I know a guy who was directly involved with the disposition of the machines.
Interesting Astra SP discovery
- Thread starter joeyboy
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I know a guy who was directly involved with the disposition of the machines.
Sorry, you're going to need more proof than "My uncle worked at Area 51....".
Fine. Change the scenario and call me a liar. Actually, while I was in the Air Force I knew many people who became stealth fighter pilots and flew in or near area 51. The story was they were assigned to fly A-7's at Nellis Air Force base. The squadron was fully operational in the early 80's. You can read much of the story in the book "Skunk Works." I never knew what these pilots were flying until decades later.
Figuratively speaking, the person I know had Ivan's phone number. In reality, his Rolodex had more phone numbers in China, Germany, Mexico, and around the United States. It's more complicated than that, but the general outline is correct.
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THe PRewar Fat Handle Tech is a superb razor, I love mine! And you're quite right about the soap affecting your shave, it sure does. And the quality of the lather, naturally, affects the quality & comfort of your shave.
Are we taking about aliens here or plain old boring designed in the 1900s machines...
Unless someone creates a new obsidian sharp min 100 use blade it's just another outdated DE blade.
The fact we have to use DEs n design razors around this antiquated blade till today is a stale joke.
Now a fully adjustable, tilt, pitch blade exposure/gap with cheap replaceable long lasting blades. Now that would be worth an in depth discussion
lol!
Are we taking about aliens here or plain old boring designed in the 1900s machines...
Unless someone creates a new obsidian sharp min 100 use blade it's just another outdated DE blade...
Sharpness is not really as big a factor as many think. It's the coatings and how they are sputtered on that is the real technology. That is what imparts the smoothness in a DE/SE shave and not sharpness.
Yes n no, if the blade isn't sharp to begin with all the coatings on a dull blade is so much frostings on a brick.
My point was at the end of they day its still ancient technology to make blades with some modern tech for coating, its nothing truly revelationary.
Plus the basic DE blade design hasn't changed in like a century or more.
Simply put the $ isn't there in DEs and therefore it's old tech. Disposable cheap plastic razors are where the profits are.
My point was at the end of they day its still ancient technology to make blades with some modern tech for coating, its nothing truly revelationary.
Plus the basic DE blade design hasn't changed in like a century or more.
Simply put the $ isn't there in DEs and therefore it's old tech. Disposable cheap plastic razors are where the profits are.
Yes n no again. We are not looking at the same issue.
1959 is old tech. Seriously old tech. Nothing new other than perhaps improved coatings, the machines to form the blades and sharpen them are dated to say the least.
My point is discussing about such outdated blades is a moot point. Find an affordable blade that cuts well, last long enough n that's all folks.
Show me a blade that's of a newer design that allows razor makers to design better razors and is smooth, sharp and longer lasting that's when I'll be interested.
1959 is old tech. Seriously old tech. Nothing new other than perhaps improved coatings, the machines to form the blades and sharpen them are dated to say the least.
My point is discussing about such outdated blades is a moot point. Find an affordable blade that cuts well, last long enough n that's all folks.
Show me a blade that's of a newer design that allows razor makers to design better razors and is smooth, sharp and longer lasting that's when I'll be interested.
Great another Gillette patent... Do I think they'll sell the blades in the open market... No.
It'll likely be used only on their carts and sold for ridiculous prices.
So it fails on the criteria of market availability for other razor makers to design new razors.
They get smoother after 4-5 shaves.
Have you tried the shortcut of "corking" new ones with styrofoam?
I'm on the fence about which are better, but Astra SPs are half the price, which is why I bought a 100-pack of them instead of GSBs.
Yup, but for me it's "sharpness, durability, comfort, and price".
Plus 1!
GSBs, Rubies, Kais and Feathers are at the upper end of the price curve. In fact Kais are so expensive it's ridiculous $40+ for 100???
My favorite blade is the Feather but its 2.3x the price of a Nacet. Overall the Nacet is 50% cheaper than the feather calculated over average daily usage so it forms the bulk of my blade stock.
Astra SP good.
I only use Astra SP or IP Red blades and have hundreds of each stockpiled. While I use Astra blades in my Merkur 34, I prefer IP Red in my old Gillettes and the GameChanger .68 I've been using for the past 6 months.
Astra SP is the blade I use to gauge other blades, they have to be at the very least to be similar to the Astra SP.
It’s not my favorite blade but they usually work with most of my de razors and it was also the first blade I tried that I got a good shave when I started wet shaving.
I tried the Derby Extra and Crystal when I started wet shaving and found the Astra SP to perform the best among these blades with the Crystal coming in next.
The Derby gave me a lot of nicks and razor burn, this was when I was still learning how to use a de razor which was so much better than the Panasonic electric razor I was using.
There would be some parts that was uneven so I switched back to my Mach 3 then Gillette Fusion and finally tried a safety razor, a Weishi TTO and Mehaz TTO which were identical but found the Mehaz to be better built ( probably most likely better quality control even if it was made at the same factory, although it says made in Germany but I found the satin finish to shave smoother) which opens and closes smoother than the Weishi.
The EJ de89 was the first razor I considered to be the starting point of this wet shaving “hobby “ and the acquisition disorder in everything wet shaving related.
I do find the Razorock de1 or Baili Bd178 one of my favorites regardless of price.
It’s not really a tech clone, its a unique design with the safety bar position lower and has little blade exposure and quite efficient with a sharp blade like a Polsilver.
It’s not my favorite razor, but for the price like the Astra SP blades it’s one of those you get the best bang for your buck.
As usual YMMV.
It’s not my favorite blade but they usually work with most of my de razors and it was also the first blade I tried that I got a good shave when I started wet shaving.
I tried the Derby Extra and Crystal when I started wet shaving and found the Astra SP to perform the best among these blades with the Crystal coming in next.
The Derby gave me a lot of nicks and razor burn, this was when I was still learning how to use a de razor which was so much better than the Panasonic electric razor I was using.
There would be some parts that was uneven so I switched back to my Mach 3 then Gillette Fusion and finally tried a safety razor, a Weishi TTO and Mehaz TTO which were identical but found the Mehaz to be better built ( probably most likely better quality control even if it was made at the same factory, although it says made in Germany but I found the satin finish to shave smoother) which opens and closes smoother than the Weishi.
The EJ de89 was the first razor I considered to be the starting point of this wet shaving “hobby “ and the acquisition disorder in everything wet shaving related.
I do find the Razorock de1 or Baili Bd178 one of my favorites regardless of price.
It’s not really a tech clone, its a unique design with the safety bar position lower and has little blade exposure and quite efficient with a sharp blade like a Polsilver.
It’s not my favorite razor, but for the price like the Astra SP blades it’s one of those you get the best bang for your buck.
As usual YMMV.
Normally I get BBS in 2 passes or less with Nacets, Feathers and super Nacets.
In the past few days I've been trying out the GC84 and I need to use an astra cos of how aggressive it is. So far I have been getting acceptable shaves l, BBS in 3 passes.
Normally I get a BBS that lasts a good 8 hrs or more till it becomes a DFS. With an Astra, BBS turns into DFS in 4 hrs, I start to feel stubble by then.
A turn with a GC84 followed by a swap into an English Tech (with a lot of buffing) didn't get the long lasting BBS I usually have, I think I need to put it into a slim and crank it to a 7 to see if it'll give me a better shave.
In the past few days I've been trying out the GC84 and I need to use an astra cos of how aggressive it is. So far I have been getting acceptable shaves l, BBS in 3 passes.
Normally I get a BBS that lasts a good 8 hrs or more till it becomes a DFS. With an Astra, BBS turns into DFS in 4 hrs, I start to feel stubble by then.
A turn with a GC84 followed by a swap into an English Tech (with a lot of buffing) didn't get the long lasting BBS I usually have, I think I need to put it into a slim and crank it to a 7 to see if it'll give me a better shave.
Such a poor analogy that I'm surprised nobody else responded... Lucky Charms and Cheerios are products, not brands. Gillette is the General Mills here, Astra SP is lucky charms, Gillette Silver Blue is Cheerios, and both products belong to the Gillette brand
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