Blades

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by razorhead63, Sep 9, 2020.

  1. razorhead63

    razorhead63 Member

    Hello, I’m a newer member here and have noticed there is no part of the forum devoted to blades. I’m puzzled as to why that is. Blades are such a central part of traditional shaving. Like meat going with potatoes! Can somebody here give me an answer on this? Please forgive me for being so curious.
    Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2020
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  2. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    1. All current production DE razor blades made for shaving will shave anyone. They will all cut hair.

    2. Blade choice is largely personal, and it would be rare to find a duplicate set of say, top 5 blade choices between the members of any given forum.

    3. Maybe the founding members of this forum didn't think a dedicated blade section was important or needed.

    For myself, I think it's a great idea.

    ...but, in the ten years I've been a member here, I've never felt like I was missing out on a section of forum. Maybe @Queen of Blades would like to comment?
     
  3. Ron R

    Ron R Well-Known Member

    Like mentioned above blades can have different experiences to other folks than your self. If you are looking for a blade this is a ball park of my opinion that might help!
    Blade Review #6.3 June 26th 2020 (3).jpg
    Have some great shaves! Stay and think safe in these times!
     
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  4. johnnyflake

    johnnyflake Well-Known Member

    Searching is your friend!
     
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  5. Edison Carter

    Edison Carter Well-Known Member

    I can give an example or two.

    I tried Personna injector blades.
    I tried Chinese mfg Schick (Chicks) injector blades.

    I hated the Personnas and loved the Schicks.

    A number of folks found the exact opposite.

    Both delivered a quality end result.

    Enter DE world and magnify by dozens.

    One of the reasons I joined TSD was reading through the challenge a gentleman undertook to shave for 30 days with Derby blades. He previously had declared them unusable, but reported differently upon completion.

    He continued to use the blade he historically preferred, and probably still does today.

    Most here value the skill set learned in repetition and practice, I do.

    It is my opinion that those learning to shave handicap themselves with too many blade trials too soon.
     
  6. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    Never found a single blade I couldn't master. I have had "clunkers", but generally speaking, they are all sharp enough to cut whiskers.
     
  7. John Beeman

    John Beeman Little chicken in hot water

    I guess I didn't realize we didn't have a section specifically for blades. Seems like I've read a gazillion discussions about blades on TSD. And charts, lots of charts that people have put together.

    I think one of the first extensive ones I recall reading was by GDCarrington.
     
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  8. brit

    brit in a box

    well said..:happy088:
     
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  9. razorhead63

    razorhead63 Member

    Thank you so much!
     
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  10. razorhead63

    razorhead63 Member

    I agree to that. I can get a good shave from practically any currently produced blade. The only variable is the longevity of them.
     
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  11. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    Couple of rule of thumbs, the milder the razor the sharper the blade you'll want if you want a close shave. Blades may all cut whiskers but not equally. The sharpness of the edge becomes more important in this case since the blade exposure is neutral or negative. The more aggressive the less sharp the edge needs to be. It is more about angle than about blade edge since the blade exposure is positive.

    Some reading on that here.
    https://sharpologist.com/much-razor-aggressiveness-really-need/

    For blades there is a lot of opinions usually based on emotion and not facts. That is fine in that it is your face and shave, whatever works for you. But if you adhere to the above and want a sharp blade or in my case a blade that holds a consistent edge from shave to shave then you need some testing. When I first started shaving I went through multiple blades in samplers using a Merkur Progress and found almost none of them were consistent. The Progress is not a mild razor either so it wasn't an issue of being able to get enough blade on the face. Through trial and error I found Bic Chrome Platinum blades had a decent edge and held the edge until it didn't, no slow decline or one good shave then 3 or 4 subpar shaves afterwards. Interestingly enough I found a site that did some scientific testing that came to the same conclusion about Bics.

    https://www.refinedshave.com/razor-blade-sharpness-testing/
    https://www.refinedshave.com/razor-blade-sharpness-summary/

    My suggestion unless you have a very mild razor I would read that and understand what the testing is telling you then get a few of some representative blades for each extreme and shave with them to understand how that applies to you personally and make your final choice(s). If you have a mild razor then get something with a fairly sharp edge and call it a day.
     
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  12. Edison Carter

    Edison Carter Well-Known Member

    @razorhead63
    Here is another example in the episodes of "blade wars"

    I've read numerous posts where Bic blades were spoken poorly of, so I never tried them.

    I will now though.

    My faves had become Feather and Gillette Silver Blue. I recently read one user who considers them 'one & done'. It is the variety that keeps things interesting sometimes.

    Another one was Personna Blue. I bought 100 on a great buy without ever trying them because so many people liked them. I find them one & done, maybe 2.

    Have fun.
     
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  13. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    There is also the problem of counterfeit blades that will certainly affect how well the blades perform when all other factors are equal. Bic, Astra platinums there are counterfeits known to be on the market for example. Then you have the fact that companies may change how they produce a blade which makes them different from older versions so some reviews may not be valid to the current versions of said blade. You also have no shortage of people who are long on opinions but short on knowing how to use a DE razor properly. I am not saying you are one of them but just saying I like something without any detail to the how and/or why. Those reviews can be useful if you know how they are using the razor to ascertain what is actually going on to the why the blades work or don't work so well. Opinion or not the question of why or some detail into how the blade was used should be answered if you want to take someone's review with more than a grain of salt.

    In my case I should elaborate on the how since I already did on the why. I've used them with good or bad technique across over 100+ razors over 10+ years now. I've never had a problem with them shaving better or worse from one shave to the next when all things are equal and that is 6 shaves. I don't have to compensate in any way for the blade wearing from shave 1 through shave 6 unlike with most other blades I've used. If you can't get a good shave out of a Bic then it won't matter shave 1 or 6. Then it is a matter of a dud blade, counterfeit or really bad technique. Bad technique can be corrected so even if it still doesn't shave up to snuff for you it should at least be consistently the same which is the feature I like the most about those blades.
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2020
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