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Excalibur Club - Blade Longevity DE, SE and Injector

Last night:
blade: Feather (40 and done)
razor: '46 Aristocrat
lather: Proraso Red croap
brush: 24 mm SynBad
post: lukewarm rinse, alum block, cold rinse, Proraso Red AS

Strangely enough, the last one in the Aristocrat was better and closer than the previous 9 or so shaves. The Feather had been dragging, and required many blade buffing passes to get a decent shave.
Also, I was getting bored with it.
Tonight I started with a Wilkinson Sword blade that came with the WS Classic TTO Razor with the long handle, in a QShave Futur clone set to 1.
 
It appears that the Derby Premium I'm using in a slant will get to 50 or 60 shaves, no more. Nice blade to start with, but isn't terribly long lived. Very comfortable in the slant, a little drag in a Slim.
 
I wonder if someone has used a Dorco ST 301 over a longer time :blink:...
I've searched the forums,
have one started today in a Mühle R89 DE,
and it was not really good...
Not bad, but i'm not seeing much future for this blade in my razor, though I buffed it slightly.
Is it not hardened enough?
It simply did not perform enough for what I expected :a38:
 
Back in 2015 (when I just found out about this group). I used my last of a pack of dorco 301s to see how far it would go. It was a personal best of 18 shaves. I had previously been tossing the blades after Sunday and using a new one on Mondays... I was impressed enough to start 3017ing my way through a bunch of my other blades to see what happened. My personal best has gone up to 61 shaves and over the last 60 blades I have been averaging about 24+ shaves per blade.

I bought 1000 of the blades on super sale several years ago prior to trying to see how far blades actually go. I went from having alot of blades to having enough for the next 200+/- years in a blink of an eye. Of the 13 blades I have tried so far only the Blendax Stainless has been really bad for me.
 
Might try a slant -- I only got 25 shaves on the first edge of a Derby Premium in my Slim, switched to a slant for the second side, and so far I'm getting far smoother and somewhat closer shaves. Time will tell, only have a few shaves on that edge so far, but I think it will last longer. And I love the shaves, too.
 
Just to clarify... that one Dorco was my first try at Excalibur after wet shaving for about a year. Prior to that I was thinking I was crazy using a blade for a whole week after reading folks say 1,2,3 shaves max. I am pretty sure that now I would likely get more than 18 but at a month or or more I seem to be getting with the Bics it will be awhile before I am ready to open a new package of blades.
 
Bics should be very good, when I used cartridges only the Bic seemed to last very long and give me good shaves as well (as in I bought a package a couple times a year, I'm sure they lasted a month or two each).

I think many shavers, if not most, would get decent life out of most blades with good technique. I've found it important to shave with a new blade just as if it was nearly worn out, when deviations from ideal conditions result in uncomfortable, stubbly shaves. I'm convinced that long life is a result of keeping the blade angle near the ideal cutting angle, which prevents chipping the edge due to side forces. It happens to be the most comfortable angle for uncoated blades, which all super stainless blades eventually become as the coatings wear off. Platinum and titanium last the longest I think, and probably diamond like carbon. Once a person figures out that slightly increased drag is due to lack of PTFE and not dullness and adapts shaving angles to get the least pulling sensation, suddenly blades start "lasting" a lot longer.

Other than actual edge damage due to improper angle (read very high "scraping" angles), a modern stainless steel razor blade has to cut a very large amount of hydrated hair to actually wear much. PTFE coatings give that "is there a blade in this razor" feel, but won't last long -- typically 4-6 shaves I think. I've thought for some time that a lot of people are tossing perfectly good blades when the PFTE wears off. Still shave as close, but the feel changes. Not of cosmic significance perhaps, but I see that as wasteful and keep going until the shave quality deteriorates or the comfort is gone.

I got 31 shaves on my first Dorco ST301, would expect at least double that now. Will try another Derby Extra when my 7am Hi Platinum dies, probably next spring sometime and expect far more than six shaves with it. Most likely in my German slant, it's working great with the Derby Premium.
 
Thank you for the explanations and your sharings @psfred and @ruckin.
I appreciate that very much and will try the suggestions above, regarding the slant, the hydrated stubbles and the Bic blades.
I for myself am very glad and sure that my learning will never end during my lifespan.

Karl
 
Mini Milestone: 180 shaves

Blade
: Gillette - Nacet
Razor: Timeless - Stainless Steel .68 Open Comb
Lather: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag
Brush: Zenith - B2 Pro Aluminum 26mm (12 uses)
Post: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag

Blade showing no signs of quitting.
 
I tossed a Wilkinson Sword (German) blade last night, after only 11 shaves.

It did not feel rough, but it had been giving me weepers for the last 6-7 shaves (in several different razors), which I rarely get after 5 shaves on most blades.
WS is now my least favourite blade.
Again.

Tonight was a welcome change.
razor - QShave Futur clone @2 and 3
blade - Astra SP
soap - B&M Seville
brush - Simpson Special 1 Best Badger
post - alum, cold water rinse, Proraso Red AS.​
No weepers. Yay!
Mini Milestone: 180 shaves

Blade
: Gillette - Nacet
Razor: Timeless - Stainless Steel .68 Open Comb
Lather: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag
Brush: Zenith - B2 Pro Aluminum 26mm (12 uses)
Post: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag

Blade showing no signs of quitting.
That hardly qualifies as a "mini" milestone. It's way beyond that.
I am mightily impressed.
 
Last edited:
Blade: Gillette - Nacet (190)

Razor: Timeless - Stainless Steel .68 Open Comb
Lather: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag
Brush: Zenith - B2 Pro Aluminum 26mm (22 uses)
Post: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag

A little tuggy on the first pass, but not bad. Everything else went great.
 
Blade: Gillette - Nacet (190)

Razor: Timeless - Stainless Steel .68 Open Comb
Lather: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag
Brush: Zenith - B2 Pro Aluminum 26mm (22 uses)
Post: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag

A little tuggy on the first pass, but not bad. Everything else went great.
Closing in on the big 200! You are far beyond anything I've accomplished with a blade.
 
SOTD:
Beautiful shave this morning, its been a while since I've used the boots original shave stick. Performance wise its very similar to arko, but i find that i need to use a tiny bit more when compared to arko, but the slickness is basically identical, so overall an excellent shave stick. I wasn't too impressed with the longevity of the voshkod blade although the first few shaves were excellent, but now that the coating has worn off it's actually sharpened up a bit, so I'll definitely be doing the Excalibur club test on this one.

Razor: Gillette aristocrat 1948 barber pole handle
Blade: voshkod: (6)
Brush: Omega 49
Aftershave Balm: prep
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Sept. 10, 2019 SOTD:
Edwin Jagger DE87
Astra SS (7)
24 mm SynBad
Williams Mug - 4th use
Alum
Proraso Red AS​

This will have been part of three experiments running simultaneously.
  1. I never liked Astra SS as much as Astra SP, but I had a tuck left from a sample pack from 2016 and thought I'd try them again now that I've got more hardware and experience to try them out with.. This time I corked it (with a real cork) before the first use and it's been working out pretty well for me. I thought I'd do an Excalibur Trial with it.
  2. I'm keeping track of how many shaves I can get out of a puck of Williams.
  3. I'll be using the Williams for at least half of my shaves, no more than 48 hours between uses, so as to not let it dry out. This is to test the theory that Williams lather improves if you use the same puck daily. It's now in an Old Spice mug with a Duncan-Hines cake frosting container cap.
 
Sept. 10, 2019 SOTD:
Edwin Jagger DE87
Astra SS (7)
24 mm SynBad
Williams Mug - 4th use
Alum
Proraso Red AS​

This will have been part of three experiments running simultaneously.
  1. I never liked Astra SS as much as Astra SP, but I had a tuck left from a sample pack from 2016 and thought I'd try them again now that I've got more hardware and experience to try them out with.. This time I corked it (with a real cork) before the first use and it's been working out pretty well for me. I thought I'd do an Excalibur Trial with it.
  2. I'm keeping track of how many shaves I can get out of a puck of Williams.
  3. I'll be using the Williams for at least half of my shaves, no more than 48 hours between uses, so as to not let it dry out. This is to test the theory that Williams lather improves if you use the same puck daily. It's now in an Old Spice mug with a Duncan-Hines cake frosting container cap.
I'm looking forward to seeing how many uses you get out of your puck. Last year I did it and ended up getting about 60 shaves.

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Sept. 10, 2019 SOTD:
Edwin Jagger DE87​
Astra SS (7)​
24 mm SynBad​
Williams Mug - 4th use​
Alum​
Proraso Red AS​

This will have been part of three experiments running simultaneously.
  1. I never liked Astra SS as much as Astra SP, but I had a tuck left from a sample pack from 2016 and thought I'd try them again now that I've got more hardware and experience to try them out with.. This time I corked it (with a real cork) before the first use and it's been working out pretty well for me. I thought I'd do an Excalibur Trial with it.
  2. I'm keeping track of how many shaves I can get out of a puck of Williams.
  3. I'll be using the Williams for at least half of my shaves, no more than 48 hours between uses, so as to not let it dry out. This is to test the theory that Williams lather improves if you use the same puck daily. It's now in an Old Spice mug with a Duncan-Hines cake frosting container cap.

So far, I've gotten 178 uses out of my puck of Williams. I'm hoping it will reach 200. I use it almost daily. I don't cover it between uses. It's my only soap.
 
Is there a list of how many shaves with a particular blade brand have been achieved ? I´d be very intrested in that! My english is very bad though.

With kind regards King-Joe
 
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