The Eye Test. ASCO Orange, Bic Astor, Bic Chrome Platinum, Derby USTA and Super Tian Li Blue Blades

[South Dakota Guy]

Forum Member @P1C0 sent me these blades to allow we shave nerds and the curious to get a close look at some blades that I didn't have. I have only shaved with the Bic Chrome Platinum which gave me some good shaves and some uncomfortably sharp shaves (to me). I found them to be blades that I had to mind my Ps and Qs when using them. I will put up some comparison blades where appropriate.

Starting with the ASCO Orange and I will add the New Lord Platinum for comparison.

Asco Super Stainless Orange 200x

New Lord Platinum 200x

Now the Bics:
Bic Astor 200x

Bic Chrome Platinum 200x

Here is the Derby USTA compared to the Derby Extra (pre 2016)

Derby USTA 200x

Derby Extra (pre 2016) 200x

And finally the Super Tian Li Blue Blades 200x.

My impressions based just on 200x inspection of the blades is the Bic Astor looks smoother than the Bic Chrome. I am looking forward to testing that blade. The Tian Li blade looks much smoother than I expected as well. I would have never purchased those but since I have one I am curious as to how it shaves. The Derby USTA looks much less threatening than my extra blades but It doesn't look like a blade that I will like. I still haven't shaved with my New Lord Platinum but comparing it to the ASCO I see a lot of similarities. Eventually they will make their way into my razor. Thanks again to @P1C0 for proving the blades for this visual inspection!

 

[hairless wonder]

Is there an Old Lord Platinum? If so, is there a difference between that and the New Lord Platinum?

 

[SharpieB]

The Derby Extra looks like crap. Maybe that is why they still have such a bad reputation?

I don’t mind Derbys at all but all of the ones I own were bought in the last couple of years.

 

[South Dakota Guy]

Is there an Old Lord Platinum? If so, is there a difference between that and the New Lord Platinum?

Honestly I don’t know but that is what it says on my tuck of blades. I am far from an authority on Lord blades.

 

[South Dakota Guy]

The Derby Extra looks like crap. Maybe that is why they still have such a bad reputation?

I don’t mind Derbys at all but all of the ones I own were bought in the last couple of years.

I bought my blades on Amazon in August-September 2020 and from what I have learned they were pre 2016 manufacture which is when QC improved for those blades.

 

[P1C0]

Forum Member @P1C0 sent me these blades to allow we shave nerds and the curious to get a close look at some blades that I didn't have.
...

Wow! Thanks for the results!

I think that the orange ASCOs do look really similar to the Sharks SS. Probably just a minor difference in the overall honing process.

Shark SS:

Orange ASCO:

The bottom parts of the Astors and the BICs CP look the same, but the upper bevels are distinctly different, does this suggest a different honing process? I guess so right.

I am not surprised by the USTAs, as I said in my review of them they felt very Derby-like but without the inconsistent and unpredictable weeper/nick factor.

The Super Tian Li Blue Blade does not shave horribly, but the blade itself smells so much of chemicals. Is it dirt? Is it the coating? It is strange in any case.

 

[South Dakota Guy]

The bottom parts of the Astors and the BICs CP look the same, but the upper bevels are distinctly different, does this suggest a different honing process? I guess so right.

I would love to visit a factory where they make razor blades and see how it's done. Do they make different blades on different production lines or just change the settings on the machines for the different blades. Do they check the calibration of the machines frequently during production? How are the coatings applied?

 

[Galaktus]

Here you go:

 

[South Dakota Guy]

Here you go:

-
That was very interesting. Thank you.

 

[BigJ]

Great photos!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[alin]

Thanks @South Dakota Guy for these wonderful comparisons and @P1C0 for the blades.
Your conclusions about BIC Astor? Can we say that it is a very good blade? Apparently it doesn't seem worth paying extra for BIC Chrome if I already have BIC Astor.
A useful comparison would also be between the Gillette Platinum light blue laser written with KCG and the Gillette Stainless red package, we can find a cheap alternative to KCG.

 

[Tanuki]

Thanks, guys! These are fun threads.

If @South Dakota Guy is interested, I would be very interested if a bunch of members could be recruited to send in a particular blade that gets mixed reviews (e.g. Voskhod or Bic CP) so S.D.G. could determine if the visual edge quality was inconsistent over the 'random' sample sourced from the crowd.

I would certainly raid my blade sampler and supplies to contribute.

 

[RayClem]

Thanks @South Dakota Guy for these wonderful comparisons and @P1C0 for the blades.
Your conclusions about BIC Astor? Can we say that it is a very good blade? Apparently it doesn't seem worth paying extra for BIC Chrome if I already have BIC Astor.

The photos show primarily how smooth the blade will be due to the jaggedness (or lack thereof) of the edge. However, what the photos cannot show effectively is how thin the edge of the blade is at the apex. That information is needed to tels you how sharp the edge will be, although the bevel does convey some information.

The Derby Extra looks like crap. Maybe that is why they still have such a bad reputation?

I don’t mind Derbys at all but all of the ones I own were bought in the last couple of years.

The pre 2016 Derby Extra blades were so bad, almost anything they did to change them had to be an improvement. I have not tried the newer blades as I have too many good blades to take a chance on newer Derby blades, especially since there are still a lot of the older blades in the supply chain.


Also, the photos are taken of new blades. Thus, they do not tell you how durable the blades might be.

I have not tried the BIC Astor blades, so I cannot compare them to other blades. However, I can tell you that BIC Chrome Platinum blades are both sharp and smooth, so they are some of my favorite blades.

 

[Nick111]

Thank you for posting this info.I had come to the same conclusion about Bic Astor vs Bic Platinum.

 

[South Dakota Guy]

Thanks, guys! These are fun threads.

If @South Dakota Guy is interested, I would be very interested if a bunch of members could be recruited to send in a particular blade that gets mixed reviews (e.g. Voskhod or Bic CP) so S.D.G. could determine if the visual edge quality was inconsistent over the 'random' sample sourced from the crowd.

I would certainly raid my blade sampler and supplies to contribute.

I have wondered about lot to lot variations among blades. When someone reports that one of your favorite blades tore up his face it does make you wonder if it was a bad blade or something else. Voskhod qualifies as one of those blades as I have read more than one person say they worked well for them but then they bought a new sleeve of 100 and they felt rough. I have no problem putting them under the microscope and posting them here but we need to find suspect blades from one lot and good blades from another. Shark blades are another that get very mixed reviews.