Can we rank these blades from sharpest on down

Hey All:

With the help of Phil/Bull Goose, we put together this pack of different blades.

i want to use them from the least sharp to the most sharp.

OK, this is where you all come in; I need the experts to do the ranking. Looking forward to their Monday arrival.

Astra Superior Platinum astra-superior-platinum-de-blades-5-pac5 DE Blades -5 Pack
Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp 7OClock5 Edge -5 Pack
Gillette 7 O'Clock Super 7drkblu
Platinum (Dark Blue)
-Pack of 5
Lord Platinum Class -5 Lordplat
Blades
Ladas Super Stainless DE Ladas5 Blades -Pack of 5

 

Most of your blades are pretty sharp, I would think the Ladas are least sharp but I've only tried one and it reminded me of Rapira. (they are plenty sharp though, not as smooth to my mug as some others) The 7 o'clocks are all almost equal to me in sharpness but I prefer the Blues (They remind me of Perma-Sharps but a little sharper) Astra's are sharp too. Lords are good and sharp too. Well Scott, I don't think my post is much help as I think most of your blades are pretty close in terms of sharpness. Hopefully someone with a better opinion will chime in. I do hope you don't cause a blade opinion war with you question.

 

your post is most helpful...thanx. i can dig in anywhere i want

 

I have not personally tried any the mentioned blades. I have the Lord blades to be sharp and deliever a quality sahve.
I like the Russian Blades, Voshkod and Rapiras have found them to be sharp and deliever great shaves.

 

I want to help, but I can't. My advice is to throw one blade each into a bag and just grab one at random and see what you think for yourself.

Not very helpful, I know, but...at the end of the day, blades are a very personal preference.

 

u guyz r all great. I'm looking for something sharper and it sounds like wherever I start I will be happy. Onward.

 

But grab very carefully, they're all sharp!!

 

hmmm.... been thinking about this.
Since all faces and beards are different, and the fact that we know blades, even blades of the same brand, will perform differently in different razors, I'm afraid all we're dealing with are opinions.
Unless someone can do an experiment that could measure the sharpness of each blade, leaving the "human" element out, and keeping all things equal, we'll just have to settle for what works for each person.

 

thanx everyone...looking forward to my on the job discovery process

 

I don't know about the Ladas because I never tried them, but the Lord blades are excellent. At the present time, the Rapiras are my favorite.

 

a few years back, somebody on another shaving board actually did this. they put common blades under a microscope (electron, I think?), took images of the edges, and compared them against one another.

What I learned from their effort is that in terms of actual physical sharpness, there's not a lot of difference between blades. What does differ greatly is grind quality, precise dimension of the blade (which affects blade exposure), blade coatings, and steel quality. These factors, when combined with the qualities of a given razor, create YMMV. I think there's literally too many variables at play to say which one will actually shave better for you. Pick one and try it out. If it doesn't work, try a different blade.

Oh, and in terms of sharpest, carbon steel blades hold the sharpest physical edge. They also degrade the fastest.

 

Great post Mike. Very easy for me to follow.

 

Here's the order

Ladas
Gillette
Astra
Gillette Dark Blue
Lord

subject to change

 

I remember that. Lots of great info. But does it answer the question of sharpness? I'm no scientist, but I'm thinking along the lines of some experiment that could determine the amount of pressure required to cut/slice through item X. My thinking would be that the one that requires the least pressure to make a clean cut would be the sharpest.

 

I think the study did. However, I believe sharpness was defined as the degree of tapering on the cutting edge. I don't think they tested pressure required for cutting. But for shaving, you'd have to find:

a) a uniform testing surface.
b) some way of measuring and regulating forward and downward pressure.
c) some way of measuring and regulating shaving angle.

Even after you standardized all these variables, then you'd only have the most sharp only for the razor you're testing, since blade gap differs according to the razor.

So yes, I think you could get a truly scientific study of razor blade sharpness, but its usefulness would be very limited.

 

We just need to make a razor cam, like I saw on this documentary one time. Gillette had one and you could see how the blades cut the hair and sloughed off skin, etc.

 

Exactly. An endeavor that exceeds my curiosity. I'll just shave with what works :biggrin:

 

I think even with our limited precision, we can get rough ideas from experience. Something like 3 categories: mild, moderate, and very sharp. To the OP, I haven't tried the Ladas, but the others are all very sharp IMHO. They are also blades I like at least more than average. I hope you have a similar experience with them.

 

Let's just do what the Mail Call guy does and kill watermelons with razorblades until we find out which blade will take out the most watermelons!

Edit: Adding video for dramatic effect!

 

Thanx Erik and everyone. Can't wait for the mailman...Chu, where r u?