Evil blade?

[ChiefBroom]

Anyone ever have a blade suddenly turn vicious in the middle of a shave? I was about halfway through the second pass (ATG) today with a Feather-loaded Aristocrat #58, which is a milder razor than the LC NEWs I've mainly used since mid-year. The blade suddendly snagged on and then sliced a pretty unchallenging section of terrain. I thought I'd just lost concentration, so re-focused and carried on. But it felt like the the blade had grown sharp teeth and was possessed with an intent to chew off my face. I couldn't believe a blade would go south so quickly -- like instantaneously -- and as close as I was to being finished, I refused to swap in a new one. That was a bad call.

By the time I was done it looked like the area between my lower lip and chin had taken a load of buckshot. I haven't butchered myself like that since my first shave (with a Merkur Futur). It seemed a little like something out of a Stephen King novel. What really sucks is that I have a great brush due to be delivered today, and I'm probably going to have to lay off shaving this weekend to heal.

I've had a run of great shaves recently, and I took extra time and care with prep today. Any theories?

 

[zethreal]

I have had something like that happen once with a blade ( I forget the brand ). I was trying to stretch an extra day out of it and it went from fine on pass 1 to feeling like I was ripping out all my hairs on pass 2. It could have been that... or do you think you might have touched the blade to something? If you did, you could have bent the edge enough to turn it from a smooth shaving blade to a blade shaped like a scoop.

 

[Lion and the Fox]

I agree with Shane. It could be something caused the blade to warp or it might be an inherent fault that was invisible to the naked eye. I feel for you, that must have been terrible! You'd think the quality control on Feather blades would be top-notch, but imperfections happen. I hope you heal quickly so you can enjoy that new brush!

 

[Doubledgeislife]

Been there. I don't know what happened. I still have the fading remnants of a couple of straight cut marks on my right cheek. The one by my ear, I could feel that I got cut. I continued on and my chin got it bad right at the underside / tip of my chin. No kidding, it took 2 weeks for that slice and razor burn fiasco to clear up. From my ear, there was blood running down my jawline indicating the cut was worse than I thought. I switched out the blade and finished up with another Wilkinson sword. I still like the blades. I think I was just having a really off day maybe. The scar by the ear is barely noticeable the one just under the cheekbone, it still has a 1/2 inch line showing.

 

[Hunter]

The worst I had was a few years ago when I was using my old mach 3, it just finished a move and my razor must have hit something at some point, first swipe made me look like a cat attacked me! Luckily I haven't had any horror stories with my Murker yet (knock on wood)

 

[celestino]

Wow, those are some nasty stories, lads. Chiefbroom, i wish you a speedy recovery!

 

[LarryDarrell]

This is why I can't use Feathers. For me when they go off they go off fast. I have started a pass with it working fine and then half way through it's a hacksaw. I think they have very fine edges which gets damaged very easily.

 

[sychodelix]

Sometimes, there be one tiny little flaw in a blade, and if you hit it just right (or more accurately just wrong), the blade gets damaged, and takes your face with it.

 

[keithmax]

Yikes that's scary. Now I know if it happens to me change the blade.

 

[tfinch]

I've had this happen as well, with a couple different brands. I have a theory that the level of minerals in the municipal water, which varies within a certain window of acceptable, may be higher at times and cause a dulling effect on the edge much more rapidly than usual. I'm so wary of a bad shave now that the first sign of trouble I change blades, sometimes change razors mid shave. Hope you heal up fast so you can try your new brush!

 

[mystkm]

Yes I've had a couple blades do that. IDK if it was semi-bad prep, unknown and unintentional damage to the blade, or if the blade decided to turn into evil incarnate. Thankfully it's only been a twice and both times with a Feather. Hmmm...do I detect a theme?

 

[KipNoxzema]

I wonder if a whole, microscopic section just broke off your blade. I have that theory after seeing honing through a microscope and the resulting very thin edge.

 

[ChiefBroom]

I appreciate the replies. It's still a mystery to me, but it's good to know others have had similar experiences. I'm just a week or two from my first anniversay of DE shaving. Over the past year I've shaved every day except 5 or 6, and I shaved twice on 2 or 3 days. All but about 5 of those shaves were with either Feathers (what I generally use with solid bar razors) or Astra SPs (what I use with OCs), and I'd guess use between the two was split just about down the middle. Before yesterday, I'd never had a bad experience with either blade. My very first shave was a disaster, (although I emerged from it with a sense of triumph that thoroughly confounded my wife as I stood blood-smeared and grinning before her with razor raised in hand). But that was with a Derby in a Merkur Futur when I had virtually no clue what I was doing. So this nasty encounter put me back on my heels a bit.

It could be that I offended the Shaving Gods with hubris. This past week I made up for a year of virtual disinterst in brushes (previous focus was almost exclusively on razors). Among the spate of purchases were a Thater 2011 SRP LE and a Rooney Stubby 1 in Finest. Yesterday, I lathered up the Thater (bigger than my head) with Tabac and supercharged it with 1903 cream for the first pass. I swear the Feather in that 'British #58 was singing opera (Wagner, of course). It was glorious. Then I used Cella with the Stubby for the second pass. That little brush just blew me away. Perhaps I got too high and lost control of the razor. Or maybe it was a divine hand putting me in my place. I don't care, I've seen Nirvana, and I'm going back.

 

[ChiefBroom]

Forgot to mention that I remembered this morning (don't know why it didn't come to mind before) that when I unwrapped the Feather yesterday, I noticed it didn't appear to have the usual glue spots, which struck me as odd, but I almost always rub them off anyway, and it otherwise looked good. I have no idea what that might mean.

 

[larzone]

Sorry, I could not resist!! I think that's one of those moment's never to look back at. I feel sorry for you, mostly because weekendshaves are the best ones.

 

[BlackBard]

Never happened to me and I hope it never does.

 

[McTeague]

This happens to me with Feathers also. I've used them for 5 years now and every once in a while I just get a bad blade. I'll nick myself three or four times and then realize there's something wrong with blade. It's very rare though, and well worth the occasional trouble, since Feathers are so awesome.

 

[dpmtherrien]

I'd go along with some imperfection in the blade. There are times when you feel that a perfect shave is going on, and all of a sudden a nick appears. I've had that happen a couple of times in the past. I believed I was doing things right, and changed the blade. End of such problems.

 

[Robert45]

+1

 

[ChiefBroom]

I think my takaway from the experience and this thread is to bail on a blade at the first sign it might be misbehaving, no matter whether it's the blade's first use or the last half of that shave's last pass.