Feather Artist Club Q's

[Dimitri]

Recently purchased an Artist Club DX. My experience has been not so smooth shaves. I started with Feather artist club pro-guard blades. I used one of those blades for only one shave as I felt the "guards" weren't allowing for a close shave, so I switched to the standard professional blades. Shave was closer with these blades, but not as close as I get with my DE's. I'm sure part of that has to do with technique, being new to straights and all, and possibly also the AC razors being more of a cross between a shavette and a traditional straight.

I'm just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences?

Debating on whether or not to dive in and just get a traditional straight. Ralf Aust, and Thiers-Issard razors have caught my eye.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I had a similar experience in that shaves with my new Artist Club DX were not great, I needed a final pass with a DE to get a good result. So, I forced myself to use the Feather for a month solid and worked on my technique, ensuring to use both hands. I still use the Feather about twice per month and the technique has remained, now nothing shaves me closer but I have to take my time. I discovered that I need a wetter lather than for a DE shave, and that a very shallow angle, skin stretching, and a super light touch were the most important things for me. Here is the thread:

Artist Club August

I often use a Feather Artist Club DX in my rotation but always finish up with a DE for the final tidy up pass; this is due to my lack of skill with the Feather. It looks like I will be continuing to work at home for at least the next month so it occurred to me that this is a great opportunity to...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[gpjoe]

...now nothing shaves me closer but I have to take my time.

Perfect.

I use ProGuard blades in all of my AC razors (SS, SR, DX, Kai Kasho, Vector) and also get very close shaves with less work than my DE razors, though it does take a bit longer.

For example: one WTG pass on my neck followed by an ATG pass with my Feather SR or DX leaves a true BBS result, which would require three passes and some touch up with my DE razor.

I can get a very nice DFS result with my shavettes, but still sometimes use a safety razor to touch up my upper lip (nostril area) and the tip of my chin when I'm being super fussy.

 

[Dimitri]

I discovered that I need a wetter lather than for a DE shave, and that a very shallow angle, skin stretching, and a super light touch were the most important things for me. Here is the thread:

Artist Club August

I often use a Feather Artist Club DX in my rotation but always finish up with a DE for the final tidy up pass; this is due to my lack of skill with the Feather. It looks like I will be continuing to work at home for at least the next month so it occurred to me that this is a great opportunity to...

www.badgerandblade.com

I was thinking as much. I'm sure to get my lather as wet and slick as I can, but I think it's my angle and definitely not enough skin strething, but mainly my blade angle. Shaves feel a little "scrapey" sometimes, so I definitely think my angle might be a little on the aggressive side. Shockingly, I've only knicked myself a couple times here and there. I will persevere, but the seed of getting a traditional straight has been planted lol.

 

[TSENG]

Refer to these pictures.

 

[JPO]

I'm just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences?

You can probably improve your shaves by using a more shallow blade angle and a more optimized prep and lather. However, these blades are not as sharp as a traditional straight razor with a more shallow bevel angle. A pro blade is quite uncomfortable for me e.g. against the grain on my upper lip. My straight razors handle this just fine.
A Feather pro blade has a bevel angle of approximately 19 deg, while most straight razors have a bevel angle between 15-17 deg.
There is no subjectivity here. A thinner profile will cut with less force.

You can also try the Feather pro super. This cuts better in my opinion. I also like the Proline blades better then the Feather pro.
If I use a Feather pro blade in a SE razor like the Vector I am not able to get a good shave. I get better results with a shavette. However, this particular blade is not suitable for my beard type.
These blades are probably keener, e.i. the apex radius is small. So, you end up with a blade that cuts skin much better then hair. This is the opposite of what you want.
With a straight razor you can take advantage of the more acute bevel, and create a more skin friendly edge without loosing too much of it's cutting efficiency.

 

[Brutus]

I never bothered with pro-guard blades as I never saw much sense in stringing a wire in front of a blade’s cutting edge.

I agree, however, that fresh AC blades are harsh and need about three shaves for the edge to mellow down and reach optimum performance (e.g. sharpness vs. comfort).
For a while, I used palm stropping to tame the edge of new AC blades. It may sound scary, but is perfectly safe and can be learned quite easily.

The other lesson I learned is that the blade should be used with minimum pressure and that the skin needs to be pulled taut, otherwise the AC blade might dig in, drawing blood.
With regard to pressure, I went by the maxim that if I thought I had used little pressure, the next time I tried to use even less. Eventually, I got to the sweet spot where minimum pressure meets maximum closeness.


B.

 

[JimmyJoeMeeker]

A Feather pro blade has a bevel angle of approximately 19 deg, while most straight razors have a bevel angle between 15-17 deg.

The apex is what matters.

There is no subjectivity here. A thinner profile will cut with less force.

If you're talking about potatoes, yes. But we're not talking about cutting root vegetables here.

A sharp enough apex will literally pop hairs off, seemingly on contact, with very little regard to the profile.

 

[JimmyJoeMeeker]

I will persevere, but the seed of getting a traditional straight has been planted lol.

Straights have a coolness and a nostalgia factor that are unparalleled. But you will come to view their maintenance as either a pleasing hobby or a bothersome part-time job.

I have a lifelong love affair with things that cut, and I absolutely love sharpening things. Even at that, the hassle of dealing with straights for routine shaving is not something I can endure for more than a few weeks at a time. I have them, and I love them, but they don't get much use.

 

[Dimitri]

Straights have a coolness and a nostalgia factor that are unparalleled. But you will come to view their maintenance as either a pleasing hobby or a bothersome part-time job.

I have a lifelong love affair with things that cut, and I absolutely love sharpening things. Even at that, the hassle of dealing with straights for routine shaving is not something I can endure for more than a few weeks at a time. I have them, and I love them, but they don't get much use.

This is precisely why I went with a Feather A/C razor. I wanted the closest thing to a striaight without the hassles of honing and stropping. I looked at shavettes and A/C style razors and the A/C's seemed to me to be the closest thing to a straight without the commitment.

All said, I purchased some Kai captain titan "pink" mild blades from Amazon yesterday and they actually arrived today. The Feather Pro's I was using seemed very abrasive and were irritating my skin. I remember having that same experience many years ago when trying their DE blades. I'll be damned if the Kai's didn't give me a smoother, closer, irritation free shave, despite being a "mild" blade. Just like we always discuss on this forum, finding your blade/skin compatibility combo can make all the difference. I had purchased two packs of the Feather Pro's, and one Pro guard. I will likely be listing them for sale soon as I think I will be sticking with the Kai blades. I think more than anything though, it's the coatings on the blades. The Kai's have a "titanium and fluoring resin coating," according to what I've read. Whatever it is, my face seems to favor coated blades. I know all blades supposedly have some kind of coating, but whenever I use so called stainless/non-coated blades, I get some skin irritation. The latest I tried were Russian Permasharps in my DE. I found them to be very sharp, and though I found them to also be very smooth, they were slightly irritating to me. Blades are definitely a YMMV sort of thing.

 

[GoodShave]

This is precisely why I went with a Feather A/C razor. I wanted the closest thing to a striaight without the hassles of honing and stropping. I looked at shavettes and A/C style razors and the A/C's seemed to me to be the closest thing to a straight without the commitment.

All said, I purchased some Kai captain titan "pink" mild blades from Amazon yesterday and they actually arrived today. The Feather Pro's I was using seemed very abrasive and were irritating my skin. I remember having that same experience many years ago when trying their DE blades. I'll be damned if the Kai's didn't give me a smoother, closer, irritation free shave, despite being a "mild" blade. Just like we always discuss on this forum, finding your blade/skin compatibility combo can make all the difference. I had purchased two packs of the Feather Pro's, and one Pro guard. I will likely be listing them for sale soon as I think I will be sticking with the Kai blades. I think more than anything though, it's the coatings on the blades. The Kai's have a "titanium and fluoring resin coating," according to what I've read. Whatever it is, my face seems to favor coated blades. I know all blades supposedly have some kind of coating, but whenever I use so called stainless/non-coated blades, I get some skin irritation. The latest I tried were Russian Permasharps in my DE. I found them to be very sharp, and though I found them to also be very smooth, they were slightly irritating to me. Blades are definitely a YMMV sort of thing.

I don' find Feather AC blades to be smooth for my face.
I find the Kai Captain Blade and the Kai ProTouch MG blades to be smooth blades for me.
They are also more efficient than the Kai Captain Titan Mild blades for my face but I shave every other day or so (not a daily shaver).
Finding the blade that works for you as well as face prep, skin stretching, wet later, etc. will be the key to success.

I held off buying a Feather DX for years as it had a reputation as being difficult to use, but I have enjoyed it along with my Kai Captain Standard folding razor (which has less blade exposure and a thinner profile than the DX).

 

[Dimitri]

I don' find Feather AC blades to be smooth for my face.
I find the Kai Captain Blade and the Kai ProTouch MG blades to be smooth blades for me.
They are also more efficient than the Kai Captain Titan Mild blades for my face but I shave every other day or so (not a daily shaver).
Finding the blade that works for you as well as face prep, skin stretching, wet later, etc. will be the key to success.

I held off buying a Feather DX for years as it had a reputation as being difficult to use, but I have enjoyed it along with my Kai Captain Standard folding razor (which has less blade exposure and a thinner profile than the DX).

Have you by chance ever tried the Schick Pro-lines? I’ve read that they are also smooth, but sone older posts here and elsewhere claim they are also inconsistent from blade to blade sometimes. They were old posts though.

 

[Dave himself]

Have you by chance ever tried the Schick Pro-lines? I’ve read that they are also smooth, but sone older posts here and elsewhere claim they are also inconsistent from blade to blade sometimes. They were old posts though.

I've tried the Pro-lines. For me they are smoother than the Feather Pros while losing nothing in the sharpness department.

 

[JPO]

I've tried the Pro-lines. For me they are smoother than the Feather Pros while losing nothing in the sharpness department.

That has been my experience as well.
I have not found a single bad blade. So, in my experience they are just as consistent as the Feather blades without the tugging I get with the Feather blades.
The coating used on the Feather blades might also factor in here. The Feather blades usually perform best for me after a few shaves, while the first shave off a Proline blade is just as good as the second and third.

I am not willing to use a blade that needs one or two shaves to 'settle in'. They need to be at their best the first shave.

 

[GoodShave]

Have you by chance ever tried the Schick Pro-lines? I’ve read that they are also smooth, but sone older posts here and elsewhere claim they are also inconsistent from blade to blade sometimes. They were old posts though.

I have used the Schick P-30 as well and I think they are good blades when I pair them with my Mongoose SS safety razor. I have not enjoyed them with my shavettes/barber razors (so far). I have read that they can be a bit rough for the first few shaves. I prefer the Kai Captain Blade over the Schick for smoothness.

A big issue with the P-30 blades is that the holes in the blades are not consistent from blade to blade and that makes some blades not work with some safety razors. For this reason Blackland Razors does not list them as compatible with the Vector razor, for example.

 

[JPO]

For this reason Blackland Razors does not list them as compatible with the Vector razor, for example.

I use my Proline blades in my Vector SE razor. However, the pins on the base plate will not allign the blade perfectly, so you need to load them in a certain way to get them aligned properly.

 

[GoodShave]

I use my Proline blades in my Vector SE razor. However, the pins on the base plate will not allign the blade perfectly, so you need to load them in a certain way to get them aligned properly.

Reviewing my shave notes, I had a hard time getting the blade to sit flat against the top cap when loading a P-30 in my Ti Vector. The blade was really rough (i.e. not smooth) on my face to the point that I immediately swapped it out for a different blade. That blade already had four shaves on it, so it should have settled down by then. I never tried that combination again.

Some people have no issues with P-30 blades in the Vector. I think it all depends on how the quality control was for the blade you are using. Some people modify the holes to make the blades fit better in the Vector.

I emailed Shane at Blackland Razors a while back (before buying the Vector) asking about P-30 blades with the Vector and he said "We don't consider the P-30 blades to be Vector compatible". I read threads where he elaborated more and mentioned the variation in the holes of the blades from pack to pack and even within the same pack of blades.

I am glad you found a work around!

Not to hijack this thread, but what process do you do to load the blade?

 

[JimmyJoeMeeker]

Some people modify the holes to make the blades fit better in the Vector.

I'm not saying I would never do that, but it would have to offer a pretty fabulous shave.

 

[JimmyJoeMeeker]

Have you by chance ever tried the Schick Pro-lines? I’ve read that they are also smooth, but sone older posts here and elsewhere claim they are also inconsistent from blade to blade sometimes. They were old posts though.

@Goblin, a person whom I've recently learned to trust, swears by them. On his praise, I have some ready to plug into my trusty Feather DX as soon as the current blade is past its prime.

 

[JimmyJoeMeeker]

I prefer the Kai Captain Blade over the Schick for smoothness.

I think you might know from my SABRE thread posts, but my initial shaves from the Kai Captains in a DX have been stupid good. I really, really, really hope they stay so good.