NINTH ANNUAL "One Blade in February" Challenge - 2018 Edition

[Ryanshh]

OBIF 2/28/2018
Razor: Gillette Old Type
Brush: WCS Synthetic
Soap: WCS Lime and Basil
Blade: PermaSharp (16 or maybe 17....don't actually remember how many times I shaved this weekend)

Good experience for me. Prior to this my longest blade was a Feather with 7 shaves on it. I had never used a PermaSharp before and have no complaints. I feel like I am not experienced enough to give meaningful impressions of where the blade is and how I did but I am happy with the effort and I only used one blade so even with far fewer shaves than one a day I am counting this as a win.

Thank you for all of the updates from everyone and for keeping it fun to check in.

 

[Mike1]

Made it. Yesterday was the last shave of the whole month on one blade. Today we start another month on a new blade. I guess my 50 pack of "Lab Blues" will last a long time at this rate!

 

[MuhleShaver]

Finished February with 28 shaves on a Voskhod blade - which I'm still using until the blade gives out.

 

[wcfan18]

Shave #25 here on the 1st of March. 3 to go to make up for missed days. I think I am turning this into a marathon event for the 7 O'Clock Permsharp just to see how long it will go. Reference information if there ever were to be a "shave-pocalypse".

 

[T.Orso]

Postscript

After 28 shaves with one Personna Platinum, today's shave was with a less experienced blade of the same type, loaded in an early 50s Canadian Tech.

So smooth, so sharp, so nice!

28 days with the one blade flew by with no great difficulty. But I feel confirmed in my habit of binning the blade after two or three weeks.

 

[Shaving like a boss]

28 shaves with a Sputnik and still going. Even did the last two days with canned goo because I was in a hurry.

 

[psfred]

Yesterday I shaved with my Dorco Prime (57 shaves) and today with a Gillette Platinum with 79 shaves, and I don't miss that Rainbow at all. That said, the actual result is about the same, just less tugging. Probably the difference between a plain stainless and platinum coating as the platinum is slicker than stainless and lasts longer than teflon.

I may revisit it along the way just because I'm cheap and the shaves were still good, but I think 30 days or so is about the limit for low end Lord blades for me.

it was fun, and next year I'll try another "low end" blade for the challenge.

 

[Esetter]

Epilogue:

Started the month (and posted in the Williams 3017 thread) with a fresh Nacet and a much milder blade holder. I was a little concerned that going sharp in the SC would result in skin removal.
At any rate, I can certainly feel the difference in the way the whiskers are being cut, but I can't say the shave is going to be substantially better. I might have to let this one settle in a bit.
I'm definitely in again next year!

 

[Laird]

Well I'd guess it was at least 14 on the Derby by the end of the month. Was still shaving well, but I've moved on to a new Feather for this month. So really, I could probably get away with 12-14 blades a year. With the stash I have I won't ever need to buy a blade again. Cheers.

 

[Tokyospike]

Schick Proline - Shave 17

Congratulations, everyone, on an educational month of shaves.

Still plugging along, here. I posted this shave over on my journal. Long story short, I'm running up against the law of diminishing returns . . . will probably go one more shave on this blade, but unlikely I'll go further.

 

[wcfan18]

#28 hit Saturday, making up for missed days from travel.
I had previously only had one 7 O'Clock Permasharp from samplers early in my DE intro. I was impressed then but, couldn't readily find them and had packs of other high rated (for me) blades. This exercise confirms what I had a hint of back then. Will definitely stretch this one along further.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

So, given I started late, this is Day 22. Yesterday I could tell the blade was falling off. That fits in with what I get out of US Personna blades in the Fasan DoubleSlant in past years. So, I flipped the blade over and today was better. Yes, that trick does work. Once, anyway. And, in the past for about four more days. We will see. If so, that'll take me to Day 25 or 26 and maybe a second flip (a trick I have never tried) will glean two or three more days. I am determined to get all 28 days even if the blade isn't up to it.....

Stan

 

[SGWB]

March 5th
Personna '74 (30)
Shick type L Injector
Rudy Vey beehive with 26mm Shavemac 2-band fan.
Cella Rapid Brushless Shaving Cream (Applied as preshave)
Haslinger Schafmilch - Tallow formula
Clubman Virgin Islands Bay Rum
Suavecito Tea Tree post-shave balm

I'm calling it quits on this blade. These last two shaves have felt a little uncomfortable ATG and it's been more and more difficult to get my upper lip smooth.

 

[Saxonbowman]

Just want to report that I've gotten to 17 shaves on my second Feather Artist Club Pro blade. That is where I quit with the first blade. This time I'm not experiencing the uncomfortable shaves like I did before. I think keeping the Feather AC SS razor close to the face in a shallow angle has helped the blade last longer. Shave quality is falling off a bit and is now on par with what I usually got with a DE razor. I'll continue on for a couple more days, but I have no real desire to do a full Excalibur run. The February challenge is always fun. Looking forward to next year!

 

[Saltchuck]

This being my first OBIF, I went with a GSB, which is a "top tier" blade in my book. I noticed that several other participants went with blades that I would consider to be lower-than-top-tier. @psfred has indicated that he did so deliberately and has shared his reasons for doing so and his experiences. What I'm getting at is that I would like to hear some comments from other people about how they would compare that blade that they used in this year's OBIF to other blades they have used.

 

[John Rose]

I might have accomplished this without meaning to.

I noticed that my Astra SP blade was still really good after 12 uses, so I figured why not push it. I got to 21 uses last night (March 6) and I haven't been shaving every day for the past few weeks. Maybe I did start with it on Feb 1, or sooner. I don't know, but it's possible.
The majority of times I used it in a Black-handled Super-speed.

To keep count I had to switch from using a D12 to a D20, and now I'm using Percentile dice.

 

[Dave in KY]

I might have accomplished this without meaning to.

I noticed that my Astra SP blade was still really good after 12 uses, so I figured why not push it. I got to 21 uses last night (March 6) and I haven't been shaving every day for the past few weeks. Maybe I did start with it on Feb 1, or sooner. I don't know, but it's possible.
The majority of times I used it in a Black-handled Super-speed.

To keep count I had to switch from using a D12 to a D20, and now I'm using Percentile dice.

I'm curious how you use the percentile dice. Excuse my ignorance please.

 

[SGWB]

I'm curious how you use the percentile dice. Excuse my ignorance please.

Pardon me for butting into the conversation, but I've rolled a few dice in my day.

Percentile dice are two 10-sided dice. One is numbered 00, 10, 20, ... , 90 for the 10's. The other is numbered 0, 1, 2, ... , 9 for the 1's. Roll them together to get a number from 1 to 100. Or in this case, count up to 100. Rolling 0's on both dice indicates 100.

 

[Dave in KY]

Pardon me for butting into the conversation, but I've rolled a few dice in my day.

Percentile dice are two 10-sided dice. One is numbered 00, 10, 20, ... , 90 for the 10's. The other is numbered 0, 1, 2, ... , 9 for the 1's. Roll them together to get a number from 1 to 100. Or in this case, count up to 100. Rolling 0's on both dice indicates 100.

Gotcha, so he's using one for the 10,20,30 etc and a 1-9 to add with it. Thanks

 

[John Rose]

Gotcha, so he's using one for the 10,20,30 etc and a 1-9 to add with it. Thanks

Bingo.
A little dab of adhesive putty under each keeps them from rolling around by accident.