RayClem's Blade Evaluations

Chinese King C Gillette 100 pack

The 100 pack of Chinese King C Gillette blades showed up yesterday. I will try shaving with them on Wednesday, but I wanted to give everyone who might be interested in purchasing them that there are some differences between these as the retail packaging. I do not yet know if it will affect the shave.

1. The blades come in a package of 10 tucks of 10 blades each totaling 100 blades.
2. The tucks themselves have limited printing, not the fancy printing on the retail package.
3. The blades themselves are single wrapped and printed in clear black ink, just like the retail blades.

I will come back tomorrow and let you know how they shave.

Wednesday Shave- King C Gillette Chinese version- bulk pack

Finally, King C Gillette blades are available in a bulk pack. The blades are now made in China. The Chinese made blades can be distinguished from the Russian made blades in that the Russia blades have laser etching and the Chinese blades are printed. The performance of the Chinese blades is not identical to the Russian blades, but both are excellent blades.

For today's shave, I returned to use of my Karve C-plate razor. I loaded it with a fresh KCG Chinese blade. I did my usual 4 pass shave: WTG, XTG, ATG, clean-up with buffing. As soon as the blade touched my face, I knew i was in for an enjoyable shave. The blade was super sharp and reasonably smooth. I easily obtained a near-BBS shave and when I applied witch hazel after the shave, I received moderate feedback. I am pleased to report that this is similar to the experience I had with the KCG Chinese blades in the retail packaging a couple of months ago. While the packaging is not as fancy, the blades inside seem to be the same and the price is a lot more attractive.

I am still rate the blades sharpness 5 and smoothness 4, but because the blades are now available in a 100 blade bulk pack at the reasonable price of $14, I am now upgrading the perceived value from 3 to 4. If anyone is interested, here is a link to the Amazon listing for the bulk pack. Hopefully, other vendors will have them soon.

https://www.amazon.com/King-C-Gillette-D...0CNQFV5ZK/

It appears that the owner of the Refined Shave web site has allowed the domain name to expire. Thus, the DE blade sharpness test values once provided there are no longer available. I relied heavily on that web site for several years as I selected blades for use. However, in 2024 that data is rather dated. I am glad that I spent several months evaluating a large number of blades, including many that were not included in the Refined Shave testing.

Although I have no intention of removing the spreadsheet file from my Dropbox public folder anytime soon, nobody knows what the future might bring. Thus, I strongly recommend that anyone who uses the data download a copy of the latest spreadsheet file and save it to your own computer.
The file won't not look like you have seen in the past as I have sorted it with the blades having the highest sharpness + smoothness rating listed first. However, if you use Excel, you can sort it by any column you wish.

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

Nice job sorting, Ray. That is helpful too. Some might not want the most keenest blade or might be looking for a ranking and this will help.

Just finishing my pack of feathers this weekend. Ordered 100 Bic CPs on Amazon and very excited to see how much smoother they are!

Just finishing my pack of feathers this weekend. Ordered 100 Bic CPs on Amazon and very excited to see how much smoother they are!

How many shaves did you get out of the Feather blades?

For those with very coarse beards, Feather blades start out super sharp, but quickly deteriorate. For many such shavers, 3 shaves is all they can get from the blades. The one time I tried using Feather blades for more than two shaves, they became so harsh during the third shave that I had to change blades in the middle of the shave. However, I suspect my experience is not typical. 

For me, the best use of Feather blades is using them in a mild razor for doing ATG and clean-up passes. I do not have the Feather AS D2 razor is the perfect accompaniment for Feather blades. 

My experience with BIC Chrome Platinum blades is that they do not start out quite as sharp as Feather blades, but as the coating wears off, they become just as sharp and they do not deteriorate quite as quickly. 

I am interested to see how you like the BIC blades.

Just finishing my pack of feathers this weekend. Ordered 100 Bic CPs on Amazon and very excited to see how much smoother they are!

How many shaves did you get out of the Feather blades?

For those with very coarse beards, Feather blades start out super sharp, but quickly deteriorate. For many such shavers, 3 shaves is all they can get from the blades. The one time I tried using Feather blades for more than two shaves, they became so harsh during the third shave that I had to change blades in the middle of the shave. However, I suspect my experience is not typical. 

For me, the best use of Feather blades is using them in a mild razor for doing ATG and clean-up passes. I do not have the Feather AS D2 razor is the perfect accompaniment for Feather blades. 

My experience with BIC Chrome Platinum blades is that they do not start out quite as sharp as Feather blades, but as the coating wears off, they become just as sharp and they do not deteriorate quite as quickly. 

I am interested to see how you like the BIC blades.

For me I play it safe and bin it after 3 shaves. I could probably get a 4th shave but I learned my lesson after my face exploded with red bumps after a 5th shave on Feathers.

Would you recommend the Bic CPs in a milder razor like the AS-D2 as well?

Just finishing my pack of feathers this weekend. Ordered 100 Bic CPs on Amazon and very excited to see how much smoother they are!

How many shaves did you get out of the Feather blades?

For those with very coarse beards, Feather blades start out super sharp, but quickly deteriorate. For many such shavers, 3 shaves is all they can get from the blades. The one time I tried using Feather blades for more than two shaves, they became so harsh during the third shave that I had to change blades in the middle of the shave. However, I suspect my experience is not typical. 

For me, the best use of Feather blades is using them in a mild razor for doing ATG and clean-up passes. I do not have the Feather AS D2 razor is the perfect accompaniment for Feather blades. 

My experience with BIC Chrome Platinum blades is that they do not start out quite as sharp as Feather blades, but as the coating wears off, they become just as sharp and they do not deteriorate quite as quickly. 

I am interested to see how you like the BIC blades.

For me I play it safe and bin it after 3 shaves. I could probably get a 4th shave but I learned my lesson after my face exploded with red bumps after a 5th shave on Feathers.

Would you recommend the Bic CPs in a milder razor like the AS-D2 as well?

I used a Bic CP in my Yaqi razor which I feel falls in the mild/medium category at best, and I was able to get a BBS in 3 passes with buffing. I was able to get BBS much easier pairing it with my Karve OC-F, but that is much more aggressive and I had about 8 days growth as opposed to 3 with the Yaqi. I do feel the sharper blades can pair very well with milder razors. The Bic could pair well with the Feather AS-D2 for you. Definitley give it a try.

Zantetsuken

Since I do not have an AS D2 razor, I do not know how BIC CP blades will work in that razor, but I suspect they would be fine. If you have the AS D-2 razor, definitely give it a try. I am sure the AS D-2 would be find for my ATG and clean-up passes, but I would probably consider it to be too inefficient for my WTG pass, even with a Feather or BIC blade. If I shaved daily , it might be fine, but I suspect it might struggle with a two or three-day growth.

I get a wonderful shave with BIC Blades using my Karve C-plate. The C- plate has a 0.85 mm blade gap and 0.09 mm blade exposure. Thus, it falls into the moderate aggression category. It could probably get a great shave in my Karve D-plate with 0.98 blade gap and 0.13 blade exposure, which is slightly more aggressive. I purchased a Karve E-plate, but have not had time to evaluate it. It has 1.10 blade gap and 0.17 blade exposure, so it is starting to get into the aggressive range. I would be a little hesitant to use the BIC blade with the E-plate.

I am certain the BIC blade would work well in my Timeless 0.68 razor with zero blade exposure. I am still trying to find the right blade to use with my Timeless 0.95 razor with .002 blade exposure. Although the Timeless has a similar blade gap to my Karve D-plate, the blade exposure is significantly less. Sooner or later, I will try a BIC blade in that razor.

Have my Karve back,the Feather razor is pretty nice,not aggressive at all but too mild,gave buddy a tuck of jaguars,today i realized the first time I gave him a tuck,thinking I gave him a single blade,oh well,that ‘s why he was smirking on the way home..guys set for life with blades..I’m on my 28th shave from my second tuck to see if the first 5 blades were a fluke,,,well this blade from this tuck seems even higher quality,the coating seems thicker,actually never noticed or felt coatings before, after about 18-20 shaves this  is so sharp and smooth that these other blade manufacturers should be in prison!
One more speriment,going to purchase cold forged or whatever it’s called,fridour?
german stainless steel blades,I think I know what’s going on,just like knife steel is my bet.