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Shavegeeks are funny about manufacturing tolerance when it comes to razors. To this day, there are guys who really believe that Merkur designs its adjustable saftey razors like the Progress, Futur, and Vision with one side sharper than the other -- i.e., one side exposes more blade, so it cuts closer. Even after Merkur explained that any differences between the two sides of any of their razors was solely due to typical manufacturing tolerances, guys still believed the two sides shaved differently on purpose, and developed whole regimens based on which side to shave with during which part of the shave.

it kind of blew me away, because you can hold one of these razors in your hand and push the head back and forth, even when there's a blade in it -- the moving parts just give a tiny bit, and there's nothing you can do about it. If it adjusts, it moves. Big deal, right?

Well, sometimes it is a big deal. I've been noticing lately that the more Injectors I score on eBay, the higher the percentage of them are DOA. At first I thought it was my imagination, but now I'm convinced that what's happening on eBay now is that guys are throwing back the crap Injectors they bought on eBay during the Injector Gold Rush started by this blog (which was spurred by Sir Andy's discovery that if you clipped a Feather disposable straight razor down to the right size, it would not only fit perfectly in any old Schick Injector razor but deliver a shave much more akin to that of a straight razor than any safety razor's ever dreamed of) (and before Andy there was Gordon, who for years has been patiently explaining to any shavegeek on the forums who would listen that the Injector, even with the standard blades, shaves closer and more comfortably than any DE). So many of the Injectors now being offered on eBay are sloppy seconds. Rejects. Unshaveworthy.

I mean, when I first got all hot and bothered about Injectors, I had my own mini feeding frenzy, buying up any Injector on eBay I could win for under ten bucks. I won loads of 'em, especially my favorites, the bakelite-handled ones from WWII. And they all shaved great, even with a stock blade. So I'm basically set for life.

But of course I needed more. So I kept bidding, and winning. But than I started noticing that some of the Injectors arriving in the mail didn't shave very well at all. One even had the safety bar mostly gone, rendering the razor useless except as a display addition to my Homer and Bart Simpson shaving figurine, one of my greatest eBay yoinks ever.

The problem with most of the unshaveworthy Injectors I've been getting lately is too much slop in the spring mechanism. That is, the razor doesn't clamp down very tightly on the blade. I've tried bending the spring with a needle-nose, but I can't get these old razors to tighten up enough to restore them to shaveworthiness. And I can't bring myself to throw them back into the eBay sea either, because I don't want someone else winding up with it and then not being able to shave with it.

It occurs to me that I'm not the only one who's been hitting eBay for Injectors lately and winding up with a lemon. It's easy to tell if your Injector is kosher or not -- without loading a blade into the razor, press down lightly on the safety bar (the bar that sits in front of the sharp edge of the blade when it's in the razor) with your finger. If it gives, and separates easily from the rest of the razor, your spring's not tight enough and you may have a bum Injector. Some of my Lemonjectors don't even need me to press down on the safety bar -- I can shake the razor and there's enough slop that it clacks like a noisemaker.

An Injector needs to maintain an iron grip on the blade if you're going to get the kind of shave us Injector fanatics have raved about. If it's got too much slop, you won't get a good shave. it's that simple. I learned this the hard way, and I've got a little pile of Lemonjectors to show for it.

I don't think I ever scored a DE off eBay that was unshaveworthy. Okay, so I got one crusty old Gillette adjustable with a stripped mechanism. Other than that, the two dozen Gillettes I've got all shave perfectly.

But when it comes to the Injectors I've won on eBay -- and I'm talking the bakelite models, not the later long-handled ones which I don't particularly care for -- I'd say half are killer, and half are in the No Shavey pile. So my ten dollar Injectors became $20 Injectors. Which is still a hell of a bargain for the closest shaving safety razors ever.

And please, if you wind up with a Lemonjector, don't toss it back into the eBay waters. That's not how your mother and I raised you.