Feather Hi stainless DE blade.

[kyproset]

Dear friends,

I have a question regarding DE blades. DE razor users claim (and who am'I to dispute it), that every razor responds differently to different brands of blades, rendering a DE razor, from brilliant to unusable. In all my search in this department I have found that the feather is exceptional in all my DE's and I have a quite a few in my den. The Polsilver iridium falls slightly behind in terms of sharpness and smoothness.
I do like my DE's to be on the aggressive side and use my adjustables on their higher settings.
All other blades used so far in any of my razors can't hold a candle to these two brands.
Am'I doing something wrong here?

 

[Tokyospike]

Your experience matches mine exactly - so far Feather and Polsilver are the sharpest and smoothest blades I have used, though my one & only DE razor ATT R1 is probably a little milder than your favorites.

 

[Invicta]

I have a question regarding DE blades. DE razor users claim (and who am'I to dispute it), that every razor responds differently to different brands of blades, rendering a DE razor, from brilliant to unusable.

I have not found this to be the case but my experience is limited to 6 razors but include 2 adjustables, a slant bar, an open comb and 2 safety bar razors. The razors themselves of course do shave differently and it takes a few shaves to settle to a different razor. This I think is where the variation comes in.

I have found that the feather is exceptional in all my DE's and I have a quite a few in my den. The Polsilver iridium falls slightly behind in terms of sharpness and smoothness.
I do like my DE's to be on the aggressive side and use my adjustables on their higher settings.
All other blades used so far in any of my razors can't hold a candle to these two brands.
Am'I doing something wrong here?

Both good blades which appear to suit you well. Buy a few hundred of each now and enjoy many years of enjoyable shaves; you are doing everything right.

 

[kyproset]

Your experience matches mine exactly - so far Feather and Polsilver are the sharpest and smoothest blades I have used, though my one & only DE razor ATT R1 is probably a little milder than your favorites.

Glad to see I'm not alone on this one.

 

[kyproset]

I have not found this to be the case but my experience is limited to 6 razors but include 2 adjustables, a slant bar, an open comb and 2 safety bar razors. The razors themselves of course do shave differently and it takes a few shaves to settle to a different razor. This I think is where the variation comes in.

Both good blades which appear to suit you well. Buy a few hundred of each now and enjoy many years of enjoyable shaves; you are doing everything right.

Thank you, I do have stashed away a few hundered of them. I only hope I live long enough to use them all, as I do like my SE's & Gems as well.

 

[BigJ]

+1! Many of us would like to live long enough to get through the blades we have stashed away!

 

[Raven Koenes]

Dear friends,

I have a question regarding DE blades. DE razor users claim (and who am'I to dispute it), that every razor responds differently to different brands of blades, rendering a DE razor, from brilliant to unusable.

Yes and no. I do find different blades respond differently in different razors. I have also found that revisiting some of these more troublesome blades in those certain razors that as my technique improved they were no longer an issue. I do find that Feathers will work in any razor I own though the more aggressive the razor the more care needs to be taken not to damage my skin after repeated day to day usage. The Gillette Platinum's made in St Petersburg, for me, is the one blade I've never had an issue with in any razor right off of the bat,

 

[G.W.]

I'm finding that the more experience I gain with different blades/razors, the more I can use any blade. I do have my preferences, though. They aren't all the same. I'm guessing that my preferences are more effected by the coatings on the blades than the blades themselves. For example, it seems that any blade that is "platinum coated" from the cheapest to the most expensive, is a winner for me. Shoot, it may be all in my head though.

 

[Uncle Sam]

My experience is that I don't notice a lot of difference between blades I'm using in a particular razor. They all work about the same except for Feathers which, I'm convinced, slice through my whiskers better no matter which razor I'm using. I settled on a few blades awhile back and have them listed in my profile. I'm not saying there aren't differences between blades or that some blades may work better in one razor or another. Just saying I don't notice it much.

 

[sandstone]

Dear friends,

"I have found that the feather is exceptional in all my DE's and I have a quite a few in my den. The Polsilver iridium falls slightly behind in terms of sharpness and smoothness."

My experience exactly.

 

[Esetter]

First shaves with a new razor/blade combination will tell you a lot, but I've often found that blades I didn't think I'd like very much do quite well once you take the time to learn the setup.

 

[Joe blow]

I have always been the first guy to bad-mouth Feather Blades. I had a huge stash of blades and recently got down to the Feathers,which I had always avoided due to constant cuts. Guess what? all this time I was wrong !!! when I had no choice but to use a Feather I made them work for me. Seems the phrase "light touch" had not gotten through to my brain until now. They work fine in my Merkur 34C. I only have two razors, my other being a Muhle R41 and I find the Feathers for me do not work in the Muhle, too aggressive and too many cuts. I am not saying it's not possible just for me it doesn't work, sadly I wasn't born with the manual dexterity of a neuro-surgeon

 

[JayEddie]

I love Feather blades, especially in my slant. PolSilver and Astra SP are right behind them.

 

[jmudrick]

I'm finding that the more experience I gain with different blades/razors, the more I can use any blade. I do have my preferences, though. They aren't all the same. I'm guessing that my preferences are more effected by the coatings on the blades than the blades themselves. For example, it seems that any blade that is "platinum coated" from the cheapest to the most expensive, is a winner for me. Shoot, it may be all in my head though.

I'm with you here. I have come to believe that many people look for hardware solutions when technique is more of an issue. I can get along just fine now with cheap Platinum Chrome Tian Li blades and sharp BICs that many hate. For me Feathers are a complete waste of money when a sharp cheap Nacet or BIC (or Permasharp or...) are sharp enough out of the box, and are measurably sharper than the Feather after a couple shaves. I didn't feel this way when I started out.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[kyproset]

Any other blade than the feather or polsilve and from what I hear the Kai although I have yet to try it, will skip and leave unshaved patches that I have to go over 2 or 3 times to get clean.

 

[Sousy]

I've also found that 'technique' does have a bit of a dependency on hardware.

I settled on a combination of Merkur 34c and Feather blades - really for *years*. After a couple of bad shaves, I found that the bad shave was due to plating flaking off the razor near the bar and working as little blades themselves.

So, out went the old Merkur and I loaded up one of my old 40s vintage super speeds with the Feather blades - a total nightmare. Took a little doing, but I was able to make it 'work' - and ended up back with Personna Reds in the Super Speed - and then to the Fatboy I scored to replace the Merkur. At some point I'll pop a Feather into the Fatboy to see how it goes.

 

[Uncle Sam]

I've also found that 'technique' does have a bit of a dependency on hardware.

... and then to the Fatboy I scored to replace the Merkur. At some point I'll pop a Feather into the Fatboy to see how it goes.

When I got my Fatboy a few weeks back, I set it to 1 and popped in a Feather. Moved it to 2 for the ATG pass. I should probably do it in reverse. Anyway, for me, it was absolutely excellent. Good enough that I actually posted about that particular shave as one of the best shaves I'd ever had.

 

[Razorcan]

Blades are THE YMMV thing,if it suits you than fine.

Me I find them mediocre both in their "sharpness" (if there is such a thing since every type of beard and skin are different ) and closeness of shave they provide ME.
I much prefer Shark SS in my Fatboy (on 9) and Merkur 34c (the only razors I own and use for the last 35+ years)

 

[Esox]

Any other blade than the feather or polsilve and from what I hear the Kai although I have yet to try it, will skip and leave unshaved patches that I have to go over 2 or 3 times to get clean.

Skipping is less a blade issue than it is a rigidity issue. I had skipping issues with a Gillette NEW LC, but when I used either a Brit Rocket or a Gillette NEW SC, both rigid designs, that skipping disappeared completely. If the blade can flex when it contacts stubble either because the sharpness isnt there or the rigidity isnt there, that flex will lead to skipping if you have coarse and/or dense growth. Thats especially noticeable shaving ATG as I always do.

There have a been one or two blades that did skip for me in my NEW SC, but I feel they only skipped because they wernt as sharp as other blades and I found them especially harsh.

Kai blades are slightly wider than most other blades so may offer a bit more blade exposure giving them a different feel. Like you, I havent yet used one though.

Feather blades, I own 200 of them, I find very sharp, but after the first shave for me they just get harsher the longer I use them. I took one to 4 shaves in my Gillette post war Tech and swapped it out for a Gillette Yellow for the 5th shave just because I couldnt bear that harshness any longer.

If you like Polsilver SI, you might look into SuperMax Blue Diamond Titanium which I find, as well as many others, only slightly less sharp, but smoother. At roughly half the cost of Polsilver, they are a very good blade and a great bargain.

SuperMax Blue Diamond Titanium