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Fake Astra blades

I took up shaving with a safety razor about 6 months back, and bought a nice little kit from an Aussie dealer. Merkur 34c, synthetic brush, and a sample pack of blades. Terrific starting point.

After working my way through the sample pack, I decided that the Astra blades would be my first order. So, on to eBay, where I bought 25 blades; enough for me to really get to know them over an extended period while I settle into a routine.

After my first shave with the new blades, I remember thinking “this doesn’t feel like what I expected”. Not the same feel or quality of cut. So I poked around this forum, and checked out lots of images. And I’m pretty certain what I’ve received are counterfeit blades.

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Check out the font on the blade! The “su” in “superior” is clearly smaller than the rest of the work. The word “Astra” normally has the A’s large than the rest of the letters. The R and A don’t join as per usual. No serifs anywhere.

The box is a little more convincing, but the white stripe against the black stripe is a little odd.

I’ve checked a few packets. They are all like this.

I know there’s been talk of fake blades here before, and everyone seemed sceptical, but these look really odd, to say the least.

Andrew
 
They look fine to me. It's not unusual for the printing to be off on blades. Probably print equipment out of adjustment at the factory. I have had blades with labels crooked, misaligned, half faded.
 
They look fine to me. It's not unusual for the printing to be off on blades. Probably print equipment out of adjustment at the factory. I have had blades with labels crooked, misaligned, half faded.

I can’t find an image anywhere via google that doesn’t have the A’s in “Astra” larger than the rest. That doesn’t seem like the printer was playing up...
 
Those blades look like crap. Throw them out and order from a better vendor that sells real blades. Preferably the etched ones that have been produced for a couple of years now. No way are those legit.
 
Difficult to tell, but it looks counterfeit to me.

Blade aside, I've never come across a PPI/Gillette blade with that paper. PPI/Gillette always put out their blades in a thin type of almost see through paper. The paper on the blade above looks like solid white paper.
 
I'm leaning towards fake also. The su on the blade looks lower case in comparison to the rest of the letters, also like noted the inner wrapper isn't see through.
 
Is the blade in the picture used? If not, them I'm saying it looks fake. It may be the picture, but the edge doesn't look smooth or evenly honed--and the lower right isn't a totally straight line (I held a ruler up to me screen--so again, could just be the picture). The coloring of the steel (darker towards the edge) is also not normal. But if the blade is used, then the coloring and rough edge would be more normal.

I've always be skeptical of fake blades--counterfeiters go for luxury items (Rolex, LV, Coach, etc.), not cheap stuff because there's just not as much money to be made. It's possible those are counterfeit or maybe just a machine wasn't running properly and quality control didn't catch a bad batch.
 
I received counterfeit Astras from Amazon Canada about three years ago. Unfortunately, they were the first Astras I tried, so I thought all Astras were that horrible. I have since purchased some from a member on the bst.* They are OK for me, but nothing special. I could shave with them, but I have many other blades I like better.
*After receiving the blades, I noticed that the tuck colours were off, and the blade printing had differences. Those differences led me to believe the blades were counterfeit rather than a bad batch that snuck through inspection. You don't hear much about bad single blades with Astras. QC seems to be very good with PPI blades.
 
Welcome to B&B.
After my first shave with the new blades, I remember thinking “this doesn’t feel like what I expected”. Not the same feel or quality of cut.
A single shave is not a good guide. Open another tuck and try a blade from that pack. The printing on the blade looks strange on the "SU" but that could be a print problem only.
 
I have a lot of Astra blades from before they switched to laser printing, feel free to compare. The "A"s are way different from his and mine, they're more pointy and come up higher than the rest of the letters.

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A single shave is not a good guide. Open another tuck and try a blade from that pack.
I did that, of course. Same result in three tucks.

The printing on the blade looks strange on the "SU" but that could be a print problem only.

If some letters were smeared, or faded, then I can believe that. But for Astra to lose their hallmark "A's", and for the font size to change in the middle of a word? That's like Coca Cola changing their font to Times New Roman...

Andrew
 
Also noticed the "U" on the blade has not got it's customary tail and the printing on the blade has not got the clear definition as my blades. Leads me now to conclude your blades are not genuine; especially if the shave is poor. Astra SP are known to give a good shave for many.
I did not think it was worth selling counterfeit blades but there must be a profit there.
 
We've heard other claims of counterfeit blades, & many claims turn out to not be counterfeit. But in this case, I see the reason for the claim, & I agree they look counterfeit to me.
 
I can tell the printing is very sloppy. It would make me suspicious also. Maybe they changed manufacturers or jobbed out some of the production to another factory. However, Astra is supposedly changing their printing of the blades to laser printing which is supposed to make it harder to counterfeit.
 
It's definitely fake.
The font on Astra is wrong. The rest of the letters don't line up.
It is possible that they made some change to the printing for a batch, but they just changed to laser etching so doesn't make sense that they would do that now.
Usually "fake" blades are just a new version or a printing error. But blatantly wrong font is a dead giveaway
 
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