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The DE Razor Blade Dimensions Table is up and running!

The DE Razor Blade Dimensions Table in the B&B ShaveWiki is finally off the ground and off to a good start! :thumbup:

Due to the number of samples measured per blade and the rigorous measuring methodology, the published dimensions here are the most comprehensive and accurate available to the community. Dimensions are being measured that have never even been measured before, as far as I can tell, and width measurements that have been measured by others have never been this accurate. Many samples are used per blade to reach good confidence, as calculated, that the average values found for the dimensions are close to the "true" values. This is discussed in the Details section below the table.

So far, we have seven (7) blades fully dimensioned. Actually, two of those blades are different versions of the Derby Extra blade, since it changed from before 2016 to now. I don't think that anyone outside of Derby knew that before I figured it out. I'll write about the Derby Extra in a separate thread soon.

All blade sample measurements are tabulated and published at the ShaveWiki pages for the blades. The DE Razor Blade Dimensions Table and all of the individual blade sample measurements are provided at least for reference purposes and to be full documentation to prove that they don't come out of thin air. I suspect that very few people will want to use the dimensions table, but it can come in handy for razor designers and for those that want to investigate some issue with a blade fitting in a particular razor.

Width and thickness, the two most important dimensions, are included in the Comprehensive DE Razor Blade Data Table, which has been reformatted and is now up-to-date. Wax removal time averages are also included. I'm one of those guys that doesn't care for wax and wipes it off of my blades, so I'd like to know which blades have no wax or don't take long to clean.

The Comprehensive DE Razor Blade Data Table is really the place to go for comparing blades because it includes user ratings, important dimensions, and other information, all in one table. This table is very unique and will continue to be built up as we gather more user ratings and I make more blade measurements. I'm currently missing price data, which I'm not sure how to handle within B&B rules, and I'm also missing shave number estimates because I haven't run a survey yet to figure that out, but we'll get there.

Constructive feedback about the comprehensive table and the dimensions table would be appreciated. I've recently improved the comprehensive table and revamped its page, and I think that both tables and pages look good, but maybe there's something that needs fixing or that you'd like to change. Feel free to reply in this thread or shoot me a private message. In particular, the only thing at the moment that I'm not sure how to deal with is getting prices into the comprehensive table. Help would be appreciated. Thanks. :001_smile
 
:thumbup: Great stuff Grant! Thank you for all the effort you've put into (and continue to put into) this.*



*Geeks need to know this stuff! :laugh:
 
Wow! I never realized how many measurement you can take on one blade. Great looking chart. Thanks for doing this! :thumbup1:
 
Wow! I never realized how many measurement you can take on one blade. Great looking chart. Thanks for doing this! :thumbup1:

You're welcome, troy! I'm glad that you like it! :001_smile It will only get better as we add more and more blades with user ratings and dimensional data. For the time it takes to prepare blades and measuring instruments, make multiple mass measurements, and measure thickness at several spots on each blade, I'd make more measurements if I could to get more bang for the buck. There are other measurements that could be made---basically lengthwise in the cutout---but they wouldn't be reliable or accurate without other equipment or techniques. I'm making as many reliable measurements that I can with a great caliper.

As a steward, do you have any advice on incorporating price data?
 
While prices are a good thing to know, they are always subject to change. Depending on where you buy, the quantity you buy, and the current exchange rates form country to country, the numbers can change quickly. I think I would keep the chart as just dimensions, and let the viewers check current prices themselves.
 
Wow! Very nice! Thanks! I always new Kai blades were significantly wider, enough to perhaps alter blade exposure and/or gap. Now the numbers show it.
 
@BigJ: Thanks!

@nvpliers: Yep. Kai blades are the widest blades that I've measured so far. It's nice to finally have the proof published.

@troy: Thanks for the advice. Maybe you're right. The biggest problem with including price is that prices change. They would always have to be updated. I just really liked the idea of calculating average price per shave.
 
cost per shave would be the greatest chart ever !!!

I've thought more about price and I still plan on including price, since calculating price per shave was a big goal from the beginning of the table, but prices would be frozen in time and require updating. By the forum rules, it seems like it might be okay for me to post prices in the ShaveWiki table as links to B&B Vendor pages that sell blades. Would that be okay, @troy?
 
I've thought more about price and I still plan on including price, since calculating price per shave was a big goal from the beginning of the table, but prices would be frozen in time and require updating. By the forum rules, it seems like it might be okay for me to post prices in the ShaveWiki table as links to B&B Vendor pages that sell blades. Would that be okay, @troy?
Not sure, I'll check and let you know.
 
I don't think people would need up to the minute blade prices like how the stock market operates. Maybe a one time deal, or a once a year update. Just a General guide to show for example how Muhle or Merkur blades are priced extremely high to some of the more readily available lower cost blades, say like Rapira?? Maybe just a one time graph going from high to low or vice versa. Having people squabbling over weekly price fluctuations would be defeating the purpose of ever creating the chart. Maybe specify that it is a GENERAL GUIDELINE only, and that prices reflect one particular day, week, month in time ... and disable comments??? you wouldn't need people arguing that the chart is incorrect and that they can get brand X,Y,Z for $1.00 cheaper per hundred that the cost posted. I think it would be awesome and a great, quick reference for the forum members. I believe it is the one thing this forum is lacking. Only my humble opinion ....
 
I don't think people would need up to the minute blade prices like how the stock market operates. Maybe a one time deal, or a once a year update. Just a General guide to show for example how Muhle or Merkur blades are priced extremely high to some of the more readily available lower cost blades, say like Rapira?? Maybe just a one time graph going from high to low or vice versa. Having people squabbling over weekly price fluctuations would be defeating the purpose of ever creating the chart. Maybe specify that it is a GENERAL GUIDELINE only, and that prices reflect one particular day, week, month in time ... and disable comments??? you wouldn't need people arguing that the chart is incorrect and that they can get brand X,Y,Z for $1.00 cheaper per hundred that the cost posted. I think it would be awesome and a great, quick reference for the forum members. I believe it is the one thing this forum is lacking. Only my humble opinion ....

We are thinking a lot alike. Price updates would be occasional and they don't have to be exact. The point is to differentiate between very expensive blades, average priced blades, and much less expensive blades. One of the big goals that I've had from the beginning was to eventually get to calculations of price per shave because I think that it would be very helpful. I'm glad that you agree. I've now heard from a helpful official here about how B&B rules actually prevent me from providing exact prices, which is fine. I think that a relative scale would be acceptable, given that this happens in the aggressiveness table with dollar signs. I would use a scale from 0 to 10. Maybe it would be acceptable to use absolute binning like $0–$5, $5–$10, $10–$15, and so on?
 
yes it all very sounds good, I feel a service such as this would be invaluable for members !!! Good Show ...

Thanks. I think so, too. I have an update. A little bit ago, I asked the moderator that I was communicating with about binning absolute prices like "Around $5", "Around $10", "Around $15", and so on. The moderator was very helpful and said that he's going to bring this up for a vote among the moderators here! Wow! We'll hopefully have an answer in the coming days. For the moment, the moderator said that he thinks that it's fine to use a relative scale like the one that I would use from 0 to 10, so at least that would be feasible.
 
Great, it will benefit all members, especially newbies and I really see no harm or downsides to the concept being implemented.
 
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