Personna Super: How long will it go?

Back on November 1, I put a Personna Super in my new Sheraton OC razor. Little did I know that this blade would go so far. I did a week with the Sheraton, then in DEcember, I rotated the blade through seven Gillette DE razors.


Well, I have 24 Gillette DE razors, so I continued to rotate through them with the same blade. At some point, I decided to see how long it would last. My only other experiment with longevity was a Shark blade that lasted 19 shaves. I started palm stropping the blade probably somewhere in the teens. I don't remember exactly when. Anyhow, whenever I shaved with a DE razor, it was the Personna Super that was used.
Today, I put it in my new PPA Bakelite Slant and did my 34th shave with it. It was still a great performer.



I don't know how long this blade will last or if I will just tire of using it, but I thought that I would at least make a record of it.

 

Wow that's pretty crazy. I say it goes for 50 shaves. I always wait until it's absolutely necessary to change to a new blade. I haven't tracked how many shaves I get with my Astras, but I'm going to try it. Keep us updated!

 

Wow, incredible! I never had tried to push my blades to the limit of their abilities, but I'm glad someone does. If it pulls, I toss it! Good luck!


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That is incredible Jim, At this point your cost per shave with that blade is like 0.002

 

Cool! I don't remember how many shaves (it was a lot) I got out of a Voskhod in a Star 3-piece, but I don't think it was 34!

 

I once got 16 out of a Rockwell blade

 

What kind of got me started was that somewhere on TSD I read someone posting that he had heard of another shaver who had gotten 200 shaves off a single razor. I really would give up before that I think, but it made my 19 shaves off a Shark look puny. Yesterday, I tried searching for the comment, but it was fruitless. Maybe someone here remembers it.

 

Friday the Thirteenth will be shave #35.

 

There is a club on B+B called the Excalibur Club that is dedicated to pushing blades as far as they will go. One shaver (bosseb) ran an older Wilkinson Sword blade for 134 shaves and has pushed other newer makes just past the 100 mark (partly to prove that the older stainless blades were NOT magically better than newer ones.). I don’t believe anyone else in the club has quite matched his record but a number do come close. So far as I know, nobody there has hit 200 yet.

There did used to be claims of people shaving for 6 months to a year on a single blade back in the carbon steel blade days but (a) many of them were using some method to strop, hone or resharpen the blades (a lot of different gadgets were sold back then to hone razor blades), and (b) it was in the Depression and then WW2 and first money was really really tight and then razor blades were almost unobtainable. Also, a lot of those claims are based on testimonials in the advertising materials for those blade saver devices, so their accuracy is open to question...

 

Hmmm.... this makes me wonder.....
Should I try more than 4 shaves before I toss my blades? I might just try that!

 

Thanks for that report. If I tire of this blade, I may set it aside for a while and revisit it.

 

This goes to show that blades can last a lot longer than most give them credit for. Have had several brands go over 10 comfortable shaves but usually get bored with it or decide to change it for whatever reason.

 

Boredom or a bad shave will end it for me, but this time around, I am going to be switching razors and types, so it won't be the same blade all the time. If I get bored, I will simply set it aside and revisit it in a week or so.

 

Friday the Thirteenth

Thirty-fifth shave with the Personna Super. Palm stropped after the shave and ready for 36.

 

Last shave with the PAA Bakelite Slant. No issues, just a clean close shave.

 

Today, I got out my new Acevivi Dual-Comb razor. I put the Personna Super blade in it and will be using it for the rest of this week. I got a great shave out of this combination today. So, that makes 37 shaves with this blade. Again, I rinsed it and then palm stropped it before putting it back in the razor. I am looking forward to more shaves with this razor. Open comb or closed comb, it delivers a very nice shave with medium aggression. I would say about 6 or 7 on a Slim.

 

Someone here had a son that was given a Personna 74 injector (I think) and he shaved with it every day for a year or more. The thing is, the son did not know the blade could be changed and since it shaved well, he just kept using it.

I think that is the way the story went. I will see if I can find the post.

 

Wow. I hope you can find the post. That is amazing.

 

That makes thirty-eight shaves with the Personna Super.

 

Shave #39 with the Personna Super. I think that I will give it a rest after tomorrow's shave #40. I will set it aside and maybe revisit it at a later date. So far, 39 good shaves with one blade.