There was a post a while ago on another thread Heroblob advising that owing to a new hours of working directive in Germany I believe the Merkur factory were having delays in obtaining certain supplies. This seems to be causing backlogs in popular razors. If I really fancied a particular razor I'd be content to wait for the situation to improve, but that's just a personal view ; if it helps any I've got a gold Merkur HD closed comb which I believe may be a 34 & I'll happily post it down to you if you want for a prolonged loan.
JohnnyO. :shave