(02-05-2024, 03:20 AM)ErkRusselReserve Wrote: Your recommendations always hit. I'll have to pick up some Filosos. As many "platinum" blades no longer actually have platinum*, Filoso explicitly stating that their blades now include platinum is bonus points. It may be that Bic CP also are actually platinum coated, this may differentiate them from many other pretenders.
*based on the spectrum analysis of a poster on B&B as well as a Russian "insider" on B&B and the listed materials on the Gillette Super Thin Plantinum (for the Vietnam market).
I hope you like the Filoso blades. The company is located in Las Vegas, so I do not know how easily you will be able to find them elsewhere.
Unlike some products such as shaving soaps that have very strict labeling requirements, razor blades have far less requirements. Sometimes even determining the country of manufacture is a challenge. This is made even harder by companies like Gillette who have plants all over the world. They might make products in one country and package them in another and sell them to yet another. That also means that a single product might be sold under different branding in various parts of the world. For example, I wonder if the Gillette Nacet blades and the Gillette Minora blades are one in the same. I did note a slight difference in my testing, but the difference might well be within the margin of error, especially when testing only a few samples.
Some blades are sold as "Swiss Quality". Perhaps the blades were manufactured using machinery designed in Switzerland or the company hires Swiss engineers. Or perhaps it is just a marketing scheme to make you think the blades have the precision of a Rolex watch. Even Switzerland only requires 60% of the components of a product to be made there to label it "Made in Switzerland". There would be no such requirement for the use of the marketing term "Swiss Quality".
Then there are manufacturers who claim they use Swedish steel in their blades. I own a Cangshan knife made in China from Swedish Sandvik 14C28N steel and hardened to 59 HRC. It is much sharper and holds it edge longer than similar knives I own featuring German X50CrMoV15 steel. The Swedish companies Sandvik and Allemia both make 13C26 steel for razor blade use and some brands might use those steels. However, I suspect that many Chinese made razor blades do not actually use 13C26, but a Chinese produced steel with similar properties. China is the largest producer of steel in the world accounting for 50% of the entire world production. Much of their iron ore comes from Australia.
Sweden is only 33rd on the list of producers. I read that not only are most Chinese blades produced using Chinese steel, but so are many blades, including some produced in Solingen, Germany that use Chinese steel. Since Solingen has a long history of steel making and blade making, that is surprising, but economics trumps location.
India is the second largest producer of steel in the world. Most of the blades made in India will be produced from Indian steel. Technically Russian razor steel is better than Indian steel for razor blades, but the blade making machinery at the Gillette/PPI blade making machinery in Russia was quite old. Thus, Gillette abandoning that equipment and moving to India and China might be a good thing in the long run.
I just learned that the famed Personna Platinum Israeli Reds were manufactured using steel from the USA. The Accutec Blade facility uses American steel as well.
I read that BIC uses Japanese steel for production of the BIC Chrome Platinum blades. Perhaps that is why BIC can achieve similar sharpness to Feather blades. I am not a fan of Kai blades, which use Japanese steel. One reader commented that KAI uses a different method for sharpening the blade edges. Unfortunately, they do not work well for me.
