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Why Do SE Blades Shave Longer?

There are a few theories out there, but not everyone agrees of course. Is it because they are thicker? I don't think so as it's the leading edge we're dealing with. Different edge treatment? Different steel type? Perhaps a better guess is that they are honed to a different angle. Japanese knives are usually 17 to 20 degree angle. Gillette razor blades are between 12 & 16 degrees usually.
 
I BBS'ed my face and head 28 times with Polsilver SI, which equates to over 100 face shaves. I hit 60 face shaves with an Astra SS in a post war Tech, which had more to give, I got bored. I typically only use an ATT SE1 with a Schick Proline now and have only gotten 20 or so face shaves out of one, 4 face and head shaves.

SE razor blades are easier on my skin, but I get less shaves from a SE blade than a DE blade!

Check out this link! Excalibur Club - Blade Longevity DE, SE and Injector
 

Esox

I didnt know
Staff member
GEM SE blades have a visible dual bevel but no idea on the angles.

This is a GEM carbon blade and I assume the PTFE blades have the same honing angles but seem considerably sharper to me.

I left the pictures at their full resolution.

IMG_1749.JPG


The same edge after about 45 minutes on my whetstone.
IMG_1753.JPG


That made the edge slightly sharper but still not sharp enough and quite a bit smoother. Those blades are hard.

I easily got 20 shaves from a single Polsilver, but the best I've done with a GEM PTFE in my MMOC has been 13 and I should have swapped it at 12. I had a single ingrown after shave 13.
 
Injector blades are thicker and thus more rigid than DE blades. They are also triple-beveled. They do last much longer for me than DE blades.
 
I get 7 quality shaves with a DE blade; I get 14 quality shaves with an injector blade; I get only 5 quality shaves with a SE shaving blade. All shaves are traditional 3 pass.
 
I picked up SE shaving over the last 1.5 years and love the shave although I have had mixed results with blade life. I alternate between Schick Proline & Feather with similar results although the Proline yields more shaves generally. I find however the SE blades do not last as long as Feather DE blades in my regular rotation of razors; Feather, Slim Adjustable & Red Tip. That said the comfort factor goes to SE. My $0.02
 
:detective: Is it perhaps because DEs have twice as many edges?

That's definitely part of it!

A good DE blade(Polsilver Si) in a rigid razor design(NEW SC, postwar Tech), flipped over daily will last forever!

Comfort and after the shave skin condition is better with SE blades for me and what I put my face through to BBS it everytime.
 
I can 15 maximum quality shaves using a DE vintage NSO Gillette Super Stainless (Spoiler), I can also get 8 maximum quality shaves using today modern DE blade as YMMV.

I've got heaps of vintage DE blades in my den to last a lifetime.
 
I always found that Feather AC blades lasted longer than DE blades do. I could easily get a month of shaves out of a SE, most DEs last me about 2 weeks.
 
I don’t actually know the answer, though I have pondered this frequently. With the exception of the Polsilver SI, all of my favorite blades (AC and DE) are Japanese. I can get more than a dozen excellent shaves (up to 23 in practice) with any of them . . . but that means the SEs are “better” in some way as that one edge is doing twice as much work.

Thanks Mike @Esox for the fine photos. I have suspected for some time that Japanese blade makers both a) use a different steel alloy, and b) produce a different edge geometry, but don’t have the evidence. Japan has been producing the most sophisticated steel cutting edges for at least four centuries.

The extra rigidity of the thicker SE blades could also be a factor. SE razor designs generally hold a blade in a more tight/inflexible fashion as well. Though why those factors would necessarily impact longevity I am not sure.
 
I used to be addicted to my Slim with Voskhods, and they still work well, and I get 7 decent shaves, but I've since switched to a Streamline with Gem PTFE's. The quality of the shave, the incredible closeness and the lack of irritation would have me using them if I only got 2 shaves per blade. Simply no comparison.
 
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