RayClem's Blade Evaluations

As many of you are aware, I have a soap collection with over 200 shaving creams, artisan soaps, and hard pucks. Of those I have about 75 soaps that I rate as either elite or super elite that are in my current rotation. When I do my typical 4-pass shave using 4 different razors, any of those soaps will allow me to achieve a near-BBS shave with zero irritation. Thus, I do not consider it necessary to use the same soap for every blade evaluation. The primary difference between my elite and super elite soaps is whether the post shave feel persists for 16 hours or more than 24 hours. Thus, that difference is not significant for the purposes of this evaluation.

I have found that the sharpness of the blade is best evaluated by the performance on the 1st pass WTG. A great blade will go through 2 days growth with no tugging. Some good blades like 7 O'Clock Super platinum black have such as thick coating that they do not quite achieve that goal on the 1st pass with a new blade. However, they blades become super sharp as the coating wears off. They are one of my favorites.

I evaluate smoothness on my 3rd pass ATG and my 4th clean-up pass. Since most of the stubble will be gone by then, I experience the full feel of the blade on my skin. If the blade is not smooth enough, I will get feedback when I apply witch hazel after the shave. If a blade is smooth, I will get little or no feedback.

Ray, great thread. I look forward to your findings. The suggestions proffered to date are valid.

A request from the cheap seats:

Voshkhod
Gillette Silver Blue
Permasharp
Gillette Yellows
Personna Reds

This is where I really love our forum. Observations & learnings which we can/might weave into our shaving routines.

BTW, Astras were my least favored blade as well. But I found one razor that they perform marvelously well.

C U all tomorrow

Sent from my SM-A536U using Tapatalk

I have the Pesonna Reds and they have become one of my favorites. I first got them back in the Nook and I was testing them and chazt told me not to push them past 3 or 4 shaves, I forget which. He was right, they did not perform well, so now I cut them off at 3. I have Permasharps and Voskhods I use on occasion, it's been a while. I have to agree on Astra Sp greens. They get a lot of love and they just don't click with me. They nip me every time I try them. Whenever I buy something someone sends me a frigging tuck. Or Gillette Platinum. I have many of those.

Over the next couple of months I plan to most evaluations of a number of blades that I had not tried previously. Some of these blades do receive some press on the forum while others are rarely mentioned. 

To put these reviews in perspective, please be aware that I do not consider myself to be a typical shaver. I have an old man beard and skin. My beard is silver white and very tough. I skin is highly sensitive. Forthermore, my beard grows rapidly and my current practice is to shave every 2-3 days. That means I need a blade that is very sharp to slice through my heavy beard, yet very smooth to prevent irritation of my sensitive skin. 

I understand that Astra SP blades are one of the most popular blades among the wet shaving community, yet I have never been able to get a decent shave using an ASP blade. They are neither sharp enough for my beard, nor smooth enough for my face. I can use them, but do not enjoy them. All of my ASP blades are older printed blades from Russia rather than the laser etched blades or the recent blades from India. I might try some of the India blade at some point, but they were not be in this series of evaluations. Thus, the Astra SP blades will be used for comparison purposes for the least sharp of the blades. If a test blade is even less sharp than ASP, the evaluation will be terminated as I cannot use them.

Blades that I do enjoy using are: BIC Chrome Platinum (Greece), Gillette Nacet Platinum and Nacet Stainless (Russia), Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Platinum black (Russia), Personna Platinum Chrome (Israel), Dorco Prime Platinum STP301 (Viet Nam), Durablade Sharp Titanium (Bangladesh), and SuperMax Blue Diamond Platinum (Italy). These are super sharp, yet smooth.

There are other blades I can use but do not like as much as those listed above. 

With many blades, the performance changes during of after the 1st shave as coatings wear off. Thus, I plan to do a minimum of two shave with every blade unless the 1st shave is so bad I cannot tolerate it. 

The blades that I will evaluate over the next couple of months include:

Kai Stainless
Wizamet Iridium
BIC Astor
Gillette Minora
Personna Platinum Chrome (Germany)
Tiger
Zorrik
SuperMax Super Stainless
Lord Asco
Lord Cool
Lord Silver Star
Treet Platinum

If there are other blades that you would like me to evaluate, let me know. If I have used them previously, I will post a review, if not I will see if I can obtain them.

I have the Zorrik and Silver Star if you need a couple. I am a huge fan of the Silver Star. Bought them on a whim and they work great for me. I also got the Lord Super Stainless and I wonder if they are similar or maybe even the same blade?

Here is my evaluation of the Kai stainless blade.

I have seen both highly complementary and somewhat disparaging reviews of these blades. They are one of the most expensive blades available. I paid $10 for 20 blades. However, I am glad I did not purchase 100 for $35 as will become clear from my review.

I have heard that these blades are slightly wider than most others. Thus, I was expecting them to have slightly more blade exposure and be slightly more aggressive than some other blades. In my first shave with them I selected my Van der Hagen (Weishi) Superspeed TTO clone. It is a very mild razor that I can normally use with the sharpest blades. I had two days beard growth and the Kai blade was similar in performance to what I have come to expect from the much less expensive Astra SP blades. That is to say, it was not nearly sharp enough for my beard nor smooth enough for my face. That first shave was not as close as I hoped and I experienced significant irritation when I splashed witch hazel on my face.

On the second shave with 1-1/2 days growth, I tried moving up to my Karve CB Stainless with C-plate. It is reasonably mild, but not as mild as the VDH. The Kai blade on the second shave was noticeably sharper than on the first shave. That is typical of many blades. While the shave was better, the blade was still not quite sharp enough for my beard. Once again, the shave was neither as close as I like and there was significant irritation when witch hazel was applied.

I might try a third shave to see if the blades become even sharper than they did on the second shave; but I would never want to tolerate two poor shaves just to get to the third shave. This would be for evaluation purposes only.

Thus, like the Astra SP blades I have tried before, I could use Kai blades if I had to do so, but I would not enjoy the shave. I do not know why anyone would pay the rather high prices for Kai blades when sharper, smoother blades are available for a fraction of the price. In my opinion, Kai blades represent a poor value, even if they are sharp enough and smooth enough for some people.

I have the Kai blades and can't remember the lats time I used them. Not sure if it was performance or what, but I agree I can get the same or better performance for much less money with Gillette Nacet, Personna Reds, etc. Not a fan of the Astra SP Green either. I have seen them get a lot of love, but they didn't work for me. Got nicked every time and that rarely happens. I would recommend the Personna Reds with the Karve CB. I have the SB-E and OC-F and they are efficient as hell and smooth for me. It might be a little different with the C plate. I started with that one and it wa sa little mild for my preference.

It seems like quite a few of you have blade preferences similar to mine. That is what I was hoping for as you will benefit from my evaluations. Those who love Astra SP have no need to look anywhere else. It will be interesting to see what happens due to some changes in the razor blade market.

The Personna Platinum Israeli reds are great blades, but inventory is depleted as they have not been made in several years. I have tried a couple of the German Personnas, but I want to do a more thorough evaluation to see if they are the same blades as the beloved Israeli Reds. BTW: There are some German blades that are being shipped in packaging that mimics the packaging of Israeli reds. Thus, do not be fooled into thinking you are getting blades from Israel if that is what you desire. I suspect very few Israeli blades are still available. They are not similar in status and price to vintage blades.

With Gillette exiting the PPI facility in Russia, it is still to early to tell whether all the brands will be moved to India, whether some will move to China. or be eliminated altogether. Popular brands will certainly be retained; but some may fall by the wayside. Even before Gilllette announced their exit from Russia, many shavers wondered what blades they might be able to purchase from non-Russian producers. That is one reason I planned to review primarily non-Russian blades.

Voskhod and Rapira are made by Mostochlegmash in Moscow. While they are still available, prices seem to be escalating as inventories are depleted. While I find Voskhod and Rapira Platinum Lux to be decent blades, I am not sure I would pay current prices.

I have heard some great comments about Silver Star blades. That is why I am anxious to try them. I was hoping my order of several blade tucks would arrive today, but it looks like they are stuck in the postal system.

It seems like quite a few of you have blade preferences similar to mine. That is what I was hoping for as you will benefit from my evaluations. Those who love Astra SP have no need to look anywhere else. It will be interesting to see what happens due to some changes in the razor blade market.

The Personna Platinum Israeli reds are great blades, but inventory is depleted as they have not been made in several years. I have tried a couple of the German Personnas, but I want to do a more thorough evaluation to see if they are the same blades as the beloved Israeli Reds. BTW: There are some German blades that are being shipped in packaging that mimics the packaging of Israeli reds. Thus, do not be fooled into thinking you are getting blades from Israel if that is what you desire. I suspect very few Israeli blades are still available. They are not similar in status and price to vintage blades.

With Gillette exiting the PPI facility in Russia, it is still to early to tell whether all the brands will be moved to India, whether some will move to China. or be eliminated altogether. Popular brands will certainly be retained; but some may fall by the wayside. Even before Gilllette announced their exit from Russia, many shavers wondered what blades they might be able to purchase from non-Russian producers. That is one reason I planned to review primarily non-Russian blades.

Voskhod and Rapira are made by Mostochlegmash in Moscow. While they are still available, prices seem to be escalating as inventories are depleted. While I find Voskhod and Rapira Platinum Lux to be decent blades, I am not sure I would pay current prices.

Yes, I should have mentioned my Reds are the German made. I'm a fan of Rapira Platinum Lux. I may have to try and get some soon if they don't get too out of hand price wise.

RayClem   Timor blades - not too mild, not feather sharp, the most consistent blade I have found.  

They kind of remind me of Spoilers and other vintage blades.  

Some people swear by them in anything Wolfman…

Happy to send you a few.

RayClem   Timor blades - not too mild, not feather sharp, the most consistent blade I have found.  

They kind of remind me of Spoilers and other vintage blades.  

Some people swear by them in anything Wolfman…

Happy to send you a few.

I have not tried Timor blades, but I have tried ice-tempered blades by Van der Hagen and Merkur. I am pretty certain the two blades I tried were both made by Timor since they were made in Solingen and are ice tempered just as the Timor blades. I do not know for certain whether the Timor blades are identical to the blades I have used. Both the VDH and Muhle blades were among the worst blades I have ever tried. However, I will send you a PM with my address should you wish to mail me a couple of blades. Although I am not looking forward to doing so, I will take one for the team. 

Interestingly, neither Merkur, nor VDH currently obtain their blades from their former supplier in Germany. The blades no longer say "ice tempered". I believe Merkur now gets their blades from Czech Republic and VDH gets their blades from China. Although I have not tried either of the recent blades, I am all in favor of the changes.

I once purchased a straight razor that was "ice tempered". It is one of the worst razor purchases I ever made. The steel is so brittle that I was never able to get the edge sharp enough or smooth enough. The best I could do was get it to where I could get one decent shave, so I gave up. The razor makes a wonderful box cutter.

I think they are different.  I could never use Merkur blades, I don’t think they would even shave my arm hair.  

Timors I enjoy in my more aggressive razors. I liken them to a yellow 7’oclock in smoothness (for me).