EJ 3ONE6 or Muhle Rocca. A tentative comparison.

Dave-the-rave

Dave-the-rave

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1st shave with the Rocca V4. I have the R96 I think with the black handle. I'm going to compare it against the Edwin Jagger 3ONE6 throughout because they are similar, plenty folks have asked on Forums how they compare, and there's few if any direct comparisons. I must point out right here that I have used the 3ONE6 a lot, and this is my first impression of the Rocca V4, so my findings can be considered tentative and subject to change.

First off the two razors feel quite different in the hand. Regardless of specs (I believe both heads weigh 30g but don't have scales to confirm that), the 3ONE6 feels lighter and more nimble. It feels sports car like. Not that the Rocca is heavy or cumbersome. It is not. Build quality is very nice on both. The Rocca handle feels very nice on the 3ONE6 head so I will shave with that combo at some point. The 3ONE6 handle is thin and although fit for purpose, just feels wrong. Visually at least, the Rocca has less blade gap. Visually blade exposure is hard to compare.

The shave. I found the Rocca easy to shave with right out the box. No problems with weight of shave angles. With only 1 shave in, I found the razor felt best at the neutral angle, and had no dramas experimenting either side of that, shallow or steep. The 3ONE6 requires more attention. It is capable of smooth shaves but come off the 'just right' and it either losses efficiency, gets rough as hell, or it can bite big time. Get skin in that big gap and puckering of anus will occur rapido. Get it right and the 3ONE6 can shave smooth and comfortable against the grain.The Rocca had no such drama. It also felt that it would not shave as smooth as the 3ONE6 against the grain, although it's not painfully rough at all. I'd say for smooth and comfortable ATG the 3ONE6 has the edge, with the caveats mentioned above.

The Rocca is plenty efficient sitting between the R89 and R41, but closer to the R41. It feels like it has more blade exposure than the 3ONE6 but to me the 3ONE6 is more efficient. The Rocca feels more aggressive though. This smooth/rough thing, which is very subjective...The Rocca sounds rougher than it feels, if that makes sense. The 3ONE6 sounds smoother, and to me feels it when the stars align.

I'm sitting here thinking the 3ONE6 is the one I will keep. It has some strange character that I wouldn't normally tolerate, but somehow find the 3ONE6 rather charming because of them. The Rocca feels more generic and less interesting but not a bad razor. It is efficient, a fairly big step up from the R89, well made and fairly smooth. I'd say anyone who loves the end result using a R41 but couldn't handle the roughness, may well like this razor.

I acknowledge once more that this is my first use of the Rocca and my findings might change over time. One more thing, again tentatively. Muhle claim the V4 is CNC produced. I'm not disputing that but it looks and feels to me very much like a MIM stainless head. I'm wondering if the head is MIM made and then ''trimmed'' to spec on a CNC machine. Is that even possible or financially viable? I have no idea.
 
Dave-the-rave said:
1st shave with the Rocca V4. I have the R96 I think with the black handle. I'm going to compare it against the Edwin Jagger 3ONE6 throughout because they are similar, plenty folks have asked on Forums how they compare, and there's few if any direct comparisons. I must point out right here that I have used the 3ONE6 a lot, and this is my first impression of the Rocca V4, so my findings can be considered tentative and subject to change.

First off the two razors feel quite different in the hand. Regardless of specs (I believe both heads weigh 30g but don't have scales to confirm that), the 3ONE6 feels lighter and more nimble. It feels sports car like. Not that the Rocca is heavy or cumbersome. It is not. Build quality is very nice on both. The Rocca handle feels very nice on the 3ONE6 head so I will shave with that combo at some point. The 3ONE6 handle is thin and although fit for purpose, just feels wrong. Visually at least, the Rocca has less blade gap. Visually blade exposure is hard to compare.

The shave. I found the Rocca easy to shave with right out the box. No problems with weight of shave angles. With only 1 shave in, I found the razor felt best at the neutral angle, and had no dramas experimenting either side of that, shallow or steep. The 3ONE6 requires more attention. It is capable of smooth shaves but come off the 'just right' and it either losses efficiency, gets rough as hell, or it can bite big time. Get skin in that big gap and puckering of anus will occur rapido. Get it right and the 3ONE6 can shave smooth and comfortable against the grain.The Rocca had no such drama. It also felt that it would not shave as smooth as the 3ONE6 against the grain, although it's not painfully rough at all. I'd say for smooth and comfortable ATG the 3ONE6 has the edge, with the caveats mentioned above.

The Rocca is plenty efficient sitting between the R89 and R41, but closer to the R41. It feels like it has more blade exposure than the 3ONE6 but to me the 3ONE6 is more efficient. The Rocca feels more aggressive though. This smooth/rough thing, which is very subjective...The Rocca sounds rougher than it feels, if that makes sense. The 3ONE6 sounds smoother, and to me feels it when the stars align.

I'm sitting here thinking the 3ONE6 is the one I will keep. It has some strange character that I wouldn't normally tolerate, but somehow find the 3ONE6 rather charming because of them. The Rocca feels more generic and less interesting but not a bad razor. It is efficient, a fairly big step up from the R89, well made and fairly smooth. I'd say anyone who loves the end result using a R41 but couldn't handle the roughness, may well like this razor.

I acknowledge once more that this is my first use of the Rocca and my findings might change over time. One more thing, again tentatively. Muhle claim the V4 is CNC produced. I'm not disputing that but it looks and feels to me very much like a MIM stainless head. I'm wondering if the head is MIM made and then ''trimmed'' to spec on a CNC machine. Is that even possible or financially viable? I have no idea.
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The Rocca v4 is my go-to razor and has been for some time. Though I haven't tried a 3one6 I would agree with many of your statements. The only thing I would add is that, having tried many blades types in the Rocca, it performs best for me with Muhle's own blades. Almost like it was designed around them. A pity really as they're (unnecessarily) expensive in comparison to many others. It's a razor I've found to be very changeable in performance depending on the blade used. More so than any other razor I've used. Astra SP's, for example, I found to be one of the worst in the Rocca despite the fact that many find it to be a good blade. As always, your mileage may vary but, when you find the right blade, it's an amazing razor.
 
Cloobster said:
The Rocca v4 is my go-to razor and has been for some time. Though I haven't tried a 3one6 I would agree with many of your statements. The only thing I would add is that, having tried many blades types in the Rocca, it performs best for me with Muhle's own blades. Almost like it was designed around them. A pity really as they're (unnecessarily) expensive in comparison to many others. It's a razor I've found to be very changeable in performance depending on the blade used. More so than any other razor I've used. Astra SP's, for example, I found to be one of the worst in the Rocca despite the fact that many find it to be a good blade. As always, your mileage may vary but, when you find the right blade, it's an amazing razor.
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I used a GSB and I'll happily run my other few blades though it. I won't be buying a specific blade for it that I don't have though. If it isn't satisfactory enough with my favourite blades it will be sold.
 
Dave-the-rave said:
I used a GSB and I'll happily run my other few blades though it. I won't be buying a specific blade for it that I don't have though. If it isn't satisfactory enough with my favourite blades it will be sold.
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Fair comment. Still worth trying a few blades on it before giving up. You may find it works for you using a wider selection of blades.
 
Dave-the-rave said:
It came with one Muhle blade. I've never used them before but I'll give that one a go next.
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Personally, so far I've also had my best shaves using the Rocca with Bic Chrome Platimum, Feather and Sharp Hi Chromium. Poor performers for me were the Nacet, Astra and Shark blades. It's all very subjective though. Many find these blades to be great.
 
Interesting. It'd be nice if you could update this thread when you've had a bit more use. Having said that, of the limited amount of razors I've tried, the first impression is usually the same conclusion after multiple uses.
 
FWIW, MIM parts don't polish up as well as forged or cast parts. I would imagine they are tumbling the MIM parts in ceramic or some other media to remove flashing and mould lines.
 
After given up on the Rocca V2, I'm glad to say that the V4 is now my favorite DE razor, I like it so much that I got a second one :)

The OP says "IT looks and feel like a MIM" I totally disagree with that assessment. When I look at the V2 I can see a gap that shouldn't be there, I can even fit the tip of a blade, with V4 the tolerance is much tighter, there's no gap there. MIM razors have marks left by the injection process, I can't see any on the V4 so I can't say V4 looks MIM

The pictures below were posted by forum members so I hope they don't mind me using them here.

I can see the mark on the top cap of V3 The base plate is CNC and no marks.

Roca V3.jpeg


I can't see any marks on V4, it's beautifully made

Rocca V4.jpeg


How can anybody feel how a CNC or MIM feel like? In this case the lack of precision on V1, V2 and V3 giving a rough shave but to say V4 "feels like MIM" it's beyond my understanding
 
I said it feels like MIM in the hand, by which I mean it feels lighter than stainless steel machined from billet, particularly the base plate. I've held a 3ONE6 and a ASD2 in my hand, and the Rocca looks and feels uncannily similar. It was me thinking out loud is all. The Game Changer and 3ONE6 each weigh 30g. The Rocca head is supposed to weigh 30g. I don't have scales suitable for weighing them but the Rocca base plate appears to have much more mass then either the 3ONE6 or Game Changer. As I say I was just thinking out loud and expressing my observations. And I did so 'tentatively'.

Precision of lack of it doesn't necessarily prove or disprove anything. Both the ASD2 snd 3ONE6 are pretty precise and cleanly made.
 
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