In Praise of Treet Dura Sharp

Messages
15,762
Location
Halifax, Republic of Yorkshire
You guys will know I'm predominantly a single edge shaver. Actually, for the last year or more I've not been much of a shaver at all with shaves maybe every 2-3 weeks. I also had a period of shaving with the Gillette Dyson and canned goo. Anyway ...

What with lockdown, I started some particular routines to try to keep myself from all day anarchy in pyjamas and along with a spritz of frag, I took up daily shaving again. Single edge daily shaving is too much for me - every couple of days is just right for me with a 1912. I dug out my favourite double edge razor, which is a Star Tech clone and took a look at what blades I had.

Well, one thing led to another and I rekindled my love of Treet Carbon (the 'Black Beauty' or 'Kala' blades) which give me a lovely rasping sound and almost a single edge experience in the Star which gives very little blade presentation, keeping the blade very rigid. Curiosity got the better of me and I got a few packs of other blades in, largely Treet ...

I've never used a Dura Sharp (Yellow) before. I gather they are the same blade, grind and so on as the Black Beauty but the edges are coated to offer some protection against oxidisation. Gosh! They're good! I know I like the Black Beauty, so rationally I should like these ... moreso, I love 'em!

Glad I got 100 in.

I got some more Black Beauty tucks in and a handful of others: Classic, Platinum, Silver (another carbon/coated) and 7 Days (another platinum/chromium finished blade). I can see these Dura Sharps becomming my go-to double edge blade, replacing the SuperMax Blue Diamond that I find "just works" for any razor I drop them into. I'm trying out the Dura Sharps in different razors (not that I have very many DEs) - the Star first, now a '40s Gillette Tech, later I'll try them in later Techs, I've got a 'New' as well, a Rocket HD and a Slim Twist.

One point of consideration: slip.

These carbon blades lack the smoothness of stainess blades which have all sorts of treatment and sputtering to make them really slick. The Dura Sharp is PTFE coated but it does gain a certain something from extra slip.

My regular soap is MWF. I don't vary much now. I have rediscovered LEA (curiously, another Tallow & Lanolin soap) which I am enjoying a lot, but what I am doing is washing up with a glycerine soap pre-shave and just patting in a little Prep Cream (largely for the mentholation) which gives the whole shave an extra glide. I think that's a little magic that makes these carbon blade shaves just a little more special.

Cheers all! Who else is a fan of these Dura Sharps? Maybe you hated them ... you could try a pre-shave cream under your lather. Prep, 3P or Proraso.
 
You guys will know I'm predominantly a single edge shaver. Actually, for the last year or more I've not been much of a shaver at all with shaves maybe every 2-3 weeks. I also had a period of shaving with the Gillette Dyson and canned goo. Anyway ...

What with lockdown, I started some particular routines to try to keep myself from all day anarchy in pyjamas and along with a spritz of frag, I took up daily shaving again. Single edge daily shaving is too much for me - every couple of days is just right for me with a 1912. I dug out my favourite double edge razor, which is a Star Tech clone and took a look at what blades I had.

Well, one thing led to another and I rekindled my love of Treet Carbon (the 'Black Beauty' or 'Kala' blades) which give me a lovely rasping sound and almost a single edge experience in the Star which gives very little blade presentation, keeping the blade very rigid. Curiosity got the better of me and I got a few packs of other blades in, largely Treet ...

I've never used a Dura Sharp (Yellow) before. I gather they are the same blade, grind and so on as the Black Beauty but the edges are coated to offer some protection against oxidisation. Gosh! They're good! I know I like the Black Beauty, so rationally I should like these ... moreso, I love 'em!

Glad I got 100 in.

I got some more Black Beauty tucks in and a handful of others: Classic, Platinum, Silver (another carbon/coated) and 7 Days (another platinum/chromium finished blade). I can see these Dura Sharps becomming my go-to double edge blade, replacing the SuperMax Blue Diamond that I find "just works" for any razor I drop them into. I'm trying out the Dura Sharps in different razors (not that I have very many DEs) - the Star first, now a '40s Gillette Tech, later I'll try them in later Techs, I've got a 'New' as well, a Rocket HD and a Slim Twist.

One point of consideration: slip.

These carbon blades lack the smoothness of stainess blades which have all sorts of treatment and sputtering to make them really slick. The Dura Sharp is PTFE coated but it does gain a certain something from extra slip.

My regular soap is MWF. I don't vary much now. I have rediscovered LEA (curiously, another Tallow & Lanolin soap) which I am enjoying a lot, but what I am doing is washing up with a glycerine soap pre-shave and just patting in a little Prep Cream (largely for the mentholation) which gives the whole shave an extra glide. I think that's a little magic that makes these carbon blade shaves just a little more special.

Cheers all! Who else is a fan of these Dura Sharps? Maybe you hated them ... you could try a pre-shave cream under your lather. Prep, 3P or Proraso.
I've got a pack of Dura Sharps and Black Beauties in the blade box to try at some point. I must get round to them at some point.
 
i ended up buying 100 durasharp years ago after being very impressed with a 5 pack i bought, i cant remember the last time i used one though, think ill have to revisit them. ive had some black beauties for a long time and never actually used one.

treet platinum...hmmm. i used one early on in my expedition into trying various blades, i thought they were horrendous, felt like i was scraping my face with a piece of scrap metal. it could well have been bad technique, im in no rush to test that theory though :)
 
Regarding the Platinum, I found it perfectly agreeable in my Star. That might make all the difference. To me, PolSilver is just horrid in, say, a '40s Tech but in the Star it really shines. I think the very slight blade presentation in that razor (reducing any blade chatter) makes that difference.

I'm going to use another Platinum next as a precursor to the (new to me) 7 Days Platinum, which is reputed to be really top class. Mind you, I am enjoying these Dura Sharps and may well just pop another in after this one ...

... but yes, apparently the Black Beauty is the same blade, grind and so on as the Dura Sharp but completely uncoated. I guess that translates as a very retro blade which might only agree with folks who have bonded with the Dura Sharp which is a kind of tamed Black Beauty?

The jury is still out on the Silver - it's carbon, it's coated. It's not as good as the Dura Sharp which rather begs the question ... why? Maybe if you're buying thousands, there's a percebtible price differential or something.
 
What I found about the Platinum across a number of blades was that all the shaves felt to have been consistent. Very strongly so!

Looking at: https://www.refinedshave.com/razor-blade-sharpness-summary/ we can see that this guy measured initial sharpness (how it feels when it first touches your face), after the first shave (so, how it will feel on the second shave) and after the second shave (so, how it will feel on the third shave). The Treet Platinum is VERY consistent and one of a very short list to hit 1.0 on the durability scores which represents no deviation in blade sharpness across use from new to used twice.

We can also see that the Treet Black Beauty is laughably dull from new and gets worse! Empirically, that is very much at odds with how people who like them report them. There's more to this than sharpness and smoothness. That'll be the je ne sait quoi ...
 
The Yellow Treet DS is one of my favourite blades.

I might sound uncultured but I prefer them to some other blades that really highly rated eg Feather.

I've got a pack of Dura Sharps and Black Beauties in the blade box to try at some point. I must get round to them at some point.

Chris, I sent you some Treet Classics (which are supposed to be the same blade as the BB's) and some Yellow Durasharps. Really, put a new DS in the Yaqi Mellion. A really smooth and efficient combination if ever, one of my favourite blade and razor combinations I've come across.
 
The Yellow Treet DS is one of my favourite blades.

I might sound uncultured but I prefer them to some other blades that really highly rated eg Feather.



Chris, I sent you some Treet Classics (which are supposed to be the same blade as the BB's) and some Yellow Durasharps. Really, put a new DS in the Yaqi Mellion. A really smooth and efficient combination if ever, one of my favourite blade and razor combinations I've come across.
Thanks Shubs. I'll give them a try soon
 
Back
Top Bottom