Oddly on the Derbys, I didn't like the Extra at all, but the Premium works fine. Several years ago, I had a basic Maggard, and the Derby Extra was reasonable. Not so much with the Emperor.Thanks - any you have and recommend that I don't have?
I didn't enjoy the 7 O'Clock yellow all that much. Admittedly I've only given it one shave, the Derby Extra was okay (I preferred it to the Derby Premium). I was going to try the 7 O'Clock Black but opted for Bic and I've been enjoying them. I'm still in the early stages, so I'm only giving blades two shaves and they hit the bin. Probably a waste, but I figure the shave is already pretty inexpensive regardless of whether I get 2 or 10 shaves...
I wasn't a fan of the Gillette Platinum in my Merkur 34C, but have yet to try it in the R41. I too like the Wilkinson swords, although I think from memory I preferred them in the 34C.
I got 16 different blade samples. For the first pass, I did 2 shaves (noble otter and Jack Black Supreme Creme). If I needed to moisturize shortly after the shave, it went in the hell no pile. I got rid of 5 blades that way.
I'm now doing A/B pairings. No way I can rank all those blades, but I can tell which of 2 is better.