Worst Blade

[RayClem]

Murker blades will always take top place for being the worst blades ever for me. I almost never got into DE shaving because the first blade I used was a Murker. I can't believe anyone would buy them a second time.

The bad thing is that Merkur sells a most of their razors with the Merkur blades in the package. The razors are pretty good, but not the blades.

The Merkur blades are sold as "ice tempered" made in Solingen Germany. I have also tried Van der Hagen "ice tempered" blades which are equally bad. Timor blades are also advertised as "ice tempered", so it may be that Merkur and VDH may just be rebranded Timor blades. In any case, based on my experience with Merkur and VDH, I would never consider the Timor blades.

 

[RayClem]

Was about 10 years ago, and the experience was so bad I haven't gone back. But at the time, there were two Dorcos that were popular. I tried both, with similar experience.

The Dorco Prime Platinum blades are made in a new state of the art facility in Vietnam. I had heard some negative comments about Dorco, but the STP301 blades are well worth the price of admission, $12.50 per 100 pack.

 

[mullard]

Merkur blade that came with 34C razor.

 

[P1C0]

I am too lazy to do the counting, but it looks like a close race between Merkur and Derby Extra.

 

[RayClem]

I am too lazy to do the counting, but it looks like a close race between Merkur and Derby Extra.

That is one race where nobody wins.

Another blade that is seldom mentioned is Rockwell. I have not used them and do not plan to do so. Although there are some glowing reviews of the blades on the Rockwell web site, some of the third-party reviews I have read indicate they are neither sharp nor smooth, so they may be in contention for worst blade.

Unlike razor blades, Rockwell razors have a good reputation.

 

[Juijitsu2010]

There is no doubt the worst blade is the ZAZA PLATINUM.Some of the Chinese blades are bad but the ZAZA was absolutely the worst.Rochwell blades were a big disappointment too but they were sharper than the ZAZA.I tried blades from different parts of the 10 pack too all were bad.I have over 3000 blades and have tried them all in different razors....I know about that and those are terrible.

 

[Juijitsu2010]

That is one race where nobody wins.

Another blade that is seldom mentioned is Rockwell. I have not used them and do not plan to do so. Although there are some glowing reviews of the blades on the Rockwell web site, some of the third-party reviews I have read indicate they are neither sharp nor smooth, so they may be in contention for worst blade.

Unlike razor blades, Rockwell razors have a good reputation.

I waited a year for the Model T razor and the razor is Meh!The Rockwell company is mediocre and has been coasting on the 6 series for awhile.....there are better razor companies out there with better razors at better prices.

 

[Galaktus]

Thanks to the generosity of @lancre , he PIFd me a legendary Graham Field Blade. Today I loaded it up in my Blackbird, lathered up with B&M Seville, and had at it.
From the first stroke at my sideburn, I could tell "smooth" wasn't ever considered by the engineers who designed and manufactured this blade. "Sharp" was given a nod or two, but that's all. I could feel every whisker being cut, and ATG, especially on my chin, was bad. Did my usual 2 pass, and two more WTG and ATG on my neck.
For aftershave I used Florida Water, my most stinging aftershave. Why not, lol. Burn was present all over my beard and mustache area. It did go away after several minutes.
I imagine this blade is reminiscent of WW2 blades during the metal rationing era. It felt like there was no coating at all.
Flying Eagle still has my top honor as the most un-useable and painful blade ever sold, but the GFB comes in at a solid second for me.

 

[Fred D]

Astra don't work for me, and believe me I've tried. I also don't like Mercur, Dorco, VDH, Rockwell blades (but love their razors), Derby Extra (but like the premium blades).

 

[Juijitsu2010]

I do pretty well with most razor blades as long as they are sharp enough to slice through my coarse beard. The ones I have tried that won't do that are:
Merkur, VDH, Shark Super Chrome, and Derby Extra. I think Merkur and VDH may be the same "ice tempered" blade iion different packaging as they perform similarly. The runner up for me is Astra Superior Platinum. I can shave with it, but I have yet to have a comfortable shave with an SP; I need a sharper blade..

On the other hand, I like the new Shark Platinum blades. I also like Astra Superior Stainless blades. Both of these are much sharper than their cousins that do not work for me. I have not tried Derby Premium, but although it might be slightly sharper than the Extras, I do not think the difference is enough to make it worth trying them.

Dorco, derby and merkur Derby and merkur just went sharp enough and dorco just nicked me bloody

Thanks to the generosity of @lancre , he PIFd me a legendary Graham Field Blade. Today I loaded it up in my Blackbird, lathered up with B&M Seville, and had at it.
From the first stroke at my sideburn, I could tell "smooth" wasn't ever considered by the engineers who designed and manufactured this blade. "Sharp" was given a nod or two, but that's all. I could feel every whisker being cut, and ATG, especially on my chin, was bad. Did my usual 2 pass, and two more WTG and ATG on my neck.
For aftershave I used Florida Water, my most stinging aftershave. Why not, lol. Burn was present all over my beard and mustache area. It did go away after several minutes.
I imagine this blade is reminiscent of WW2 blades during the metal rationing era. It felt like there was no coating at all.
Flying Eagle still has my top honor as the most un-useable and painful blade ever sold, but the GFB comes in at a solid second for me.

I find these posts interesting that alot of you don't know what a dull bad blade is.Feathers if not a dud are sharp and cut.....Bics are sharp and rough.....Grahamns are dull and rough......ZAZA plats are very very dull but smooth......Rochwells are dull but smooth.....Derbys are dull but smooth......alot of Chinese blades are a combination of both mainly very dull and degrees of roughness.I'm not trying to insult anyone on their idea of sharpness or smoothness of razors as YMMV but some of the razors....Feathers...sre not dull by any means unless its a dud.Its interesting these companies don't fix these problems in their production...SHARP IS SHARP....SMOOTH IS SMOOTH.....THAT IS THAT.....FEATHER AND GILLETTE HAVE RAISED THE BAR!Everything else is personal preference.I have over 3000 blades and tried them all ....my face has suffered and has forgave the mirror so no more low end experimenting....Grahamn Fields please note.

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[RayClem]

I find these posts interesting that alot of you don't know what a dull bad blade is.Feathers if not a dud are sharp and cut.....Bics are sharp and rough.....Grahamns are dull and rough......ZAZA plats are very very dull but smooth......Rochwells are dull but smooth.....Derbys are dull but smooth......alot of Chinese blades are a combination of both mainly very dull and degrees of roughness.I'm not trying to insult anyone on their idea of sharpness or smoothness of razors as YMMV but some of the razors....Feathers...sre not dull by any means unless its a dud.Its interesting these companies don't fix these problems in their production...SHARP IS SHARP....SMOOTH IS SMOOTH.....THAT IS THAT.....FEATHER AND GILLETTE HAVE RAISED THE BAR!Everything else is personal preference.I have over 3000 blades and tried them all ....my face has suffered and has forgave the mirror so no more low end experimenting....Grahamn Fields please note.

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I am not quite sure why you quoted me in your previous post.
At least with the blades I have used, I agree with your comments on sharpness and smoothness. I like my blades being both sharp and smooth, but if I cannot have both, I prefer sharp to smooth. I have a profound dislike for dull blades.

 

[Fred D]

I find these posts interesting that alot of you don't know what a dull bad blade is.Feathers if not a dud are sharp and cut.....Bics are sharp and rough.....Grahamns are dull and rough......ZAZA plats are very very dull but smooth......Rochwells are dull but smooth.....Derbys are dull but smooth......alot of Chinese blades are a combination of both mainly very dull and degrees of roughness.I'm not trying to insult anyone on their idea of sharpness or smoothness of razors as YMMV but some of the razors....Feathers...sre not dull by any means unless its a dud.Its interesting these companies don't fix these problems in their production...SHARP IS SHARP....SMOOTH IS SMOOTH.....THAT IS THAT.....FEATHER AND GILLETTE HAVE RAISED THE BAR!Everything else is personal preference.I have over 3000 blades and tried them all ....my face has suffered and has forgave the mirror so no more low end experimenting....Grahamn Fields please note.

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Blades also have a very different feel and efficiency in different razors. So just as we all have different skin and faces, we also use different razors that effects a blades performance also. So again, YMMV.

 

[Ladit]

So back to the game:
+1 for the Derby

I even tried to hone them with an Allegro, but there was nothing you can do about these. I have some blade sharpeners and from time to time I use vintage blades, normally you get an average blade to good, but not the Derby.

 

[Juijitsu2010]

I am not quite sure why you quoted me in your previous post.
At least with the blades I have used, I agree with your comments on sharpness and smoothness. I like my blades being both sharp and smooth, but if I cannot have both, I prefer sharp to smooth. I have a profound dislike for dull blades.

I dislike dull blades too and believe me I tried them all........I throw all the Chinese blades away that I get as they are generally soooooo dull its a sin.Even with good prepping they don't slice well!This is a good thread!

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[lancre]

Flying Eagle still has my top honor as the most un-useable and painful blade ever sold, but the GFB comes in at a solid second for me.

Another Flying Eagle survivor! Alright! Without question, FE is the worst blade ever made.

 

[P1C0]

Hey guys, joke's on you, because I can see Flying Eagle blades in Alibaba being advertised for "industrial use" and "removing OCA polarizer glue" My goodness.

 

[Juijitsu2010]

Hey guys, joke's on you, because I can see Flying Eagle blades in Alibaba being advertised for "industrial use" and "removing OCA polarizer glue" My goodness.

View attachment 1061792

I agree thats very funny.......Thats marketing!

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[lancre]

Hey guys, joke's on you, because I can see Flying Eagle blades in Alibaba being advertised for "industrial use" and "removing OCA polarizer glue" My goodness.

View attachment 1061792

This is the blade we've been condemning. Toothpick ran a participation PIF during the spring of 2017.

Based on your post, it appears that Flying Eagle made scraper blades as well as shaving blades. So does Personna.

 

[tenreasy]

Derby, Merkur, Dorco - pure shaving hell!

 

[lancre]

Derby, Merkur, Dorco - pure shaving hell!

For me, at least, the Merkur works nicely with a UK Aristocrat Jr., Dorcos seem middle-of-the-road, and Derbys seem to work with everything. YMMV.