It's good to have variety, plus they are so affordable why not get a 100 ct. box? I plan on getting a 100 ct. box of Rapira Chrome, and I think I will get a box of Voskhod blades as well.
Why do so many people have so many blades???
- Thread starter Jeff10236
- Start date
Is it too early to buy a 100 pack? Only you can answer that. There are some around here (@turtle is one of them) who advocate buying a 100 pack at the beginning and just using blades from that pack for the first six to twelve months as you learn and improve your technique. There are some here who advocate buying sampler packs to start to find a couple of blades that you like early and then start buying in bulk. There is more than one school of thought on blades.
I say, if you want to get a 100 pack do so.
I have in my stash: 300 Astra SP, 200 Voskhod, 200 Red Personna, 200 Treet Black Beauties, and around 100 blades in miscellaneous tucks. I also have 200 Ladas blades on the way. (I also have a bunch of GEM blades, Feather Artist Club blades, half blades for shavettes, and Injector blades.)
I have collected the above just within my first year of being a wet shaver. Also, like @1Cal, I am a member of the Excalibur club, so I try to get as many good/great shaves out of a single blade as I can. Right now my personal record is 30. If I can get a month (or more) out of each of the blades in my stash, that means I have enough blades to last me for decades. Obviously, I am one of those crazy collector/hoarder types when it comes to my shave gear.
There are lots of reasons to build up a blade hoard. Ultimately, none are really good reasons. I justify it by thinking that I can use them for trades in the future, or for sharing with others, or as insurance against the Shavepocalypse. If I am honest with myself, the real reason is simply because I like to collect things and shave gear is cool and fun.
Oh, and if you want to try one of the blades that I have in my stash, just send me a PM with your mailing address and I will send you a tuck.
I say, if you want to get a 100 pack do so.
I have in my stash: 300 Astra SP, 200 Voskhod, 200 Red Personna, 200 Treet Black Beauties, and around 100 blades in miscellaneous tucks. I also have 200 Ladas blades on the way. (I also have a bunch of GEM blades, Feather Artist Club blades, half blades for shavettes, and Injector blades.)
I have collected the above just within my first year of being a wet shaver. Also, like @1Cal, I am a member of the Excalibur club, so I try to get as many good/great shaves out of a single blade as I can. Right now my personal record is 30. If I can get a month (or more) out of each of the blades in my stash, that means I have enough blades to last me for decades. Obviously, I am one of those crazy collector/hoarder types when it comes to my shave gear.
There are lots of reasons to build up a blade hoard. Ultimately, none are really good reasons. I justify it by thinking that I can use them for trades in the future, or for sharing with others, or as insurance against the Shavepocalypse. If I am honest with myself, the real reason is simply because I like to collect things and shave gear is cool and fun.
Oh, and if you want to try one of the blades that I have in my stash, just send me a PM with your mailing address and I will send you a tuck.
buying blades is fun, and addicting .... more .. more .... never happy .... need more ...
Because they're cheap, it adds variety and keeps things interesting. I'm set on blades for at least the next 5 years, think I have about 8 brands.
I like a bit of variety!
I like variety, value and when I find blades that really hit the sweet spot, I enjoy giving them away to help nurture quality shaves.
I have unopened hundred packs of blades that I have never ever tried even once. I read somewhere that a blade is great, and I see that a hundred pack is 10 bucks or so, and I order one. I put it in the stash. I will get to it one of these days. For blades I really like, I will order a hundred pack or two whenever I see them cheap online. I just got 2 more hundred packs of Astra SP's this week because I got them for 9 bucks a piece. Im really contemplating a ebay deal thats on right now for 700 Voskhods for like $53 i think. Gotta love it. If the shave-pocolypse ever does happen, some of us can supply the rest of you guys with blades indefinitely! 
I have more blades already than I can ever use up in this lifetime, that's why I use them once then toss them, I know they all work great for the first shave and they are soooo cheap ..... so that's good enough for me ...
In terms of the ever popular Astra SP you listed in your OP, "No", it's not to soon. In fact, it's exactly what I did.I suppose so. I've only been at this for a month and I have two razors and three more on the way and three brushes with one on the way (and I'm eyeing a few more of each). I have well over 60 pipes, and I haven't smoked one in 2 years (I keep trying to sell most of them and I just can't), I have about a dozen watches and knives, and don't ask about the guns. To some I'm a nutty collector type, to others, I'm an amateur.
So, to the "real" original question, is it too early to pick up 100 of one of my two favorites?
The Astra SP is a standard very good quality blade that seems to work in a variety of razors, is pretty darn sharp, but mild enough with reasonable longevity. If it works for you, buy it and use it as your current standard while testing others, and keep it as a fall-back. You'll never worry about running out.
A year into this, and I have about half of a 100ct box left of my Astra SPs, along with having collected maybe 30 or so other varieties in one or two tuft sample lots. I still come back to the Astras.
10 bucks on Amazon Prime - why not?
I think there is a tendency to buy too many of something if you are really into a hobby or craft. For me, it isn't blades. I have a 100 pack each of Astra SP's and German Wilkinson Swords and that's it for the next couple years. I do, however, own 6 snare drums, so I can't cast stones at anyone buying thousands of blades.
Brent
Brent
- Thread starter
- #31
Good point...I have my aforementioned 60+ pipes, many knives, more guns that I really need, lots of watches, 6 guitars (I barely play, and these are hundreds of dollars each), 4 tents (and a camping trailer), 2 camp stoves (I used to have 3) and several lanterns (and doubles or triples for most camping supplies), and just starting the DE/wetshaving thing I already have 6 razors, 6 aftershaves, 4 brushes and several soaps and creams. I am a collector, I don't blame/cast aspersions at anyone who collects blades. It is just that for me, these other aspects have the toy/tool/craftsmanship aspect to them, but blades are, well, blades. I get having a few types since each is different (I have around a dozen tucks of different brands to try out, plus a sampler pack of singles to see what I prefer) and some play better with different razors or conditions, and I see the low cost so it makes sense to buy what you want in 100pks over smaller quantities, but (if for no other reason than space) I plan to keep it down to 2-4 brands of blades to keep in quantities of 100-200, and maybe 2 or 3 other brands to keep a few tucks around for variety. Then again, I never really got into coin or stamp collecting and I tend to collect bigger things so blade collecting isn't really my style (while razor and brush collecting is).
I hear ya' bro, I used to collect Simpsons brushes and razors but at $200 a pop it takes a long time to amass a sizeable collection. Now I collect 5 and 10 Blade Packs and I have quite a few, at $3.00 a pop it's more suitable. I just don't want to spend thousands on shaving equipment because I know sooner or later something else will catch my fancy. I have way too many collections as it is now.
- Thread starter
- #33
Haha, my problem is that when I start a new collection I don't stop the old ones. I recently bought a new carry gun (one I've wanted for years) even though I can only carry when out of state (it is nearly impossible to get a MD permit) and I already have several good carry guns. I have my eye on a nice Telecaster and a Breedlove acoustic if I ever practice enough to get good enough to justify them. I'm about to buy a fourth Orient watch and I'm eyeing a Tissot and Hamilton. I desperately want to get either a Springbar or Kodiak tent. AND I now have my DE shaving collection going. And all of that on a teacher's salary. I may need help
Ha I can beat that, I have two Gibson guitars and haven't had "time" to learn how to play yet, can't play worth a dam, I have a vintage Harley I restored over a period of years then when completed I lost all interest in it, it's sat in the same spot for 10 years, never even been started it because I went on to other "hobbies", luckily I nipped the $200 Simpson Shaving brush habit in the bud and I have abandoned the quest to own every Premium Stainless Razor in existance . My wife keeps a tight reign on me these days. For my own good I suppose .... LOLHaha, my problem is that when I start a new collection I don't stop the old ones. I recently bought a new carry gun (one I've wanted for years) even though I can only carry when out of state (it is nearly impossible to get a MD permit) and I already have several good carry guns. I have my eye on a nice Telecaster and a Breedlove acoustic if I ever practice enough to get good enough to justify them. I'm about to buy a fourth Orient watch and I'm eyeing a Tissot and Hamilton. I desperately want to get either a Springbar or Kodiak tent. AND I now have my DE shaving collection going. And all of that on a teacher's salary. I may need help
Buy 100 packs only AFTER you have your technique down. Give yourself another 6 months.
If you have an everyday blade, it just makes sense to buy in bulk. For example, I just got 600 Astras (after falling back in love with them) for $8/100. I buy my pricier blades (GSBs, 7 O'Clock Yellows, Feathers) in smaller quantities, because I use them much less.
When I first started I bought 100 pack was Personnas. Later I picked up Astras and Polsilvers (my favorites). Someone PIFed me a large variety of tucks of blades so now I can try them prior to purchasing more 100 packs. The good thing is if you do purchase a 100 pack you don't love, you can trade them to someone that will (did that with the Personnas).
I'm still early in my DE shaving experience (about 12 months) .. I bought a couple of razors when I started which came with blades (10xDerby, 15xAstra SP) .. I also bought a 30 blade sampler (5xShark, 5xLord, 5x Wilkinson Sword, 5xFeather, 5xAsco, 5xAstra SS). I have since bought 10 more Asco, 5x Israeli personna's, 5x Wilkinson Sword economies so in all 75 odd blades.. between 10 brands/blades. I shave every second day on average and manage to get around 4 shaves from most blades (I use them until they start to tug because I want to see the difference in longevity between different blades) As a result of this for most of these I still have 2 blades left. I also have a 25 Russian blade sampler on order because I want to try as many different blades as are readily available to me as possible before I commit to one or two blades. I like the variety and trying new things. It's not a huge outlay to try a lot of different blades (freight on the sampler packs is cheap because I usually tack it onto a soap order), I'm enjoying sampling a variety of blades and I don't see myself buying a 100 pack (or even 25 pack of any blades anytime soon).
I might add that living in regional Australia makes it difficult to participate in a lot of the PIF's/passarounds that occur on this forum.. hence if I buy a 100 pack of blades I find I don't like, it's likely that I would end up stuck with 98 blades that I don't like. 
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