Participation PIF - The Unobtainium Polsilver Super Stainless

[Demolition]

Eighth shave with the Polsilver Stainless (Vintage) blade #1

Razor: Fatip Lo Storto Originale (aka FOCS)
Brush: Maggard 18mm Timber Wolf, Travel-Size
Soap: RazoRock Blue Label

Excellent performances from all aspects of today's shave.

The FOCS/Polsilver Stainless duo is still providing smooth and comfortable shaves. All three of my usual passes were quick and effortless again. No tugging, roughness, or post-shave irritation to report.

It'll be interesting to see how long it stays that way. As long as it continues to be trouble-free, then I'll keep using it.

Meanwhile, the little Maggard 18mm Timber Wolf is still one of my favourites. Not only does it generate lather like crazy, but it feels great on the skin.

 

[lancre]

Round 1:
Shave#1, Polsilver PIF: DFS, no drama, just felt a bit rough.
Shave#2, Polsilver SI: DFS, no drama, nice and smooth, most comfortable of the 3
Shave#3, Polsilver SS: DFS, Nice and smooth, tickle on the alum, no other drama, closest shave of the 3

Round 2:
Shave#4, Polsilver PIF: DFS+, Smooth and comfortable, the roughness was gone, just a great shave.

Shave#5, Polsiver SI: Not much to say. DFS, almost like with the PIF blade, smooth, no drama.
Razor: NDC Fat Handle Tech
Blade: Polsilver PIF
Brush: Omega 10098
Soap : Proraso Green (Tub)

 

[gvw755]

Shave ten tonight with the Polsilver. Tonight was another razor I haven't shaved with before, however it was with a not easily found vintage Apollo razor. Unlike the regular German Apollo razors with the propeller base plate, this one had two base plates, one to hold the guide pins from the top cap, and another to hold that plate. The cap also was slightly beveled and the base plate had no lather slots and one safety bar was smooth and the other had upward facing teeth like the regular Apollo (and Merkur 37). With all the different things to consider with the design of the razor, I decided to just jump in.

WTG pass I used the toothed side of the razor as I assumed it was the more aggressive side. Shave was comfortable and it took off most of the whiskers, however there were areas where I hade to buff a little. Definite sign that maybe the blade really is beginning to wear out.

ATG pass was with the smooth side and that was definitely the side. Even though the pass was comfortable, it did leave enough stubble to do my usual XTG pass along the lower part of my face. I decided to go with the toothed side for my XTG pass, which seemed to be my previous thoughts when using adjustable razors with this blade. I ended up with the usual BBS, but did find I had to work more for it.

At this point, I am not sure if it is the blade wearing out, or if it is an unfamiliar razor.

Tomorrow I am seriously thinking of loading the Polsilver in my Ikon Tek.

 

[c__port]

3 more shaves using the "Winning" razor, 2 in a hotel with softened water that made the handle very slick...Blades are great, razor - not so much.

 

[HarleyDChevrolet]

1st blade, shave #2:

Not wanting to be defeated, I waited four days to put this blade to the test. Using the same Stirling soap and brush as shave #1, I dialed the Slim back up to 9 and tried again and this time the result was much, MUCH better. No nicks or weepers, BBS result with the usual 3 pass plus touch-ups and only the slightest sting when the aftershave hit. I am impressed and the journey continues. I'll be back in 3-4 days.

 

[hairless wonder]

I had another morning shave after a cold shower this morning. As before, I soaked my Van der Hagen Night Star three-band badger brush in some cold water while showering. I also cut an almond-sized piece of Proraso Green croap into my Captain's Choice Seaworthy bowl and partially filled the latter with some cold water and let it soak during my shower.

I completed a two pass shave (WTG and ATG) with my Fendrihan Kingston razor head on a West Coast Shaving 79BR handle. I continued to use the same my Polisilver blade (blade #2) from my last shave. This was the second shave with blade #2.

Before each pass, I wet my face with some of the water I'd used to soak the shave soap (and poured into a cup before making lather) and then applied some lather. Each time, I initially brushed the cream on to my face with circles but wound up painting on the lather to get a better coating.

This shave also went well. In addition to the two passes, I also did my usual buffing of my trouble spots. The blade still felt smooth and sharp. Again, for the most part, I almost didn't feel the blade this time. Unfortunately, that led me to ease up on my focus a bit and I sped up my shaving. This led to a minor nick under my lower lip on my first (the WTG) pass. That nick got me to slow down again, preventing other nicks.

Aside from the one nick, I didn't really notice any irritation. The nick itself was small enough that my usual post-shave alum block rubdown stopped it from bleeding. Aside from the nick, there was, again, just the mildest (and barely noticeable) stinging from the alum block rubdown.

As before, after rinsing off the alum block with cold water, I applied some Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue and followed that with some Duke Cannon Cooling After Shave Balm. Again, I appreciated how the menthol of these two aftershaves helped me to cool off a little after my shower and shave.

All in all, I would give this shave a 95.5/100.

 

[borwish]

Shave #5
2 days growth

Blade: Polsilver Stainless
Pre: Warm shower with Yardley activated charcoal bath soap
Razor: 66 slim on 4
Soap: Palmolive stick
Brush: Stirling Pro Handle Synthetic
After: Stirling Sharp Dressed Man

I saw a post earlier this morning indicating that the Palmolive stick has been discontinued, so I needed to pay my respects to this solid performer. I also dialed the slim down to 4 from it's usual 6 because I noticed a lot of guys report using the 4 setting. 3 quick passes and I had the fight the wife to keep her from putting a diaper over my face. Where she got the diaper and whether it was caused by the smoothness or the ugliness is anyone's guess.

It appears that the blade has settled down. I did have to do some buffing around my mouth, but I did dial the razor down. No feedback from the alum and just the usual alcohol shock. The Sharp Dressed Man had it's intended effect and I'm off to work a happy camper!

 

[fast shaver]

Polsilver Stainless Blade #1 Shave #6
Tools: EJ DE89 Razor, Tabac & Plissoft Brush
Got a nice close three pass shave This A.M.
The blade is really holding up great & is still cutting smooth.
No nicks or Irritation noted.

 

[Hms123]

Blade: Polsilver Stainless (3)
Razor: Tatara Masamune
Soap: Maison Lambert
Brush: Maison Lambert
Oil: Truefit and Hill
Aftershave: Jack Black

Comments: After taking a few shaves off from using the Polsilver Stainless (what was I thinking?), I am now back to seeing how many shaves I get from the blade. Still very smooth and very efficient (even with a mild razor). I did two passes (WTG, XTG)--still an amazing shave. The blade seems to be getting better by the day.

 

[Adjustingtolife]

Head and face shave this morning
-Karve brass with SB-D baseplate
-Vintage Polsilver (6th and 7th use)
-RE badger brush
-Capt choice copper bowl

-PAA banana cube
-SW Samhain soap
-SW Samhain splash

Very comfortable and efficient shave. Bbs on face and dome with no nics or stinging from the alum block. I think this blade is nearing the end. It was very smooth on the face and most of my head shave but not as buttery smooth as it was before. I'll give it an 8th shave and see how it goes. Still comfortable on the head and face.

The scent of Samhain is phenomenal and one of my favorites. Performance of the soap is TOP notch.

Fayiz D.

 

[BigJ]

Polsilver Blade 1, Shave #6

Wolfman WR1 razor
Rudy Vey/EverReady 2-band badger brush
Haslinger schafmilch soap
Fine lavender pour homme splash

Blade appears to be slowing down a bit: 8.5/10 today: still going, but how much longer??

 

[JAHE]

SOTD #188/2021
24-07-2021

Preshave: shower, frigid tap water
Brush: Simpsons Milk Churn Best Badger
Soap: Stirling Soap ~ Hipster
Razor: Fatip Open Comb Slant
Blade: vintage Polsilver Stainless (5)
Post shave: frigid tap water, Stirling Soap ~ Hipster

Blade 1 - shave 5

Nothing to report but a smooth and quite close three pass shave. Almost bbs. Noticed no loss of sharpness. Onward!

Enjoy your weekend, y'all!

 

[South Dakota Guy]

Blade 1 Shave 5

Razor Wolfman WR2 1.15 w/ Blackbird handle
Blade Polsilver SS
Brush Yaqi Violet-Blue Synthetic 24mm
Soap Captain's Choice Venture
Toner Lucky Tiger
AS Captain's Choice Venture

9.5/10 BBS

Another excellent shave today. The blade remains smooth but the sharpness seems to be slipping slightly. This is my most efficient razor and it efficiently slices bumps along with beard. Only one bump sliced today and I had to do a little more buffing to get BBS and that left me with some irritation in a few spots. I had some feedback in those spots with my alum block and aftershave. If I would have let it go at DFS then all would have been well. I am loving the smoothness though! I will decide which razor to use tomorrow from the following 3: Rockwell 6S, Gillette Heritage and my Timeless .68.

 

[12stones]

Shave #3

Timeless Bronze
Polsilver Stainless (3)
Unknown Best Badger
Stirling Executive Man Soap and AS Balm

This was my first time with the Timeless razor which is hefty. The blade is well broken in and nice and smooth, yet still quite sharp. 3 passes got me BBS with almost no irritation. There was quite a bit of styptic feedback though. I'm really digging this blade.

 

[lancre]

Round 1:
Shave#1, Polsilver PIF: DFS, no drama, just felt a bit rough.
Shave#2, Polsilver SI: DFS, no drama, nice and smooth, most comfortable of the 3
Shave#3, Polsilver SS: DFS, Nice and smooth, tickle on the alum, no other drama, closest shave of the 3

Round 2:
Shave#4, Polsilver PIF: DFS+, Smooth and comfortable, the roughness was gone, just a great shave.
Shave#5, Polsiver SI: Not much to say. DFS, almost like with the PIF blade, smooth, no drama.

Shave#6, Polsiver SS: DFS, mostly smooth, no drama. Not even a tickle from the alum. But this was slightly rougher than in Round 1 where this blade was in a thoroughly beat Fat Handle Tech.

Razor: NDC Fat Handle Tech. This was the handle the PIF blade felt rough in shave #1.
Blade: Polsilver SS
Brush: Rubberset 400
Soap : Proraso Green (Tub)

 

[Hachet]

New shave:

This time, I paid very close attention to which side I was shaving with so I could determine if in fact it was the glue which caused some slight razor burn. Turns out, it wasn't the glue.

To preface this, I just wanted to note that I rarely catch razor burn (like maybe a couple times a year) and I don't remember the last time I drew blood.

Anyway, I shaved first with the edge that didn't have glue on it. Again, I felt some slight roughness. Not tugging. Scraping. But it was minimal and after what was otherwise an incredible shave, I had zero razor burn and neither my alcohol/witch hazel mixture nor Clubman gave me any feedback whatsoever.

So I think the blade is just crazy sharp and it took two shaves for me to adjust. That's normal for me. I prefer smooth blades so I use them most often but I love to reach for a super sharp blade once in a while like the SuperMax Blue Diamond series or Nacet. I should have assumed these Polsilver blades were wicked sharp!

They are also pretty smooth for a super sharp blade. I don't get any itch or redness, just a very close and effortless shave.

These are very special blades to have such a sharp edge after so many years.

Liberty Shaving Soap from Soap Commander and RR 37 German Slant.

 

[CJB3]

Blade two, shave six. Rest of set up:

• RFB #44
• Proraso green preshave, shaving cream, and aftershave
• Simpson Chubby 1 Super

Shave was OK, but these blades are neither as smooth nor as sharp as modern Polsilver/Wizamet SIs, IMO.

 

[South Dakota Guy]

Blade two, shave six. Rest of set up:

• RFB #44
• Proraso green preshave, shaving cream, and aftershave
• Simpson Chubby 1 Super

View attachment 1301546

Shave was OK, but these blades are neither as smooth nor as sharp as modern Polsilver/Wizamet SIs, IMO.

I am tempted to shave with a Wizamet SI after I finish this blade. Maybe alternate Wizamet one day and Polsilver the next with the same razor to get a good comparison.

 

[Beefdrippings]

Blade #1 Shave #6
Pre: Proraso blue
Brush: Simpson T2
Lather: Dr Jon’s Anne Bonny
Razor: RR G37 w/bulldog handle
Post: Thayer’s, PAA bay rum star jelly

Really nice shave on day 6 with this blade. No loss of smoothness, but some dulling perhaps, as it took a lot of extra buffing to get the result . No nicks or irritation though. Just a lovely BBS shave. This brush is kind of a bust for me though. Small knot+low loft=crummy splaying capabilities. I still bowl lather but just got back into trying a gentle splay when lathering and this brush is just too small. No mustard being cut.

 

[gvw755]

Shave eleven with the Polsilver tonight. I decided to go ahead and load it in my Ikon Tek. Although I had shaved with other large blade gap razors with this blade, the Ikon Tek is just a pure guard rider and so I wanted to see how the blade would perform. I also wanted to see if it really was reaching the end of it's use.

WTG pass started out very well, there definitely was more blade feel than before, however that has always been the case when I ride the bar with the Tek. Nothing to the level of uncomfortable or tugging, just a real efficient pass that left me thinking if I should just do touch up or a full ATG pass.

I decided to go with an ATG pass and this time, there was not as much blade feel, probably because there was not much stubble left. After the ATG pass, I decided that doing an XTG pass was not going to give me a better shave than I already had, and so I ended with a two pass BBS.

The past couple of shaves have shown signs that the blade is wearing out, but nothing serious like tugging or irritation, and so I will continue for at least one more shave to make it an even dozen. I have my Chinese clone R41 loaded for tomorrow's shave. I figured that now might be the time to load it in a cheap Chinese clone.