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Excalibur Club - Blade Longevity DE, SE and Injector

Good morning Gents.
I will be using an IP blade, in an English Tech (looks 60's, aluminum swirled handle, about 30gms) for the next month. Partly for carrying out advice on general technique from @Cal and @AimlessWanderer (hat tip) and also to test blade longevity. Any general advice on blade upkeep with an IP?
This will be my first blade longevity experiment.
I will report back periodically.
I did my Excalibur marathon not with a Personna Red, but a Polsilver Super Iridium.

My "blade upkeep" remains the same regardless. Post-shave I clean and dry my razor... and clean, dry, and flip my blade. Many people say that's too much, but you could stand a spoon up in my tap water (it's that hard). I suspect the "rinse only" guys have soft water.

... And Al and I, although friends, take pride in being as different from each other as possible. :devil:
 
⬆️ @Cal nailed it!

He and I have very different approaches. Cal will strip the razor down to clean everything after each shave, whereas I might clean build up off the blade after 10 shaves, or when it doesn't feel like it's cutting well.
When you say clean the blade, do you mean just wash it? I saw coated blades should not be wiped or it will take off coating (I have bought a batch of Crystals, and it seems to explicitly say that on the wax wrappers). You mean by clean, just run it under water?
I was thinking of getting a little plastic pyramid from ebay, because it is well known the Pharaohs' were often buried with 200 Shark S/S which was expected to get them through the afterlife. *Joke Alert*!
 
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AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
When you say clean the blade, do you mean just wash it? I saw coated blades should not be wiped or it will take off coating (I have bought a batch of Crystals, and it seems to explicitly say that on the wax wrappers). You mean by clean, just run it under water?
I was thinking of getting a little plastic pyramid from ebay, because it is well known the Pharaohs' were often buried with 200 Shark S/S which was expected to get them through the afterlife. *Joke Alert*!

I don't know how Cal and others do it, but (depending on health issues), I'll either hold the blade underwater, and "push" the scum off the edge of the blade with my thumb, or effectively strop it (both edges) on a wet soapy cloth, and then rinse well. The thumb push works best for me, but my vision, coordination and balance don't always allow it.

As for fears of removing coatings, if the coatings are not up to a little light cleaning like this, I don't think they would hang about long after cutting through thousands of hairs anyway. Damaging the sharp edge apex, or yourself, is more likely. That's why I adjust my methods to my abilities on the day.
 
I don't know how Cal and others do it, but (depending on health issues), I'll either hold the blade underwater, and "push" the scum off the edge of the blade with my thumb, or effectively strop it (both edges) on a wet soapy cloth, and then rinse well. The thumb push works best for me, but my vision, coordination and balance don't always allow it.

As for fears of removing coatings, if the coatings are not up to a little light cleaning like this, I don't think they would hang about long after cutting through thousands of hairs anyway. Damaging the sharp edge apex, or yourself, is more likely. That's why I adjust my methods to my abilities on the day.
Cheers for that :)
 
Just had shave 15 on a Polsilver Iridium. It's been in one of my razors since Nov 12 ( first use but I've used a different blade razor combo also during that time period ). It felt a little slower today, but it still delivered a smooth, comfortable, and mostly effortless shave. It's still shaving better than many new blades I don't like to use.
 
I pulled the blade through the cork.
I am interested in this little point, almost a throwaway remark, but I wanted to check, being new to this.

Are you describing a method where you split a bottle cork say three quarters deep, and then insert the blade and clean it between the cork sides? I assume you pinch the cork tight and pull the blade through?

Very interesting!
 
I am interested in this little point, almost a throwaway remark, but I wanted to check, being new to this.

Are you describing a method where you split a bottle cork say three quarters deep, and then insert the blade and clean it between the cork sides? I assume you pinch the cork tight and pull the blade through?

Discussion in detail here:
 
I am interested in this little point, almost a throwaway remark, but I wanted to check, being new to this.

Are you describing a method where you split a bottle cork say three quarters deep, and then insert the blade and clean it between the cork sides? I assume you pinch the cork tight and pull the blade through?

Very interesting!
Not. I, from time to time, pass the blade clean through a bottle cork as if I try to cut the stopper with the blade. The cut for every part of the lame. I know if he helps something this ritual.
 
Good morning Gents.
I will be using an IP blade, in an English Tech (looks 60's, aluminum swirled handle, about 30gms) for the next month. Partly for carrying out advice on general technique from @Cal and @AimlessWanderer (hat tip) and also to test blade longevity. Any general advice on blade upkeep with an IP?
This will be my first blade longevity experiment.
I will report back periodically.
I, after each shaved clean blade with hot water and a drying by buffering with a piece of hygienic paper. It seems complicated but only takes a few seconds. Another method used by me was to keep the blade immersed in paraffin oil to keep her moisture.
 
We have found that razor is a very important variable. For example. Yesterday with a King C Gillette I had a lower qualitative shaving of today when using a Ikon X3 Slant I had an excellent shaving.
I mention that I did not have any problems after shaving in the 80+ uses of the same blades!
 
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Just shave with it and see how it goes. In my experience, proper shave prep and technique have more to do with longevity than blade maintenance.
I completed my 8th shave with the I/P. Early days I know, but just some initial notes.

6 of the shaves were completed with the English Tech. 1 with a pre-50 U.S Super Speed, 1 with a short handled EJ E89. I have tried to keep consistency but I just thought I would run the blade through my other razors.

Again, for consistency, Arko!, face lathered with a basic synthetic brush.

All 3 pass shaves.

I am noticing no noticeable drop in performance from the blade. First use may have been the dullest, by an almost imperceptible margin. A steady increase in efficiency AND smoothness, the optimum being achieved after about the 3rd shave. Since then it has been consistent.

There may be a slight improvement in efficiency using the heavier razors. The best shave so far was yesterday, using the Super Speed.

I am just gently drying the blade in a towel, clearing off any residual soap from the blade edge using my thumbnail, leaving it a few minutes and replacing in it's paper wrapper.

Deeply impressed by it's performance so far. I shall take it it to 15 if I can and update.
 
Completed my 15th shave with the Personna today. I had used it once before my 30th November posting here.
I am just very, very impressed.

I am doing nothing fancy, I am just drying the blade in a towel (letting any moisture soak into the towel) and gently removing any soap buildup on the edges with my thumbnail. Then I am replacing it in it's paper.

Yesterday I used it to clear a 3 day growth. I am really not noticing any difference in performance. There may be a marginal decrease in sharpness, but there is no tugging or pulling, and I am not getting any irritation.

I'm at a loss really. Is it part of a natural pattern which involves incremental improvement in technique, which has a knock-on effect on the efficiency of the 'hardware and software' used? Is it down to the quality of the blade? Is it psychological, in that people chuck blades after an arbitary (maybe too low) number of uses?
 
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I think I have enough data to summarize my results. On 30.11, I started a fresh Personna Lab which shaved me well until today. Pulling around the mouth just like my previous blades, Personna Med and Feather.
Conclusions:
  • Leaving blades in a dry place after use doesn't improve the longevity for me. Therefore I will continue to store them next to my razor in my bathroom
  • The length of my beard has no influence on longevity, i.e. 3 1d-beard shaves = 1 3 day-stubble shave
  • Prep has no influence on longevity. I used mostly Cella Bio and Speick cream on my brush, cold water as always
  • I can get 2-3 weeks of comfortable shaves with either Feather or the US-made Personnas. I will try Rapira Platinum Lux next, but don't expect to stretch it for longer and unless I do, I will stop posting in this thread
  • The only way I can achieve months worth of shaving with the same blade is use it on the sparsest areas of my face after the blade's prime time. For the rest of my face, I need a fresh blade. Therefore, the Excalibur experiment proved I don't need to discard a blade after 1 shave and this will lower the number of blade banks I throw. OTOH, Excalibur club might be better suited to folks with insensitive skin
I hope my experiment was helpful and interesting. I wish Excalibur members lots of record-breaking blades and happy shaving!
 

Mike M

...but this one IS cracked.
I'm at a loss really. Is it part of a natural pattern which involves incremental improvement in technique, which has a knock-on effect on the efficiency of the 'hardware and software' used? Is it down to the quality of the blade? Is it psychological, in that people chuck blades after an arbitary (maybe too low) number of uses?
When I started I was getting 5-6 shaves from an Astra SP, nowadays it is 12-13 that's down to technique.
 
When I started I was getting 5-6 shaves from an Astra SP, nowadays it is 12-13 that's down to technique.
Yep, I am beginning to believe it is one of the maybe big 3 factors, the others being blade quality and the tendency to toss a perfectly good blade after a pre-ordained and conservative number of uses. This is likely more common with very new members of the hobby. I think my technique has matured to the point that I can start to make these more nuanced decisions as to why a shave didn't work out, and figure out the issue. Thanks to all who have helped in that on B&B :thumbup1:

To be honest I never have a bad shave anymore, based on skillset and chosen kit. Interestingly I've found I will not shave when in certain states of mind, especially anxiety, as I am convinced that will make for a bad shave. 'Automatic pilot' shaving is for carts.

Anyway I will just crack on with this one. If I can get it to 25 I will be very happy, as a start. I have several other makes to try out too.
 
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Didn't know this club existed. I'd like to join. I grew a beard 2 years ago at the beginning of the pandemic. Shaved it off about 1 year ago. Since then, I've used 4 Feather blades in my Timeless SS .95 OC DE razor. I get about 45 - 50 shaves per blade. Last blade I used I started on Oct 1 21, shaved every other day, last shave was end of Jan 22. Just opened a new blade to start Feb 22 and participate in the OBiF contest.
 
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