I was perusing the Ted Pella website, and came across the Feather "S" DE blade. View attachment 6518 How does this differ from the Feather New-Hi Stainless? On the Pella website it says Carbon Steel - is not coated and less sharp then? Certainly has the cool factor in the looks department.... Has anyone tried them?
Its meant for microtomes and medical work, not for shaving. Its not coated and is probably too rough to shave comfortably with. There are treet blades that are black as well, if your looking for something like that.
Which blade are you referring to? The SS injector style PTFE coated blades? They are coated, and thus suitable for shaving. Its the same thing as why people dont recommend going to the hardware store to pick up SE blades for shaving. Theyre not coated and not kept at the standards to being smooth, just sharp.
Doesnt sharp and smooth are two different things. I've used blades that were years old and used hundreds of times to cut open animals. The PTFE blades are useful when going for microtome slices in the single digits for cell layers. That extra smoothness makes it able to give you a 1 cell thick slide.
I noticed on the Pella blades it says "Soft to the Skin as Feathers" Makes me wonder how they'd feel. But not being coated, and at $7.20 per 10-pack, maybe I'll leave the trial to somebody else. On a semi-related note: Are all modern DE blades for shaving coated with something? Specifically the Red Pack Personnas? I was told once that they weren't coated and that may be why I had such issues with them. But some comments in this thread led me to believe that maybe all modern shaving DE blades are coated - the differences being with what and how much. Any thoughts?
Also, to answer another part of your question, Feather New Hi-Stainless are stainless steel coated with a Platinum/Polymer blend. Sharp and SMOOTH.
Not all blades are coated. But, from what has been found by trial and error, blades made specifically for shaving tend to have a smoother grind with less burs and all that junk. Coatings are helpful though, as they will fill in and smooth out any imperfections on the edge.
Sputtering seems to be the technical term for how most of the coatings are put on blades. go to the Wikipedia article on sputtering and click on the link What is at the bottom to see some cool animations of what sputtering is (not enough posts to link)....