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Do Teflon/PTFE-coating glide better than platinum coating ?

1) I may be completely off here, but it seems to me that platinum coated blades are generally described as gliding better against the skin and being smoother so shave with. This is also my experience from having tried Derby, Astra SP, Shark SS and Shark SC. But then there is Teflon/PTFE coating as well. Given that YMMV, are they considered to be even smoother than platinum? Voskhod and GSB come to mind.

2) On a side note, what's up with Astra SP at tryablade.com? It's coating is described as stainless, but it should be platinum, right?
 
Indeed, it seems you are right. I found some old threads and a link to the Voskhos/Rapira manufacturer and now I am all the more confused. In the Rapira platinum lux description : "The cutting edge of the blade is covered by only chrome and platinum layers of Teflon, which provides excellent comfort when shaving." So there is no teflon coating per se? There is just chrome teflon and platinum teflon? And in the case of Rapira Platinum Lux there is both at the same time?

Google-translated link here: http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://www.mostochlegmash.ru/razors3.html
 
I find the nomenclature and different coatings of blades to be horribly confusing. I almost went nuts trying to decide what to order in my first 10-blade sampler pack. Is there any standard or is just the wild west?
 
Many manufacturers take the liberty of using the word "platinum" without actually incorporating any in the blade treatment.
 
Is there any standard or is just the wild west?

Seems like the wild west, to me. The best answer would be to get a selection of top blades and make a project out of it. For me, platinum coating makes for a smoother shave.
 
Seems like the wild west, to me. The best answer would be to get a selection of top blades and make a project out of it. For me, platinum coating makes for a smoother shave.

That's definitely how I'm approaching it at this point... get a bunch of blades, who cares if they are coated, chromed or sprinkled with fairy dust, and see which works best for me.
 
Back to the OP question... I don't think the coatings themselves make or break the blade. I tried the Wilkinson Sword Classic which is supposedly chrome-ceramic-PTFE and didn't care for it at all - lots of tugging and weepers. On the other hand, I just started using a GSB and so far it is my favorite blade by a long shot over Derby, Lord Super Stainless, Astra SP and Crystal. But then that's the extent of my limited experience.
 
In my experience, the teflon makes a smoother glide, and the platinum adds longevity, and lots of blades have both. There was a thread awhile back with lots of electron microscope images of blade edges, and included metalurgical analysis (I think via spectroscopy?) of the blade, and it was determined that when "other" manufacturers say platinum they often do not actually include any platinum, but when "Gillette" says it they actually do have platinum in the blade.
 
I personally dont think coating makes a difference. I put prep as the reason the blade either glides or doesnt. If I shave with same cream and brush everyday, but switch to a different blade from any number of companies or countries, the only difference I find is that some are slightly duller than others. But they all glide the same.
We dont have pennies any more, so ya got my five cents.
 
I personally dont think coating makes a difference. I put prep as the reason the blade either glides or doesnt. If I shave with same cream and brush everyday, but switch to a different blade from any number of companies or countries, the only difference I find is that some are slightly duller than others. But they all glide the same.
We dont have pennies any more, so ya got my five cents.

That's kind of my laymen's thought on the topic... there's such a tiny portion of the blade in contact I don't think it would affect the glide so much. Also, do they apply the coatings before or after the blades are sharpened? If before, the sharpening would remove the coating on the blade edge. Well, it probably only makes sense to apply after. Bet there's a youtube video on it.
 
I personally dont think coating makes a difference. I put prep as the reason the blade either glides or doesnt. If I shave with same cream and brush everyday, but switch to a different blade from any number of companies or countries, the only difference I find is that some are slightly duller than others. But they all glide the same.
We dont have pennies any more, so ya got my five cents.

It makes a huge difference, IMO, along with the angle and quality of the grind/hone, but as a consumer we can't really differentiate which factor is really important. The blades marked platinum, from the same factory, are smoother and last longer to my face. Searching should find the magnified blade images no problem :) it was in the past 2 years

But, everyone has to try however many blades they want and see which one they end up happy with, so what anyone else thinks is of limited utility as far as that goes. Cheers
 
I prefer PTFE coated blades. They are more comfortable, and glide better than non PTFE coated.
Thats my take... GSB is my current blade of choice. When I run down my leftover sample blades,
Ill be using GSB exclusively...
 
A look at the edge of a teflon-coated blade under EM shows an irregular blob of teflon at the edge of the blade. The teflon covers the edge of the blade. It must be washed off or worn off quickly to expose the edge underneath. I have never seen an EM of a teflon-edged razor after the blade has been used. It would be interesting to see how much teflon remains.
 
Since about 1962 all stainless blades intended for shaving have been coated with PTFE, teflon, or a similar anti-friction coating. Around 1967 some blades began using a hardness coating. If present that hardness coating will be chrome, platinum, or both. Sometimes ceramic or other materials appear as an adhesion layer. And sometimes blades may be labeled "platinum" as pure marketing, without having any platinum coating. If present, any platinum or chrome coating goes on before the PTFE, so the PTFE coating is what makes contact with skin and beard.

The outer coating is easy enough to spot under a scope. Here is a Personna "stainless steel" blade from a drugstore pack, with no mention of coatings on the package. But there is a dark band clearly visible in the photo, and a bright streak where I corked the blade, which removed some of the dark coating.



As far as I know I have only ever used one stainless blade that lacked any coatings: a Silver Star Duridium, probably made sometime around 1949-60. Under the scope it had no dark band.



Shaving with this blade was not comfortable, and from that experience I conclude that the anti-friction coatings play a large role in my shaving comfort. This is also backed up by history: when coated stainless blades appeared in the early 1960s, they took the blade market by storm. Earlier stainless blades like the Silver Star and Kro-man were uncoated, and never took off.

YMMV, but with well-made blades I think I change blades when the PTFE coating has worn out, making the shaves less comfortable. For me this mostly takes about seven shaves, and the edge is still in pretty good shape while the PTFE has worn away. There are exceptions: I could only tolerate the now-discontinued Walmart Wilks for one or two shaves. In that case I believe the PTFE was still in pretty good shape, but the edge was damaged.

 
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That is some awesome information! Thanks for enlightening us.
Do you have an explanation for why some vintage blades last so long? The coating can't possibly last for 100 shaves, can it?
 
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