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Macduff’s Monthly Blade Review: Feather Hi-Stainless

Today was my first shave with a Feather New Hi Stainless. I used my 1957 Gillette Red Tip, and the cream was the T&H Sandalwood. I always strop a new blade before first use, which I've found makes the first use of the blade much more enjoyable.

Overall, it was a very good shave. I did my typical 3.5 pass shave: once going down the face and neck, once going up the face and neck, once going outside to inside on the face and neck, and then once going inside to outside on just the neck (that's the ".5"). I only had one weeper, in the usual spot at bottom center of my neck. I have no irritation out of the ordinary. So overall, no problems.

I usually expect four shaves out of a blade. I do two with the blade on one side, then I flip it and do two more on the other. I assume that it makes a difference since Gillette numbers each of their edges. Given Macduff's experience with the blade going dead after two two-pass shaves, it'll be interesting how mine is the next time I use it, which will be Friday morning. I'll report back.

Tomorrow morning is a trial of the Dorco Titan in my 1959 Fatboy, but that's for another thread.
 
Today was my first shave with a Feather New Hi Stainless. I used my 1957 Gillette Red Tip, and the cream was the T&H Sandalwood. I always strop a new blade before first use, which I've found makes the first use of the blade much more enjoyable.

Overall, it was a very good shave. I did my typical 3.5 pass shave: once going down the face and neck, once going up the face and neck, once going outside to inside on the face and neck, and then once going inside to outside on just the neck (that's the ".5"). I only had one weeper, in the usual spot at bottom center of my neck. I have no irritation out of the ordinary. So overall, no problems.

I usually expect four shaves out of a blade. I do two with the blade on one side, then I flip it and do two more on the other. I assume that it makes a difference since Gillette numbers each of their edges. Given Macduff's experience with the blade going dead after two two-pass shaves, it'll be interesting how mine is the next time I use it, which will be Friday morning. I'll report back.

Tomorrow morning is a trial of the Dorco Titan in my 1959 Fatboy, but that's for another thread.
Nice experience it seems like. That's great.
I've read the numbers on each blade corner is for production quality control. This way the plant knows the corners from each other say if something is wrong on one side. Something to think about.
 
Nice experience it seems like. That's great.
I've read the numbers on each blade corner is for production quality control. This way the plant knows the corners from each other say if something is wrong on one side. Something to think about.

I'm sure you're right. However, I'll continue to think they're meaningful and that my process makes sense. 🤣
 
Great review! I used my Feather blade recently and had the same experience. Amazing first shave. Decent second shave. Then got a rough third and fourth shave. Interesting how much difference it could make through the uses. I guess I prefer Astra SP a bit more for longevity purposes. I think I can shave upto 10 times with the Astra and I pushed it once to even 30.
 
This morning was my second shave with the Feather New Hi-Stainless blade. I think I'm experiencing some of the issues Macduff noted in his review. Specifically, I had a lot of weepers, and I needed to do a lot of cleanup to get rid of rough patches after my standard 3.5-pass shave. At this point, I've used it for 7 passes plus a cleanup, so I may have max'ed out the sharpness on the blade.

I'll flip it over and try another shave with it to see what happens, and then report back.
 
That's about right with those Feathers. Good review! Oh, that epic battle of self holding the razor to your throat, I can easily see such a thing with a much more aggressive razor.

Totally agree!I retired (pif’d) my Van Der Hagen and am now using a Homelike START .90. Arguably just as mild though. Maybe one day i’ll tackle the aggressive razors but i truly hate blade feel. It’s kept me away from the hardcore blade exposures.
 
This morning was my second shave with the Feather New Hi-Stainless blade. I think I'm experiencing some of the issues Macduff noted in his review. Specifically, I had a lot of weepers, and I needed to do a lot of cleanup to get rid of rough patches after my standard 3.5-pass shave. At this point, I've used it for 7 passes plus a cleanup, so I may have max'ed out the sharpness on the blade.

I'll flip it over and try another shave with it to see what happens, and then report back.

Thanks for the update @Borderboss! To me the Feather is flawless until the third shave. Good luck!
 
i always enjoy your reviews! Damn shame we can't get such honesty in other media outlets. Well done, sir!

Always appreciate your feedback @DEPenguin. Your writing style is top notch so it’s a legitimate compliment coming from you. And i too wish the media wasn’t the partisan echo-chamber it is today. A new era of yellow journalism is how i view it. Over a decade ago i went to school wanting to become a journalist but thankfully decided against it. Best decision i have ever made given what it has become.
 
Technically speaking, it should be pretty easy to tell if feather coated or not - PTFE starts to go really funny at about 250C, so all it takes is a lighter.

The only thing that stops me is that there is going to be a conversation if my wife see me heating razor blades on a lighter.
 
I agree with what has been written by other: very sharp, two shaves then toss.

But I completely disagree with the 7/10 rating. I would give it a 3/10 max, assuming that 1/10 would be for blades that just don't shave.
At 30€/200 shaves (amazon.de price for a pack of 100 feather) the feather should not be compared to other DE blades but to cartridge systems. On amazon.de a pack of gillette mach3 costs 22€/12 cartride. For me that's 50€/200 shaves. The rebranded 3 blades Dorco from amazon ("shave it") is at 0,9€/cartridge, half the mach3...

There is no question that I get at least as good a shave with the mach3 as with the feather, with less cuts and less time while needed less concentration. What's the point of the feather blades? The blades being packed in plastic containers we can't even say that there is less waste with the feather than with the cartridges.

The feather do not have any USP.
 
I agree with what has been written by other: very sharp, two shaves then toss.

But I completely disagree with the 7/10 rating. I would give it a 3/10 max, assuming that 1/10 would be for blades that just don't shave.
At 30€/200 shaves (amazon.de price for a pack of 100 feather) the feather should not be compared to other DE blades but to cartridge systems. On amazon.de a pack of gillette mach3 costs 22€/12 cartride. For me that's 50€/200 shaves. The rebranded 3 blades Dorco from amazon ("shave it") is at 0,9€/cartridge, half the mach3...

There is no question that I get at least as good a shave with the mach3 as with the feather, with less cuts and less time while needed less concentration. What's the point of the feather blades? The blades being packed in plastic containers we can't even say that there is less waste with the feather than with the cartridges.

The feather do not have any USP.

I do factor price into my reviews it’s just not weighted as heavily (as i state in the intro) as the other factors. But going strictly by your comparison lets take a look at the costs: 15 Gillette Mach 3 carts cost $25 on amazon; the same as 100 Feather blades. Assuming 2 shaves per blade, you get 200 shaves for $25 or 12.5 cents per shave. I believe you said you get 200 shaves per 12 mach3 carts which works out to be 16.67 shaves per cart. At $25 per 15 carts, you’re paying $1.67 per cart. With 16.67 shaves per cart you’d be paying roughly 10 cents per shave which as you stated, is cheaper. With that said, i don’t believe most people are getting almost 17 shaves per cart. I know for myself it was usually about half that. Which means for most people, the feathers would be half the cost of mach 3 carts. Keep in mind that the Feather is considered one of the “premium” DE blades so people know what they’re buying. The mach3 is an older cart so i think a more apt comparison would be the gillette pro glide which is $37 per 12. Also i think most people would rather shave twice and toss a Feather than push a mach 3 cart to 17 shaves. The bottom line is value is subjective. If you like the mach 3’s stick with them! It certainly won’t cost you more than using a Feather. But my reviews are weighted mostly toward how well the blade shaves since that’s what i’m writing about. Otherwise i could just do a cost breakdown chart for all blade brands and declare the cheapest blade the “best.” And what would be the fun in that?
 
I did my third shave with this Feather blade, having flipped it over after the first two shaves. This third shave didn't produce any irritation or weepers, so it was better than the second shave in that regard. However, I still had a number of areas of roughness where the hair had not been cut properly or completely. So for me with the number of passes I do, I don't see using these blades more than once before introducing problems.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Great review and accurate. I have the Oneblade Core that uses Feather FHS-10 blades and they are much the same 2 & toss but they give excellent shaves for those two shaves. Feather focuses on sharpness not longevity and there are other MFG's that can deliver both sharpness and longevity and that is the hard part for a person to find his blade to fit his personal needs.
 
Great review. Just an update on coating though. My recently arrived tuck of 10 blades clearly states PLATINUM coated on the label

I’d post a photo if I knew how
 
There you go
 

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I use Feather blades in a Feather AS-D2 razor. I can get 5 or so shaves from a Feather blade. The AS-D2 was my first premium razor (after using an EJ DE89) and it took me a while for my technique to improve such that I enjoyed using a Feather blade but once I figured it out, mating these two instruments began to result in a truly good shave for me. It is almost as if the Feather blade were made to be used in a Feather AS-D2 razor.:smartass:
 
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Yup, couldn't agree more. Got these ones for tryout only but had same experience:
- 2 to 3 shaves and toss it like it's the most average blade in the market
- not quite smooth in first shaves (compared to just about any blade, Astra, PermaSharp, Wilkinson (black), GSB, even BICs feel much smoother)
- well beyond others in price, not justified in longevity or comfort

Pros:
not to lie, the aftermath feels slightly different and I believe some guys like that as well: it does cut beard in specific angle, maybe even as a pull&cut instead of straight cut manner. My face feels bit different like beard was cut closer to skin (which supports the pulling effect) when used in same razor as compared blades, but still I need to shave daily and Feather does give me a sudden weeper surprise on the run. Maybe their coating is different, maybe they pull hairs before cutting and causing "closer shave" feel, but I just don't enjoy that. Also, my face is always itchy after the shaves with Feather - could it be that blade edge degrades noticeably? I don't know. Just for the price and performance - not my cup of tea.

3-4 shaves & toss use Astra SP for the price
4-5 for sharpness BICs, GSB are good
4-5 with more comfort Wilkinson
5-7 shaves Personna, PermaSharp are still much sharper, cheaper and smoother than Feather.

@Macduff thanks for initiating the thread, nice review 👏🧐🍺
 
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