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Carbon Forest of Treets: A deep dive into carbon steel double-edge blades

Treet “black beauty”
Blade one, Shave two
June 24, 2022

Razor: Gillette NEW short comb
Aftershave: Barrister and Mann Leviathan

One more look at this beauty:
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and another look at it, the black visible even when loaded into the razor:
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I got through the shave OK, with no lingering weepers to speak of, and negotiated a DFS with a little post-shave irritation, especially on my neck, despite settling for less than BBS there.

I felt like the blade was giving all it had, but just wasn’t up for my thicker whiskers. First pass, with the grain, was very pleasant in the way of the better Treets. Higher-pitched audio feedback and a smooth, easy feel. That ended in the second pass in the denser areas, where it skipped and wasn’t efficient.

I did a diagonal pass on mustache and upper cheeks to prepare for the ATG pass. It went fine on the cheeks but the blade just stopped in the mustache whiskers. Like pushing a snow shovel into a fence post.

That said, I buffed and chopped my way to satisfactory results here and elsewhere. No reason to continue with this blade, although I enjoyed trying it out. I could see someone with finer whiskers really enjoying it.
 
Treet New Edge
Blade one, Shave one
June 26, 2022

Razor: Gillette NEW short comb
Aftershave: Barrister and Mann Leviathan

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This clean-shaven gentleman has a secret: he didn't shave with a Treet New Edge.

So far in my trials, the Treet blades have been more similar than different. They have a somewhat similar feel and sound while shaving, none has truly impressed with smoothness, sharpness or efficiency but all have gotten the job done. My first-ever shave with a New Edge leads me to conclude its performance was somewhat like other Treets but also very bad.

Out of the wrapper, nothing concerned me. Like the Silver, it didn't have any numbering and was printed rather poorly and haphazardly, but, then, the Silver has been the best, longest-lasting performer in these trials so far. Unlike the Silver, however, I can see why there's no reason to label sides one and two, as there won't be a second shave on this one.

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This blade cut me on the first, with-the grain, pass and didn't stop turning up cuts from there on, whatever level of caution I used. It had the roughness of some of the other Treets without the glide of the better Treets and required a kind of slow hacking to make progress. The first pass left a lot of stubble and the second pass, across the grain, picked up most of it while adding more weepers.

There was no hope for going straight to an against-the-train pass, so I did a diagonal hybrid XTG/ATG pass and ended up with more cuts. About these cuts: perhaps there were some burrs on the edge, as the cuts seemed to take a tiny chunk out of me. It's not the cuts one gets with a super-sharp blade.

I continued with an against-the-grain pass, settling for DFS on the mustache, and did very limited cleanups around the chin. After liberal use of a styptic pencil to stop the bleeding, I had a serviceable shave. Aftershave burned a lot, of course. Growing out (this was yesterday) there are more red spots than just the weepers.

One of my hopes in doing these trials is that I would find a diamond in the rough (and I'm realizing I should have made a carbon/diamond pun in the title) among the blades. While I haven't found that yet, none has really felt like a cheap blade until this one. I'll try another New Edge in another razor. I hope this one was just a quality control issue.
 
I would have tossed it after the 2nd weeper, you knew the verdict after all, no need to suffer any further 😃
I do it for science! Unless I'm really losing a lot of blood, I try to get through it. I've been surprised before when a shave I thought was terrible wears pretty well, but that mostly happens with super sharp blades. This one didn't wear well. I might get good results when I come back to it in another razor, but I'm not really looking forward to it.
 
I do it for science! Unless I'm really losing a lot of blood, I try to get through it. I've been surprised before when a shave I thought was terrible wears pretty well, but that mostly happens with super sharp blades. This one didn't wear well. I might get good results when I come back to it in another razor, but I'm not really looking forward to it.
I found that for myself the Treet are very good blades when settled on TTO Razors like Slim and Flare Tip / Red tip. Not that much on NEW / Old Type Gillettes. Opposite what many people say.

You can never get a bad shave from a Gillette Superspeed. And Treet won't mess with this "rule".
 
I found that for myself the Treet are very good blades when settled on TTO Razors like Slim and Flare Tip / Red tip. Not that much on NEW / Old Type Gillettes. Opposite what many people say.

You can never get a bad shave from a Gillette Superspeed. And Treet won't mess with this "rule".
This is welcome news, as I have a Slim and a Red Tip ready for later in this experiment.

I agree that I've never really gotten a bad shave from the Red Tip (Super Speed) but I've never gotten that close of a shave from it either. I always struggle to pick up stubble along the jawline (spoiler for today's post to come).

Once I'm through this round with the NEW, I might switch to the Slim set at a higher setting like 8. I don't think that there's that much difference between the super speeds and the Slim at a lower setting.
 
Treet Falcon
Blade one, Shave one
June 28, 2022

Razor: Gillette NEW short comb
Aftershave: Thor’s Hammer bay rum

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A new day and a new blade. The Falcon starts out without much glide. It sounds and feels scrapey but seems to get the job done.

There’s considerable tugging in denser areas, but I’m able to plow through. In fact, this razor breaks my Treet streak of getting cut in early passes.

It’s not a sharp blade, not an efficient blade but it gets me where I need to be for the third, against-the-grain, pass. This pass is largely buffing, but it leaves my face no worse for wear.

The shave isn’t that close, and I do a lot of cleanup to get there, particularly on the jawline, before quitting. Surprisingly, I get my neck BBS or near it with very few touch-up strokes.

Overall, my face is probably DFS+; even with the extra work, I can feel stubble on my left jawline in one direction. Two tiny weepers, the fewest I’ve had in a long time.

So despite the blade not feeling sharp or smooth, and the shave taking a long time, I’m satisfied with the results. I’ll have a second shave with this one.
 
Treet Falcon
Blade one, Shave two
June 30, 2022

Razor: Gillette NEW short comb
Aftershave: Thor’s Hammer bay rum

The Falcon soars again! Well, not again, because it didn't soar the first time. And why do we always talk about falcons soaring? That's one of the least impressive things they do. Diving. Hunting. Mutilating. Those are falcon strengths. Leave soaring for the vultures. Anyway ...

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I got a good shave from the Falcon. In a turn that I haven't experienced with another Treet, the Falcon shaved better the second time than the first. From the first strokes, I could glide better, as it would pick up the hairs without stopping or skidding. It was asking for a shallower angle than I usually use, so I went with it.

I was rewarded with two passes without cuts (well, one weeper could have opened on either the second or third pass, but it closed before I could think about it too much). Even the third, against-the-grain pass went pretty smoothly. Mind, the blade still isn't sharp. I did have to give the mustache a fourth pass, but it didn't tear up my face.

The biggest struggle for this blade is the jawline. Despite my best skin pulling and bunching and all sorts of angles and pressure, I just can't get it BBS here. I can on the chin, but with risk of cutting myself. That's a risk I'd gladly take.

(Side note, as I'm thinking about how the next round works in another razor. I think I'll use the Slim, probably set at 8, and take the option of moving to 9 for cleanup in the places like the lower sideburn/mandible corner where I often leave stubble but where I almost never cut myself. Seems I can use some good old-fashioned aggression there.)

So I end with a solid DFS, no weepers persisting after a face rinse, and the Falcon moves on to a third shave.
 
Treet Falcon
Blade one, Shave three
July 2, 2022

Razor: Gillette NEW short comb
Aftershave: Thor’s Hammer bay rum

The Falcon made it through a third shave, and the results are pretty good. Once again, no cuts on the first two passes, despite reduced glide. I needed to do some further beard reduction before the ATG pass, so I did diagonal passes.

It was clear in the mustache that the blade was struggling, as I really had to buff and chop my way through. I expected many cuts, but only got a few weepers that closed soon and some roughed-up skin.

I knew the blade was at its end but I wanted to pick up everything, so I really went to town with cleanup passes on the jaw and under the lip. Again, I expected plenty of cuts but didn’t get any, or at least none I noted after a rinse.

I have to hand it to the Falcon, it ended up being smoother (in terms of cuts and lasting irritation) than I expected and the shave was near BBS thanks to the extra work.

One more blade of the first Treet round! Classic up next.
 
Treet Classic
Blade one, Shave one
July 4, 2022

Razor: Gillette NEW short comb
Aftershave: Barrister and Mann Leviathan

In honor of the Fourth of July, I lit up my face with this shave.

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It started well enough. The first pass was smooth and efficient enough, and I had a chuckle when I got a weeper on my neck. Treets gonna Treet, I guess. The across-the-grain pass was when I realized something was wrong. Going across my cheek, there was too much blade feel, with a sensation I’d describe as “pain.” Very rough and scrapey, but I don’t think it was really hacking me up just yet.

It was clear this blade wasn’t sharp or smooth enough to jump into an against-the-grain pass, so I did the diagonal XTG/ATG pass to give my face a chance. It didn’t work. I cut myself heartily and abundantly across my upper cheeks and mustache corners.

It was bad enough that I wanted to abort the shave, but I knew I wouldn’t get another chance tomorrow, so I finished up with an ATG pass on the rest of my face and mostly skipped cleanup.

I’m left with a spotty shave, many places barely DFS. Stypic pencil got so much use it might as well have been an alum block.

This is a bummer, as I had heard good things about the Classic. This may be a quality control issue or merely a horribly bad pairing with the NEW. I haven’t had many Treets that feel exactly like a different Treet, but if you blindfolded me and asked me to tell the difference between the Classic and New Edge, I couldn’t do it. And then I’d take the blindfold off and use it to blot all my weepers.
 
Treet First Round Roundup
NEW short comb

After going through all the Treets, they seem easiest to group by longevity, which is a proxy for quality in that I get rid of a blade when it stops giving a satisfactory shave:

Four shaves:
Silver
Three shaves:
Falcon
Two shaves:
Super Power, Dura Sharp, Black beauty
One shave:
New Edge, Classic

There’s some further differentiation in the two-shave blades. The Dura Sharp was closest to earning a third shave, followed by the black beauty. The Super Power wasn’t close to earning another shave.

I won’t make conclusions after one round, but it’s possible the Silver and Falcon are the same blade. It seems unlikely, among the two-shave blades, that the Super Power and Dura Sharp are the same. The black beauty is obviously unique.

Again, the one-shave blades may be the same, although being a one-shave blade limits the sample size.

Some disappointment here, as I hoped for a pleasant surprise or two that would put the Dura Sharp yellows (not tested here) in the middle of the pack. Instead, they’d probably be at or near the top of the pack based on this first round.

Now I may detour into the Czech carbon blades, unless I jump right into the second Treet round.
 
Interesting comparison. I've been curious about the Silver, I've never tried those. The Durasharp, Classic, and Falcon have all been excellent for me, but I like the Durasharp the best. I've been using them in a Merkur 38C and a Rockwell 6s #4 plate. I think both are considered to be mild to medium. How does the Gillette new short comb compare?
 
Interesting comparison. I've been curious about the Silver, I've never tried those. The Durasharp, Classic, and Falcon have all been excellent for me, but I like the Durasharp the best. I've been using them in a Merkur 38C and a Rockwell 6s #4 plate. I think both are considered to be mild to medium. How does the Gillette new short comb compare?
I’ve mostly used vintage razors, so I can’t compare it to much else, but I gather it’s a medium. The one modern exception is I’ve used a Merkur 34C, which is mostly considered mild but which cut me a lot. The NEW seems to give you a pretty wide range of angles to shave with. I’m using the Slim next, which can be pretty aggressive on the highest settings but which doesn’t allow you to adjust the angle as much and still cut, in my opinion.
 
Treet Relief
I'm taking a detour into the non-Treet carbon-steel blades before starting round 2 of the Treets in a new razor.

First up:
Tatra
Blade one, Shave one
July 6, 2022

Razor: Gillette NEW short comb
Aftershave: Barrister and Mann Leviathan

tatra3.jpg

First impressions: This is a lovely blade. The wrapper with the Tatra Mountains and the cool geometric sans-serif font.
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The blade itself has an interesting smoky yellow tint to it. It's darker than the carbon Treets. It's also noticeably thicker and stiffer. Without measuring them, the Treets felt more thin and flexible than most blades. The Tatra feels thicker than not just Treets but other blades I've used as well.

It also looks wider to me. This just looks like there's more blade exposed on both sides in the NEW. I have some inkling that this will be an aggressive shave.
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But I was wrong. I spent this much space talking about first impressions because I can't really talk about the shave. This is the first blade to earn a "did not finish."

I just couldn't get through the first pass. I had my typical two-day stubble, and every Treet (even the one-shave duds) had picked up the first, with-the-grain, pass without incident. The Tatra just stuck in my whiskers like an axe in a tree trunk. Whatever the angle, even so shallow that the blade was barely contacting hair, the Tatra got caught and had to be forced through, shaving in patches.

My hair certainly isn't the thickest out there. In its densest points it will challenge many blades, but this blade got tied up in the softer hair of my sideburns and cheeks. I usually don't need to do much skin stretching on the first pass, but I did it here just to get through without skipping or injury. Just intense, pulling sensations.

I'm not a quitter. I stopped the shave a few times, tuned up my lather and approached the shave anew. Somewhere along the chin, though, I had to give up. I'm disappointed.

I swapped in a loose Bic blade that has several shaves and has been kicking around my shave bag a year or two. It finished up nicely, gave me a great shave with a little irritation and some fleeting nicks in the mustache.
 
You got me pretty good with that “love letter” opening, but I knew already how the shave was going to go! Still nice to see someone else suffer, I mean good job pushing through! :cuppa:
I was starting to get an impression of Treets as blades best suited for people with finer whiskers, but the Tatra puts that into perspective. At this stage in the trials, I'd say that Treets are all pretty well suited for people with average to thick facial hair for the first two passes and maybe a third. Or for people who shave every day. Perhaps its Tatra that's only suited for people with finer hair. I can't say how fine, but definitely finer than mine!
 
I was starting to get an impression of Treets as blades best suited for people with finer whiskers, but the Tatra puts that into perspective. At this stage in the trials, I'd say that Treets are all pretty well suited for people with average to thick facial hair for the first two passes and maybe a third. Or for people who shave every day. Perhaps its Tatra that's only suited for people with finer hair. I can't say how fine, but definitely finer than mine!
You have done a good job getting through the Treets. The thing that boggles my mind is that I have NOS carbon blades that were stored correctly and I have some idea what shaving would have been like. Yet all the modern manufacturers seem to be trying to prove that carbon blades are generally impossible to manufacturer without serious flaws. The only thing that I can add is that I actually get along well with some of the Treets in modern razors. The Falcons work great in a Henson for two shaves, I have a stockpile. The secret formula is high blade exposure, low gap. The tugging is only a problem when your skin can get into the gap, the blade edges aren't really threatening. I also think the OC you are using isn't helping as it doesn't displace skin ahead of the blade as well as a SB. I will probably pick up some Silvers based on your review, thanks!
 
The secret formula is high blade exposure, low gap. The tugging is only a problem when your skin can get into the gap, the blade edges aren't really threatening. I also think the OC you are using isn't helping as it doesn't displace skin ahead of the blade as well as a SB.
This doesn't augur well for the next razor up in my lineup, which I had planned to be a Slim, probably set at 8. That strikes me as just the opposite of the formula: low blade exposure, higher gap. I plan to move to my Old Type after that, which does have high exposure and very little gap, but honestly, it shaves pretty close to the NEW most of the time (and is still open comb).

I'm limited by my hardware but, then, I'm probably not alone among people interested in Treets in having only inexpensive razors!
 
I've used my variety of Treet Carbon blades primarily with Goodwill, Sheraton and Long Comb razors. I can get close smooth shaves with the Black Beauty & Classic blades, but they're a one-and-done blade with a 2nd shave getting pretty tuggy. I'm working on a Short Comb now. Unlike the other razors, it works nicely with my "modern" blades (GSB, BiC, Voskhod and Super Max Blue Diamond) whereas the other razors shave just so-so with these blades.
I've taken a break for now from the Carbon blades, but when I'm finished refurbing an Old Type and the SC, I'll try them again.
 
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