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Introducing the Blackland Era - 100% stainless steel. 3D printed. $75

Which Karve plates are you able to compare to the Era? I love the OC C plate from Karve and was curious what the closest Era equivalent might be. Cheers
I just did a fast, end-of-day shave, the first using the level 3 OC plate. I was going too fast to want to natter on about the shave details, so 1 point only: I think I can shave just as fast and carelessly with the level 4 OC, and get better results.

I may try to find someone who wants to swap a level 5 OC for my level 3. Unlike the Karve, downshifting a level didn't make an easy, safe razor even easier and safer.
 
Which Karve plates are you able to compare to the Era? I love the OC C plate from Karve and was curious what the closest Era equivalent might be. Cheers
I have OC B/C/D for my brass Karve. It is one of my few razors that are always close at hand, with either the C or D plate installed. For me:
OC-B - only sees use when I have a social obligation to shave, but require gentleness
OC-C - best if I am shaving every day
OC-D - for two-day or more stubble, or if I crave a particularly close shave

I would suggest the level 4 OC to match the Karve OC-C. I do not have the ERA 5 OC, so I can't evaluate that. My shave experience with the ERA is very distinct from my shaves with the Karve, but for me level 4 OC will work every day and will, I believe, get close with greater ease than OC-C. These are first impressions of the ERA, mind you.

Hope that helps.
 
Yes very much thank you. I was thinking OC 4 or 5 so I appreciate the reply.
I have OC B/C/D for my brass Karve. It is one of my few razors that are always close at hand, with either the C or D plate installed. For me:
OC-B - only sees use when I have a social obligation to shave, but require gentleness
OC-C - best if I am shaving every day
OC-D - for two-day or more stubble, or if I crave a particularly close shave

I would suggest the level 4 OC to match the Karve OC-C. I do not have the ERA 5 OC, so I can't evaluate that. My shave experience with the ERA is very distinct from my shaves with the Karve, but for me level 4 OC will work every day and will, I believe, get close with greater ease than OC-C. These are first impressions of the ERA, mind you.

Hope that helps.
 
Here comes the report I didn't want to type. Sometimes, products just don't work for some people. I am not going to blast a merchant because their product doesn't work for me. But I am going to put out a report of my findings as public record.

With that said, I was the first person on here to discover a blade misalignment issue. But I didn't report on it right away for two reasons; one, I wasn't sure what the root cause was and two, I wanted to give the merchant a chance to handle it. I want to talk about two first. I contact Shane last Sunday, not expecting a reply and I feel bad about doing it. I just needed to get the email out so he could read it Monday. Big props to merchants who check their email on the weekend, but why? I took photos and finally figured out how to get a video with only two hands showing the problem. He agreed that it wasn't correct and sent me a new top cap on Wednesday. In the mean time, several more concerns came in about blade alignment and I only cautioned people to contact Blackland, sometimes as a PM. I received a replacement top cap today and it is nearly identical to the first one. So, regrettably the whole thing is boxed up to be sent back Monday. I am planning to pay for return because I feel like my expectations are too high and I need to get it out while I am in town before I can contact him. That's the end of the story for the customer service, top notch. I am kind of hoping he isn't reading this weekend, sorry.

As for the razor, I have said before and I will say it again; it's a great design with a well thought out plate spacing. The low profile of the head is amazing along with the blade clamping. The new manufacturing process is interesting and innovative and I had thought about keeping the razor because of it's novelty. That said, both the top cap and the plates have too imprecise of a tolerance for me. I would rather fight to get a blade on that have it able to wiggle and all of my razors have no more than .01mm of movement. Basically, you might feel the tiniest movement, but you can't see the blade edge moving(usually it's side to side). The Era has a lot of movement and it depends on which plate you are using as well. This is a compound problem, the blade can move on the top cap and the top cap can move on the baseplate. The #1 is crazy loose, but the weirdest thing is that the width of the holes on that one are the same as my other razors. That's what took me the longest time to figure out, the posts that hold the blade are just too narrow, significantly, visibly, narrower that my Timeless(these should be standardised right?). I am debating about putting up a picture, but I think I will refrain unless asked. Worse, the razor has no self alignment tendency. In the pictures I took for Blackland, I loosened the cap slightly, simulating rinsing out, and retightened by feel. Every time the alignment was different and never correct. If you shake the razor at all with the handle loose, you now have a rather odd slant razor. I did get cut, actually cut, because one of the corners was sticking out further and what felt correct on one corner put the blade in my skin on that protruding corner. Partly because it wasn't parallel with the safety bar. I had a lot of irritation and smaller nicks that I am not prone to getting. Still, I think my standards are too high. I know some other razors require care to get the blade aligned and I have avoided buying those. The only thing I can say in my defence is that the Henson cost the same and it REALLY crunches the blade, you know it's centred. I took that as a given, I have accidentally shaved with the handle loose without serious injury. So in conclusion, buyer beware. Or rather, be aware. Don't assume it's properly aligned based on feel and even then, if it feels wrong, stop and check again. I admit I assumed it had to be centred because I have never run into this myself and I was using an OC plate that makes seeing alignment difficult.

Feel free to flame away, I know this is going to be an unpopular post and I will just go away for a while if need be. I have tried to disclose everything as best I can, good and bad.
 
Here comes the report I didn't want to type. Sometimes, products just don't work for some people. I am not going to blast a merchant because their product doesn't work for me. But I am going to put out a report of my findings as public record.

With that said, I was the first person on here to discover a blade misalignment issue. But I didn't report on it right away for two reasons; one, I wasn't sure what the root cause was and two, I wanted to give the merchant a chance to handle it. I want to talk about two first. I contact Shane last Sunday, not expecting a reply and I feel bad about doing it. I just needed to get the email out so he could read it Monday. Big props to merchants who check their email on the weekend, but why? I took photos and finally figured out how to get a video with only two hands showing the problem. He agreed that it wasn't correct and sent me a new top cap on Wednesday. In the mean time, several more concerns came in about blade alignment and I only cautioned people to contact Blackland, sometimes as a PM. I received a replacement top cap today and it is nearly identical to the first one. So, regrettably the whole thing is boxed up to be sent back Monday. I am planning to pay for return because I feel like my expectations are too high and I need to get it out while I am in town before I can contact him. That's the end of the story for the customer service, top notch. I am kind of hoping he isn't reading this weekend, sorry.

As for the razor, I have said before and I will say it again; it's a great design with a well thought out plate spacing. The low profile of the head is amazing along with the blade clamping. The new manufacturing process is interesting and innovative and I had thought about keeping the razor because of it's novelty. That said, both the top cap and the plates have too imprecise of a tolerance for me. I would rather fight to get a blade on that have it able to wiggle and all of my razors have no more than .01mm of movement. Basically, you might feel the tiniest movement, but you can't see the blade edge moving(usually it's side to side). The Era has a lot of movement and it depends on which plate you are using as well. This is a compound problem, the blade can move on the top cap and the top cap can move on the baseplate. The #1 is crazy loose, but the weirdest thing is that the width of the holes on that one are the same as my other razors. That's what took me the longest time to figure out, the posts that hold the blade are just too narrow, significantly, visibly, narrower that my Timeless(these should be standardised right?). I am debating about putting up a picture, but I think I will refrain unless asked. Worse, the razor has no self alignment tendency. In the pictures I took for Blackland, I loosened the cap slightly, simulating rinsing out, and retightened by feel. Every time the alignment was different and never correct. If you shake the razor at all with the handle loose, you now have a rather odd slant razor. I did get cut, actually cut, because one of the corners was sticking out further and what felt correct on one corner put the blade in my skin on that protruding corner. Partly because it wasn't parallel with the safety bar. I had a lot of irritation and smaller nicks that I am not prone to getting. Still, I think my standards are too high. I know some other razors require care to get the blade aligned and I have avoided buying those. The only thing I can say in my defence is that the Henson cost the same and it REALLY crunches the blade, you know it's centred. I took that as a given, I have accidentally shaved with the handle loose without serious injury. So in conclusion, buyer beware. Or rather, be aware. Don't assume it's properly aligned based on feel and even then, if it feels wrong, stop and check again. I admit I assumed it had to be centred because I have never run into this myself and I was using an OC plate that makes seeing alignment difficult.

Feel free to flame away, I know this is going to be an unpopular post and I will just go away for a while if need be. I have tried to disclose everything as best I can, good and bad.

Interesting. Packed that top cap myself and tested three blades and several base plates. Looking forward to getting this one back and digging into it. We’ll cover return shipping. Just shoot over an email.
 
After some consideration, I unpacked the razor and loaded a Med Prep. That should be dimensionally the same as the Lab Blue. It feels tighter, but it's still not there. I shot new pictures to try to be fair, except the last one.

Firs Pic, is it straight or not? It is not actually.
IMG_0091.jpg
Second Pic, how much blade on each side should I see? Here is how much side to side difference you can end up with. How do I find the centre of that within .1mm visually?
IMG_0094.jpg
Third Pic, slant razor? Here is one of my simulated pics from shaking the razor and re-tightening. I actually pinched the blade tabs and cap between my fingers. Would you have thought to check for this?
IMG_0095.jpg
Finally, the one showing how much narrower the posts are. No trickery here, that's easily visible.
IMG_0050.jpg
This competitor's cap actually fits perfectly into the #1 plate
 

BradWorld

Dances with Wolfs
Just came home last night from a long road trip and my ERA was waiting for me. What is the consensus on the plastic washer? Use it or not? Is it required with this razor due to the 3D printed construction? I generally don’t care for them. Going to start with the 3 OC plate. Then try the SB 4 next. Upon reading the reviews, I probably should have gotten more aggressive plates. But we will see when I shave in a bit. I can always order more plates when they’re re back in stock.
 

BradWorld

Dances with Wolfs
Here comes the report I DID want to type. First outing with the ERA a few minutes ago. I selected the OC plate #3. New Perma Sharp blade. I did use the plastic ring. Better to be safe until we here back from someone that knows whether that ring is required here. No issues with blade alignment. There was a tiny bit of wiggle in the blade when sitting in the top cap. But as soon as I installed the base plate, the blade lined up well enough for me. I am thankful for the post above, as it caused me to pay close attention to the blade alignment. Once I loosely assembled the razor with the handle, I tried to wiggle the blade from the tabs. It was pretty well set in place. I am not a huge stickler on this subject, but I do feel that razors with very poor blade alignment have inconsistent and sometimes bloody shaves. I will never buy another Fatip razor because of my poor experience with their blade alignment. The ERA this morning behaved very well in that regard.

Today’s shave featured the new 2022 B&B Contributor’s Brush by Rudy Vey in Lemon Drop. Soap was B&M Gothique. Splash was Leviathan.

The one complaint I have about the ERA with this OC #3 plate is that the combs are so long that I really had to dial back my preferred super steep angle. This is personal preference. I can live with this even though I have my preferred angles so well dialed in that muscle memory takes over when I shave. This razor told me the correct angle in the very first stroke. The cutting zone was so well defined, and feels so right, that it was instantly obvious, and easy to maintain. And once I dialed back the steep angle to the proper cutting zone, the shaving angle was completely forgiving all the way back to the “riding the cap” angle of attack. The cutting zone was wide and really easy to find. And when I started back towards an angle that was too steep for this razor, I felt it instantly and self corrected.

The shave was super smooth and I was able to whip around with reckless abandon. There was no drama with this shave at all. As mentioned above, the ERA is mid-efficient. I got a solid DFS result with very little effort. Standard three pass shave with no buffing or touch ups. Not the closest shave, but comfy and enjoyable. Next shave I will use the SB #4 plate. I am highly interested to see if that plate will allow my preferred steep shaving angle.

Overall, nice job @Blackland Razors! As a 3D printing enthusiast, there was no choice but to get this razor. I am glad I did. When the SB #5 plate goes back in stock, I will buy a few more plates. Stay smooth!

302621EA-2448-44C3-AD3E-E02DB9F22F91.jpeg
 
Used my Level 5 SB plate and I enjoyed it just as much as the 5OC I shaved with last week. I had 2 days of growth and there was no drama and a smooth and efficient shave. Glad I bought both plates as the SB seems a little smoother and I will have to see if I can shave with it every day or if I'll need a 3 or a 4. So far I'm super impressed. I haven't scrutinized the blade alignment as thoroughly as APB, but even in his pictures it wasn't wildly crooked as I was thinking. I have had alignment issues with the Fatip Lo Storto slant but they are known for that. I'll double check my ERA but since I've had 2 drama free shaves, I know it's a keeper for me.
 
Do most people loosen the handle when they rinse the razor during the shave? I never knew I was supposed to do this but maybe it rinses more thoroughly... I usually turn the razor in all directions under running water and it usually rinses out whiskers and soap adequate enough for my second pass.

Since I always take my razor apart and rinse every part under water, I always notice a layer of whiskers/soap residue that accumulated on the blade under the top cap that doesn't get rinsed so maybe by loosening the handle during rinsing, this build up will never occur during the shave?
Third Pic, slant razor? Here is one of my simulated pics from shaking the razor and re-tightening. I actually pinched the blade tabs and cap between my fingers. Would you have thought to check for this?
View attachment 1416408
 
Do most people loosen the handle when they rinse the razor during the shave? I never knew I was supposed to do this but maybe it rinses more thoroughly... I usually turn the razor in all directions under running water and it usually rinses out whiskers and soap adequate enough for my second pass.

Since I always take my razor apart and rinse every part under water, I always notice a layer of whiskers/soap residue that accumulated on the blade under the top cap that doesn't get rinsed so maybe by loosening the handle during rinsing, this build up will never occur during the shave?

I would advise against this, especially with the Era. Since it clamps right at the edge, there isn’t a place for lather to get under the blade. If you loosen it, you’re making space and making it more likely that some of the lather/hair you’re rinsing might wind up trapped under the blade.


To the washer question above, use them if you need a pristine base plate without scuffs from the handle. Toss them if you - like me - don’t care.
 

BradWorld

Dances with Wolfs
Do most people loosen the handle when they rinse the razor during the shave? I never knew I was supposed to do this but maybe it rinses more thoroughly... I usually turn the razor in all directions under running water and it usually rinses out whiskers and soap adequate enough for my second pass.

Since I always take my razor apart and rinse every part under water, I always notice a layer of whiskers/soap residue that accumulated on the blade under the top cap that doesn't get rinsed so maybe by loosening the handle during rinsing, this build up will never occur during the shave?
I never open up a razor to rinse unless (a) it's a vintage TTO, or (b) I am tossing the blade.
 
Thanks. I dont care about any scuffing under the handle. I just was wondering if there was any issue with the 3d printed metal that would warrant use of a washer. I will stop using it. Cheers.

We'll find a way to add this information somewhere since it's reasonable to think that the washer might have something to do with the way the Era is constructed. We've actually added washers to all our razors (except the Blackbird which doesn't need it) as a response to complaints about razors arriving with pre-scuffed base plates.

The Era's parts can be treated like any stainless razor. They're incredibly strong, take drops like a champ, polish pretty well, resist scratches, and handle abuse with the best of them.
 

Hannah's Dad

I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
We'll find a way to add this information somewhere since it's reasonable to think that the washer might have something to do with the way the Era is constructed. We've actually added washers to all our razors (except the Blackbird which doesn't need it) as a response to complaints about razors arriving with pre-scuffed base plates.

The Era's parts can be treated like any stainless razor. They're incredibly strong, take drops like a champ, polish pretty well, resist scratches, and handle abuse with the best of them.
Shane, if you can find (or create) a washer that would work with the ‘Bird, that would be great. I worry about over-turning the ‘Bird and changing the blade gap.
 
I don’t think I understand what you mean. Are you worried that tightening too much will change the shaving geometry?
I was actually wondering with the ERA (when using the washer) that I can really crank it down when tightening the handle. Is it better just keeping it snug or really torqueing it? I would think it would vary the blade gap somewhat however significant though.
 
I was actually wondering with the ERA (when using the washer) that I can really crank it down when tightening the handle. Is it better just keeping it snug or really torqueing it? I would think it would vary the blade gap somewhat however significant though.

Once the blade is firmly sandwiched between the top cap and base plate, further tightening won’t impact the geometry since the parts have nowhere to move. It only needs to be tight enough to stay in place. Torquing it beyond that point is excessive and puts unnecessary stress on the components. The razor will probably be fine, but since there’s no benefit, I don’t recommend tightening so much.
 
Once the blade is firmly sandwiched between the top cap and base plate, further tightening won’t impact the geometry since the parts have nowhere to move. It only needs to be tight enough to stay in place. Torquing it beyond that point is excessive and puts unnecessary stress on the components. The razor will probably be fine, but since there’s no benefit, I don’t recommend tightening so much.
Thanks I usually try to err on the side of not too tight. Thanks for the advice Shane.
 
The one complaint I have about the ERA with this OC #3 plate is that the combs are so long that I really had to dial back my preferred super steep angle.

The shave was super smooth and I was able to whip around with reckless abandon.

I did two passes with Level 3 OC today, then changed to Level 4 OC for some clean up. Close and easy, but level 3 is not really meeting my efficiency standard. "Reckless abandon" truly is the only required setting for extremely safe shaving on both 3 and 4.

Arko stick and Zenith scrubby boar, if it makes a difference.

I don't think that the ERA OC at either level will shave steep. Steep is not right for me, so no problem there.

I have no alignment issue with either plate. I am not particularly concerned with alignment as an issue and happily use my Fatip razors.

I did pull out the digital calipers, though. The ERA post measurements ranged at 1.81 - 1.83mm. My measurements on a RazoRock Lupo DC and a Gillette English Flat Bottom were 2.00 - 2.01mm. So the ERA posts do leave a little more wiggle room.

Visually, I took gave the closed razor a very careful inspection. The main thing I noticed was, that with the minimal blade reveal, it was impossible for me to get even lighting simultaneously on all four corners of the blade. But with a lot of twisting, turning, and close up ogling I still was not able to see a problem with my razor.

My current bottom line:
>4 OC is 'my' plate - efficient, ultra safe, easy shaver with a mild feel and no irritation. It has a narrow range of angles, but the angle is easy to establish and hold. A sharp blade is great, but I expect mid and mild blades will also work well.
>I'm ready to retire the 3 OC and get a 5 OC plate.
 
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