I apologize if you have told us before, but how do you like the Wholly Kay AS?

EDIT*** Nevermind, I kept reading.

Beautiful child.

+1

This weekend I did a day with my oldest, most classic stuff, and a day with my newest most modern.



-Joseph Rodgers Near Wedge
-Simpson Duke 3 Pure Somerset
-Dr Harris Arlington Soap
-Dickinson Unscented Witch Hazel
-DR Harris Arlington Cologne

Not sure how you can get more old school than a 150+ year old razor, a Simpson Pure Badger and soap from knee of England's oldest shapers. It was fantastic in every way. The scent of the soap is strong enough to fill the room, and I had just hit the blade with .5 diamond in felt. I finished up very, very nearly BBS.



-Feather DX
-Simpson Duke 3 Synthetic
-Stirling Electric Sheep

Today I went as nearly opposite as one could get. All modern hardware, and definitely a modern soap. It was one of those shaves I thought I caught the baby, and then felt a tiny spot under my jaw afterward. I got bit to Hell by skeeters and gnats this morning while fishing, and I managed to lop about thirty bites clean off my face. I was bleeding everywhere after that first pass.

Monday Shave

Decided to throw in an adjustable for adjustable August. I like this Rocenl, it goes from mild to wild, solid build and hefty. My usual four pass shave and a very smooth face with just a tickle from the alum.

Irritation A Closeness A+

Razor: Rocnel Adjustable, Iridium Super
Brush: Rooney Best
Pre: Proraso
Soap: Razorock Tight Buns
AS: Razorock Tight Buns
Scent: Creed Tambarome

I kept it simple this weekend as we did a bit of traveling for the niece's birthday party.

Saturday:
Tabac
Omega 10049
Fat Boy
Fine Platinum

Sunday:
KMF Lavender Cream
Maggard Plissoft
QShave Futur
Thayers Rose Witch Hazel
Homemade balm

Smooth sailing. The QShave has me a bit smitten. Incredible results at that price point. I don't like the cap removal, but other than that, I'm getting some of my best shaves with it.


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Wow! You went all technical on me and I love it! Layer three would likely be the sputtered platinum. It's definitely the most durable of the materials involved and would add some life and durability to the blade. As to the STD-301 being a stripped down version of the Prime and Titan, I could see that. Especially given its level of irritation. It's smooth during the shave but raised the irritation level well above any of the other Dorcos. That would indicate a lack of glide, even at a microscopic level, so I could conclude that the "plastic" layer, i.e. PTFE, is not present. That and my natural preference for PTFE that tells me there isn't any there as well. Take off the glide, don't worry about the corrosion resistance since they aren't really worrying about durability with these blades most likely, and you're left with the durable platinum and rigid but thin blade. I could agree with your thinking.

Okay, this makes sense. One question- What is the difference between a "Stainless" blade (e.g., Astra Super Stainless) and a "Platinum" blade (e.g., Astra SP)? I'm wondering because there is no indication on PaceShaving that the STD-301 has a Platinum coating. Does that make it a "Stainless" blade? If so, is there anything going on at layer 3?

One final thought... I wonder if this is why Dorco blades had such a bad reputation for a while. Maybe they had to make them thicker to be more generally usable.

Beautiful shot of a lovely girl.

Adjustable (Arko) August!!!

August 20 Grand Blade Trials

Razor - 1962 (H1) Gillette Slim (3)
Blade - (1)
Soap - Tabac
Brush - 30DC LE
Post - Alum

With the Dorcos behind me it's time to move on. How about some time with Gillette blades? Yes? Cool. I think I need a break with some pretty much guaranteed good shaves. Not that the Dorcos were all that bad, it's just that I've usually found Gillette made blades to be above average. Some are outstanding. Of course, those would be the Russian ones.

I have 19 Gillette blades in my stash and I think that covers all of them. I'm starting with the Gillette Stainless from St. Pete. It's obviously a stainless coated blade (Duh) and I don't think I've ever used one before. I'm back to the Slim for the Gillettes and I'll be rotating brushes as usual. I'll stick with one soap per blade and rotate through them as well. No need to stick too tightly to a rule here as I know a lot of these and am expecting no surprises. Tabac is the soap chosen for this blade and the first brush up is the LE brush.

Two passes and touch ups and to say it was smooth is an understatement. Now, it could have been more effective. The angle seemed a bit tough to find on this blade at the mild 3 on the Slim. But, once I had it the results were acceptable. DFS finish and no blood. No complaints and I expect it to improve with aggression.

I'll be on the road tomorrow looking for clear skies and a disappearing sun! Have a great Monday!

Good questions and points again. The difference in a stainless versus platinum is the coating. Obviously all blades are made of stainless steel. Well, unless they're a carbon like some of the Treets. On top of the stainless metal, after the grind is done, they coat the blades at the microscopic level with metals and other materials to make it more durable, to make it smoother and all that as you know.

A "Stainless" blade is one that has a stainless coating on the blade. A "Platinum" one uses platinum as the coating. "Teflon" means teflon is the primary coating over the metal, and there are others like Iridium. Of course you can have more than one, i.e. the Derby and its Chromium, Ceramic, Platinum, Tungsten and Polymer coats. I've often wondered if Derby's aren't sharper because the coatings all act to thicken and therefore "dull" the edge. That's another discussion, though.

There may be other coatings along with the primary, and sometimes a "double coated" blade has equal amounts of two coatings, i.e. Platinum and Teflon.

Where it really gets interesting is the difference between a "Platinum" or "Stainless" blade and its corresponding "Super Platinum" or "Super Stainless". It's possible that the "super" ones get an extra coating of the same material. It's also possible that marketing departments are just really good at coming up with new descriptions to add sales and market share. I can't seem to get a good and final answer on that.

As to STD-301 - there may be nothing extra going at layer 3. It could just be a stainless body with no extra coatings. That is again possible as the irritation indicates friction that a proper coating would most likely mitigate.

Hi all, I'm still alive!

The Joseph Rodgers is a nice looking razor, Jared!

Thanks Paul. Just lucky to have a few of them.

Wow. A unicorn.


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Two great shaves from opposite eras.


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And, at that, we pretty much explain (or have a working theory for the existence and peculiarities of the Dorco STD-301.

I assume a single line for the initial blade manufacture and possibly the grind. From there, some blades go on to get either no coating or a "Stainless" coating. These ultimately end up at the Dollar General/Family Dollar. The rest get a "Platinum" coating. Some, I would guess, stop there and become the ST-300/ST-301 blades we all know and tolerate. The rest is a bit fuzzy but ultimately involves the Prime Platinum vs. Titan destiny.

It's probably worth noting that the ST-300 and ST-301 packages read "NEW! Platinum", so adding that coating is a relatively recent change.

Back when I first started really looking at the STD-301, someone (@wchnu?) pointed out that he considered them a daily driver. I can only assume he uses them in a razor with good blade clamping. It's amazing the difference that a few hundredths or thousands of a millimeter of coatings make to a blade.

A final thought on blade economics... Neal, as you pointed out, these are not cheap blades, particularly in comparison to their better performing cousins. I can only assume that either a) they represent a huge profit source, b) the production quantities are low compared to their other blades, or c) that dispenser is freaking expensive.

Thanks for indulging my thought experiments.

Gem Micromatic Clog Pruf
Gem Stainless (2)
Omega Baby Pro
Orange Chill Arko SS
Soap Commander Love ASB

After a day off with the barbasol, it is nice to be back with the micromatic. This is day 2 with the clog pruf and I am thinking it shaves a bit more smoothly than the OCMM. It may all be in my head though. Enjoy your day.

SOTD August 21, 2017

Blade: Kai Captain Mild
Razor: RazoRock Black Hawk
Brush: JR #142 black badger
Lather: Stirling Glacial Lemon Chill
Post: Witch hazel, Stirling Glacial Lemon Chill aftershave
WTG, touch up

Really enjoyable shave this morning. The Glacial Lemon Chill was superb - lathered easily and makes slick, shiny, and beautiful suds. I love how much water Stirling can take. The cold menthol effect feels great to me. The Black Hawk mowed everything down and I'm smooth and ready to start the work week.

Have a great day!