Spike's DE Blade Search, &c.

[Tokyospike]

ATT R1 - Feather Hi-Stainless (1)
Broken Bowl . . .

It was another lovely shave this morning, until it wasn't. My wife was in the shaving theatre with me. I like having an audience, and we were focusing on the shave, so it wasn't really distracting. But I dropped the shaving bowl.

She felt terrible, but I assured her I am perfectly capable of screwing up all by myself. I could glue this puppy back together, although I am missing a few small chips somehow. And I do have a Ukrainian scuttle stashed away for winter that I have never used. But ultimately I sprang for a replacement. I am very fond of these Captain's Choice bowls (and apparently very averse to change . . .).

The Feather blade is really giving me some mental trauma trying to figure out how and where it is better or worse than the Polsilver SI and Gillette Rubie. I binned the first blade after six shaves, and am thoroughly enjoying the second. I'm not going to pre-judge the issue . . . I will just keep shaving.

Thanks for reading.

 

[NurseDave]

Bummer, but yes I would have ordered another one too. Not a bad company to support. This morning I accidentally smacked my CC bowl on the edge of the glass vessel sink. That was a heart stopper.

 

[Tokyospike]

ATT R1 - Feather Hi-Stainless (3)
Longest Post Ever! . . . Ratings! Software! Final Blade Selection!

I am finally back again - still on the third Feather blade, owing to having had an unusual number of two- and even three-day gaps between shaves. I'm going to try not to let that happen again anytime soon - it's mostly vacation-related, one way and another. And thank heaven my new Captain's Choice lather bowl came quickly!

Feather Rating Woes
The Feather is a wonderful blade, but it has been confusing to me. It is just different in a way it's hard to describe. My Sharpness criteria from back in Post 23 are: "This has a lot to do with the first shave on each blade, and sometimes when I'm writing I call this 'efficiency.' The ability to slice effortlessly through my beard. I judge partially on how much touch-up there is left to do after my 2-1/2 passes. I like audible feedback when I shave, but less audible and physical feedback means the blade's more like a hot knife through butter. Extra points on sharpness if the sharpness sticks around well through three or four shaves (but Longevity is something else . . .)"

The Feather on the first shave, judging by audible feedback and effortless slicing, is clearly as sharp, maybe sharper than the Polsilver SI. But the Polsilver is still the low-touchup king, and my face stays clean-shaven for longer. I don't think that makes sense, but what can I do? For maintaining an edge, I think the Feather might do it better. I think I'm going to rate them identical 8s for Sharpness but they are clearly different . . . maybe round two will sort it out.

I have a similar problem with Smoothness. The criteria are "This has a lot to do with comfort. I judge partially on how much sting I get from alum or aftershave. I've come to expect a blade to be a bit less comfortable during the first shave, when it is sharpest, and probably most comfortable after 10 or 12 shaves (which I won't be doing too much of during this blade search period). The second and third shaves on a blade feel like the best combination of sharp and smooth. Extra points on smoothness if the first shave is both sharp and comfortable."

It seems clear to me that the Polsilver SI is smoother down the stretch at shaves 10+, but I definitely get less aftershave sting with the Feather on pretty much every shave. And on that first shave with each, they are both very comfortable. Dang! I want a clear winner!

Longevity is the one place where I feel giving the top blades identical 4s is an easy call. But then what this means is that the Feather falls just short of the Polsilver SI based on having identically printed sides! Oh, the humanity!

Software Selection
A wise man once wrote in his signature line, 'The key to a restraint is to stop looking.' And I think I've looked around enough now (and, yes, spent enough money) that I can ease my SAD and stop looking at new soaps (and sometimes creams) all the time. After a year of not only trying all sorts of soaps and balms and splashes, but also reading good reviews here, I have assembled the following generous selection. Except for a couple of splashes (Christmas list!), I have more than a year's supply of all of this stuff. Everything else is in the PIF bag and will be coming at you soon (really).

Set 1 - Colder weather

Soap: Cold River Soap Works SELECT Sandalwood
Balm: Chatillon Lux - Gratiot League Square post shave salve
Splash: Fine Santal Absolut​

Set 2 - Spring or Autumn

Soap: Mike's Natural Hungarian Lavender
Balm: Chatillon Lux - Champs de Lavande post shave salve
Splash: WetShavingProducts True Lavender​

Set 3 - Warmer weather

Soap: Barrister's Reserve Spice
Balm: Captain's Choice Bay Rum
Splash: Captain's Choice Cat O' Nine Tails​

Set 4 - Menthol

Soap: Stirling Margaritas in the Arctic
Balm: Soap Commander Courage
Splash: Floid Vigoroso​

Extras for Mix & Match with above

Stirling Weekend in Malibu shaving soap
Fine Snake Bite
Truefit & Hill Trafalgar aftershave splash​

That's my stuff, my jam, and it hardly looks 'minimal' in any way. But there's something in there for every morning, and I just won't hang out in the Shaving Soap forum anymore. Maybe when I run out of Weekend in Malibu (in 2020?) I'll still be able to replace it with Mystic Water Coconut Sandalwood. But otherwise, I'm set!

Final Set of Blade Brands
I have a shave or two left on this third Feather, but then it's on to my last set of four brands for quick trials, to be followed by the last 3-blade trial of the KAI Stainless Steel. I won't be finished even then - the plan is to go back through 8 brands: my original 5 plus the other 3 that score highest in round one - and see if my scores need adjusting.

The final set of DE blades I'm including in this whole process, largely selected by how much good buzz I've heard about them from you, are:

Wilkinson Sword Classic - Made in Germany
Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharpedge - yes, it's back to St. Petersburg . . .
Gillette Nacet - . . . home of PPI . . .
Astra Superior Platinum - . . . apparently DE blade capital of the world.​

Thanks for reading!

 

[Cal]

I am finally back again...

Nice update Spike.

 

[NurseDave]

Thanks for the write up. I use Feathers regularly and still need to try Polsilver and Kai at some time.

 

[Tokyospike]

Thanks Cal & Dave. Good to be back.

 

[Tokyospike]

ATT R1 - Wilkinson Sword Classic (3)
Another one in the bag . . .

The German Wilkie is a very good blade.

Like with the Rapiras and the Shark, I have to give this at least one point of Intangibles because . . . well . . . look at it. Who doesn't want to wake up to using something like this every morning? But [expletive deleted] I'll be [expletive deleted] if I don't have to take that point away again cuz it's printed identically on both sides! (Very elegantly printed, though, I must say.)

The first shave was very efficient. There was a lot of audible feedback, and a sense of mowing down the whiskers, but the result was effortlessly BBS and 24 hours later there was little stubble to deal with. And it was comfortable as well.

Subsequent shaves, though, the sharpness fell of immediately and noticeably. Always a good shave, but nowhere near as efficient - back to an average amount of stubble on shaves 2 - 4. I gave myself a weeper on shave 4, but that's hardly the blade's fault. It remained smooth, though - above average in comfort.

They are so gorgeous, I wish they'd performed just a tad better.

On to the SharpEdge! Thanks for reading.

 

[NurseDave]

ATT R1 - Wilkinson Sword Classic (3)


Like with the Rapiras and the Shark, I have to give this at least one point of Intangibles because . . . well . . . look at it. Who doesn't want to wake up to using something like this every morning? But [expletive deleted] I'll be [expletive deleted] if I don't have to take that point away again cuz it's printed identically on both sides! (Very elegantly printed, though, I must say.)

You crack me up with that stuff. I do like this blade as well. For me it's a mild shaver so I'll use it in something for a clean-up pass, or to try a new razor I'm a little scared of.

 

[DocHoliday0831]

I like the Wilkinson ok but I much prefer the astra sp and Gillette silver blue


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tokyospike]

I crack myself up, as well . . .

 

[cmh737]

Nice blade chart!

 

[Tokyospike]

Thanks, Chris. Just 4 to go, if I live long enough . . .

 

[Tokyospike]

ATT R1 - 7 O'Clock SharpEdge (2)
PIF Up . . . More shaving going on . . .

So I finally posted my PIF: Software Must Go! Seems like an initial blade PIF is probably coming up soon . . .

Muggy around here these days . . . this helps.

Gillette 7 O'Clock SharpEdge
Have another shave at least to go on this. It's beginning to look like there's going to be a pile-up near the top for the end of my brand list . . . these are absolutely above average. I'm just trying to figure out if they're really better than the Silver Blues - and also wondering how/why the Rubie seemed so much better than the other Gillettes to me.

Time will tell.

Thanks for reading.

 

[cmh737]

I haven't tried the Rubie - didn't even know about that one. I'll have to try those. I do like the GSBs, and the black ninja.

 

[Tokyospike]

ATT R1 - Gillette Nacet (3)
I am becoming confused again . . .

Final Thoughts on the 7 O'Clock SharpEdge
So I'm having to go back now and re-read what I said when I was testing all the Gillette blades . . . because like with the Rapiras earlier, I'm having one heck of a time telling one from another. I'm sure there must be some manufacturing differences, but most of these Gillette blades are simply very good all around. In the end, with the SharpEdge, I had to score it identically to the Silver Blue and the Platinum. I rank them in the order shown below just because I like the looks and names in that order.

Gillette Nacet
So by coincidence, I just read this post by @guyakaguy. And I know exactly what he means about "There's a prickly-ness to a fresh Nacet that isn't there with a fresh GSB." That's really kind of what I like about the Nacet. There's a quiet, but audible high-pitched feedback that I like as well - part of the same quality, and something I think the Nacet may share with the Rubie?

I don't exactly agree though when he says "similar to GSBs minus the smoothness that comes with a Teflon coating." That makes sense, but my subjective experience is that the smoothness is pretty much the same (on these few shaves), but the Nacet feels sharper to me.

So, scores stack up like this:

The Nacet and the Personna Blue score the same, but I think I prize Smooth over Sharp in the long run.

This is hard people! Thanks for reading.

 

[Cal]

I am becoming confused again . . .

It's amazing the ways we find to make life more difficult for ourselves, and enjoy them.

 

[Tokyospike]

 

[cmh737]

This is a great project you've undertaken. Lately, I've been working my DE razors back into the rotation more often (just as a nice change of pace from straights), and I'm always curious about how others view certain blades. Plus, I had not heard of the Rubies - so I ordered some!

 

[Tokyospike]

Great! I hope you like them. Looking forward to checking them again in Round 2.

 

[cmh737]

Today, I used a Gillette Rubie for the first time. Worked like a champ in the super speed. I liked it better than the Gillette black and even the GSB. (The green and yellow don't score very high with me).