DE Blades

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by Mike-R41, Jun 29, 2019.

  1. Mike-R41

    Mike-R41 Well-Known Member

    Your favorite 3 DEs and why
    #1)Gillette Silver Blue
    #2)PolSilver
    #3)Feather
    *Also if you were to make a DE Sampler Pack What 5 Blades would you put in there?! Decisions decisions :thanks:
     
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  2. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    My feeling on blades; three groups.

    1) Feather & Kai; sharpest is good.
    2) most every other blades like Voskhod, GSB, Astra, Personna, etc; great service but I can't much tell them apart blind folded.
    3) poor quality Chinese blades that aren't worth unwrapping.

    I lean toward aggressive / efficient DE razors with lots of exposure and blade feel. If I'm using an adjustable it'll eventually end up on the highest setting.
     
  3. Mike-R41

    Mike-R41 Well-Known Member

    If u had to pick 3 witch would you choose?
     
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  4. ghostlife

    ghostlife Well-Known Member

    Wilkinson Sword Classic, Personna Lab Blue and BiC Chrome Platinum are my top three, for a sampler I would add in feathers and one of the Rapira blades
     
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  5. jimjo1031

    jimjo1031 never bloomed myself

    In no particular order as I like them equally:
    Bolzano Superinox
    Bic Chrome Platinum
    Personna Platinum Chrome (Israeli Red)

    Honorable mention would have to be Blue Bird Hi-Stainless, sharp and smooth.
     
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  6. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    I use BIC because they're real sharp and inexpensive enough. I doubt I could tell any of the blades I use blindfolded as they all get the job done or I wouldn't use them. I don't trust blade reviews, I think they are mostly useless unless they come from an identical twin and even then I'm not sure. People I think imagine a lot of difference where precious little exists, Feather and bad Chinese blades being obvious exceptions. Agreeing with @RyX though no experience with his Kai blades.

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2019
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  7. Terry

    Terry Tool Admirer


    Well So far....
    Feather
    Kai
    Haven't found a 3rd DE blade I really, really like, yet. Although there's some I can use.

    They don't pull and tug my whiskers when I shave with them.

    Can't answer the 2cd question, that would depend on to many factors.
    Age, razor experience, beard type, skin type, type of razor and other things.

    Just Wednesday.....
    A guy that was using Derby blades, he tried Sharks, to rough, new DE'er. Now that was about 2 months ago, gave him another couple shark blades last week. Now, he likes them, so I gave him a pack of 5 Wednesday. He uses his late fathers Schick Krona, and shaves the gord too. Next for him, proper shaving cream (read skin care). It's a process for some, others jump in to see if they like the water.
    Splash!

    tp
     
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  8. BaylorGator

    BaylorGator MISTER Fancypants

    :signs011:
    Early on in my wetshaving experience I tried to get a blade review thread going, and most of the vets told me that it was a fool’s errand; that with proper technique (i.e. proper/consistent angle, no pressure, etc.) blades became irrelevant and interchangeable. I thought this to be completely counterintuitive and couldn’t possibly be right. In fact it seemed to fly in the face of everything I’d heard - you know, try a blade sampler, it depends on your hair type, etc., etc. Now, 3-4 years later, I’m wholeheartedly convinced they were right, and I wish I’d listened more earlier. Most blades are interchangeable, and with proper technique, the differences are minute. Focus on practicing and perfecting technique, and you’ll be cutting, not scraping. At that point, most blades will become identical to you.

    As to your question, if I had to pick three blades, I’d go with:
    1. Astra SP, since they’re smooth, sharp and cheap (about 8 cents each on Amazon).
    2. Feather (or Kai) - as they are the rare exceptions that I find shaves differently than other blades (sharper, but less smooth).
    3. Substitute any Russian blade or ALMOST any other blade for #1. (The exception being poorly/inconsistently made blades as aforementioned)
     
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  9. johnnyflake

    johnnyflake Well-Known Member

    At this time, in my shaving career, in order of preference:
    Astra SP
    Nacet
    Feather/Kai
    Personna Platinum Chrome (Israeli Red)
    Personna Lab Blue
     
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  10. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    I've enjoyed Personna Reds for a couple reasons. They are inexpensive since many stores sell them as generic store brand. Check the label for "Made in Israel". They are quality blades that give good reduction with a decent life span..

    The just a little better blades to me - Personna Lab Blue or Med Prep. I think they come from the same production line, but the Med Prep is washed of honing oil thought I'm not sure they are sterilized.
     
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  11. Weasel640

    Weasel640 Well-Known Member

    1} Bolzano Superinox (For me they are sharp enough, not as sharp as Feathers but getting there, they are much smoother, and for my growth they hold the sharpness for more than six shaves.)

    2} Astra Superior Platinum (Not as sharp as the Bolzano, but always consistent in the middle of the road. This is my go to for new razors .)

    3} Voskhod Teflon Coated (Similarly, not as sharp as the Bolzano, in the middle of the road, but also more smooth than the Astra. This is my go to for more aggressive/efficient razors .)

    Additions to a five blade sample pack:

    4} Feather Hi Stainless (Commonly accepted to be one of the sharpest you can get. For me the first 2-3 shaves are good but after that I can tell they are quickly getting dull)

    5} Parker Premium Platinum (Not the greatest, but good run of the mill blades, and it's hard to beat the price on these.)
     
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  12. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    That's one I haven't tried yet. Thanks for the review! If these German made blades are nearly sharp as Feathers but give longer service I'll be watching for them. They sell for quite a bit less than 100 packs of the Japanese blades.
     
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  13. Terry

    Terry Tool Admirer

    Got about 90 left.
    Pm if you want some.
    Can't remember why I don't use them.
    Probably not sharp enough.
    tp
     
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  14. Terry

    Terry Tool Admirer

    Mr Fancy Pants is right.
    But it will take time to get there.
    At first and for a while, me and a Feather blade were arch-enemies, now that's all I use, other than Kai's that I just tried in the last couple weeks.
    tp
     
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  15. ordinaryshaver

    ordinaryshaver Well-Known Member

    Or get a "real razor" such as a Gem MicroMatic, pop a blade in (from one of the few actual choices, 5 I believe) and notice that technique Trump's tools.
    However, if I had to choose just 3
    1. Personna lab blue
    2. Original Wilkinson Sword
    3. Astra SP/Gillette silver blues
     
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  16. david of central florida

    david of central florida Rhubarb Rubber

    This thread has been almost a verbatim roll call of my favorites, except the feathers abs and kai .
    My list is
    persona labs
    Astra ss and sp
    Voschod
    Rapira
    And rockwell has recently made the list.
    But, my last two shaves have been with ying juli improved stainless. The feel thinner. But very sharp. Close comfy shaves on both occasions.
     
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  17. brit

    brit in a box

    gillette silver blue ,gillette nacet blades ,nice midrange blades that give fantastic shaves for me..
     
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  18. Edison Carter

    Edison Carter Well-Known Member

    I'd imagine real razors would perform real good if you were able to find real blades to really shave with them...
    ..... really!

    :cool:
     
  19. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    Really? Sounds like there's a market with a hole in it. I tried Gem type SE razors but didn't feel the love. Probably had some of the wrong blades though I tried a couple different ones. The overseas markets and makers are the guys that bought up all of Gillettes DE blade machinery when they went into carts. Guess that's why there are so many brands of DE blades, but so little choice in SE. Schick injector blades have the same issue.
     
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  20. Laird

    Laird Well-Known Member

    My favorite blade.......wait for it............., Derby Extra (pre-2016).
    I've tried and still occasionally use many of the usual suspects such as Feather, Astras, Rapira, Sharks, Polsilvers, etc. and to be honest I really haven't found much difference between any of them. Yes, Feathers are sharp. And some of you may remember me using a vintage Rexall branded blue blade during a 30day rule. That blade was terrible with lots of tugging and yet it gave a perfect result in a '56 Flare Tip. Back in 2016 I bought 1000 Derbys for about $70. So, seven cents a blade. I found reviews where high magnification was used showing that (at least at that time) Derby blades were very well manufactured with extremely good quality control. This was while the forums were still raving about them. Then it seems overnite they fell out of fashion and suddenly no one could get a decent shave with them:confused:.
    I have picked up one of my razors (a '56 Flare) when I had no idea what blade I had loaded in it and it was so smooth I could have sworn there wasn't a blade in it. I'm not exaggerating. I looked to see what it was, and there was the dreaded Derby Extra. They're particularly good after the first shave and I've even "Excalibured" one past thirty shaves before it finally gave out. It was still performing better than a vintage Rexall blue carbon blade. There's not a thing wrong with them (for me) and since I found them for 7 cents each I ordered a lifetime supply.
    Other than an extremely poor blade, once technique (including prep) is sorted out most of the blades made today are very good and more than capable of the job.
     

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