Participation PIF - Czech Out These Blades

[gvw755]

Okay after taking a break over the weekend to catch up with my SE razors, today I opened up a new Tiger blade because the first one I tried was so bad that I needed to see if it was a bad blade or if all Tigers were like that.

Tiger blade first shave - I loaded the Tiger in my Paradigm Diamondback to give it the best shot of success. It did not disappoint. WTG pass was very comfortable and effortless, very similar to the first shave with the Tatra blade. ATG pass did make some noise and was not very efficient with the problem areas along my jaw line and under my chin, however it did allow for me to do some buffing without causing irritation. Tonight I decided to go with a complete XTG pass instead of just along my jaw line and under my chin just to see if the tiger can handle real closeness. It did with no problems.

I am now convinced that what I had originally was a bad blade and I now look forward to how many shaves I can get from this blade. Tomorrow is slant night and I have a new slant to try out - Focus Tritok R53.

 

[Cal]

Tatra/Tiger SOTD

Brush: Shavemac Olive Wood 20/44 Silvertip 2-Band
Soap: Vitos Red
Razor: Fatip Lo Storto Originale with custom olive wood handle
Blade: Tatra Platinum (4)
ASL: Proraso Red

Maybe not as zen-like as yesterday's shave, but definitely a good un'.

RESULTS:

TATRA Blade 1
Shave #1: 9.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 9.5
Shave #4: 9

 

[epipeman]

Kit: Fatip Piccolo SE , Tiger (4) , Arko, Omega S10083 S-Brush Pro.

A solid DFS and a comfortable, pleasing shave.

 

[fast shaver]

Tiger 2nd blade. Tools: Arko, EJ DE89 & Plisoft brush. First pass was smooth as was the second & third pass. I got a nice close shave this A.M. I will report back if anything changes.

 

[BigJ]

Are these the same blades in different packaging?
​

Thanks for the chance to try some blades that are new to me! So I have no preconceptions whatsoever.

PURPOSE. To give each option a fair trial, answer the question and pick a favorite.

METHODS.

Prep: Hot shower then CereVe face wash.

Razor: Wolfman WR1/WRH2 handle.

Brush: 2 or 3-band badger from my rotation.

Soap: Cella for blade 1, then assorted Fine options for blade 2.

After: Floid vigoroso for blade 1, then La Toja splash for blade 2.

Rating: My usual 10 point system after each shave.

RESULTS.

TATRA blade 1
Shave #1: 8
Shave #2: 8.5
Shave #3: 8.5
Shave #4: 8.5
Shave #5: 8.5
Shave #6: 8.5
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 8.4

Tiger blade 1
Shave #1: 7.5
Shave #2: 8
Shave #3: 7.5
Shave #4: 7.5
Shave #5: 7.5
Shave #6: 8
Shave #7: 7
average: 7.6

TATRA blade 2
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 8.5
Shave #5: 8.5
Shave #6: 8.5
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 8.6

Tiger blade 2
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 8.5
Shave #4: 8.5

 

[stone and strop]

Shave attempt #2 with the Tiger blade.

It feels like the Tatra after 9 shaves.

When just starting out it should not even feel like a blade is installed in the shavette, it should be butter smooth.
I will try the other one in two days to see if it fairs any better.
Right now, not impressed, as two of three of them have edges that are unusable due to chipping on at least one side of the blade.

We'll see.

 

[gamestorming]

Tatra shave #3.5 (blade 1).

Comfort: Excellent
Closeness: Very good
Durability: 0.5 more shaves to go

Setup: Feather AS-D2, proraso green, Yaqi two band badger 24mm. no pre, no after

This morning I tried a different way to deal with the "extra" sharpness of this blade. Since it shaves me "too well", and makes me feel like I don't have much to remove after 24h, I tried to shave in just one WTG pass. I will give this blade one extra day tomorrow, to test the durability but judging from the efficiency it still has I have very little doubts that the test will be passed.

For the first 8 hours I was very happy with the result, after 12+ I can feel the limits of the fast approach. Tomorrow I may try to replicate this, and shave in just one XTG pass.

 

[gvw755]

Shave 2 with the second Tiger blade. Tonight was with the Focus Tritok slant. Tiger blade performed very well, but the razor was a let down. There are very few times when a blade is so good that it compensates for a mediocre shaving razor. Tonight was one of those times. I did manage a three pass BBS, but it did require work and was no fault of the blade.

 

[xiletero]

Tiger #1
Head and face shave
RR GC OC 0.84
RR Santa Maria
Vikings 2Band
2 pass + touch up on head, first pass was not so close....all in all it was OK (nothing to write home about it).
Face 3 pass, and I am guessing the 3rd against caused most of the irritation...
AS Old Spice
AB Proraso

Will try Fatip next

 

[Balthier]

Tatra 2 #1
Razor: Fatip Grande OC
Soap: Italian Barber Amici
Brush: Yaqi Purple Haze
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman original

Having a fresh blade in this razor must have changed everything compared to trying it in the fatip on shave 6. Extremely close shave 3 days of growth, 2 passes wtg & atg all went very smooth. I would rate this shave easily a 9.

 

[Weean]

My descriptive powers failing me, I've decided to group a bunch of shaves in a single post to save you having to read what is essentially the same report over and over. I've also done a couple of shaves after a days growth in an attempt to get through the blades. Much as I love these participation PIFs, I miss the freedom to shave with whatever I feel like (and there's still an English Wilkinson Sword that I have to revisit from an earlier one).

Tatra Platinum edge 1 shave 2; Tiger Platinum edge 2 shave 2: Wilkinson Sword Classic (plastic), Stirling Frankincense and Myrrh. 48 hours growth.
Tatra Platinum edge 1 shave 3; Tiger Platinum edge 2 shave 3: Wilkinson Sword Classic (plastic), Palmolive stick. 24 hours growth.

The Tatra's still shaving nicely, although on shave 3 I'm beginning to feel a little irritation ATG.

The Tiger is shaving less nicely, on shave 2 it feels like there's a burr on the edge somewhere. It's less pronounced on shave 3, but there's still some asperity to the shave. The finish is acceptable, but it's uncomfortable, and the blade's in the bank now. I'm not sure if I've hit upon one of the poor edges identified by @stone and strop but that seems most likely.

I'll continue with the Tatra for now, most likely on Friday morning.

 

[texh]

kinda late to the party here but here is the review of 1st shave of both tiger and tatara whichw as PIF'd by @Grundi

these are the initial impressions. just 1 use on both the blades. feelings can change as multiple usage on these blades.


Tiger Platinum

Overall no Irritation, Smooth and Sharp but not very close 3.5/5.
Bread regrowth was slow. Packing and Laser Stamping was nice to see.

Tatra Platimun
Smooth, Sharp and bit closer then Tiger, almost identical to Tiger. 3.75/5

 

[BigJ]

Are these the same blades in different packaging?
​

Thanks for the chance to try some blades that are new to me! So I have no preconceptions whatsoever.

PURPOSE. To give each option a fair trial, answer the question and pick a favorite.

METHODS.

Prep: Hot shower then CereVe face wash.

Razor: Wolfman WR1/WRH2 handle.

Brush: 2 or 3-band badger from my rotation.

Soap: Cella for blade 1, then assorted Fine options for blade 2.

After: Floid vigoroso for blade 1, then La Toja splash for blade 2.

Rating: My usual 10 point system after each shave.

RESULTS.

TATRA blade 1
Shave #1: 8
Shave #2: 8.5
Shave #3: 8.5
Shave #4: 8.5
Shave #5: 8.5
Shave #6: 8.5
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 8.4

Tiger blade 1
Shave #1: 7.5
Shave #2: 8
Shave #3: 7.5
Shave #4: 7.5
Shave #5: 7.5
Shave #6: 8
Shave #7: 7
average: 7.6

TATRA blade 2
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 8.5
Shave #5: 8.5
Shave #6: 8.5
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 8.6

Tiger blade 2
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 8.5
Shave #4: 8.5
Shave #5: 9

 

[Chaucer]

Yesterday: 8th and final shave with my 1st Tatra blade. Tatara Masamune OC razor and PdP soap. Sharpness began deteriorating with shave 6. By shave 8, the blade wasn’t very sharp. I got an OK shave with no nicks or irritation, but it was slow and involved some pulling. No way would I have tried shave 9. All in all, my experience with this blade was adequate far from top-tier.

This morning, 1st shave with my 1st Tiger blade. Same razor with Stirling Sheep soap. As expected, big improvement over yesterday, but that’s an unfair comparison (8th shave vs. 1st shave). More important, I had none of the harshness I often experience with a 1st shave. The shave was quite quick and pleasant, with no nicks or irritation. Final shave was very good DFS but not BBS. So a fairly good start. More to come after shave 4 or 5.

 

[gamestorming]

Tatra shave #4 (blade 1).

Comfort: Excellent
Closeness: Very good
Durability: test passed
Setup: Feather AS-D2, proraso green, Yaqi two band badger

Final shave with Tatra, wasn't able to shave one pass again and went for a two pass wtg/xtg. After 4/5 shaves it's less efficient, but allowed me to shave in full relax and thats the key metric for me.

I will probably deviate tomorrow from the czech path, and then go back to Tatra for comparison. I think I will compare this against Feather and Astra green.

 

[Chard52142]

First of all, a huge thanks to @Grundi for shipping these blades all the way to me in Malaysia...much appreciated!
Received yesterday Tuesday 2nd.

Better late than never so here goes my review..
Started with the Tiger Platinum for my 1st shave.
Wed 3th SOTD
Cream MacaRoot & Aloe
Brush Yaqi 24mm Aqua Tuxedo
Razor Edwin Jagger DE89L
Blade Tiger Platinum 1st
Post & Aftershave
Ice Water + Special Thayers Mix
Hyaluronic Acid + MacaRoot Aloe
Overall, shave with razor paired with the blade was wow..very nice, smooth, sharp and comfortable. Much better than yesterday's GC.84+Astra SS combo. Amazing!
1st WTG pass I can feel smoothness, sharpish but comfy
2nd XTG again nicely smooth and still comfy
3rd ATG is usually my achilles heel under neck and jawline but wow...sharp but smooth and comfy. No weepers nor irritation & I venture for a small buffing in my most trouble area. Wow! One of my closest shave without any issues! Anyway, BBS to DFS result

Tiger Platinum Blade 1
Shave #1: 9.7

 

[Grundi]

Czech'ing Out Tatra Platinum Blade 3 (1)

Razor: Merkur 20C
Soap: Williams Mug Shave Soap (as a stick)

Results: No irritation, and a very close shave, DFS. The Tatra Platinum Blade continues to impress me; these have been consistent. (Wish the Tigers were more consistent).

 

[Chad3]

5th shave with tiger blade and JAWS razor. Decent shave. Starting to dull to a point where I notice a bit more pressure on cheeks and some tugging ATG below jawline. Will use same setup on Friday and see how it feels.

 

[k2clones29]

Tiger blade 2 shave 1

This shave was not as enjoyable as the prior Tiger blade. The blade chattered and dragged, and the shave was subpar. It could be because I had it in a new razor, PAA Alpha Ecliptic, but I've never had that experience with the razor before. I'm going to try it in my Merkur 37c or Futur next shave and see if it's the blade or razor.

 

[gvw755]

Shave 3 with my second Tiger. Tonight I loaded it into my newly reacquired Merkur 45 bakelite. The WTG pass went very smooth and almost undetectable until I came to my chin area where there was some tugging. ATG pass under my chin also had slight tugging, but overall, the blade shaved very well. I did an XTG pass along my jawline and under my chin, and ended up with a BBS for the night. Unlike last night's shave, the performance of the Merkur 45 played it's part to give me a great effortless and efficient shave.