Shave'n Blind Blade Test

Maybe Labs are bad -- at least the stash I pawned off on you poor blind Lab rats. :)

A condorcet ranking was applied to the blade data. Eight of the blades represent a true condorcet ranking (such that each blade of the set was compared to every other blade of the set of eight). None of blades were compared against the entire set of sixteen. The least compared blades were eliminated from the ranking. Each blade was given two points when rated "better" (sharper, more comfortable, preferred), one point whenever rated "similar", and nothing for "worse". Each blade pair rating was weighted by sample size (both sides); Blades pairs not directly compared were considered similar with minimal weight. The ranking score is the average of all comparisons for each blade.

On the left are straight ranking with confidence/sampling error indicated. The blades on the right were weighted by sample size (deviation tolerance: the blades with fewer comparisons were neutralized closer to 50%).


Sharpness

Code: 
69.5+/-16%   G7OC Super Stainless (Green)  || 65.4   Feather
65.4+/-09%   Feather                       || 61.4   Astra Sup Platinum
63.5+/-10%   Astra Superior Platinum       || 56.6   G7OC Super S. (Grn)
55.1+/-11%   G7OC SharpEdge (Yellow)       || 53.5   G7OC SharpEdge (Ye)
53.9+/-17%   Astra Superior Stainless      || 51.1   Astra Sup Stainless
47.8+/-13%   Gillette Silver Blue          || 49.6   Merkur (German)
47.7+/-21%   Merkur (German)               || 48.9   Gillette Silver Blu
47.0+/-13%   Derby Extra, Turkey           || 48.5   Derby Extra, Turkey
46.9+/-13%   G7OC Super Platinum (Black)   || 48.5   G7OC Super P. (Bla)
45.6+/-14%   Shark Super Stainless         || 48.0   Timor Solingen
44.2+/-16%   Shark Super Chrome            || 48.0   Shark Super Chrome
39.8+/-21%   Timor Solingen                || 48.0   Shark Sup Stainless
35.2+/-17%   Rapira Platinum Lux           || 45.8   Rapira Platinum Lux
33.1+/-15%   Wilkinson Sword Classic (Ger) || 44.3   Super Platinum (IC)
28.7+/-12%   Personna Labs                 || 43.9   Wilkinson Sword Cl.
26.4+/-19%   Super Platinum (Israeli Crys) || 38.6   Personna Labs



Comfort

Code: 
66.0+/-15%   G7OC Super Stainless (Green)  || 60.3   Astra Sup Platinum
65.1+/-21%   Merkur (German)               || 57.0   Gillette Silver Blu
64.7+/-13%   Gillette Silver Blue          || 55.7   G7OC Super S. (Grn)
62.3+/-17%   Astra Superior Stainless      || 53.7   Astra Sup Stainless
62.2+/-10%   Astra Superior Platinum       || 52.9   Merkur (German)
54.9+/-13%   G7OC Super Platinum (Black)   || 52.4   G7OC Super P. (Bla)
53.9+/-16%   Shark Super Chrome            || 51.3   Shark Super Chrome
50.8+/-17%   Rapira Platinum Lux           || 50.2   Rapira Platinum Lux
48.4+/-11%   G7OC SharpEdge (Yellow)       || 48.9   G7OC SharpEdge (Ye)
46.8+/-14%   Shark Super Stainless         || 48.7   Shark Sup Stainless
45.0+/-09%   Feather                       || 46.7   Timor Solingen
37.5+/-16%   Wilkinson Sword Classic (Ger) || 45.8   Wilkinson Sword Cl.
36.4+/-13%   Derby Extra, Turkey           || 45.8   Super Platinum (IC)
33.9+/-13%   Personna Labs                 || 45.2   Feather
32.6+/-21%   Timor Solingen                || 43.0   Derby Extra, Turkey
29.8+/-20%   Super Platinum (Israeli Crys) || 42.3   Personna Labs



Preference

Code: 
70.0+/-16%   G7OC Super Stainless (Green)  || 60.3   Astra Sup Platinum
64.5+/-13%   Gillette Silver Blue          || 57.0   Gillette Silver Blu
62.7+/-10%   Astra Superior Platinum       || 56.6   G7OC Super S. (Grn)
59.8+/-17%   Astra Superior Stainless      || 52.9   Astra Sup Stainless
55.5+/-16%   Shark Super Chrome            || 51.8   Shark Super Chrome
52.7+/-13%   G7OC Super Platinum (Black)   || 51.3   G7OC Super P. (Bla)
51.1+/-21%   Merkur (German)               || 50.4   G7OC SharpEdge (Ye)
50.7+/-11%   G7OC SharpEdge (Yellow)       || 50.2   Merkur (German)
50.5+/-14%   Shark Super Stainless         || 50.2   Shark Sup Stainless
48.1+/-09%   Feather                       || 48.2   Feather
40.2+/-18%   Rapira Platinum Lux           || 47.4   Timor Solingen
37.2+/-16%   Wilkinson Sword Classic (Ger) || 47.4   Rapira Platinum Lux
35.7+/-21%   Timor Solingen                || 46.7   Super Platinum (IC)
34.9+/-12%   Derby Extra, Turkey           || 45.8   Wilkinson Sword Cl.
34.4+/-20%   Super Platinum (Israeli Crys) || 42.1   Derby Extra, Turkey
33.0+/-13%   Personna Labs                 || 41.7   Personna Labs



Third edit 31 May: Cleaner combined ranking algorithm (left), descending order, including sampling error, and weighted ranking (left).
 
The Gillette 7 O'CLOCK Super Stainless is the least known/used/talked about of the entire 7 O'CLOCK line currently in production. That's unfortunate as it is a real 'sleeper'. IMO, it's smoother than the other green one, the 7 O'CLOCK Permasharp Stainless from India, as well as their 7 O'CLOCK Super Platinum (black 'ninja') from there as well. The one constant I see is that a person who loves Gillette Russian blades usually dislikes their Indian blades & vice versa, with the former being more noted for their smoothness over the latter. Again, I said usually.
 
I finished my testing at the end of the summer but haven't heard from Alex since. I assume he got extremely busy. My testing was most interesting, although the second phase got very long. For me, it caused me to look at Astra SP's again. I didn't like them before, but blind I did. I also found I liked Wilkinson Swords, which is frustrating because it's so hard to find the right ones. I have purchased some locally before and they were horrible. Apparently they are made in various parts of the world with vastly different quality.

Joel
 
I had tried a few tucks of the Gillette 7 O'CLOCK Super Stainless in the past and knew it was a winner. Combined with this objective study and trying one again recently I ordered 100 today for a mere pittance. We should really keep this a secret lest others drive up the price. ;)
 
So having been sent to G7OC Green by this, I have now become a convert to GSB. I guess this puts me in the comfort over sharpness camp. I like comfort and it seems to let me shave to a cleaner result.
 
Yeah I would rave about it all myself if I were given free blades, shave soap, shave brush & Girly Boy aftershave! IMO. I do like Nick Shaves though although he gets nicked a lot with that crud 34 C razor.! Thanks for posting the video.!
 
Yesterday, I visited with a barber friend at his shop who gives shaves with a shavette if a customer requests it. He also shaves his own face with a shavette as well. He does however use DE blades broken in half for this. He uses Astra SP as he says they are the best for the money. The reason I stopped in was that about 3-4 months ago I gave him various blades to try on his face and with customers as I thought it would be a fairly objective test. He remarked that overall everyone loves the Astra SP but that the 7 O'Clock Super Stainless was a better blade. He said the reason why he didn't buy/use the 7 O'Clock Super Stainless was twofold: first, cost, Secondly, he said that it was IHO sharper than the Astra SP and less "forgiving" in a shavette. Very interesting.
 
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