Strong Leopard Shavette With Antelope Blades

[mjclark]

Thanks to the positive reports of @Guitar10 and @BoldSpice
I acquired one of these Strong Leopard shavettes which takes the 60mm long "Antelope" style blades.
There's a smaller version of the Strong Leopard which takes DE blades and is identical to the Shear Mattaki shavette which has been discussed elsewhere on this forum.

This is a big heavy razor with Steampunk looks and a half-hollow head profile.
That Antelope blade has a long long cutting edge - it looks a lot like the Dovo long blades but I don't know if they are compatible.
So this is an exciting prospect indeed - this feels very much like a Chinese version of Artist Club!
Anybody else try one of these?

 

[TheVez2]

Looks like a lot of play in the blade. It appears to be very crooked, but I see its sitting on the front of one post and the back of the other.

 

[BoldSpice]

The blades in your photo, the ones in a black pack, are Jishi blades. I've briefly tried their double-sized blades (the ones in your photo) and half-sized blades. Both seem quite sharp.

The Lingyang (antelope) blades have been a bit blunt for me. Trouble shaving my chin and under the nose. I've tried the Antelope Super-77, and I'm still waiting for the Senior-77 blades to arrive.

Tried a Cloud blade for just a couple of shaves so far, and it seems sharp like the Jishi:

I've got another type of Cloud blade on order, one with a platinum coating, so those will be interesting to try.

 

[mjclark]

The blades in your photo, the ones in a black pack, are Jishi blades. I've briefly tried their double-sized blades (the ones in your photo) and half-sized blades. Both seem quite sharp.

The Lingyang (antelope) blades have been a bit blunt for me. Trouble shaving my chin and under the nose. I've tried the Antelope Super-77, and I'm still waiting for the Senior-77 blades to arrive.

View attachment 809204

Tried a Cloud blade for just a couple of shaves so far, and it seems sharp like the Jishi:

View attachment 809213

I've got another type of Cloud blade on order, one with a platinum coating, so those will be interesting to try.

Glad you're here @BoldSpice
You are definitely the expert on this blade system and I'm very excited to try it.
What holder do the half-size blades fit?
And how should we correctly refer to these blades do you think?

 

[BoldSpice]

The half-sized blades fit the same shavettes as the double-sized ones. They're roughly what you'd get if you snapped one of those double blades, but they have two sharp edges. Also seen some narrow hairshapers that only take the half-sized.

And here's what the Cloud Platinum box looks like (still waiting for this to arrive):

Vincent has this type of blade too:

 

[mjclark]

The half-sized blades fit the same shavettes as the double-sized ones. They're roughly what you'd get if you snapped one of those double blades, but they have two sharp edges. Also seen some narrow hairshapers that only take the half-sized.

View attachment 809238

View attachment 809228
View attachment 809229

And here's what the Cloud Platinum box looks like (still waiting for this to arrive):

View attachment 809230
Vincent has this type of blade too:

View attachment 809234

Thanks! That's useful to know and it's good to see there's a few blade choices.
I wonder if one of the Antelope varieties is Stainless and the other is carbon steel?

Are all these available from AliExpress?

I guess I'll just call them Chinese Long Blades until someone comes up with a better name

 

[BoldSpice]

Here are some AliExpress links in case someone is interested.

Antelope blades: store1 store2

Cloud blades: uncoated platinum

Jishi blades: full size half size

Slicke: half size

It's going to take a while to try these out and compare sharpness, longevity, etc.


Oh, and here are some links to shavettes that take those blades:
style1 style2 style3

 

[mjclark]

Here are some AliExpress links in case someone is interested.

Antelope blades: store1 store2

Cloud blades: uncoated platinum

Jishi blades: full size half size

Slicke: half size

It's going to take a while to try these out and compare sharpness, longevity, etc.

Thanks that's a great resource!
And I totally look forward to your comparisons so I can do some informed shopping!

 

[mjclark]

So here's my first shave with the Strong Leopard 77 and the Jishi blade:

Wow! This really is CHINESE ARTIST CLUB.
The razor is big, heavy and fierce and that blade is ridiculously Feather+ sharp.

This is one amazing shaving system.
I'm very very interested to see how the longevity of the blade is - it is so so so sharp!!

 

[Member357]

Nice! Of course I had to order one...and some extra blades....

 

[mjclark]

Nice! Of course I had to order one...and some extra blades....

Yeah! On the strength of last night's shave I just ordered another 100 of the Jishi full size blades for £6.06
I didn't know shaving could be this good!!
Tonight's shave was equally amazing - shave #2 on that edge was smoother presumably because my face has now stropped the blade and equally as unbelievably sharp.
I like aggressive shaves and I really got the impression tonight that this heavy razor with supersharp blade demands a lot of respect.
It's not an exaggeration to say that this is in the Feather Artist Club league of efficiency, and the Strong Leopard 77-A is also very cool but in a totally different way to the Feathers:

 

[mjclark]

Shave #3 on the Jishi blade tonight and it's settling in nicely:

Amazing amazing amazing - this could be the shavette perfected!

 

[baneat]

I bought your spare 3 razors (the knockoff parker, filarmonica and the funky DIY kamisori shavette which I love!) - which lead me back here. Anyway I also have one of the Leopard shavettes that take a full DE blade. Easily the worst one I've ever had - made of basically pot metal and obscenely off-balance while also preventing anything other than a steep angle until I ground off some of the material. Seems like the longer one would be better balanced but I'm going to pass on that brand for now. I like the idea of the longer blade so I'll order the $4 one

 

[gvw755]

Gold Dollar came out with a clone of the Dovo Shavette using that blade. I got one a while back thinking it would fit the Dovo inserts so I could load a Weck in it. For some reason GD chose to not have it be compatible with the Dovo inserts. I tried using those blades and they are as good as the Feather AC, but does not last as long and dulls pretty fast. I might try the other blades listed, or even that all metal razor that loads like the half DE shavettes. I know that those keep the blade pretty rigid.

 

[mjclark]

I bought your spare 3 razors (the knockoff parker, filarmonica and the funky DIY kamisori shavette which I love!) - which lead me back here. Anyway I also have one of the Leopard shavettes that take a full DE blade. Easily the worst one I've ever had - made of basically pot metal and obscenely off-balance while also preventing anything other than a steep angle until I ground off some of the material. Seems like the longer one would be better balanced but I'm going to pass on that brand for now. I like the idea of the longer blade so I'll order the $4 one

Ha ha - I'm glad those shavettes went to a good home.
YMMV - I really like my full DE blade Strong Leopard although the shave is a bit crude.
The long blade version truly is superb though (which is why I can't stop raving about it).

Gold Dollar came out with a clone of the Dovo Shavette using that blade. I got one a while back thinking it would fit the Dovo inserts so I could load a Weck in it. For some reason GD chose to not have it be compatible with the Dovo inserts. I tried using those blades and they are as good as the Feather AC, but does not last as long and dulls pretty fast. I might try the other blades listed, or even that all metal razor that loads like the half DE shavettes. I know that those keep the blade pretty rigid.
View attachment 810478

Yeah I'd wondered about those Dovo clones and thanks for confirming that the Dovo long blades aren't compatible with the Chinese ones.
I'm finding thr Jishi blades to have good longevity.
Which brand of Chinese Long blade did you have?

 

[gvw755]

Yeah I'd wondered about those Dovo clones and thanks for confirming that the Dovo long blades aren't compatible with the Chinese ones.
I'm finding thr Jishi blades to have good longevity.
Which brand of Chinese Long blade did you have?

I am assuming they are the Jishi because it looks similar to your pic, but it was not in a black box, but a blue box. Maybe the black box is extra sharp or coated or something. Once again, you have sent me out on another quest for an odd razor. Actually in this case - to look again at a razor I had put away.

 

[BoldSpice]

I want to get hold of some of these Cloud blades. Don't they look kickass?

 

[mjclark]

I am assuming they are the Jishi because it looks similar to your pic, but it was not in a black box, but a blue box. Maybe the black box is extra sharp or coated or something. Once again, you have sent me out on another quest for an odd razor. Actually in this case - to look again at a razor I had put away.

Hmm... I wonder if your Blue Jishis are carbon steel rather than stainless or something?

View attachment 810684

I want to get hold of some of these Cloud blades. Don't they look kickass?

Oh my days - like Sharks they are surely worth it just for the packaging!
Enter The Leopard!!

I tried the other long blade type shavette tonight - unlike the Strong Leopard this one feels and looks cheap and nasty with all the QC issues we might expect: loose pivot, scratched finish and slack tolerances on the fit of the blade... but it does have hearts on the handle.
And on shave #4 that Black Jishi blade is still most excellent:

 

[gvw755]

H

I tried the other long blade type shavette tonight - unlike the Strong Leopard this one feels and looks cheap and nasty with all the QC issues we might expect: loose pivot, scratched finish and slack tolerances on the fit of the blade... but it does have hearts on the handle.
And on shave #4 that Black Jishi blade is still most excellent:
View attachment 810869

Darn, why didn't you tell me about that yesterday? I just bought that one from Aliexpress.

 

[mjclark]

Darn, why didn't you tell me about that yesterday? I just bought that one from Aliexpress.

Don't worry my friend! It's still fun fun fun
And it has hearts on the handle...