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Thursday 8th April
French Pink Clay & Charcoal Face Soap
Wickham Super Smooth Shaving Soap
DSC Stem w/Snow White Synthetic 22mm
Yaqi Katana DLC w/Star Bakelite Handle
Gillette Wilkinson Sword (2) Made in India
Novaya Zarya Chypre Aftershave Cologne
Well that changed my opinion of this blade ...
I've been comparing the Indian & Chinese made Gillette Wilkinson Sword blades and given both two runs in a Yaqi Katana, equating to three or four shaves in double-edge format. My first shave with the MII confirmed the oft cited difference as the MII being smoother and the MIC being sharper. With this shave, I now disagree as I think the MII is indeed as sharp as the MIC, just masked behind its smoothness.
Tonight's shave was again smoother than the first run and I think the sharpness really became apparent. Close from the first pass and enjoyed so much I made a second for extra closeness. Lovely job! I think this half-blade would do a third shave, equating to four, five or six ish shaves in double-edge format. I can now see why comparisons have been made between this blade and the Winner Platinum, but in all honesty it's nowhere close. And, while I don't know if this particular blade is, or isn't, platinum coated (some say it is, some say it isn't) I can see why folks think it might be.
It's still not "up there" for me, though ...
MII gets a 6.9 placing it just a tick below what I would call workable. I know this sounds harsh, but when I don't want to lose sight of what I've graded already and when I look at the blades of that grading, there's the SuperMax Super Stainless Blue and that certainly feels about right for comparison as I felt that blade might well have had a touch of titanium coating for smoothness. Slightly better than the 1st generation new epoch Zorrik Super Platinum with a similar feel. All of these blades felt smooth in use, but left me feeling a little raw afterwards.
MIC gets 5/10 as it is sharp, but boy it's raw! It puts me very much in mind of Personna Med/Lab Blue of the same grading. Again, that feels about right for comparison. I have the Zorrik Talvar at a similar grading. First run was certainly very close, but felt irritable and left me with rough regrowth. Second run was just raw.
As budget blades, neither really caught up with the very pedestrian Vidyut/SuperMax Economy Stainless (the burgundy/yellow packaging) to my face, a blade I consider a really excellent economy blade.
Fun to try, mind.
Much enjoyed digging out this first batch Wickham Super Smooth and trying out my DCS brush/knot combo. Finally, a good splash of Novaya Zarya Shipr signed the whole thing off, a splash I think Brut (Green) really ought to feel like.
French Pink Clay & Charcoal Face Soap
Wickham Super Smooth Shaving Soap
DSC Stem w/Snow White Synthetic 22mm
Yaqi Katana DLC w/Star Bakelite Handle
Gillette Wilkinson Sword (2) Made in India
Novaya Zarya Chypre Aftershave Cologne
Well that changed my opinion of this blade ...
I've been comparing the Indian & Chinese made Gillette Wilkinson Sword blades and given both two runs in a Yaqi Katana, equating to three or four shaves in double-edge format. My first shave with the MII confirmed the oft cited difference as the MII being smoother and the MIC being sharper. With this shave, I now disagree as I think the MII is indeed as sharp as the MIC, just masked behind its smoothness.
Tonight's shave was again smoother than the first run and I think the sharpness really became apparent. Close from the first pass and enjoyed so much I made a second for extra closeness. Lovely job! I think this half-blade would do a third shave, equating to four, five or six ish shaves in double-edge format. I can now see why comparisons have been made between this blade and the Winner Platinum, but in all honesty it's nowhere close. And, while I don't know if this particular blade is, or isn't, platinum coated (some say it is, some say it isn't) I can see why folks think it might be.
It's still not "up there" for me, though ...
MII gets a 6.9 placing it just a tick below what I would call workable. I know this sounds harsh, but when I don't want to lose sight of what I've graded already and when I look at the blades of that grading, there's the SuperMax Super Stainless Blue and that certainly feels about right for comparison as I felt that blade might well have had a touch of titanium coating for smoothness. Slightly better than the 1st generation new epoch Zorrik Super Platinum with a similar feel. All of these blades felt smooth in use, but left me feeling a little raw afterwards.
MIC gets 5/10 as it is sharp, but boy it's raw! It puts me very much in mind of Personna Med/Lab Blue of the same grading. Again, that feels about right for comparison. I have the Zorrik Talvar at a similar grading. First run was certainly very close, but felt irritable and left me with rough regrowth. Second run was just raw.
As budget blades, neither really caught up with the very pedestrian Vidyut/SuperMax Economy Stainless (the burgundy/yellow packaging) to my face, a blade I consider a really excellent economy blade.
Fun to try, mind.
Much enjoyed digging out this first batch Wickham Super Smooth and trying out my DCS brush/knot combo. Finally, a good splash of Novaya Zarya Shipr signed the whole thing off, a splash I think Brut (Green) really ought to feel like.