Macduff’s Monthly Blade Review: Treet Carbon Steel

[Macduff]

@Macduff, as always your blade reviews are among the best on the internet. You give it to us straight and we are all the better for it!

I only ever tried the Treet Black once, and once was enough. I inherited my father's iron beard and I struggle with certain blades. I found the Treet Carbon painful in the extreme. It felt like shaving with a paint scraper and couldn't understand how they would work for anyone. But we all have different hair and perhaps it really does work well for some. I said I would rather shave with Corn Pop's rusty pocket razor he banged on the curb and left in the rain barrel than endure another shave with a Treet! But for the people it helps, I'm glad they have it at their disposal.

Thanks for the kind words and i got a good laugh out of the corn pop comment @sharpstar90! I second the “paint scraper” comparison with these things. Like i said in the review the results were good but man these things pulled my beard badly during the shave. Carbon steel is undeniably cool but in my opinion, it can stay back in the 40’s where it belongs.

 

[Vacumatic]

I have just finished two ten packs of Treet Carbon blades and they are in the 'do not buy again' category for me, a blade with no redeeming features apart from they look cool in black.

Shaving performance was poor, tugs rather than glides across your face and did not produce a close shave.

Worst of all is their ability to rust, I usually run a blade for three shaves, by shave three I was surprised to see the blade covered in rust, must admit I was concerned about infection following a cutting with a rusting blade.

 

[Galaktus]

I get great shaves from the Treet Black Beauty blades. I can "feel" the blade cutting the hairs but I don't consider that "pulling", it's not painful to me. I think it's because these blades are probably uncoated. I get a wonderful burn free tingle when I apply aftershave.
You want to feel pulling? Painful pulling? Try a Flying Eagle blade from China. I'd rather shave with a tuna can lid than those. I tried one once, for about an inch worth of stroke and tapped out. Way too painful to me.
My downside for the Black Beauties is blade longevity, and that's due to staining or rust on the edge versus it dulling.

 

[Dualist]

I get my absolute best shaves with Black Beauties. Better than Kai, Feather, GSB, Gillette Platinum, Rubie, Bolzano, German Wilkinson, everything. The Black Beauties for me are smooth, gentle, close, and I don't need aftershave or balm afterwards either. The shave also lasts longer than with any other blade- the next day I still don't need to shave.

Also, I average three shaves from any blade, although I can squeeze four out of some. But the Black Beauties easily give me six or more.

Stainless blades irritate my face. They make the very top layer of my skin kind of rubbery or leathery. I guess that's vinyl or pleather. Stainless doesn't get as sharp and it doesn't hold an edge like pure carbon steel. Basic metallurgy. Stainless edges kind of shatter, carbon steel is softer and more flexible and resilient. So I'd expect carbon blades to be quite a bit better, which I find they are. Stainless is just there for convenience, to not have rusty blades. Conveniently for the blade manufacturers they also dull quicker. And aren't stroppable nor resharpenable, as carbon blades are. Plus, the stainless steel recipe has other metals like chromium and nickel that are toxic to humans and to which some people are allergic. In theory carbon blades are just iron and carbon. Iron is a necessary nutrient. A vitamin!

I've tried the other Treet blades and I think they're pretty much all the same blade and edge grind, but the others are coated which I don't like. Teflon is poison, and the extra glide I find makes the blade a little harsh. But they're still better than stainless for me.

It really doesn't make any sense to me how Black Beauties blades get zero respect. I can't be the only one! They're insanely cool, simple, and a throwback to another time. The real deal. Blued steel!

To avoid rust I simply dry the blade with a towel afterwards or shake the razor dry and then dunk the razor head first in 90% rubbing alcohol and then dunk it in mineral oil. Shake it and put it away.

By the way, I think the Black Beauties are Swedish steel but I don't know where I got that idea. I also read that Treet is ISO certified, the only manufacturer in Pakistan to be so. The owners of Treet are one of the wealthiest in Pakistan and they've owned the company for four generations. The current CEO went to Oxford. And historically Pakistan knows a thing or two about blades. Furthermore, I suspect that the machines they make their blades with came from England, I'm sure they're decades old and built like tanks, irreplaceable even. They're probably the original Treet equipment that the company bought and moved to Pakistan to continue manufacture. I'm just guessing though because that's typically what happens-manufacturers in developing countries buy the cast offs from developed world companies as they either upgrade or phase out production. (For example, the Honda Motorcycles made in Brazil use Honda's 1970's tooling that was shipped to Brazil when they upgraded. And thus the old school rides on!)

I typically use a fatip slant and either random bath soap or lately granado shave soap hand lathered.

I wondered if somehow this was the reason I get such fantastic results with the humble Black Beauties. So, in the interest of science, I grabbed my $10 Gilette Super Speed, circa 1972. Reached for my trusty Vie Long Boar brush. And after some deliberation chose MdC. Whipped up a luxurious lather and got to the business.

It tugged for the first wtg stroke. So I slowed down and adjusted my angle. (I've noticed that with Black Beauties one needs to slow down a bit, as compared to stainless blades.) It became a proper shave experience after these adjustments.

And.....

Bbs. A great shave! Zero irritation or weepers. A fantastic shave! The best I've ever gotten with that humble Super Speed.

So I have no idea. YMMV!

 

[IamSpartacus]

Dualist, So, you like to use these Treat Black Beauties with an aggressive razor (slant). That makes sense. Have you ever stropped one of these blades? It seems to me that uncoated carbon steel is a technology that was intended to be stropped, as the old Gillette Blue blades were. The critical difference between the Gillette Blue blades and the Treat Black Beauties seems to be the thickness. Modern DE blades are certainly thinner than they were before the SS revolution. I have a Twinplex stropping machine. I am tempted to buy a box of these Black Beauties to see how they perform with stropping, used in vintage Gillette razors. Perhaps the Goodwill razor, or the New Deluxe would be a good pairing with this blade.

 

[Dualist]

Dualist, So, you like to use these Treat Black Beauties with an aggressive razor (slant). That makes sense. Have you ever stropped one of these blades? It seems to me that uncoated carbon steel is a technology that was intended to be stropped, as the old Gillette Blue blades were. The critical difference between the Gillette Blue blades and the Treat Black Beauties seems to be the thickness. Modern DE blades are certainly thinner than they were before the SS revolution. I have a Twinplex stropping machine. I am tempted to buy a box of these Black Beauties to see how they perform with stropping, used in vintage Gillette razors. Perhaps the Goodwill razor, or the New Deluxe would be a good pairing with this blade.

This was exactly my thinking! And if it works you'd be down to 10 or even less blades per year! Fifty cents per year!

Palm stropping I think helps a little. I tried stopping on crox and then leather but it killed the blade. It's so flexible that it's a bit impossible to get the angle right and apply pressure enough to strop. One may be able to find or make a device to hold the blade such that stopping and even honing like a straight razor may be possible.

On the auction site I picked up a Norton DE blade sharpener for $8. It's a gentle V shape and the directions say to swirl it around the stone with a light pressure on each side for 5 to 6 strokes. I haven't had time to sit down with it yet but hopefully it'll allow me to squeeze a little more life out of each blade but I'm really hoping it'll enhance the edge from the factory.

I know back in the day people used to swirl the blade around the inside of a glass to sharpen carbon blades. I think you'd have to choose the right circumference and use a light pressure but they say it works. I have yet to try it but I definitely will.

Surprisingly, I get great shaves with the Black Beauties in every razor I own (5). It's the only blade this is true for. And with each razor I get the best shaves out of the Black Beauties.

It's not their sharpness per se, it's the overall gentleness and the closeness it allows me to work for.

I've seen those Twinplex stroppers and was intrigued but I already hone straights so I just stuck with what I know - a stone.

Good luck!