came up on a BST, I was interested. I made an offer which was accepted and I ended up with what I consider a great deal.
The shorter one was modded by North Shore Razors. I was having a birth Superspeed done around the same time and saw this one and thought that I must look for one locally and chop it.

 

Parker Variant Parker Variant Parker Variant
Parker Variant Parker Variant
How does it shave?
Its a mild to low medium shaver.
Because of its design, it's pretty easy to overclock on the fly and once overclocked gets into the low aggressive area.
I much prefer the "shorty" - but that's to be expected as I like shorter handles.

Parker Variant SOTD Parker Variant SOTD
Parker Variant SOTD Parker Variant SOTD

 

Repair - Shorty Conversion

Since initially writing the above, I was asked to look at a faulty Variant. It turned out that the thread at the top of the twist knob had stripped so was a great candidate for a shorty project.
I first trimmed off the small section at the bottom of the handle, and then had to trim the shaft of the twist knob to suit. That got rid of the section of stripped thread. After that was done I then slowly and carefully filed the bottom of the handle so that the "1" lined up when the razor lay flat. The two trimmed pieces are on the very left of the image.
The only problem that I forsee is that it will need to be kept relatively clean from soap residue otherwise the exposed Zinc will start to erode.

It was gifted to a new local shaver, but before it left, I drilled a shallow indicator hole and epoxied in a small Swarovski crystal as the marker.

Shorty Parker Variant