Hypermiling Blades

[GaryTha]

This is about right, in my opinion! Most of us will have hundreds and hundreds of blades in the collection. I’m all for getting a decent return on your investment, but I could not be bothered corking blades that I buy for less than £10 per 100 in order to get further use out of them. It’s also odd in my view that the same individuals doing anything they can to get 50+ shaves on a single DE blade, will be happy to drop £100+ on a brush. I don’t get it.

It's not about money. For me, I know there is a series of about 60 exquisite shaves after the first 10 or 15. They are butterknife smooth, but almost the same efficiency as a new blade. The actual number varies with the type of blade and the shaver's skill, etc.

The only thing I do is rinse and flip the blade after each shave. I've always done that. Preparation and technique are the key variables. The other stuff you mentioned doesn't work to any great extent on modern blades.

 

[geneaut]

Yeah I don’t think most people fuss with the corking or stropping for longevity reasons. I cork or hand strop a few blades because it smooths down the first shave of a some specific blades. I don’t bother with it all the time because the first shave usually does the same thing and shave 2 is much better. Just started a new Personna Red a few days ago and it’s one of the blades I sometimes do that to but just rolled with it straight on shave one and dealt with it lacking a little glide. Shave two was perfect.

 

[GaryTha]

When to bin a blade -- Excalibur style

Yesterday, I was experimenting with thinner lather, and my first pass wasn't close enough. During my second pass, I nicked myself ever so slightly above my upper lip. Previous to that shave, I hadn't drawn the slightest amount of blood in over 65 shaves. (Total includes two blades). Was it time to replace the blade? Many shavers bin a blade at the first sign of tugging or nicking. Most skin damage is the shaver's fault, not the blades.

The Excalibur style is to "push through" a bad shave to get to the good shaves that are waiting on the other side. I used to think pushing through was in the sense of pushing through a difficult section of a long hike. This isn't the case at all. It means to continue using the same blade for the next shave to see who was at fault... the shaver or the blade.

Use some common sense. After a nick, shine a strong light on the blade to see if there is a bright spot. Bright spots are nicks in the blade and they won't fix themselves overnight.

For today's shave, I made the lather a bit thicker, and the shave was an efficient one-pass DFS with no blood.

 

[Chandu]

Anyone ever hypermile a Feather FHS-10? If so how far did you get?

 

[GaryTha]

Anyone ever hypermile a Feather FHS-10? If so how far did you get?

Search results for query: feather

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[dionesius3]

Does the razor type make much of a difference in the blade life? Would a milder razor result in a longer blade life?

The type of razor does make a bit of difference in the number of shaves I can get from a blade but for me it is not a large difference in the numbers. I might get 10 or 12 more shaves by moving to a razor with either more blade exposure or a flatter blade profile. But I seldom do that because it does not make that much difference to me. Another 10 from a blade I have been using for 100 shaves really doesn’t matter to me. Now if it were a blade with 190 shaves I might try to get the 200 mark by switching to the next razor.
As someone else said the more aggressive razors tend to give the longest blade life for me. But there are exceptions for that. My vintage Gillette Senator is not an aggressive razor but it does give the longest blade life of all my razors. And I am not sure why that is so other than it tends to hold the blade at a rather flat profile.

 

[GaryTha]

Does the razor type make much of a difference in the blade life? Would a milder razor result in a longer blade life?

Number of shaves = f(Mental attitude + Preparation + Technique + Blade + Razor....)

For the beginner, I recommend first focusing on the big variables. Once these are mastered, they can move on to the small variables.

To answer your question directly, many find that when a blade stops cutting whiskers well, switching to a more aggressive razor will rejuvenate the blade for a while. One knight moves through a series of 18 razors starting with the mildest to the most aggressive. A secondary purpose for him is variety that keeps him from getting complacent.

I'm going to start using an adjustable on the lowest setting for the first five shaves to avoid bleeding. I'll do a long run while gradually increasing the setting to see what happens.

 

[Chandu]

I'm going to start using an adjustable on the lowest setting for the first five shaves to avoid bleeding. I'll do a long run while gradually increasing the setting to see what happens.

That should be interesting.

 

[dionesius3]

My first question for the Knights of the Order of Excalibur is do you get a BBS result all through your usage? And if so, what does it take for you personally to achieve that? I mean how many passes and what directions?

I do not stop a shave unless it is BBS and so yes every blade must give BBS results throughout the duration. For me that takes two Passes ATG and some buffing on the neck area.
I have always shaved two passes ATG. It is the only way to get BBS on my beard. I even do it with the straight razor when I use it.

 

[TFAshaver]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the replies so far. I have been using a Bic Chrome Platinum for a little over a week. I got to 10 shaves today, and the blade was a little rough, but not horrible yet. I will see how it goes. The Gillette Platinum I tried last time got to 10, but there was a huge wall I hit where is got super uncomfortable which is why I stopped and moved on. The Bic isn't there yet, but I got a little concerned today during the shave as the against the grain did not go supper well, not bad, just the first time it was noticeably not as good. Hope it evens out here at 11 tomorrow.

Hope you all are getting great shaves!

 

[GaryTha]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the replies so far. I have been using a Bic Chrome Platinum for a little over a week. I got to 10 shaves today, and the blade was a little rough, but not horrible yet. I will see how it goes. The Gillette Platinum I tried last time got to 10, but there was a huge wall I hit where is got super uncomfortable which is why I stopped and moved on. The Bic isn't there yet, but I got a little concerned today during the shave as the against the grain did not go supper well, not bad, just the first time it was noticeably not as good. Hope it evens out here at 11 tomorrow.

Hope you all are getting great shaves!

Congratulations on getting this far. At this point, you can put Excalibur Club in your signature if you plan to continue to seek higher numbers by improving your shaving technique.

It's normal for a blade to feel rough anywhere between about 5 and 15 shaves. Most people say this is the coating wearing off the blade. It's not normal for a blade to hurt. I'll pass on the usual errors.

1. If you get a nick it will because of applying too much pressure.
2. If you get tugging, it will likely be because of too steep an angle. Poor prep can also cause this. Keep riding the top cap.
3. If you get irritation, it will likely be because of too steep an angle and going over the same spot too many times. Keep riding the top cap.

Don't give up on the blade unless it stops cutting whiskers. If you get one of the problems above, go one more shave and be careful.

I recommend sticking with a mild razor at least through this rough spot. If you keep riding the top cap, an aggressive razor will act mild except for a few types.

 

[TFAshaver]

Today was the 12th Shave with the Bic Chrome Platinum and it was in a Gillette Fat Handle Tech. It was an ok shave without irritation, but I did XTG, ATG, ATG with buffing, and then a cleanup with buffing, to get a shave I was happy with. Extremely mild skin irritation today from all the buffing. No tugging, no nicks, so overall I am happy with the shave. I think might throw the blade into a different razor tomorrow. Leaning towards either my Slim Adjustable or an Old Type Gillette. Hope you are all getting some great shaves.

 

[sugardaddy]

Today was the 12th Shave with the Bic Chrome Platinum and it was in a Gillette Fat Handle Tech. It was an ok shave without irritation, but I did XTG, ATG, ATG with buffing, and then a cleanup with buffing, to get a shave I was happy with. Extremely mild skin irritation today from all the buffing. No tugging, no nicks, so overall I am happy with the shave. I think might throw the blade into a different razor tomorrow. Leaning towards either my Slim Adjustable or an Old Type Gillette. Hope you are all getting some great shaves.

Good job, man!

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

 

[TFAshaver]

Well, today was the 13th Shave on the Bic Chrome Platinum. I chased a better shave an am paying the price today. I have a little irritation, nothing near the worst I have done before, but I need to let up on the buffing for a little bit maybe. Overall not a horrible shave, just not perfect. I am going to see how the blade does tomorrow, just with a little less buffing. I did a WTG buffing, XTG buffing, and ATG no buffing and a clean up. Still have a little stubble, and went over the jaw line a little too much. Just learning a little more with this shave than I anticipated.

 

[GaryTha]

Good job on +13. I think this is close to your highest.

You may be reaching the limits of your skillset for a blade with this many shaves. Many people bin a couple of blades at around 15 shaves before progressing to the next level. Judge the blade based on how much more stubble than normal is missed.

 

[DougK]

I have no desire to try for the maximum number of shaves out of each blade, but I'd definitely like to do better than the three or four shaves I currently get. Most of that problem is on me, I'm sure. In the beginning of my DE shaving journey, I used a drugstore Personna blade for a full week of three- or four-pass shaves with no particular difficulty. Might be time to figure out why that was the case. I'll be following this thread with interest.

 

[lancre]

I have no desire to try for the maximum number of shaves out of each blade, but I'd definitely like to do better than the three or four shaves I currently get. Most of that problem is on me, I'm sure. In the beginning of my DE shaving journey, I used a drugstore Personna blade for a full week of three- or four-pass shaves with no particular difficulty. Might be time to figure out why that was the case. I'll be following this thread with interest.

Sounds like you were lucky enough to find your ideal blade right out of the gate. Up until now, drugstore Personnas have been Israeli Personnas. But Edgewell has declared an intention to close their Israeli plant, so you'd better stock up soon.

 

[DougK]

Sounds like you were lucky enough to find your ideal blade right out of the gate. Up until now, drugstore Personnas have been Israeli Personnas. But Edgewell has declared an intention to close their Israeli plant, so you'd better stock up soon.

My preferred blades are Feathers or GSBs, but I'm not against shaving with Personnas; picked some up this morning, as a matter of fact. I want to buy products locally as much as possible, so once my current stocks run out, I'll be shaving with whatever I can get at the drug store or grocery. You might also be correct about possibly having found my ideal blade, but I think it's more that I didn't overthink things back when I started. I just tried to use good lather, good technique, and shaved with whatever blades I could get.

 

[Pattorashu]

Without reading that hypermiling thread, I'll say that there has to be a honing process to progress past a few shaves with any kind of comfort.

The same reason you hone your kitchen knives, is to extend the usefulness of the single sharpen. If you don't hone you're throwing away blade by sharpening every 4-6 months.

The edge of your razor blade is going to curl during shaving and would need to be re-aligned to restore a proper shave.

I'd look into that as a technique for hypermiling.

Why are all my favorite blades getting discontinued!

 

[lancre]

You might also be correct about possibly having found my ideal blade, but I think it's more that I didn't overthink things back when I started. I just tried to use good lather, good technique, and shaved with whatever blades I could get.

You've got your priorities straight.