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Blackland Blackbird DE Safety Razor - a shaving review with pics+

Hello gents. Today I am posting a review of a DE razor with a mind-blowing design.

Since this was a Kickstarter project I have waited this item for a long time.

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The Razor gets its name and design principles from the legendary Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Reconnaissence Plane. Since that was the fastest Jet on earth, I have expected a blazing fast and smooth shave, let's look at it...

The official color of the launch was matte black but I have opted for CNC machined, raw stainless option. That was because, up to me, it shows the angles and the aggressive design better this way.

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As you may see from the pic above, the product comes in a fairly simple aluminum box. I believe the freshly-printed sticker on top symbolizes the artisan work of this fine product (hopefully).

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The design is a truly mind-blowing, cutting edge one. After you handled it, the weight and the quality feel is perfect. You may clearly see the marks of the CNC and feel the rawness of the product. For the dislikers of that rawness, they are producing the polished option these days. That may be slicker than this one though.

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The edges of the Blackbird are so sharp that you may think that you can shave without a blade. Interestingly I haven't got any irritations or discomforts because of this.

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I have opted for the 101mm long handle option, the other was a 70mm version.

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The fluted and sharp-edged handles makes you hold tight and prevents slipping from your hand. You may leave the bottom piece on the handle, so loading a blade is very easy, thanks to the handle-top design. The cutting angle of the Razor is pretty steep and feels different for me but by this way it adds aggressiveness to the shave.

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Although the sharp edges and the design, the blackbird gives a very comfortable shave, only a little drag occurred because of the raw material. Somehow it reminds me the shave style of the Mongoose with the straight razor feel of inflexible material.

https://vimeo.com/160710054

From the clip, you may hear the acoustically amplified noise of the whiskers, that may because of the design. ( that quote would be a new thing for the razor review world :) )

After the first pass of WTG, the result was highly satisfactory, and a second pass of XTG was totally enough for me.

https://vimeo.com/160711008

As a result I may easily suggest The Blackbird to anyone, especially those seeking for a very well engineered design item.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Looks cool! Also looks solid and well made with an ever so slightly 70s or 80s edge to the design. There's a saying in military aviation circles about fast jet designs: "If it looks good, it flies good." Maybe the same thing applies to your new razor!
 
I am very interested in these razors. In fact, if they were in stock I would be ordering on right now! I'm curious to see how it would compare to my ATT daily driver.

I'm glad to hear that the newer models will have softened edges.
 
Nice review. I have the black oxide short handle version. Haven't used it a lot (so many razors to try) but got great shaves when I did. Thanks for the nudge; I'll use it this week.
 
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