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Dorco ST-301 Platinum Blades

Pros: A certain kind of sharpness...
Cons: ...which doesn't work for my face.
I've long argued that choosing a DE blade is extremely personal - to the point that I take the gaggle of reviews I read, here and elsewhere, with a necessary pinch of salt. So many guys swear by Feather blades, but try as I might, they don't do it for me - I find them aggressive as hell, no matter my prep nor light touch in use. Really, it's a horses-for-courses thing.

Dorco is another golden example. Lots of people here slag the ST-300 almost six ways to Sunday. Me? They've been my go-to blade going on a decade, with only the no-longer-available (AFAIK) Israeli "no-name" Personnas for an alternate. Many of those trashing the 300 point to the 301 as the better blade, and not by a small margin. I finally managed to snag a pack of them some months back, figuring, hey, if the 300s are so good, these <i>could</i> be better, which of course would be amazing.

Alas, no. As I mentioned in my review of the ST-300, my shave routine is what I call 2-1/2-pass (WTG/ATG for face/neck/chin, XTG for neck only). The kindest thing I can say about the 301 is that it's pretty good WTG, just okay XTG, but extremely dodgy ATG, pulling and nicking worse than I recall Feathers doing. The 300 almost <i>never</i> does this, using either my gold Gillette Aristocrat or my '72 Super Adjustable. (My silver "Brit-ocrat" is a tad rougher, which I chalk up to a more aggressive blade gap than the American 'crat.) I just tried a 301 in the SA one more time (about the 7th time now) to see if there was <i>some</i> way to make the blades behave, but no dice - the nicks were so bad I had to finish up with the gold Aristocrat with an "old" 300 loaded in it.

So...does this mean the ST-301 outright sucks? No. I can see it working for others, and indeed others here have said as much, and I believe them. But the 300 is light-years ahead when it comes to pampering <i>my</i> puss, and that's really all that counts here. And I'm now just into my second box of of ten-packs, so it'll be a while before I have to stock up again. Read the reviews, but grab a sample-pack to be sure. Aloha.
Price
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Smoothness of Shave
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Pros: Inexpensive
Cons: short lived
I picked these up at a beauty supply store and the price was outstanding. I hadn't heard many good things, but was pleasantly surprised at the smooth shave. After about three uses I noticed some tugging. I'm a head shaver and it's usually in the back where I notice this most and I actually nicked myself behind my left ear. So I'd say three uses tops, but they are so inexpensive I can't complain.
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Cons: Not very sharp
These blades aren't the sharpest nor the smoothest. They are better suited for those with light beards.

Quality control also seems to be a little inconsistent.
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Pros: C H E A P! Easy to find.
Cons: None thus far.
A year in I am revisiting some of the stuff I tried, and gave up on, early in my DE shaving adventure. This was one of the first blades I bought due to price. I had a bit of a problem buying things sight unseen when I first started out. That may work for the Whipped Dog but it doesn't work out too well when you are first starting out. I panned this as an awful blade at that time after discovering Derby blades and went on from there. I bought a pack of these again just to give them a FAIR judgement now that my technique is such that I can do a fair review. I was completely wrong about this blade. I have never, probably never will, used a Feather blade so I will not use that as a comparison. I use Astra and Bluebird blades in all of my razors. The ST-301 compared well with these blades. While not quite as sharp as the birds, it was plenty sharp to do the job. Was a super smooth shaver, right on par with the Astra. One thing I really enjoyed was not having to combat glue spots. This blade made it to 3 shaves and that is all that I require, especially at .10 a pop. Overall it is a very good blade. No irritation, no nicks and very easy on the wallet. Good deal all around.
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Pros: Packaging
Cons: rough and dull
This is absolutely the worst double edge blade, or shaving product, I've ever used in my life. This is a blade I would give to an enemy.
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D
Pros: Cheap - $7 for 100 on Amazon
Cons: Everything except the price...
Maybe they work for some, but switching to this from Astra SP's just tore up my neck, and I got my first nick in over a week doing nothing different. As others have noted, the first couple of swipes were pretty good so i was encouraged. However the blade degraded quickly after that and by the end was tugging and pulling and left me with a need to balm my neck 3 times during the evening to kill the burn. Honestly, I hate to waste cash, but I will dump the other 99 in the bin rather than risk sending these junk blades to another member. I would feel terrible if someone else had to experience these the same way I did.
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Pros: Not too many pros
Cons: Pulls, uneven edge quality, overall poor shave
This garbage makes the Merkur look good, and that is a universally panned blade. I have over 2000 blades and have tried them all, and this one is flat terrible.
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Pros: Forgivinig, smooth blade
Cons: Not that sharp
Price - Part of a sampler

Quality - The shaves were consistant, but I did find that second shaves were a bit superior to the first and third

Sharpness - Not the sharpest blades, but this is made up for by the smoothness. They are sharp enough

Longevity - I only use them for a week, max four shaves, and they wre fine

Smoothness - Nice shave. It's near impossible to screw this shave up. Well, not impossible - I pulled it off, but it took some effort

Packaging - nice solid plastic case, blade holder in the back, Well made.
Price
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Price: One of the cheaper blades around.

Sharpness: Somewhere south of a Crystal/Israeli Personna. I could feel the blade drag, especially against the grain. Would not even attempt any buffing or cleanup with this blade.

Longevity: Average.

Smoothness: Did not feel particularly comfortable while shaving, a couple of unexpected weepers as the blade jumped while trying to cut. In the end, didn't leave me raw, but just wasn't enjoyable.

Packaging: Standard plastic 10-blade package, single wrapped blade with no glue spots.

Cheap, sure, but for me there are better blades for not much more money.
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This blade is sharp and smooth, not a Feather, but sharp enough for me. It has become my everyday blade.

It is very cheap and lasts for 3 shaves, can probably go 4 but why should I take the risk.

It is definitely smoother than its brother the Dorco 300. I have used it in my Parker 22R and in my Gillette Vintage and I get a smooth 3 pass shave every time.

Packaging. I don't get why this is a factor in the ratings but it comes in a nice plastic dispenser.
Price
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Quality
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Smoothness of Shave
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I just tried the Dorco ST-301 Platinum coated blade.

Paid 1 dollar for 10 blades

Razor is a EJ89L

I really cannot believe the shave was as close and good as it was, with the love it or hate it reviews.

I like this blade alot, it seemed to almost not be sharp as it could be, but gave a really close 2 pass with touch up shave.
Well, I tried this blade once more this morning. This time I stropped it in a Styrofoam packing peanut before loading it into my Weishi.

A once unusable blade was rendered acceptable. I got a DFS though I noticed it was not the smoothest shiv I ever scraped across my face. Neither was it the worst. One surprise for me was that it was noticeably louder as I made my passes. But it did work decently.

I don't believe I'll ever be buying these in bulk but I can use the ones left in this tuck and not toss 'em in the can. And that's a money-saver!
Price: $9 and change per hundred, delivered CONUS, from ebay. Bargain.

Quality: Blades seem quite consistent to me.

Sharpness: Here is the conundrum with these things. If they "click" for you, you will find them perfectly adequate for a two or three pass DFS. If they do not click for you, they will seem as sharp as a butter knife and worthless.

There seems to be little middle ground with these blades. At first I did NOT like them at all in a Merkur 39c - butter knife syndrome. Now, in a Parker 65r, they are heavenly. Maybe they are somewhat razor-specific or something, dunno. But they are definitely love/hate blades.

Longevity: 4-5 shaves for me and done. Good enough at this price.

Smoothness: Even the guys who hate them admit they are uber-smooth.

Packaging: No glue spots!
Price
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Quality
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Longevity
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Packaging
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Sharpness
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Smoothness of Shave
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D
...unless I run out of Feathers, Iridiums, Astras, etc. There are better blades to be had for only a little more money.

I didn't buy these bulk, but as a sampler selection I put together at WCS. The price was fine, as I remember, though not the cheapest.

For quality, I am going to consider manufacturing competency. The blades are consistent, I found no defective blades yet. I think they are manufactured to precisley the standard Dorco is striving for.

Sharpness is the problem. First shave with one drags quite a bit in my Pils razor. I see no need to use blades that hurt to use them. Dragging correlates directly to sharpness, so this area, I rated poorly.

Longevity is a product of sharpness and steel composition. How long will it keep the edge it started with? I found their rate of dulling to be comparable to any other utility grade of razors. But, it starts out less sharp than I care to tolerate, so I'm not getting three days out of one.

Smoothness of shave. Now, isn't this a paradox? Because even though I have to fight with this blade, I get a smooth shave with no nicks or cuts. I don't think I could ever run up a perfect shave with one of these, though. But, I can sure get a good everyday smooth shave out of them. I just don't care for the pain it takes to get one.

Fine little package. Standard plastic magazine that holds ten blades, easy to use. No glue-weld spots on the wrappers. The packaging protects the blades, while being easy to extract a blade for use. What more can you ask of the packaging? I use a can blade bank, so I don't know how well the plastic magazine works in this regard.

In summary, not may favorite, and I won't buy them again, if I have a choice.
Price
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Quality
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Smoothness of Shave
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Finished up a DORCO 301 today. Got SEVEN full shaves out of it. The blade was just beginning to catch a little toward the end of the shave so I went ahead and threw it in the bank. Not gonna push my luck. All in all I love these blades. $10 for 100, no skipping, pulling, tugging, etc. I get BBS shaves with two passes and some cleanup. These also work great in all of my different razors; from the super-mild 40's tech to the 64 Super Speed.
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at 10 for $1 these really arent bad blades; i'm able to get bbs with 3 passes and some touchup;

get 3-4 shaves / blade;

used in my super speed, slim and now futur;

good results with all razors;

much better than the personna's i've tried;
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I bought a pack of these today at Sainsbury's (£1.99!!!!), they are their own brand I thought, give them a go, really wish I hadn't now, worst blade I've ever used, think of a blade after 20 shaves, they were so dull they were pulling fresh from the package. I have never changed out a blade during a shave, this got 4 strokes and got changed out, only blade ever! It tore my face up something chronic. I shall be writing to Sainsbury's to complain as their own brands are always good, but they fell short this time. I had to go N/A on longevity as the blade has been binned immediately, I wouldn't even use this blade to shave my fly's wings.

Tom
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Of the several cheap blades I've tried, this is by far the best. I paid $10.99 for 100 after shipping.

The shaving sensation is a bit odd. When I do my first pass, it feels like the blade is skipping or vibrating if I just drag it lightly as I do with most blades. It feels almost like the end of the blade is flexing a little bit. If I apply a little bit of pressure, the first pass goes better and I don't find myself nicking myself or getting razor burn.

As absurd as this may sound, I wonder if they have a really high chromium content compared to other blades.

With 3-4 passes, I get a very smooth shave and have yet to nick myself with these blades. I really like these blades for shaving under my nose, as that's an area where I tend to nick myself or get razor burn.

For the price, these blades are great.
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Threw them out!
The Dorks are an inexpensive blade, but beat the pants off the blades I picked up at Walmart. Only good for about three-four shaves on my average beard, two passes a day. I did not have any cuts, but did have a bit of drag with them. The shaves, however, were really pretty close. Since I am not a perfectionist these gave a good enough shave that at the price, I will be using them. I did not find them any harsher than most other blades, but the verdict is out on whether I will order another 100. I have some Sharks and Astras to try. I sent some to a friend and my brother to try. Packaging is quite good with 10 blades to the little plastic box with a place to the used blades.
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Longevity
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Sharpness
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Smoothness of Shave
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