So I ordered a blade sampler that contained some of these blades, I put a fresh one in this morning and gave it a go. It wasnt a bad blade as I was expecting the worse I may have been a little heavy handed and got a little burn but i can say that it was a good sharp blade. I think Ill give it a few more passes and see.
I have been using ASCO blades and the continually give me a close and comfortable shave. And they are prices right too !:eatdrink020
ASCO is a LORD brand Lord is an ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 company based in Egypt’s second city, the port of Alexandria. Their 8 brands are: Lord. Big Ben. Shark. Crown. Asco. Racer. Silver Star. Rainbow. http://www.bruceonshaving.com/tag/asco-razor/
I liked them well enough to buy 100. I don't know how much technical similarity may derive from the some origin, but I think they are much like the Lord Platinum - an excellent blade. I hope you have better luck with another try.
I didn't see a reason to start a new thread. I just tried my first ASCO Super Stainless Red Box blade from Egypt. It is one of the Lord family, as Gary pointed out. I ordered 100 since they are so inexpensive: $12.71/100 shipped. This was just about the same cost as ordering 1 or 2 5-packs plus shipping. I was apprehensive. The reviews I have read were evenly split between excellent, OK, and terrible. The Asco delivered up a nice close, smooth, and nick free shave. It is not as sharp as my regulars, but at almost half the cost, I didn’t expect it to be. So far, so good. I will see how it holds an edge.
Wonderful review with detailed pictures Bobcat I have excellent shaves with ASCO red blades. I have perfect BBS all over with no nick or weeper thanks to this blade. I could use the same blade 4 times for a week. Maybe I could get another shave with it, but I didn't want to push it I ordered it from a wholesaler in istanbul for $7.00/100 including domestic shipping. It's one of the cheapest blades I've got so far and the best one which fit me exactly, too. ASCO reminds me Astra SS (blue) in many ways. I also have excellent shaves with Astra SS, but it's way expensive nowadays and hard to find here.
I know speculation is rampant but I wonder if there's any hard proof that some of those are the exact same blade under different labels.
Bob That was a good review. Kind of makes me want to try some. I figure with the blades I have, and the blades that Kevin aka HolyRollah has sent me maybe in 2525 I will need some more blades. Great review, maybe I will try some in a few months.
This is not in any way directed at anyone who has posted on this thread. This might seem to be a rant so please provide me some latitude while I flesh out the thought process. In the past when I saw the speculation on this subject across various forums I determined that it was coming primarily three source types. The first was from individuals who were new to Traditional Shaving. Some of whom never had used the products in question, or only had used one or two blades ever. The second was from individuals who preferred other blades and seemed to make a mission of championing certain blades (as if they had some manufacturing or sales interest in the blades) regardless of the fact that other people have differing skin sensitivities and use different razors in terms of aggressiveness. This tends also to occur with a "group-think" approach as well. The third was by individuals who have skin that is not very sensitive (almost like leather) and so the perception of the blade and its impact to the skin is not an issue to them. Their mantra usually winds up being "blades are blades and there is no difference between any of them." What I did early on in my Traditional Shaving journey was to ignore these three sets of individuals. They were easy to spot because their writing and responses quickly exposed their viewpoints. I started to seek out individuals who were more concerned about the real issues and actual facts over hype, politicking, or indifference. I found data from a highly esteemed individual at another form (SMF) by the name of Squire. He had performed highly magnified views of Double Edge razors where you can clearly see the different honing and stropping patterns on each blade. Absolute visual evidence versus speculation, what an incredible concept! Squire had tested out 4 different grades of Lord blades. After both visual inspection and shaving with the blades this is what he had to say on one of his reviews. "The Lord Co. makes a lot of brands and one is tempted to say they are putting the same ones in different boxes. I don't think so yet because the four different Lord brands I have tried have all shaved differently. I tried different lighting but could not capture the purple color. What is most interesting to me is the sharpening which is a distinct two grind with a medium hone. Compare these to the Lord blades I reviewed some time back and the sharpening differences are apparent. The shave was different as well." After reading many of his reviews, I decided to test blades for myself to see what the variances would be for my skin and my primary razor. That would allow me to know how "My Mileage Varied." This testing originally started out only to be for my own use but after it was codified into a usable format I decided to provide the information to the Traditional Shaving community as a reference of methodology and additional information of manufacturing locations and packaging images. The results of the testing can be seen here: http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/de-blade-challenge-ii.28223/ I have even culled out the LORD data from my testing stand alone for this discussion and it is seen below. Note that this testing is with one razor and my results change using different razors. As far as the shaving patterns go, I noticed major differences as well on all the products from LORD blades just as Squire felt and found visually. Now there are variations due to the fact that skin sensitivity and razor type play major issues but I agreed with Squires premise of differing feel to the skin when shaving and cannot question the clear visual evidence that they are different. The more than likely use one or two base stocks of stainless steel and the honing and stropping is done using different methods for cost and marketing purposes (customer preference). Squire's data has been available for over 5 years. Other like-minded individuals have also posted data with factual basis showing that the blades are indeed different. However, it seems more entertaining for many individuals to just ignore the facts and just think that they are all the same blades in different wrappers. O.K. Rant off!
I'm not sure what the facts are, which makes it much easier to ignore them. However, I have used three of the Lord products, Asco, Big Ben and Lord Platinum. I can tell you that in my experience, yes it is anecdotal evidence to be sure, but I have used my fair share of blades and I know what I like, the three I have used are absolutely not the same blades. The Lord Platinum always nicks me up and I never get a good shave from them. The Asco and the Big Ben are closer to each other (according to my face) but they are not the same. To me it goes Big Ben, Asco, something else, Lord Platinum.
Thank you, Gary, that settles the question for me. I don't think I was, but I hope I wasn't counted as one of those referenced in your post (seems more of a mild corrective rebuke, not a rant). Having myself used only Big Ben and one or two of the Lord's, I was referencing those who speculate that they're all or mostly the same. I'm not one of them!
Thanks Gary! Everyone should be aware of and read both yours and Squire's blade tests. I had my 2nd shave with the ASCO today. Again, the ASCO was not as smooth (read sharp) as my top blades, but it delivered a smooth, close, nick free shave. Still-so far, so good. As always, YMMV……..
No my friend you were and are not counted for any type of correction, or any one who had posted on the thread. You had brought up something that has really bothered me for some time as well. That is why I put the disclaimer on the top of my post stating that no one here was involved in that behavior.
