Dorco ST-301 Platinum Blades

I had a lot of pulling and drag with this blade. I tried another thinking that I might have a bad one but still had the same results. Sharpness and longevity were good but the blade isn't for me.

I've used the Dorco ST-301 blades in my Merkur HD. I tried them for about two weeks before giving up on them because they weren't working great for me. More recently, I went back to using the last few I had left in a sample pack, just to clear out my old stock of blades, and I still didn't love the shave I got. I think this is one of those cases of YMMV.

Price - price seems fair on a per-blade basis compared to other DE blades.

Quality - pretty consistent shave/sharpness/quality of the blade. Certainly never any significant differences that I can tell when changing to a new blade.

Sharpness - this is where I wasn't so satisfied. My first use of the ST-301, I noticed a remarkable difference in how much the razor pulled at my whiskers in comparison to the Derby, Treet Platinum, and Feather blades I'd used previously. I thought maybe it related to prep, so I continued trying this blade for two weeks, then moved on to other blades. I tried again recently and still notice a lot of pulling on long or short strokes. Personally, I attribute that to the 'sharpness' (or lack thereof) of the blade.

Longevity - because I got so much pulling from the blade, I tended to change blades after just two or so uses. It generally felt better when I started with a newer blade, but I pretty much felt the same tugging (no increase or decrease), even when I tried one blade out for five shaves.

Smoothness - not a really smooth-feeling shave. I think my face was rebelling from getting tugged around. I usually finished with some redness or the alum block would really sting. But, my facial hair was generally mowed down so that I could honestly say I could still get a DFS shave when using this razor. It just felt like more effort than other razors.

Packaging - nice. I like the 10 blades per pack, and I like the used razor slot.

Yes I agree 100% . I had some left over from the sampler pack. I threw them out what more can I say?

First time I tried one was yesterday, and it will be the last. For starters, it dragged along my face from the first stroke. Stuggled to finish up (good thing I was moving my office yesterday - no client meetings.) Then, during the day I noticed redness under my lower lip. I only used to get this redness when I shaved with the multi-blade garbage, and have not seen it since I started w a DE. That is, until yesterday. Went back to an old standby this AM - 7 Yellow - back to great shaves w no redness.

I dont care how cheap they are, this blade to me is garbage. I actually brought it into my office today (in the 7 Yellow wrapper) for IMO a much more suitable task - scraping glue off my new office furniture.

I have a pack of the cheaper 300s as well. With rumors of that they are less smooth than the 301s, you can bet I wont be trying them any time soon.

The first time I used one I these a couple of months ago I was left a little disappointed. Fast forward to now. I gave them another run and for some reason I've gotten great shaves out these blades. They are very smooth and forgiving. They work for me, but as always YMMV.

The Dorco ST301 was included in a Sampler Pack I purchased from West Coast. These blades are available for about $10/100 blades are are packaged in a plastic container with the capability to retain used blades. I tested these blades in three razors; a 1948 Superspeed, a 1965 Superspeed and a 1955 Red Tip. Three blades were used for each razor and each blade was good for four shaves when I changed them. The 1965 Superspeed liked the blade and it provided a very smooth shave with no cuts or abrasions. An excellent shave was obtained with 2 passes and a touch up. A slightly better shave was obtained with the 1948 Superspeed and I thought the 1948 just handled better. Again no cuts or abrasions. Another excellent shave. With the Red Tip the best shaves were obtained. The differences between the razors was not that significant and the blade performance was very consistent. I feel the ST301 works fine for me and would not hesitate recommending it.

Came in a sampler pack and just finished using them and found that the 2 razors i used them in the both shaves tugged on my face and went blunt after 2 shaves, if they came in a sample pack again i would use them but dont think i would buy them in bulk.

After my bad experience using the Dorco 300s I reluctantly gave the 301s a try.

Big improvement over the 300s!

Some folks say the 301s are the same as the 300s. If so my technique must of improved by light years. Regardless, the 301s are now part of my rotation.

Using my Tech, SuperSpeed and Merkur HD I got DFS to BBS shaves with these blades.

PRICE: 10 / Was getting them from a local supplier for $16 per 100 then I found another at $10 per 100. 10 cents a blade is a 10 for me.

QUALITY: 8 / Improvement over the 300s. Not great but certainly above average.

SHARPNESS: 8 / Once again, not great but above average.

LONGEVITY: 8 / I get three good shaves. Even if I could get more I replace all blades after three shaves.

SMOOTHNESS OF SHAVE: 8 / Glides across my face with little or no pulling action.

PACKAGING: 10 / Typical paper wrap and plastic container.

I know that some shavers have a love-hate relationship with DORCO.

Give them (301s) a try. You may be pleasantly surprised.

I have not had any luck with any of the Dorco blades. I could not even give these blades high marks for price, they are very cheap at around 100 blades for $10.00. But since they don't work for beans I don't think that the price makes any differance.

I don't like these blades at all. They rip the hairs off my face. I much prefer a blade to slice through them.

They seem to work slightly better in my Superspeed than in my Tech, but still not worth the trouble.

heap blades that tore up my face. If i could compare it to something, it would be like wet sanding my face with 600 grit paper. First strokes great, after the coating wears of the tip of the cutting edge after the first stroke or two, all hell's warth was unleashed on my face. Absolutely horrible every time i come back to them, with every razor. Corking and stropping barely give me one acceptable shave. I get some of my best shaves from a blade that costs me less.

About the only thing they did right with these is the packaging. Plastic container and wax paper.

I've been using these for quite some time.

These are certainly smoother shaving than the ST-300, the first Dorco blade I used. I'd read reports that the two were the same thing in different packaging, but reviews here and elsewhere, as well as use, have convinced me that these are different blades, and I prefer the ST-301, even though I got decent results with the ST-300

No glue, and a cheap but effective plastic blade bank is included.

They are available at the lower end of the price spectrum.

I get very good shaves with them in a variety of vintage Gillette razors. They are sharp enough, and seem to be forgiving. ATG over the upper lip sometimes skips, but if I adjust the angle of stroke slightly, no problem. The end result is either a DFS or BBS if I do my part and touch up properly.

Longevity? Not a strong point, if you consider three or four three pass shaves a short life. At the price, I chuck them after three or four shaves.
If I try to go over four, I can tell it's time for a new blade.

I don't have a barbed wire beard, but I don't grow peach-fuzz, either. I'm probably pretty average in this respect, so heavy bearded shavers may have very different results. I do tend to emphasize my prep, so that might be helping these little Korean buggers out quite a bit.

So, now that my stock is low, will I be re-ordering the ST-301?

Nope, too many blades out there to try. Next up are some Egyptian Sharks, and a dabble with the fabled Feather.

They have served me well, and I would order them again. In fact, if I don't find another blade that knocks my socks off, then this might be one I stock up on, in case the cartridge conglomerates get legislation passed that outlaws DE blades.

Until then, I'll continue to blade graze, but I'd not hesitate to use an ST-301 again.

Funky name, though.

These are about as unremarkable a blade I have come across. They are cheap but I wouldn't call them a bargain. And god the name is aweful. DORCO = DOngyang Razor CO or something like that. The white packaging looks clean to me. Besides the name I really can't knock these blades. Oh, and they only last 1 day. They'll give a good shave, but not a great one. Like I said they are completely unremarkable.

Well, these are a definite improvement over the 300's. While they're very sharp for the first shave, the quality slips significantly during the second and third. I wouldn't even try to squeeze a 4th shave for two reasons: It wouldn't be sharp enough, and the blades are pretty cheap. You can get 100 for $12, four dollars more than the 300's. If you only shave every so often, and don't want to break the bank, go this route.

These work for me - sort of. They do produce a close shave, but tend to tug on my beard. Nothing bad, the blade creates more awareness that I am shaving. Not my favorite, when paired with a Slant they seem to perform ok.

Addicted to buying every new blade I can there was a pack of these (as well as the st-300) waiting for me in the drawer.
First shave resulted in not too smooth a shave with a lot of razorburn. I don't use a balm too often but I was really glad I had a few to choose from after this shave.
On the second shave (with a second blade; I guessed the first was the non-starter of the pack) I noticed that only one edge was ok at the start and tossed the blade after the first pass. Completed the shave with the next blade but I thought I could feel the blade getting worse every stroke. Result; not very smooth and again a lot of razorburn.
This was going nowhere; the next two weeks I used my nicest blades just to get the fun back and to give my neck a chance to recover.
I decided to do my next (and final?) attempt differently; I would only go for three passes (WTG, XTG and ATG) without touch ups and change the blade midshave whenever I noticed the smallest increase of tugging or pulling of the blade.
I started with an "extended" prep; proraso pre with a hot and damp towel, removing the proraso after it started stinging and taking a second wet towel. Took one of my nicest soaps and built a lather that made me proud.
One of my easiest going razors was loaded with the first ST-301 and off I went.
I used 4 (four!) blades and yes, you do feel them deteriorating during one stroke. Some edges kept up for a few but as many were gone after just one or two strokes. I did manage however to keep the razorburn under control this time.
Presentable (but sandpaper feel) result for a premium price...
I hope to find the courage to try out the ST-300 blades sometime this year...

These blades start out with a nice feel and sharpness but the edge is falling apart in a couple of strokes. They might be ok when your beart is easier to cut than mine but for me these are somewhere at the bottom of the drawer containing the rejects...

I really wanted to like these blades. At about $9 / 100, delivered, and since I am such a tightwad, I was really looking forward to trying them.

Awful, for me. I've tried about 8-10 differnt brands of blades in the 2 months of using DE's and the Dorco 301 were by far the worst.

When I get some time, I'm going to PIF the remaining 4 packs of 10 that I still have.

They are pretty good blades. I still prefer Feather and Gillette 7 O'clock Sharp Edge to them.

These were the first DE blade I tried. they came free with my Vincent (I know, I know, but it is not as terrible as some would have it). They are nice and sharp and don't pull at all for me. The only thing I found is that I can only get about 4 shaves out of them. The American Personnas give me about 6 but do not work as well for me. In all, these are a great blade.

These blades were my first bulk purchase, after starting back to DE shaving with a NOS UK Wilkinson and a few ST-300's from a sampler pack. The vendor on eBay at first sent me ST-300's then tried to tell me they were the same as 301's which they are not. He made good on his error by accepting my return and throwing in some extra packs of the 301's, making a great deal even better.

When it comes to sharpness, I'm not capable of splitting hairs (sic). I'd rate them comparable to a Treet Platinum or a Crystal, which for most people is plenty good. I went through nearly two 10-packs of these blades before discovering the Treet Classic, with no bad blades, so quality is not a problem.

I get as many shaves from these as most other blades that I've tried and liked, 5 in a week, 6 if I push it. They're so cheap, why push it?

They are as smooth as any blade I've tried except the Treet Classics, yet sharp enough to get BBS.

Packaging is the best I've seen, like the old Wilkinson UK blades. Single wrapped, with no glue spots to deal with, and they slide out of the plastic container as easily as the Gillette, Schick, and Personna dispensers, if not better.

I still use these blades in travel situations, but I've found I like the Treet Classics a bit better.