Shave of the Week Society (SWS)

[epipeman]

This has been an odd week. The Gillette Black lasted 1.1 shaves and then conked out. For me it just doesn't work. I followed this with an Astra Superior Stainless which delivered two average and one poor shave, then Rapira Platinum Lux - two DFS and one average. It's an odd blade in that it feels "underpowered", not quite efficient enough, yet delivers a DFS. Ah well.
For the new week I'll try the same kit again in all respects but different blades.
Happy shaving everyone!

 

[MaineYooper]

Hello, @epipeman.
I just finished up my first 5 blade tuck of the Rapira Platinum Lux. I found 4 of the blades easily gave me 7 shaves, but the one I finished this week probably should have been retired after the 5th shave. But I thought is was me, so I went for the 6th and endured a shave that wasn't as comfortable as I'd like! I tried the Blacks a year ago, and has a similar experience as yours. As for the highly renowned Astras, I can't get a good shave with the SPs. I have a tuck of the SS to try, but I don't have high hopes.
I plan to follow in your steps in a week or so, as I ordered a few samples from Try A Blade. I don't know why I did, as I have found 4 brands that work awesome for me and have bought a 100 blade pack of each over the last year! I have enough blades for at least 4 years of great shaves, yet I ordered samples of six different brands, plus those Astra Superior Stainless and a 100 pack of Rockwells that came free and unasked for! In fact, I participated in the Sue Moore auction, and a vendor sent me 100 Battle Brothers blades with the item I won. My drawer is filling up rapidly with blades!
But to the point, I intended to thank you for your reports on your testing, and share my experiences, and instead prattled on too much!

 

[epipeman]

Hello, @epipeman.
I just finished up my first 5 blade tuck of the Rapira Platinum Lux. I found 4 of the blades easily gave me 7 shaves, but the one I finished this week probably should have been retired after the 5th shave. But I thought is was me, so I went for the 6th and endured a shave that wasn't as comfortable as I'd like! I tried the Blacks a year ago, and has a similar experience as yours. As for the highly renowned Astras, I can't get a good shave with the SPs. I have a tuck of the SS to try, but I don't have high hopes.
I plan to follow in your steps in a week or so, as I ordered a few samples from Try A Blade. I don't know why I did, as I have found 4 brands that work awesome for me and have bought a 100 blade pack of each over the last year! I have enough blades for at least 4 years of great shaves, yet I ordered samples of six different brands, plus those Astra Superior Stainless and a 100 pack of Rockwells that came free and unasked for! In fact, I participated in the Sue Moore auction, and a vendor sent me 100 Battle Brothers blades with the item I won. My drawer is filling up rapidly with blades!
But to the point, I intended to thank you for your reports on your testing, and share my experiences, and instead prattled on too much!

Hello,
You certainly aren't "prattling on too much" - I enjoy your posts and we're on this forum to enjoy friendly and informative chats about our shaving experiences. Please keep it up!

Trying different blades is part of the joy of this hobby. Think of any other hobby and its associated costs and the price of a few tucks of blades here and there is a cheap way of having adventures! At the moment during OCtober (Open Comb month) I'm concentrating on blades that didn't work out too well in the Rockwell 6c by trying them in the Fatip Piccolo. I was pleased to find that the Derby Premium (which was "variable" in the Rockwell) delivered seven good shaves in the Piccolo, the worst of which was a DFS minus. When OCtober is over I'll try some old favourites just for the fun of it as well as some that I haven't tried before. Great fun!

 

[MaineYooper]

I can see the bottom of my soap tub, just a hole the size of a wooden pencil, but the bottom!!

For the coming week, most likely line up:
Christopher Bradley razor, C and D plates.
Bic Chrome for several more days, then something else, TBD.
Shannon's Soaps Nil, unless the mood hits to use Mike's. Nine days in a row for Nil already. I think I'll go to 12 then switch.
SynBad and Silvertip synth sharing the week.

 

[Rusty Blade]

This week's kit:

Pre: Proraso green preshave cream
Razor: Fendrihan DE / GSB
Soap: Proraso green
Brush: Assorted
Post: Lucky Tiger / Proraso green ASB

I hope y'all have a great week of shaves!

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I find the Raipara Plat Lux works best in my Muhle Rocca, quite an efficient razor so no problems with sharpness.
But i could see them struggling alright in a very mild razor, as they are not super sharp.

@MaineYooper Eric how do you find the Bic Chromes?, do you use them in your Karve?.

 

[MaineYooper]

I find the Raipara Plat Lux works best in my Muhle Rocca, quite an efficient razor so no problems with sharpness.
But i could see them struggling alright in a very mild razor, as they are not super sharp.

@MaineYooper Eric how do you find the Bic Chromes?, do you use them in your Karve?.

Funny you should ask, as I have used one for the past three shaves in the Karve, with plates C & D! I find they work very well for me, so much so that I bought 100 of them a couple of months ago. I have four top blades that work well as daily blades in any of my three razors: the Personna Platinum Chrome, Gillette Nacet, Rapira Platinum Lux, and the Bic Chrome. I still dabble with others that I have either loose blades of or a tuck from who knows where or when! The Gillette Silver Blues used to be here until I got the Karve. I just couldn't get a comfortable shave with one no matter what plate. Rather, by the second or third day, my face was irritated. So I traded them with another gent for the Platinum Lux, which was one of those "dabblings" I did that worked really well in the Karve, the Slim, and my pre-War Tech. How's that for a long answer to a short question?!

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Thanks, I might give them a try in my Karve.

 

[kluber]

I can see the bottom of my soap tub, just a hole the size of a wooden pencil, but the bottom!!

.

Such a rare sighting on this forum. Haha!

 

[kluber]

Upcoming week setup


Razor. Rex ambassador
Blade. Polsilver SI
Soap. Wholly kaw & arko rotation
Brush. Rotation of Simpson Duke in best and wcs 26mm silvertip.
Postshave. osma alum + fine snakebite aftershave.

Maybe some Proraso red preshave too.

 

[MaineYooper]

Such a rare sighting on this forum. Haha!

It's up to the size of a quarter now (for those not familiar with US coinage, that's about 3 cm or so. I'm not sure of metric measurements, but I do know 1 inch is 2.54 cm!).

Also, I changed my blade to one new to me, Battle Brothers. I received some in the Sue Moore auction. I am impressed, very nice! As a have several hundred blades, I'd be happy to send a tuck to you! PM if you want some as a PIF from me.

- Karve Diem, M. BOSC

 

[Rusty Blade]

My kit for the coming week:

Razor: Fendrihan DE / GSB
Soap: Assorted samples
Brush: Assorted
Post: Assorted Samples

I found two zip-lock bags of assorted soaps, creams and ASB samples and decided it was time to start using these up. Looks like this will be an "assorted" kind of week.

I hope y'all have a great week of shaves.

 

[epipeman]

Looks like this will be an "assorted" kind of week.

Excellent! I think I might go "assorted" as well now OCtober is finished, although I do love using the Piccolo Special Edition on the Original plate. The Rockwell 6c is calling me with its siren voice, however.
So I may or may not go "assorted".
The one thing that will not be "assorted" is soap - Arko all the way! And post shave - Nivea Sensitive PSB all the way!
So the razors and blades may vary. Or not.
A week of great shaves awaits us all.

 

[kluber]

Cheers fellas!

M-F next week

Razor. Rex ambassador
Blade. Gillette 7OC yellow & polsilver
Brush. Rotation of Simpson Duke in best & Semogue mixed knot.
Preshave. Proraso red maybe?
Soap. Antica Barbieria Colla
Post. Alum + Fine snakebite

I just purchase some van der hagen deluxe at local grocery. I’ve yet to try it out. Was going to be my travel soap along with Arko sticks but I may give vdh a whirl this week too.

Per my norm Friday generally reserved for Arko.

 

[MaineYooper]

Late to the party!

Karve CB razor
Sampling blades, first up Shark Super Chrome
Shannon's Soaps Nil, more of the bottom is showing!
SynBad 24mm and RR Silvertip synthetic

Looking forward to great shaves!

- Karve Diem, M. BOSC

 

[epipeman]

My first blade this week in the Piccolo is a Gillette Platinum. Shave four on this blade and a BBS. Every shave has been good on this blade but strangely the "quality" has improved with each shave. Clearly this razor/blade pairing works very well on my old whiskers.

 

[MaineYooper]

That's great to read, @epipeman! I haven't tried the Gillette Platinums yet. I had found 4-5 brands that I settled on about 18 months ago, but starting this week I want to explore some more! I will be adding the Platinums to my list of blades to try.

 

[epipeman]

That's great to read, @epipeman! I haven't tried the Gillette Platinums yet. I had found 4-5 brands that I settled on about 18 months ago, but starting this week I want to explore some more! I will be adding the Platinums to my list of blades to try.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

By the way the "Platinum" I'm referring to is the one in the blue and white packet, not the Super Platinum (black).

 

[epipeman]

The Platinum packed in today in a little flurry of weepers, so for me this is a "four shaves and out" blade. Moved on to a Gillette Silver Blue.

 

[MaineYooper]

I just received some blades from a fellow B&B member and he included a couple of Gillette Platinums (not the Black) in the selection! Great folks here and soon I will try one out.