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Participation PIF - An Old Friend Returns

Welcome, New/Old Friend -- Blade 1, shave 8 -- The Farewell Shave
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Today's shave was in the vintage-style Merkur Progress. Passes one and two were predictably smooth and comfortable, but the blade lost all cutting ability during pass three. Eight shaves is two more than I usually get from a quality blade, so I am not complaining at all.

Looking forward to using blade #2 in some modern blade handles.
 
An Old Friend Returns - Schick (5)

TL;DR -
Changed razors, blade feel changed, still close, but not as smooth

Equipment: Fatip Piccolo Closed Comb Slant, Schick Super Stainless(5), WCS Duck Fat Fougere

The Shave: The blade feel changed when I went from the Gillette Slim to the Fatip Piccolo, more blade feel, slight irritation (that quickly went away), but still received a very close shave. I think I'm finding out what @Filudo discovered that these blades may affected by (for the better or worse) the razors being used.
 
Shave #2 and #3
HT to SCWT who won't read this, I finally pulled out my bowl

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Nice shaves, very familiar. These blades are strangely sharp, I got several surprise weepers. I use Plus Platinums frequently and I think I would prefer Spoilers over these. There are several spots that weren't reduced evenly and the edge feel keeps me from doing something dumb. I am not sure my Star razor was completely to blame for the previous "blood sacrifice," it feels like these blades want to chatter if that makes sense. In a properly rigid razor, you can feel this without too much consequence provided you don't insist on pushing it. Just back up and shorten the strokes, but as I said that still didn't quite get it. I think these might be that rare combination of a very keen edge with steeper(less sharp) bevel behind it. I may dig out the microscope and investigate as this isn't a desirable tradeoff. Generally, you would want a long(acute) bevel with a blunt(steep) micro bevel to provide better face feel and durability(Personna Plats). That's alright, this is fun for me as long as I don't push into irritation territory.
 

Mike M

...but this one IS cracked.
An old friend returns shave#3
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Razor: King C Gillette
Blade: Schick(3)
Soap: TFS RasoZero Agrumella
Brush: Simpsons Trafalgar T3

Tonight after a warm evening I didn't fancy the Palmolive so I turned to the next soap on my 3017 list Agrumella. It has a lemony/limey scent that I quite like. Some of my previous shaves with this have been disappointing so I decided to go with the 3017 mantra "Use more product". After a long loading and a short bowl lather I got a good consistency and lathered up.
The shave felt good and was highly enjoyable. I like this razor/blade combination and although I needed a clean-up pass on my neck to get a near BBS finish. I'll have to think about changing to a slightly more aggressive razor, but I am still enjoying this one so I may leave it for a couple more shaves.
Finished with a spray of Kolonya, a lemon scented A/S. As usual the Mrs complimented my choice of A/S saying "You smell like lemon toilet cleaner" thankfully that's just what I was aiming for.
 
Older than me, Schick SOTD!

Razor: Timeless Ti .95
Blade: Schick Super Stainless
(Blade #1 Shave #2)
Soap: Fine Barber Blue
Brush: Simpson M7 Super
Bowl: Captains Choice Copper
AS: Fine Barber Blue

Same setup as yesterday. For me shave #2 on any blade is better than the first. This blade is no exception. Much smoother on day two but with the same level of above average sharpness. I had a really enjoyable DFS shave today. :thumbup:

Overall I am impressed with the blade so far. I'm not one to chase longevity in a blade so I'll be watching closely to see when I begin to notice a drop in performance.
 
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Finally reporting in from Canada! (It only took 8 days. :thumbup1: )

The blades arrived, safe and sound, due to @Grundi's meticulous packing job. Many thanks to him and @Space_Cadet for organizing this generous PIF! 😍

First shave with one of these rare blades, tomorrow. I can barely contain my excitement! :w00t:
I slipped several espresso beans into the oats of the horses pulling the Canadian mail stagecoach; it must have really sped up their delivery time!! I'll have to remember to do that next time, too!
 
Gillette Super Silver (1968) edge 1 shave 1. Wilkinson Sword Classic (plastic) razor, Wilkinson Sword bowl soap, DS Cosmetics 24mm synth.

This is the comparison shave with a contemporary competitor blade, just because. Like the Schick, this blade was double-wrapped, and there was a tiny amount of wax, just enough to hold the blade centered.

I *think* the Gillette was just a shade smoother, the finish of the Schick just a fraction better - it could just be my imagination, though. It's far too soon to draw any kind of conclusions, other than that these are both excellent blades, and I'm going to enjoy this.
 
An Old Friend Returns
Blade 1, Shave 2

Razor: Gillette NEW SC
Aftershave: Captain's Choice eucalyptus

Second shave with this blade was smoother than the first and just as sharp. I didn't attack the patch under my lip like last time, but I didn't really need to either (I had a full two days' growth, so all the hairs had long emerged from their bumps). A better shave overall, still not irritation free and I did manage some small weepers.

One interesting thing: on my upper neck/under my jaw, I sometimes try to cheat the across-the-grain pass toward against the grain, if the blade allows it. This time I had done it so well on the left side that there was nothing left for the ATG over much of the area. This is pretty rare, as sometimes there's something left after the ATG, or I have to back off because I'm getting cut or irritated.

The right side wasn't as lucky and I had a scrape or weeper there. Nevertheless, this is a good blade and I'm learning my way around it. Hope it lasts a long time.
 
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