Excalibur Club - Blade Longevity DE, SE and Injector

[LJBraaten]

And do you guys strop between uses ...and if so, with what? A regular leather strop for a straight type of razor or one of those vintage curved glass straps?

Welcome! Some have reported doing nothing but carefully cleaning their blades. I strop mine daily with a Twinplex. About every ten shaves I use the more aggressive Allegro Sharpener.

On the number of shaves per blade, it does depend on the blade and a bit of adjustment in skill, patience, and most of all, expectations. (What you expect on the the first pass.) When I returned to traditional wet shaving a few years ago, I had to really push it to get 4 shaves on my blade. Now I can get at least 10 on any blade, at least the one’s I’ve tried so far.

 

[LJBraaten]

I don’t actually count it accurately as I use this for my head shaves, but binned a GEM blade today with 30-40 shaves on it. Excellent blade!

Woah! I average 10 - 17 on a Gem, and I don’t shave my head!

 

[Guido75]

Nice to read health is orbiting you to get back in the saddle again @Texchappy. Some great blades there!

 

[Guido75]

Woah! I average 10 - 17 on a Gem, and I don’t shave my head!

And no stropping or honing either! well I towel dry blade that might induce some form of stropping.

 

[cranewarrior]

I'm about to finish the One Blade in February Challenge with 17 shaves on a single Treet Dura Sharp. I'm going to move onto another blade, but I will keep this one and shave occasionally with it just to see how long it lasts me.

I don't feel like I do anything special technique-wise, but reading this thread has been very entertaining, and trying to use the techniques mentioned with intentionality has perhaps saved me from a few extra nicks. Thanks to everyone here.

 

[LJBraaten]

I just finished shave 480 on my Feather Hi Stainless. My usual razor is still my early Post War Tech.

 

[LJBraaten]

Shave 495, . . . 4

 

[TheVez2]

384 on my Personna PC.

 

[LJBraaten]

I just made 500 on my Feather!!! I don’t know how much longer I’ll continue this experiment.

 

[coolcanuc]

I just made 500 on my Feather!!! I don’t know how much longer I’ll continue this experiment.

Wow. that is a lot of use out of one blade. I applaud you and anyone wishing to use a blade for this long.

A few questions for you...
How does the blade feel?
Is your shave taking longer than with a new blade?
Has your technique/routine changed at all?

 

[LJBraaten]

Wow. that is a lot of use out of one blade. I applaud you and anyone wishing to use a blade for this long.

A few questions for you...
How does the blade feel?
Is your shave taking longer than with a new blade?
Has your technique/routine changed at all?

The blade still feels fine, but it takes a little longer to get a good shave (4 passes, usually with buffing, and light touch up). My main change in technique is a very light touch. I use a mild razor and a shallow angle (an aggressive razor has too much drag and pull unless it has a new blade). The blade wouldn’t have lasted 15 shaves without regular sharpening: I use the Allegro hone and strop every 5-8 shaves, and the Twinplex strop every day.

 

[Texchappy]

Minor victories— all three of the blades I’m using are in double digits now

 

[LJBraaten]

Minor victories— all three of the blades I’m using are in double digits now

Congratulations! That’s a huge hurdle!