I have been wet shaving for a little over year now. I am still sampling blades. One blade that seems to me a great all around blade is a Shark. I can put Shark in a variety of different razors will always have great results. Other blades that I enjoy using are Big Ben, Topaz, any of the Rapira and Voshkod. The great thing about wet shaving is the variety of products you can choose from. I enjoy sampling soaps too. I really have not settled on any particulr soap. I like MWF, Arko, and Mama Bear's. I want to try some the fine soap offerings from the TSD store. Also some additional Mama Bear's soap. The endless after shaves you can choose from too.
Sounds like some good info. I am going to try the MWF and also have a list of samplers that I am working on for TSD store. I too very much enjoy the variety. It's a nice way to shake it up.
Fishcrow as you stated earlier, in a way, every day is a different sample of some form. That is why is it a joy and not a chore any more!
There is a reason we say YMMV (your milleage may vary). While I haven't tried a Rapira, all the others you listed are just average blades for me. Everyone needs to try out a good variety of blades. What works best you you and what works best for me is clearly different. That's what makes it hard to make blade recommendations until someone has developed opinions on a few blades. Even then it's simply picking blades that are similar to what the person likes and avoiding those like the person disliked.
I agree that Shark blades (especially the super chrome) are a very good all-around blade. I get a sample pack of blades every couple years (ones with just 1 or 2 of a huge variety of different blades) just to try the new stuff, re-visit blades that I considered junk the last time, etc. The latest sampler had both a Shark stainless and a Shark SC. I had no hopes for the blade, I didn't like the packaging, I'm totally un-interested in "shark week" on Discovery Channel... nothing about the blade appealed to me at all, that is UNTIL I tried one. I tried the stainless first and it was OK, much better than I expected it to be, and I was able to get 7 good shaves out of it. I was impressed enough I tried the super chrome next, and it was definitely another step up, and was able to get a full 12 shaves out of the blade. I purchased 100 of these blades and gave 20 to each of a few friends and kept 40 for myself. They work well (for me) in everything from a fat boy, Old Type, New Deluxe, Future and Feather Popular. I was not as impressed with them in my Feather AS-D1, but they were still usable. Since I use the Feather AS about 95% of the time, they don't see a whole lot of use any more, but I do keep them around for my other razors. One blade you should try that doesn't come in any of the sampler packs I ever see are the Personna Med Prep or Personna Lab blades. I find this blade to be an excellent all-around blade that works great in every razor I've tried it in.
Remembering this is just what works best for me: Astra SP, Supermax Stainless, Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edge, Red Pack Persona, Crystal Persona, Feather. I'm sure a couple others that are on the expensive end I'm forgetting because I have no intention of ever buying them.
