Exclusive: A hands-on, first look at The Blackland razor

Oh it kept the original spirit

 

First off I think all black on a razor looks amazing. I'd def b in buying one. Plus it's American made. That's awesome to me. And well done on the tradere and pils. I have been searching for some time for one of each. But nobody lets them go! I have obtained one of every modern I wanted except those! Awesome collection!

 

I think there's a couple of vendors in Europe (Belgium and Italy) that still have some Pils in inventory.

 

A quick reminder to those interested. The Kickstarter campaign launches at 10am EST tomorrow morning. Thank you all and hope to have your support!

 

To clarify, including to myself;
When joining a Kickstarter as someone who wants to fund it - you 'commit' to buying something but won't be actually charged until when/if the goal is reached, and
If the goal is not reached you will never be charged a dime.

Is that correct?

Follow-up question:
If the goal is met w/in the 30 days of the Kickstarter is there a rough timeframe for how long it will from that point take to have the razors in people's hands?

 

If the campaign reaches its funding goal, you will be charged once the campaign ends. If it doesn't hit the goal, you are never charged a dime.

Estimated delivery date is October.

 

That is a beautiful razor for sure. Like the Black Knight. I dig it...

 

How does it compare to you other razors??

 

Aggressive/Mild
I'd say it's a medium-aggressive/mild razor - not as aggressive as my Tradere or even Weber - but not as mild as my Pils. Somewhere between there.

Build Quality
Very good. I don't think many razors will ever have the quality of Pils as I hold that in a category by itself - but I'd say the Blackland is on par with Wolfman and Weber when it comes to build quality. The machining precision especially for head-to-handle assembly is maybe even smoother than the Wolfman.

Weight/Balance
It's solid stainless steel so the weight is comparable to any all SS razor with those dimensions.
As far as balance goes I can only speak for the head with the 101mm handle and I didn't have any issues with that at all. One of the benefits with many all-SS razors is that the weight is pretty evenly distributed (maybe apart from Pils with it gigantic head ) - and that makes shaving with them very straight forward.

 

Quick questions about the shave performance.

Did you have any issues with clogging? Did you feel like you had to constantly rinse off the razor?

How effective did the razor shave in your opinion? Did you get BBS results? If so, in how many passes?

 

Great questions.

Clogging
I normally rinse the razor after about 25% of my face - roughly 4-5 times during a one-pass. I think it's such a habit that I do it even if it's not needed.
All I can say is that it didn't clog so much that it required me to rinse more often than that.
The only DE razor that I've experienced really bad clogging with is the Razorock Stealth Slant razor. That one clogged like there was no tomorrow.
(Note: Soaps I've used with the razor is Fitjar, Cella and Soap Commander)
Effective
I'm a two-passes and done kinda guy. I do one WTG and one ATG pass and then I better be very clean shaven.
This is one area where I feel this razor surprised me - I still can't put my finger on what makes it shave differently. I think it's the angle from the head shape but whatever it is it's - to me - very mild and very efficient.

Clarification:
Even though I'm pretty sure I don't have to say this I just want to make it VERY clear in that everything in this thread are my subjective thoughts on the razor and not written or phrased to 'help' with the Kickstarter tomorrow. I hope I've established a little bit of credibility on this site when it comes to being honest about how I feel about a razor

 

If @ShaneS has anything to add to the above please feel free to chime in as I'm sure people would rather hear from the creator of this razor
Such as what inspired you to this razor head design, how you view it yourself in terms of aggressive/mild/clogging, etc

 

From a performance aspect, I'm not sure I had a specific inspiration when designing the head. I simply prototyped continually and made minor changes with each iteration until I wound up with something I absolutely loved. A trial and error strategy, really.

My most recent 3d prototype was a bit more aggressive due to the material and the relative mildness of the steel version is great. My opinion is that it's a hair more aggressive than you feel it is. Maybe a 6/10. Like you, I find the clogging factor to not be noteworthy one way or the other.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out and even a bit surprised by how much I really like it.

 

Oh NO!!!! then the Canadian Firearms Office will ban the Blackland as being an assault razor..... oh, and the name is just too dangerous....blackland...like black ops, or blackwater..... doom

 

Don't even get me started on magazines that are labeled oversized.... seems to me that if it is built to take a 14 round magazine, then that is the standard size, not the pinned puny size the CFO wants..... and besides, I can only shoot it on a designated range, so what the he double hockey sticks does it matter what size the magazine is? I told you not to get me started

 

And we're live!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackland/the-blackbird-stainless-steel-safety-razor

 

Looks great so far - 14 minutes in and 10 out of the 50 "Early bird special - razor and box - $155" are already gone.
I anticipate that package deal to sell out the first.

 

Pleased to be number 10!

 

Thank you!