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Sputnik - a hidden gem!

After two fantastic shaves with what I thought was a personna med prep, I discovered I had been using a Sputnik for the first time ever when I disassembled my razor to clean it yesterday. That says a lot since med preps are highly regarded in these parts. The fact that I had no suspicion it was a different blade is a true compliment. Today was shave #3 and 13 hours later I still look good, with minimal stubble showing. I've tried a good 25 brands of blades and love the Russian steel regardless if they come from Moscow or St Petersburg. I would say Sputnik are to the Moscow factory what Nacet are to the St Petersburg plant, and Nacet are my #1 blade. I have some Rapira to try yet, so that may change, but either way, these are a fantastic blade well worth the money. More sharp than smooth at first IMO, and the first shave lets you know it, but the second and third have been smoother and every bit as efficient. Anybody else a fan of these?
 
After two fantastic shaves with what I thought was a personna med prep, I discovered I had been using a Sputnik for the first time ever when I disassembled my razor to clean it yesterday. That says a lot since med preps are highly regarded in these parts. The fact that I had no suspicion it was a different blade is a true compliment. Today was shave #3 and 13 hours later I still look good, with minimal stubble showing. I've tried a good 25 brands of blades and love the Russian steel regardless if they come from Moscow or St Petersburg. I would say Sputnik are to the Moscow factory what Nacet are to the St Petersburg plant, and Nacet are my #1 blade. I have some Rapira to try yet, so that may change, but either way, these are a fantastic blade well worth the money. More sharp than smooth at first IMO, and the first shave lets you know it, but the second and third have been smoother and every bit as efficient. Anybody else a fan of these?

Sputnik is St Petersburg - not Rapira?

I agree they are superb blades.
 
Totally agree, most of my blades are Russian made and I really can't find a reason to not use them. They are crazy cheap, generally 10$ per 100 and they shave really good on my face.
I made a mistake as a newbie to buy 200 feathers right from the start just because they are "the best".
I really dislike them, always gives me cuts and razorburns while the Russians don't.

Tip of the day: buy a sample pack of 140 Russian blades from the eBay. I did and the cost is around 12-14$ and all the Moscow brands are included.
 
The Sputnik is a PPI blade, not Moscow.

I am going to throw in a dissenting voice, I find the Sputnik blade to be the worst of the 10 or so different PPI blades I have tried; rough in usage. Not sure if I got a bad blade or if it is a YMMV situation.
 
Glad you found a nice surprise. I've only used Sputniks once or twice, but I remember really liking them. They were very, very smooth and plenty sharp. The Russians make some terrific razor blades (and the Vodka ain't too shabby, either.)
 
The Sputnik is a PPI blade, not Moscow.

I am going to throw in a dissenting voice, I find the Sputnik blade to be the worst of the 10 or so different PPI blades I have tried; rough in usage. Not sure if I got a bad blade or if it is a YMMV situation.

My mistake, I assumed Moscow for some reason. Maybe that's why it reminded me of the Nacet, very sharp at first but not so smooth, with the smoothness increasing on subsequent shaves. #4 today and another great shave. There's no sign of degradation at all, I'll see how many comfortable shaves I can get without actually pushing the blade.
 
Let us know how the Sputnik does.? I figure if you get 5-7 shaves from this blade ya got your monies worth. I am happy with 5 shaves per blade myself.
 
Shaved with a Sputnik for the first time today. I got a DFS, as usual, but felt more tugging than with other blades. I also feel like the blade improved during use. I generally like PPI blades, but I would rank it lowish on the list. For all blades I'd rank my preferences as follows

1. Perma Sharp / Astra SP / Minora --all of these are smooth & sharp out of the box for me.
2. Gillette Yellow, and Polsilver --still smooth, but just not as good as above for me
3. Gillette Green (PPI) and Sputnik --they work, but there is tugging that creates a bit of pain on the first pass

This is all with a 23c. Only Perma Sharp and Astra are worthy of 100 lots for me.
 
Shaved with a Sputnik for the first time today. I got a DFS, as usual, but felt more tugging than with other blades. I also feel like the blade improved during use. I generally like PPI blades, but I would rank it lowish on the list. For all blades I'd rank my preferences as follows

1. Perma Sharp / Astra SP / Minora --all of these are smooth & sharp out of the box for me.
2. Gillette Yellow, and Polsilver --still smooth, but just not as good as above for me
3. Gillette Green (PPI) and Sputnik --they work, but there is tugging that creates a bit of pain on the first pass

This is all with a 23c. Only Perma Sharp and Astra are worthy of 100 lots for me.

Your groupings of the PPI blades are pretty much exactly the same as mine with the exception I have not tried the Minora, but would put the Nacet up there in the top group which I find to be very close to the Perma Sharp which is my favourite.
 
I put Nacet & Polsiver at the top and Astra at the bottom, with the SS being worse than the SP, they don't work that well for me in my EJ de86. I have some yellows & rubies but haven't tried them. With all I've heard about Perma-Sharp, I need to give them a go. I have so many blades right now though that I've commited to using them before I buy more, which may take a couple years. Unless I cheat and PIF a bunch! The Sputnik gave me another great shave today (#5) but the stubble on my neck is a little more noticeable by feel 12 hours later than with the other shaves.
 
Oh man, here's another blade I'm going to "need" to try, haha.

I'm another Russian blade fan. (But not a fan blade, you see.)
 
@DCRIII - at risk of offending another member, I think you sent these to me. If I'm correct, thank you very much! If not, then I apologize to whoever did. You also introduced me to Nacet blades, which have become my favorite. Not to mention the supply of homemade soaps, namely the unscented tallow and the goat's milk, which are perfect for my sensitive skin when it's too irritated to use my favorite name brand soaps. Thankfully the warmer weather is here and my skin is doing much better, I estimate those two soaps should last me at least another 4 or 5 "winters".
 
@DCRIII - at risk of offending another member, I think you sent these to me. If I'm correct, thank you very much! If not, then I apologize to whoever did. You also introduced me to Nacet blades, which have become my favorite. Not to mention the supply of homemade soaps, namely the unscented tallow and the goat's milk, which are perfect for my sensitive skin when it's too irritated to use my favorite name brand soaps. Thankfully the warmer weather is here and my skin is doing much better, I estimate those two soaps should last me at least another 4 or 5 "winters".
You're welcome Jay!
Aside from the Graham Field Prep blades, I never share anything that I hate or won't use myself.
 
The Sputnik is a PPI blade, not Moscow.

I am going to throw in a dissenting voice, I find the Sputnik blade to be the worst of the 10 or so different PPI blades I have tried; rough in usage. Not sure if I got a bad blade or if it is a YMMV situation.

I was thinking about this issue recently, and it left me wondering some things.

So PPI is a 1993 joint venture with was then called Leninets, Russia's largest blade manufacturer. Gillette has done that kind of deal in lots of countries: Polsilver in Poland. Permasharp in Turkey. Etc. I'm pretty sure the deal is always basically the same: The local company contributes a local market, labor, and a facility; Gillette contributes blade-making machines, supervisors, and world-wide marketing expertise.

So why would there be variation within one facility like PPI's St. Petersburg operation? One possibility is that PPI grades its blades and calls the best ones "A", the second grade "B", etc. Or is that machinery different for different lines? For example, perhaps "C" blades are produced on machines contributed by Leninets, whereas "A" blades are produced on state-of-the-art Gillette machines. Or maybe cheap steel is used to produce one brand; expensive steel another.

Consider too the fact that these are all Gillette joint ventures. I think we can assume that Gillette knows what machines produce good blades and uses those machines in any joint venture facility. So the machines in Turkey making Permasharps are the same machines used in Poland to produce Polsilvers. Wouldn't that suggest that all these blades are going to be of approximately equal quality?

Given the importance of engineering and machinery, I doubt that people in Poland are less capable than those in St. Petersburg of making the machines crank out good blades. Let alone that people on one end of the PPI facility in St. Petersburg are less capable than those on the other end.

Or are we looking at different grades of steel? The market for steel is global, so I don't know why that would be.

So my question is: Does anyone have any real information about how Gillette blade manufacturing works in various countries? We can all report our subjective experiences with various blades, and we can all speculate as to what might account for any differences in quality we subjectively perceive. But I'm curious if anyone has any real knowledge as opposed to consumer impressions and guesses about Gillette's manufacturing.
 
I'm with @Komboloi. Will eventually spend time researching this question - would love to hear anything anyone knows. (Except I thought Polsilver's were all made at PPI now . . . ?)
 
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