RayClem's Blade Evaluations

metal_shavings

When you sent the info about the VCH "basics" blades, I assumed you already have some. Before you go out and purchase a 10 pack, let me check the Walmart about a mile from my home to see if they have them. My wife is making her weekly Walmart run in the morning. I will get her to check the shaving aisle to see what they have. I will let you know what we find.

See? I should've checked my alerts here before I went and order the blades. Not a big deal, let me know if you find them by you. I can always cancel it because I have it for store pick up. Honestly, it was like three dollars so I didn't really hesitate to just put the order in. Even so, picking them up and sending a couple of them to you really isn't a hassle, so let me know what you find out today. If you needed them, I was gonna go through my blade collection and see if there was anything. I was curious to see what your thoughts were on and I was going to send them with the VDH blades if you didn't mind.

Happy to report no regrets pairing the Wizamet and Timeless Bronze 0.38. Very nice. Efficient, smooth, comfortable, and BBS with 3 passes. Very BBS. No nicks, no weepers, no irritation, no post shave feedback. No kidding. It won’t be my next shave, but next Wizamet pairing will be shave #3 in my Lupo 95OC.

Happy to report no regrets pairing the Wizamet and Timeless Bronze 0.38. Very nice. Efficient, smooth, comfortable, and BBS with 3 passes. Very BBS. No nicks, no weepers, no irritation, no post shave feedback. No kidding. It won’t be my next shave, but next Wizamet pairing will be shave #3 in my Lupo 95OC.

I do not have a Timeless Bronze, but I understand the 0.38 is relatively mild. Thus, using a nice sharp blade like the Wizamet is likely to be a good pairing.

Monday Shave- Van Der Hagen Primary "ice tempered" blade update -2nd use

I have found that most razor blades tend to get slightly sharper during their first use such that the 2nd shave is better than the 1st. However, not all blades follow that pattern. The VDH blade lost its "edge" slightly on the 2nd shave. It was still a very nice shave. I achieve a near-BBS shave with my standard WTG, XTG, ATG, clean-up pass with buffing shave. However, the blade was not quite as sharp, so it took a little more effort and there was minimal feedback when I applied witch hazel. Previously, I got zero feedback.

Based on this 2nd use of the blade, I am going to adjust the rating downward by 0.25 sharpness to 4.25 and adjust the smoothness rating downward to 4.75. It is still a blade I can recommend if you need to pick up a few from a local store.

The evaluation spreadsheet has been updated:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/71ttt15wy...qo8eb&dl=0

Tomorrow, during her weekly Walmart trip, my wife will be looking for the Van Der Hagen Basics blades made in China. I got the VDH Primary blades from my local Meijer store. Meijer stocks the Primary blades and Walmart stocks the less expensive Basics blades. If she is able to locate the Chinese blades, I will try one during Wednesday's shave.

metal_shavings

When you sent the info about the VCH "basics" blades, I assumed you already have some. Before you go out and purchase a 10 pack, let me check the Walmart about a mile from my home to see if they have them. My wife is making her weekly Walmart run in the morning. I will get her to check the shaving aisle to see what they have. I will let you know what we find.

See? I should've checked my alerts here before I went and order the blades. Not a big deal, let me know if you find them by you. I can always cancel it because I have it for store pick up. Honestly, it was like three dollars so I didn't really hesitate to just put the order in. Even so, picking them up and sending a couple of them to you really isn't a hassle, so let me know what you find out today. If you needed them, I was gonna go through my blade collection and see if there was anything. I was curious to see what your thoughts were on and I was going to send them with the VDH blades if you didn't mind.

My wife did find the Van Der Hagen "Basics" blades made in China. I will use them for Wednesday's shave. Brick and mortar stores downplay the DE shaving market, presumably they make more money on cartridge razors. My wife had to secure the assistance of a Walmart employee to find the blades on the top rack of the shaving aisle. Furthermore, the blades were turned backwards such that the photo I gave her wasn't much help. It is a good thing we have vendors who do cater to wet shavers so we can get good razors, blades, soaps, etc. Otherwise, we would be severely limited to the expensive, but inferior merchandise on the store shelves.

Buddies been using a Gillette cartridge razor for over a year,,the ones with the orange ball on top..says he gets over a month of BBS shaves,then he goes and purchases a feather razor and feather blades and was complaining the blades are dull…well I swapped him my karve c plate with a jaguar r1 basic double coated fluoriboflavin blade,like the cereal.just emailed me he’s on his 7th shave and claims the razor and blade is getting smoother and sharper with every shave…I have his $300 feather razor,very nicely machined..one problem though,first blade went for a total of 3 shaves,first shave was smoother than either karve or rex,second shave left stubble under my neck,sideburns were flawless,third shave left stubble everywhere,and the burn was atrocious,had  to clean up with my rex and jaguar that’s on it’s 54th shave…tossed the feather blade,second blade was worth 4 shaves,pretty much the same experience as the first go around.Those are some expensive blades and razors.I just hope buddy doesn’t get a years worth of shaves out of that blade with the karve,”iz ok I have the awesome Rex”he’s Asian and pretty much a cat licking his face could have his face looking cleanly shaved,hey his words not mine.

metal_shavings

When you sent the info about the VCH "basics" blades, I assumed you already have some. Before you go out and purchase a 10 pack, let me check the Walmart about a mile from my home to see if they have them. My wife is making her weekly Walmart run in the morning. I will get her to check the shaving aisle to see what they have. I will let you know what we find.

See? I should've checked my alerts here before I went and order the blades. Not a big deal, let me know if you find them by you. I can always cancel it because I have it for store pick up. Honestly, it was like three dollars so I didn't really hesitate to just put the order in. Even so, picking them up and sending a couple of them to you really isn't a hassle, so let me know what you find out today. If you needed them, I was gonna go through my blade collection and see if there was anything. I was curious to see what your thoughts were on and I was going to send them with the VDH blades if you didn't mind.

My wife did find the Van Der Hagen "Basics" blades made in China. I will use them for Wednesday's shave. Brick and mortar stores downplay the DE shaving market, presumably they make more money on cartridge razors. My wife had to secure the assistance of a Walmart employee to find the blades on the top rack of the shaving aisle. Furthermore, the blades were turned backwards such that the photo I gave her wasn't much help. It is a good thing we have vendors who do cater to wet shavers so we can get good razors, blades, soaps, etc. Otherwise, we would be severely limited to the expensive, but inferior merchandise on the store shelves.

We are fortunate to be able to get them elsewhere. Back when I first started double edge shaving, I needed some blades so it was a good thing that I could run to the local Harmon cosmetic store and I was able to pick up a pack of blades. I'm pretty sure they may have had more than just one brand, but they certainly didn't have the kind of selection you'll find with all the places where used to shopping. At the time I was just starting out and wasn't too picky, so I grabbed a pack of Wilkinson sword blades, I felt good about it at the time because I knew the Wilkinson name from blades and from cutlery, so I figured I was getting at least a halfway decent pack of blades, especially in a pinch.

Will be waiting for this one. Every time I travel (not very often) it would be nice to know I can just stop at Wally World for some blades.

Keep up the good work Ray!

Wednesday Shave- Van Der Hagen Basics - made in China

Van Der Hagen sells at least two different blades. In years past, they sold "ice tempered' blades made in Germany that I found to be rather dull. More recently, the "Ice tempered" blades have been marketed as Primary blades. I found some at my local Meijer store. They were reasonably sharp and smooth. I started today's shave with that blade on its 3rd use. More recently, Van Der Hagen has started selling "Basics" blades that are made in China and are sold at half the price of the Primary blades. My wife found the "Basics" blades at Walmart.

I started the shave with a few strokes of the "Primary" blade on its 3rd use. It was still reasonably sharp and smooth and I was tempted to continue the shave with that blade. However, I replaced that blade with a fresh "Basics" blade. Immediately I noted a reduction in sharpness. There was significant blade resistance on my WTG pass. The blade did become somewhat sharper during the shave and I easily obtained a DFS. However, it was not sharp enough to achieve my goal of a near-BBS shave, even with extensive buffing on my clean-up pass. When I applied witch hazel after the shave, I got moderate feedback.

Based on the results of this shave, I rate the VDH "Basics" blade 4 sharpness and 4 smoothness. This is similar to some popular blades in the marketplace such as Gillette Silver Blue and the older Gillette Platinums. While I can use these blades, I prefer even sharper, smoother blades. At Walmart, a pack of 10 blades is about $3.00. However, if you can find them, VDH also sells these blades in a pack of 50 for around $12 which places them in the same price range as Wizamet Super Iridium, which I consider to be a superior blade.

The Evaluation Spreadsheet has been updated.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/71ttt15wy...qo8eb&dl=0

Since I am waiting on the Gillette Super Thin blades from Vietnam to arrive, I am going to go back and evaluate the longevity of the Jaguar 8094 blade from Egypt. Karveme insists that the blade gets better with use and that I did not give the Jaguar a fair change at proving its worth.

I rated the blade 4.5 sharpness and 4 smoothness during my evaluation based on a face-off shave with Personna Lab Blue. This time, I will use the Jaguar blade alone and I will continue to use the blade for each shave until the blade becomes either too dull for me to get a near-BBS shave or I get more than moderate feedback from the witch hazel. That is the point where I would usually replace a blade. For most blades, I can get no more than 3-4 good shaves before this occurs. The Jaguar blades are only available in 10 packs costing $9 on Amazon. Others have the blades for $8, but you have to pay shipping. I can get 100 Dorco Prime blades for the same price as 10 Jaguar blades. I would only use these Jaguar blades if I can get at least 30 good shaves per blade. While I won't rule out that possibility, I would consider such outcome to be highly improbable as I have never had any blade last anywhere near that long. I will post the results of each shave until I no longer consider the shave acceptable.

Wednesday Shave- Van Der Hagen Basics - made in China

Van Der Hagen sells at least two different blades. In years past, they sold "ice tempered' blades made in Germany that I found to be rather dull. More recently, the "Ice tempered" blades have been marketed as Primary blades. I found some at my local Meijer store. They were reasonably sharp and smooth. I started today's shave with that blade on its 3rd use. More recently, Van Der Hagen has started selling "Basics" blades that are made in China and are sold at half the price of the Primary blades. My wife found the "Basics" blades at Walmart.

I started the shave with a few strokes of the "Primary" blade on its 3rd use. It was still reasonably sharp and smooth and I was tempted to continue the shave with that blade. However, I replaced that blade with a fresh "Basics" blade. Immediately I noted a reduction in sharpness. There was significant blade resistance on my WTG pass. The blade did become somewhat sharper during the shave and I easily obtained a DFS. However, it was not sharp enough to achieve my goal of a near-BBS shave, even with extensive buffing on my clean-up pass. When I applied witch hazel after the shave, I got moderate feedback.

Based on the results of this shave, I rate the VDH "Basics" blade 4 sharpness and 4 smoothness. This is similar to some popular blades in the marketplace such as Gillette Silver Blue and the older Gillette Platinums. While I can use these blades, I prefer even sharper, smoother blades. At Walmart, a pack of 10 blades is about $3.00. However, if you can find them, VDH also sells these blades in a pack of 50 for around $12 which places them in the same price range as Wizamet Super Iridium, which I consider to be a superior blade.

The Evaluation Spreadsheet has been updated.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/71ttt15wy...qo8eb&dl=0

Since I am waiting on the Gillette Super Thin blades from Vietnam to arrive, I am going to go back and evaluate the longevity of the Jaguar 8094 blade from Egypt. Karveme insists that the blade gets better with use and that I did not give the Jaguar a fair change at proving its worth.

I rated the blade 4.5 sharpness and 4 smoothness during my evaluation based on a face-off shave with Personna Lab Blue. This time, I will use the Jaguar blade alone and I will continue to use the blade for each shave until the blade becomes either too dull for me to get a near-BBS shave or I get more than moderate feedback from the witch hazel. That is the point where I would usually replace a blade. For most blades, I can get no more than 3-4 good shaves before this occurs. The Jaguar blades are only available in 10 packs costing $9 on Amazon. Others have the blades for $8, but you have to pay shipping. I can get 100 Dorco Prime blades for the same price as 10 Jaguar blades. I would only use these Jaguar blades if I can get at least 30 good shaves per blade. While I won't rule out that possibility, I would consider such outcome to be highly improbable as I have never had any blade last anywhere near that long. I will post the results of each shave until I no longer consider the shave acceptable.

I am curious about the longevity of most blades. I remember when I first started and I was keeping track I was getting 8 to 9 shaves out of a blade. Now this is going back when I first started about 14 1/2 years ago, so whether or not the later shaves were as good as the earlier ones, I can't remember. I don't remember them being miserable by any means, but I don't know if they were quite as good as the first couple. I am about to push my Wizamet blade past three and see how that fares. I find personally that 3-5 is usually a good spot for me to be in because I usually like to chuck the blade before I get to the bad shave I have generally been going through shaves pretty much heavy blade and replacing them. So it looks like I'm gonna give my wisdom at the number four shave this week with my Lupo 95.

So far the Wizamet it has been a pretty solid pairing in most of my razors, including the aggressive ones. I used it yesterday in my ATT with the SSRH .80mm OC plate. I don't think that's a super aggressive plate by any means, but definitely is not mild, and does probably lean more towards aggressive side of the medium. The SSRH, I found, means Stainless Steel and it is recommended for regular to heavy beards. Hence, the RH. Ha! Brilliant. It was a great shave. Smooth, comfortable, a light, scratchy, kind of blade feel, irritation, and nick free. Very light feedback from the alcohol based aftershave upon contact with my skin, but it was very minor and it was gone before I realized it.