Kai blade in a Twig

[ErkRusselReserve]

I have been curious about how a Kai blade would work in a Twig. It is said to be more robust and slightly wider than other DE blades. After trying the blade in other razors, and finding out it was indeed unique, I took the plunge and tore a dollar bill in half, er cracked a Kai.

I found that it fit the Twig well, it seems like it fit the structure of the Twig a tad more snugly than normal DEs. The blade rigidity is also quite apparent. Will the Kai suffer from blade chatter less? Is this what a Schick injector feels like?

Kai’s get much sharper over subsequent shaves. I look forward to seeing how the combo develops.

If you have them, give ‘em a shot. I bet they would work well in a Leaf too. But the Leaf blades ate pulled, so they don’t critically need blade rigidity.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

It is the weirdest damn thing, not only is the Kai slightly wider, it is also longer. Thus stacking a normal 1/2 blade (in this case a Derby Usta Single) on top of the Kai gives a mostly continuous longer cutting surface. The two combined are also rigid as hell if you push on them from the top (the Kai will flex quite a bit by itself).

After a couple of shave with the Kai, I was unimpressed. Maybe I have not hit the passing of the very thick coating? Maybe the blade is just too long? I will see how the stacked blades shave tomorrow.

Intrigued.

Longer cutting surface?

Super rigid?

A death trap or a dream?

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Interesting info on Kai’s in this thread. Seems blade width is length when translated to singles, lol.

KAI SS VS Gillette Sputnik, DE Blades

I have always been on a quest for a wider DE razor blades to increase blade feel or blade exposure. I recently bought a razor head that uses 4 corner posts to align the blade properly while tightening down the razor blade(different way of blade alignment). My Kai SS extra wide blade works 99%...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Some straightened pictures. I think this is a winner if you have a Twig. Lots of blade feel and it seems safer due to more rigidity. Watch for glue creating separation between the blades. I did a 12 hour shave and it was very good. There was a large amount of blade feel, but very little razor burn afterwards.

It maybe that I have moved on from the Twig as a face shaving daily driver, but it is great for body shaving. More tests forth coming as this rig comes back in the rotation. Too many experiments, too little fuzz. I chop it all off!

 

[Ron R]

I did a 12 hour shave and it was very good. There was a large amount of blade feel, but very little razor burn afterwards.

Interesting test you have come up with. You might find the Kai SS blade more aggressive in the(twig) than in a regular DE razor because when you break the blade in half and install it in the twig it will dramatically increase the blade reveal in the twig because the blade stops are set for a regular blade standards. The Kai SS blade tab has less width than a regular Gillette blade, why Kai did this is unknown to myself (it could be for proprietary Kai razors where a standard Gillette blade would not fit because a Gillette blade tabs are larger as shown in photo below?).
So looking at the blade tab width would increase 13.5/1000 or .0135 thousands of a inch + 4/1000 or .004 inches because it is wider if using a Astra SP giving a total 17.5/1000 or .0175 inches more blade reveal when bumped up to the twig blade stops. That is a lot of extra blade feel or blade exposure making it extremely aggressive I'm thinking!
So you could set your distance manually for more comfort to reduce so much blade reveal.
(old archived photo's)

Have some great shaves!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Interesting test you have come up with. You might find the Kai SS blade more aggressive in the(twig) than in a regular DE razor because when you break the blade in half and install it in the twig it will dramatically increase the blade reveal in the twig because the blade stops are set for a regular blade standards. The Kai SS blade tab has less width than a regular Gillette blade, why Kai did this is unknown to myself (it could be for proprietary Kai razors where a standard Gillette blade would not fit because a Gillette blade tabs are larger as shown in photo below?).
So looking at the blade tab width would increase 13.5/1000 or .0135 thousands of a inch + 4/1000 or .004 inches because it is wider if using a Astra SP giving a total 17.5/1000 or .0175 inches more blade reveal when bumped up to the twig blade stops. That is a lot of extra blade feel or blade exposure making it extremely aggressive I'm thinking!
So you could set your distance manually for more comfort to reduce so much blade reveal.
(old archived photo's)
View attachment 1707325

View attachment 1707327

Have some great shaves!

Thanks for the comments. Your thread really opened my eyes after I did the stack and wondered what the hell was going on.

The Twig has a dangerous flaw in that it doesn't offer enough blade support. It is pushed vs pulled in a Leaf. This means there is more forces on the blade, so you more rigidity or there will be twang and blood. Stacking blades improves rigidity, but you needed the sharpest of blades (Bics worked pretty well for me, and they are among the narrowest as well). The Kai was more rigid, but too long/wide and the shaves were not great. I thought maybe it was the thick coating on the Kai which was giving my issues, but the issues did not go away after a few shaves. So I wanted to try stacking with a Kai and non Kai and I think it is the way to go.

You get a blade offset, kind of like a Twin razor, more rigidity, and more safety. Shaves well too, lol. I might play around with the top blade, maybe the narrowest blade would work best, or maybe something that juts out more over the Kai. Who knows?

I tried shimming the Twig, but metal plates that were cut with scissors don't really feel that good. This is a better solution imo.

 

[sigma]

The Twig has a dangerous flaw in that it doesn't offer enough blade support. It is pushed vs pulled in a Leaf.

The twig clamps the blade just fine and it isn't significantly different in terms of how the blade is held (and experiences forces) from a regular DE or many other single edge razors. You say that more rigidity is needed to avoid blood. This is just not true as many people here or elsewhere can arrest to. It is just that you put a blade in there that it isn't intended for. It is as simple as that.

 

[sigma]

For what it is worth the twig has a tendency to skip for me. Because the head is light, you can't rely on the weight of the head like a regular DE. If I put an Astra blade in it, I do get weepers in some spots if I am not careful. This has nothing to do with the clamping though. If I put a Feather blade in everything is fine. My theory is that the Astra may be caught a bit on my coarse hair while the Feather just slices through.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

For what it is worth the twig has a tendency to skip for me. Because the head is light, you can't rely on the weight of the head like a regular DE. If I put an Astra blade in it, I do get weepers in some spots if I am not careful. This has nothing to do with the clamping though. If I put a Feather blade in everything is fine. My theory is that the Astra may be caught a bit on my coarse hair while the Feather just slices through.

I have also had best results with the sharpest blades in a Twig. But if you look at it carefully from different angles, you will see that the blade is not well supported. You can even test this by pushing the blade up and down. It is not as rigid as a DE, almost all DE razors use some sort of bending the blade. This adds torque and rigidity. Some DEs are also less well supported it is true.

I used the Twig for more than six months. I would rarely get weepers, it would occasionally give me full blown bleeders. I would get them in odd places though, almost randomly. I think it was due to the blade bending and then biting. Try stacking two blades in the Twig. I think it is much safer. There is far more rigidity. They need not be a Kai and something else. Two of the same blades work well too (and may be safer than Kai+another). You do get much more blade feel and less bleeders. Sharp blades work best in my experience. My coarse hair needs a sharp and well supported blade. YMMV.

 

[sigma]

I just did just that, try to push the blade up and down. There is a lot of downward bending but during shaving the blade shouldn't see that load. Even pushing hard with stainless steel tweezers, I cannot get any noticeable upward bending unless I apply significant pressure only at the ends of the blade. Again this is not exactly a realistic loading profile during shaving. Not to come across as condescending, but are you sure the turn mechanism on your Twig is ok? There are plenty of people for whom it got stuck at one point or another and I am wondering if yours isn't closing properly.

For what it is worth, calling what amounts to a design trade off that works for many people a "dangerous flaw" is a bit much. It apparently doesn't work for you, but as you said YMMV.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Yep. YMMV. It is dangerous for me. It was my daily driver for six months. Several nasty bleeders that I have not experienced in decades of shaving before and months after.

If you look from below, you can see there is a significant section of the blade that is not supported. It is not torqued either. So it can be sprung, which cuts badly. There is a lot of open area to move. This is made worse as the blade is pushed, not pulled.

I want to love the Twig, I even have several hundred half blades. But I can’t love it for my face. As a body shave it is tops though. My body hair is a bit finer so there is less issue with the blade springing.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

After pulling out my Twig and re-examining it, it seems the corners of the blades are free floating without any support. I think that is what got me when it got me.

 

[Chaucer]

After pulling out my Twig and re-examining it, it seems the corners of the blades are free floating without any support. I think that is what got me when it got me.

My experience with the Twig couldn't be more different, especially with a Kai or other sharp blade. Shaves are smooth and quite efficient with virtually no nicks or irritation. I haven't tried to examine the construction of the razor head, but I feel no pulling, skipping, or vibration from the blade. Maybe my beard is lighter than yours.