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Greetings
A week or so ago on this forum we were discussing PAL blued carbon single edge blades.
http://www.theshavingroom.co.uk/com...riday-26th-may-2017.43213/page-12#post-641524
I stated at the time and have done so before that I was fairly sure the PAL blades that are available in boxes of 100 are not the same blades as those that are available in the states sold in drugstores as PAL Super in packets of 5 with each blade wrapped in brown shelling paper or in plastic cassettes of 10, in both cases the blades are mounted on card to be hung on shop displays.
I complained that sadly it was impossible to obtain the super shaving blades in the UK, I was wrong and it was pointed out to me by culcreuch that amazon would ship me one packet of 5 blades from the USA (at a price) £9.49!
I have taken one for the team and this afternoon my blades arrived from the states, I already had 4 PAL blades from a box of 100 that I was kindly given to try about three years ago; try them I did and they were as rough as hell it was quite possible to shave with them and they produced a reasonably decent finish but the shave was a very uncomfortable unpleasant experience.
Here are the blades side by side, the PAL Super are on the left:-
You will see that the PAL super blades are marked with the blade thickness on the spine ie
9 thou, this is the same as GEM Blue Star Carbons and Treet Carbons and industrial blades of this thickness (with the exception of the GEM Stainless PTFE Coated blades)
The blades from the 100 box are stamped PAL.
When I examined the blades under a loupe both are three faceted ie the blades have a secondary bevel but the grind marks on the PAL Super blade are considerably and visibly much finer indicating a finer abrasive has been used, the bevel sizes and thus the bevel angles appear identical.
The real test is in the shaving, so as to make the test as scientific and meaningful as possible I used two identical GEM OCMM razors and my favourite brush and soap, Tabac and a brush with a L'Occitane synthetic knot.
The evaluation took less than three seconds so great was the difference, the PAL Super blade was as smooth as silk and the PAL blade from the 100 box was as rough as a bears arse! I was surprised that the difference was so pronounced. I carried on a little with the rough Pal but finished my shave with the PAL Super.
The upshot is that unless the blades say super on them they are not shaving quality blades, the blades sold on e bay and by all the lab supply houses in or from the 100 boxes are not shaving quality blades, this is the case with all the GEM/Personna/ASR/Energiser Carbon range the GEM Blue Stars and The Treet Carbons say Super on them all others are not (unless you are desperate Dan) good enough to shave with even though they are all from the same factory.
I am away in the tent for a week as from tomorrow so will shave further with the PAL Super blades and report back. It would be great if somebody could source some of these in bulk from the USA at a semi- sensible price, my research in the past has always drew a blank.
Regards
Dick.
A week or so ago on this forum we were discussing PAL blued carbon single edge blades.
http://www.theshavingroom.co.uk/com...riday-26th-may-2017.43213/page-12#post-641524
I stated at the time and have done so before that I was fairly sure the PAL blades that are available in boxes of 100 are not the same blades as those that are available in the states sold in drugstores as PAL Super in packets of 5 with each blade wrapped in brown shelling paper or in plastic cassettes of 10, in both cases the blades are mounted on card to be hung on shop displays.
I complained that sadly it was impossible to obtain the super shaving blades in the UK, I was wrong and it was pointed out to me by culcreuch that amazon would ship me one packet of 5 blades from the USA (at a price) £9.49!
I have taken one for the team and this afternoon my blades arrived from the states, I already had 4 PAL blades from a box of 100 that I was kindly given to try about three years ago; try them I did and they were as rough as hell it was quite possible to shave with them and they produced a reasonably decent finish but the shave was a very uncomfortable unpleasant experience.
Here are the blades side by side, the PAL Super are on the left:-
You will see that the PAL super blades are marked with the blade thickness on the spine ie
9 thou, this is the same as GEM Blue Star Carbons and Treet Carbons and industrial blades of this thickness (with the exception of the GEM Stainless PTFE Coated blades)
The blades from the 100 box are stamped PAL.
When I examined the blades under a loupe both are three faceted ie the blades have a secondary bevel but the grind marks on the PAL Super blade are considerably and visibly much finer indicating a finer abrasive has been used, the bevel sizes and thus the bevel angles appear identical.
The real test is in the shaving, so as to make the test as scientific and meaningful as possible I used two identical GEM OCMM razors and my favourite brush and soap, Tabac and a brush with a L'Occitane synthetic knot.
The evaluation took less than three seconds so great was the difference, the PAL Super blade was as smooth as silk and the PAL blade from the 100 box was as rough as a bears arse! I was surprised that the difference was so pronounced. I carried on a little with the rough Pal but finished my shave with the PAL Super.
The upshot is that unless the blades say super on them they are not shaving quality blades, the blades sold on e bay and by all the lab supply houses in or from the 100 boxes are not shaving quality blades, this is the case with all the GEM/Personna/ASR/Energiser Carbon range the GEM Blue Stars and The Treet Carbons say Super on them all others are not (unless you are desperate Dan) good enough to shave with even though they are all from the same factory.
I am away in the tent for a week as from tomorrow so will shave further with the PAL Super blades and report back. It would be great if somebody could source some of these in bulk from the USA at a semi- sensible price, my research in the past has always drew a blank.
Regards
Dick.
they sound great so far, will look forward to hearing your full report when back. Definitely need to be at more sensible prices though.
