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Oneblade Genesis - high cost for bad blades

I had a Oneblade Genesis and really wanted to like it. It does seem to be a polarizing razor, put me down on the negative side. The design and build of the Genesis is exceptional. However, the Feather blade is expensive and inconsistent. You pay about $1/blade and I got two shaves per blade. The first shave the blade is sharp, the next shave the blade feels smooth - radically different. A blade should be more consistent. I had to remember if I was on my first or second shave and shave differently. Don't even try a third shave, I did and it was awful.

The ongoing cost is very high. The razor is quite expensive to start with, but putting that aside, the cost of ownership is worse. At $1 and two shaves per blade, annual blade cost is more expensive than the cartridge razors I was using by a lot - over 4x the cost! That doesn't include the handle either, which makes it even worse.

My review - beautiful razor, well engineered, too bad they picked an expensive and inconsistent blade. Not recommended.
 
Worse than that, for US buyers, is they have a price fixing scheme for the blades. You can't buy them from Connaugh at a more reasonable price and your only option is ebay. I have seen them down to 60cents each if you buy the whole box, which is still ridiculous. I use them in my Autostrop. I know people here that love Oneblade, but I am with you on the blades themselves and therefore haven't bought the razor. Gem blade de-spiners incoming...
 
Agreed! Also, I am not willing to hack the razor and de-spine other blades just to make a very, very expensive razor work. If one wants to do that, all power to you, but I'm talking about using it as intended.
 
Couldn't agree more. I don't like those Feather blades at all. And like agree that they are not good for more than maybe three shaves, if you are lucky.

But more than Fusion? Doubtful. Those are about 4 bucks a pop and last me seven shaves. One dollar for two shaves is still cheaper than four dollars for seven, but not by much.
 
Thanks, kingfisher. For me it was $1 for two shaves vs $1.25 for 10+ shaves with what I had been using, a Dorco Pace 3.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
I had a Oneblade Genesis and really wanted to like it. It does seem to be a polarizing razor, put me down on the negative side. The design and build of the Genesis is exceptional. However, the Feather blade is expensive and inconsistent. You pay about $1/blade and I got two shaves per blade. The first shave the blade is sharp, the next shave the blade feels smooth - radically different. A blade should be more consistent. I had to remember if I was on my first or second shave and shave differently. Don't even try a third shave, I did and it was awful.

The ongoing cost is very high. The razor is quite expensive to start with, but putting that aside, the cost of ownership is worse. At $1 and two shaves per blade, annual blade cost is more expensive than the cartridge razors I was using by a lot - over 4x the cost! That doesn't include the handle either, which makes it even worse.

My review - beautiful razor, well engineered, too bad they picked an expensive and inconsistent blade. Not recommended.
I have the Oneblade Core and it is a great mild razor and the Feather blades are just like you say it is and there is a better ways of using the Oneblade for lower cost and a superior blade by using the Gem Personna SS SE blade and you hardly have to do nothing to really make it work. I buy my GEM blades from Connaught shaving UK and takes about 2-3 weeks you can shave just a cheaply as most DE blades. I can easily get 10 shaves per blade. I got a real good hack from Subie shaves and he gets excited about finding good ways of shaving and it is just the way the man is designed IMO. He explains this simple method and it works. I have modified the Gem blade also but this method is easier and I recommend it.
Have some great shaves!
 
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I have used the Subie Shaves GEM blade hack and it works. The Feather blades are expensive and I have only been able to get more than 2 shaves from a blade if I flip it then the max is 4 shaves, but I often forget to flip the blade. I like the razor, but with the Feather blades it's an expensive razor to use. Do try the GEM hack, it's worth it!
 
If you can find yourself a V1 OB it’s a lot easier to use with the GEM blades. Taking the spine off of 10 at a time can easily be done in a matter of minutes. For this reason I prefer the V1 to V2 as the V2 with just the spine off still causes some loose play with the blade in the razor.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
If you can find yourself a V1 OB it’s a lot easier to use with the GEM blades. Taking the spine off of 10 at a time can easily be done in a matter of minutes. For this reason I prefer the V1 to V2 as the V2 with just the spine off still causes some loose play with the blade in the razor.
I does not make any real difference if you watch video on post 6 how this Subie does it. I used this method in my V2 core and it worked well.
The V2 Genesis he used works well he claims, they are a nice looking razor the Genesis IMO.
 
I have one and use a gem blade in it. You only need to use a pair of pliers to wiggle the spine off and it should only take a few seconds. The gem blades work well and last forever.
 
Any replies to use other blades just add to the case that it is a well-engineered tool with a terrible, expensive, and inconsistent official blade.
 

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
I have owned every variation in the past and the Genesis is the best of the lot for me. But in the last years my already tough enough whiskers hardened to the point that the Feather blades are a tug fest.

The Muhle R41 can be a bit tuggy too especially if not pared with a sharp blade, but the difference is blades for the R41 are cheap and you can find one that cuts the whiskers. For me the Genesis is no longer an option. It's like a beautiful car that won't run.

Gotta agree with @spacemonkey42, I'm not dinking around with blades to make it work.
 
Subie Shaves also does a DE blade hack AND an injector blade hack with the one blade razors so there are other options other than the feather blades or the GEM blades.. Just look up Subie Shaves and you will see the hacks.... Some of the "hacks" are as simple as just inserting the blade so there is no messing around really.. If I remember correctly to use the injector blades you have to do a "ONE TIME" mod to and original feather blade by dulling the edge and thats it... you then insert the injector blade followed by the feather blade behind it as a sort of wedge to hold the injector in place and thats it. You only "mod " the feather blade once and from then on you just put in the injector and then insert the dulled blade. Watch Subies video for a full explanation. I mean I prefer to use my razors than just to look at them so if it takes me an extra 2 seconds to enjoy something then its worth it IMO....
 
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I know this thread is old but I wanted to add that it was very disappointing to me when OB bought out the FHS blades and then greatly raised the price. I was one of the first contributors to the Gem blade mod thread and enjoyed messing around with the blades. I bought hundreds of feather blades before they became exclusive but also use the Gem blades. In the V1 I now forgo any mods of the blade and just remove the spine. It literally takes less time to remove the spline than to remove the paper wrapper from the FHS blade. The mods and second blade shims don't seem necessary on the V1...YMMV on the newer models. I have Core incoming and plan to test it out.
 
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