The Answer Man

[Mopar Mark]

Blade processes has changed with a lot of manufacturers, typically stainless blades were Rough Ground, Ground,Honed & stopped, a lot have stopped with stropping & developed their grinding & honing process. In addition a lot of processes have been updated due to environmental issues with some of the chemicals previously used, such as Trichloroethylene, Polymer discontinuation, etc, etc...

Some of the early blades we made, definitely looked visually better in terms of edge, but changes to process, increase in tip strength, the newer blades outperform most, if not all of the older style Blades ...

 

[donnie_arko]

Mopar Mark, why is it that the Gillette Wilkinson Sword as made in Shanghai shaves so much better than the same blade as made by Gillette in India IMO and those of countless others?

Also, if you would share................what do you shave with?

Classic YMMV, I prefer the Indian made GWS to the MIC one.

Nonetheless even though they have the same name in India from what I saw they seem to be aimed at different markets. The Indian one costs 20 INR for a tuck of 10/11 and is largely a professional grade product intended for barber use (the most commonplace shave, half a DE blade in a shavette used the one time) and the MIC one is a consumer grade product priced at 15 INR for 5 blades. The MIC one is ubiquotous in being sold at mini market stalls, but the MIA one was sold in shops that sell blades to barbers. This is what I saw in the city I visited, it could be different for other towns/cities in India.

 

[Bogeyman]

The legendary Personna 74 gets a lot of love from many who have used one and many consider it the 'zenith' of old school or 'Golden Age' blades. I have used them in both DE & injector and it certainly was a great blade with legendary stamina. I have used 'Spoilers' 'Swedes', Gillette Platinum Plus, Schick Plus Platinum, Light Brigade, etc., etc., ad nauseam. That said, I concur with JohnnyO. I have said before that if the late 60's into the 70's is considered the 'Golden Age' of DE bladedom (yes, I just made that word up ) then we today are surely in the 'Platinum Age'!! I used a lowly Astra SP today and it never ceases to amaze me just how fantastic this blade really is in the right razor and how economical they are.

 

[Bogeyman]

Mopar Mark, what would a modern top tier Gillette blade shave like if there were no blade coating? I'm guessing not a lot different than an old carbon steel uncoated blade, i.e., rough. I have often pondered why an "old school" uncoated DE blade doesn't shave as smooth as a carbon steel cutthroat razor that was honed perfectly. Surely, there has to be complex leading edge & stress load/mass formulas that come into play here that are beyond the layman's understanding(?).

 

[Mopar Mark]

Mopar Mark, what would a modern top tier Gillette blade shave like if there were no blade coating? I'm guessing not a lot different than an old carbon steel uncoated blade, i.e., rough. I have often pondered why an "old school" uncoated DE blade doesn't shave as smooth as a carbon steel cutthroat razor that was honed perfectly. Surely, there has to be complex leading edge & stress load/mass formulas that come into play here that are beyond the layman's understanding(?).

Untreated blades, I always tend to relate to Untreated Carbon blades, which to me always had an undesirable shave quality, I used to think that these were used more as handy man blades than for shaving. The Teflon is what gives the Blade lubricity & enables the Blade to glide across the face. It is also important how the Teflon is applied with regard to thickness, etc.

A Cut throat razor, has a completely different analogy to shaving style when comparing to DE Blade edge, Most DE blades tended to be 0.004” thick, with a majority having moved over to 0.0035” Thick blades. So it is a lot harder to maintain edge strength when compared to a Cut throat. The advantage of DE being the facet grinding & honing angles & how the Grinding/Honing wheels are presented to the strip.