Peoples preferences are really interesting. As I stated before Feathers are my favorite blade. I know that Ryan can not stand Merkur Blades. Yet his discription of the Wilkenson blades are almost the same words I would use to describe the Merkur blades and I can not stand Wilkinson blades. I personally would grow a beard rather than use Wilkensons.
I like Wilkinson's in mild TTO razors, whereas Merkurs are barely tolerable in anything other than a moderately aggressive three piece razor. Just goes to show you how much YMMV.
I bought 5 pack samples of derby persona and Wilkinson sword and my pastor is giving me two astras to try I figure if I don't like those as much as the feathers I'll buy a couple hundred feathers thanks for the input guys
I waited to shave today till I picked up some new blades tried the persona close shave almost bbs a lot more irritation on my neck though won't buy anymore any time soon. Maybe try em again a few months down the road. First use of styptic pencil was needed as well lol
Astra SP's are fine blades and can be had even cheaper than listed above, for as little as $9.00 with free shipping on Amazon. As for something equivalent to the sharpness of Feather, try Bolzano superinox inossidabile. They're a bit pricey, but very good. An Italian Company, but I believe the blades are made for them in Germany, now.
Voskhods are pretty sharp from my experience. They run a little more expensive than Astras, but they're not nearly as much as Feathers
The only blades I use nowadays are Personna Labs/Med Preps. They are the same blade with only a couple of acceptions: the price (duh), and the Meds get extra sterilization before getting packaged. I personally love Feathers, but I can't use them for more than 2 shaves. The only other blade I could use successfully was BlueBird from Turkey. They are made by the same company that makes Derby blades, but to me they are 10 times better.
