GIVEAWAY! Challenge PIF - Vikings At The Gate

[lancre]

Pre: Shower, Warm water rinse
Blade: Crystal
Razor: 1949 UK Rocket
Brush: Semogue 620
Soap: B&M Promises
Post: Lukewarm water rinse, Thayer's Cucumber Toner WH, Nivea Men Sensitive PSB

Today saw a minuscule improvement over yesterday. Still a DFS+ though, but felt smooth as silk all through the shave. No nicks, weepers, or post-shave irritation.

 

[geneaut]

Slightly off topic. I purchased these vintage blades made in Israel. Imagine my surprise when I saw the wrapper. Diplomat wrapper on the right, Viking wrapper on the left.

 

[TheBigL]

Slightly off topic. I purchased these vintage blades made in Israel. Imagine my surprise when I saw the wrapper. Diplomat wrapper on the right, Viking wrapper on the left.

View attachment 1969410

I've had a few other Israel brands with similar wrappers to the Crystal and Viking Sword. I can't say that the blades are the same.

 

[geneaut]

I've had a few other Israel brands with similar wrappers to the Crystal and Viking Sword. I can't say that the blades are the same.

Yeah I have no idea if these are Personnas of any kind. The first shave didn’t tell me much.

 

[Space_Cadet]

Quite a few different Israeli Personna blades had this wrapper. Basically it means they're all stainless steel (not platinum, chrome, etc').

 

[lancre]

Pre: Shower, Warm water rinse
Blade: Personna Red Label
Razor: Occam's Safety Razor - "Full Open Comb" plate
Brush: Semogue 620
Soap: B&M Dickens Revisited
Post: Lukewarm water rinse, Thayer's Cucumber Toner WH, Nivea Men Sensitive PSB

On to the IR. Pairing the IR with the OC Occam's was sub-optimal. There was significantly more blade feel than I usually like - not quite painful, and all of my blood stayed inside, but not comfortable either. Surprisingly, given the way the shave felt in-process, the alum bar didn't light me up. Tomorrow I'll try switching to the "Partial Open Comb" plate and see how that feels.

When the shave was over, my fingertips told me I'd gotten a BBS- shave, so that's good. There were no nicks, weepers, or post-shave irritation.

 

[geneaut]

Pre: Shower, Warm water rinse
Blade: Personna Red Label
Razor: Occam's Safety Razor - "Full Open Comb" plate
Brush: Semogue 620
Soap: B&M Dickens Revisited
Post: Lukewarm water rinse, Thayer's Cucumber Toner WH, Nivea Men Sensitive PSB

On to the IR. Pairing the IR with the OC Occam's was sub-optimal. There was significantly more blade feel than I usually like - not quite painful, and all of my blood stayed inside, but not comfortable either. Surprisingly, given the way the shave felt in-process, the alum bar didn't light me up. Tomorrow I'll try switching to the "Partial Open Comb" plate and see how that feels.

When the shave was over, my fingertips told me I'd gotten a BBS- shave, so that's good. There were no nicks, weepers, or post-shave irritation.

I hate that combo resulted in so much blade feel. Maybe the OC plate will have better results.

 

[lancre]

Pre: Shower, Warm water rinse
Blade: Personna Red Label
Razor: Occam's Safety Razor - "Partial Open Comb" plate
Brush: RV Mistura
Soap: B&M Promises
Post: Lukewarm water rinse, Thayer's Cucumber Toner WH, Nivea Men Sensitive PSB

The "Partial Open Comb" plate reduced the blade feel to a more comfortable level, thankfully. The trade-off was a slight reduction in efficiency, down to a DFS. Still a VG shave.

With buffing, the final result was a DFS+ shave. There were no nicks, weepers, or post-shave irritation.

 

[Filudo]

I used a Vikings Sword (no idea how many uses as this was my 1st shave back home for a while)
Oliworks razor adjust #3
Prep pre shave
I used canned foam from Prep (was too cold to bother )
3 pass close shave, close and smooth.

Weird thing is the pre shave gave me a slight burn (it's almost running out) but the shave gave me NO burn.

all in all, this was another great shave w a great balde

I debate: Gillette Plat (rus) vs Vikings Sword??????? both are Gr8

 

[lancre]

Pre: Shower, Warm water rinse
Blade: Personna Red Label
Razor: Merkur 34c
Brush: RV Mistura
Soap: B&M Promises
Post: Lukewarm water rinse, Thayer's Cucumber Toner WH, Nivea Men Sensitive PSB

Another great shave from this blade, but I had to work at it.
With buffing, the final result was a BBS- shave. There were no nicks, weepers, or post-shave irritation.

I see the next Participation PIF coming down the line from @Space_Cadet and @Grundi, so it's time to wrap this one up. I don't know how @Space_Cadet manages to keep coming up with all of these rare and vintage blades, but I'm grateful for his efforts.

I started using these Personna blades on 3 October 2024, and used them for a total of 75 shaves since then, mixing a few other blades in as "palate cleansers" in between blade changes. All four varieties of these blades worked very well, but I did decide on an order of preference for me based on closeness, smoothness, and longevity. On my face and neck the order was Viking Sword, Crystal, Red Label, Blue Label.

Thanks again to @Space_Cadet, @mikey, and @Grundi!!

 

[geneaut]

Found my blades! Two house moves this year has my collection all over the place, but I located my PIF'ed blades.

Crystal Blade 2 Shave 1

Simply a lovely shave. I had a bumpy shave yesterday with another blade, and I appreciated the smoothness of this Crystal.

 

[sidpost]

Winter weather and electric heat have dried out my skin so, the PIF blades were giving me hard to stop weepers. A Feather blade in my Athena razor and some good lotion made a big difference. Looks like I will need to stop using the PIF blades until Springtime gets my skin back to good health without all the extra work.

The past few days in Texas have been unusually cold so, here I am staring at a big bottle of Nivea while looking for Jojoba oil and some Aleo Vera to support my Witch Hazel.

 

[geneaut]

Crystal Blade 2 Shave 2

Another super comfortable and close shave.

 

[Space_Cadet]

Slightly off topic. I purchased these vintage blades made in Israel. Imagine my surprise when I saw the wrapper. Diplomat wrapper on the right, Viking wrapper on the left.

Yes, I have those Diplomats too. But they are a much earlier blade than the Viking's. Not the same.

 

[geneaut]

Yes, I have those Diplomats too. But they are a much earlier blade than the Viking's. Not the same.

Yeah, I suspected as much. They don't quite have the same sharp/smooth characteristics as the Viking so far, even if they are very usable. I've only tested one blade though, so I'm keeping my mind open.

 

[AndyPanda]

I noticed I still have a Viking's Sword blade that only has 3 shaves on it - still lots of life left in it. I had already loaded up a Nacet with 3 shaves into my Tatara Masamune razor - but decided to have a shave off and put the Viking's Sword in my Game Changer 68 with a special cap that I modified to give it positive blade exposure.

Wow! The Viking's Sword in that razor really gave me a close shave and is still sharp enough for several more shaves before it's finished. Very smooth! This challenge PIF just keeps on giving all these months later