Gillette Perma-Sharp

But they only make three different blades. :whistle:

;):ROFLMAO:
So we're told ...

Over on the Treet side of things, we're told that the Black Beauty, the Classic and the Durashap are the same blade. They all have different sharpnesses when tested, they all shave differently and the Beauty is, well, black. But the same blade. Of course! Different finishes.

Same over at PPG, I'm sure ...

Three blades of whatever varying thickness, I guess, then go through production to end up as the plethora of different blades. Since the platinum is sputtered (yes?) it's applied to the blade through process and so not a part of the original blade. Grinds can easily be different. Indeed, production runs will go on for several hours and produce many miles of continuous blade ribbon which will run through whatever grinding and stropping devices are setup for that brand run. Many manufacturers state clearly that their blades are "double stropped" which leads us to guess that some are single stropped (or not at all?) and so we'll guess that PPG will do this as well. Likewise, coating, manufacturers will sometimes state a double or triple coating on their packaging and again, we guess that PPG will do the same. Types of coating? PTFE, Polymer, etc. Suffice to say, all blade are ground, stropped and coated. The angle of grind, number of grinds, number of strops and number (and type) of coatings makes the difference.

So, the differences that we (convince ourselves) that fell on our face is likely those subtle, although must be verifiable differences in process. There must be, or they wouldn't do it. For example, the Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edge to me feels VERY much like the PolSilver Super Iridiium. Same blade? Well, one has a Super Iridium (a type of Platinum) coating on the blade edge. But yes, same blade? Same grind? One sputtered with Super Iridium, then stropped and coated. Gillette Permasharp Super and Gillette Nacet the same? One destined for the professional Barber and so stropped the once, the other for domestic market and so stropped twice and have the feeling of being slightly sharper. Certainly a practice undertaken by SuperMax/Vidyut with their stainless blades depending upon market and presumably of Wilkinson Sword with their regular and Economie brands, the economy for Barbers and so not finished the same. Personna? Med/Lab, both uncoated and one cleansed further being the same blade as the Comfort Coated, which is ... well, coated. For comfort in the domestic market, not scraping fuzz off bodies prior to surgery or slicing up specimens in a lab.

I am inclined to believe the three blade statement.
 
So we're told ...

Over on the Treet side of things, we're told that the Black Beauty, the Classic and the Durashap are the same blade. They all have different sharpnesses when tested, they all shave differently and the Beauty is, well, black. But the same blade. Of course! Different finishes.

Same over at PPG, I'm sure ...

Three blades of whatever varying thickness, I guess, then go through production to end up as the plethora of different blades. Since the platinum is sputtered (yes?) it's applied to the blade through process and so not a part of the original blade. Grinds can easily be different. Indeed, production runs will go on for several hours and produce many miles of continuous blade ribbon which will run through whatever grinding and stropping devices are setup for that brand run. Many manufacturers state clearly that their blades are "double stropped" which leads us to guess that some are single stropped (or not at all?) and so we'll guess that PPG will do this as well. Likewise, coating, manufacturers will sometimes state a double or triple coating on their packaging and again, we guess that PPG will do the same. Types of coating? PTFE, Polymer, etc. Suffice to say, all blade are ground, stropped and coated. The angle of grind, number of grinds, number of strops and number (and type) of coatings makes the difference.

So, the differences that we (convince ourselves) that fell on our face is likely those subtle, although must be verifiable differences in process. There must be, or they wouldn't do it. For example, the Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edge to me feels VERY much like the PolSilver Super Iridiium. Same blade? Well, one has a Super Iridium (a type of Platinum) coating on the blade edge. But yes, same blade? Same grind? One sputtered with Super Iridium, then stropped and coated. Gillette Permasharp Super and Gillette Nacet the same? One destined for the professional Barber and so stropped the once, the other for domestic market and so stropped twice and have the feeling of being slightly sharper. Certainly a practice undertaken by SuperMax/Vidyut with their stainless blades depending upon market and presumably of Wilkinson Sword with their regular and Economie brands, the economy for Barbers and so not finished the same. Personna? Med/Lab, both uncoated and one cleansed further being the same blade as the Comfort Coated, which is ... well, coated. For comfort in the domestic market, not scraping fuzz off bodies prior to surgery or slicing up specimens in a lab.

I am inclined to believe the three blade statement.
Treet blades, that could be another minefield - What are your top 3 choices out of Treet blades stable?
 
Treet blades, that could be another minefield - What are your top 3 choices out of Treet blades stable?
Well, they've probably got two blades - a stainless and a carbon blank.

My absolute favourite blade, hands down, is the Treet Platinum < that's across all blades, not just Treet. I always get four absolutely consistent shaves and while it is technically not the sharpest, it finds that perfect position for me between sharpness, smoothness and efficiency. Second is the Durasharp (Yellow), which I'd say is the best of their carbon blades and third, the 7 Days Platinum which is certainly sharper than the regular Platinum and actually does do seven consequetive consistent shaves. Oddly, I still prefer the regular Platinum tops. The 7 Days Platinum "feels Russian" to me (as does their Silver (Carbon) blade) and is not a million miles off the general feeling of these Permasharps that we're discussing here.

I do have a stack still to try properly, but imagine they're all incarnations of one or the other of those: Falcon, King, New Steel, New Edge, New Double Edge ... and some off-brands, Super Power, Super Tez, Super Glide.

Worthy of a mention is the workhorse Classic blade, which is like a less refined Durasharp (Yellow) but certainly as capable and surprisingly smooth from the off. At some point, I'll do a full run-through of the brand (and of Lord, too some time) as I did with SuperMax: https://www.theshavingroom.co.uk/community/threads/six-weeks-in-supermax.53997/ ... but to be frank, I found that absolutely exhausting and the prospect of having to do it again fills me with dread! I'll have to rethink my strategy, but do have a full compliment of both houses in the wings.
 
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Perfect and concise, just what I was seeking. I'll take a punt and order some Treet Platinum and 7 Days.
I can only imagine how arduous it must be compiling a blade survey, but all credit to you
 
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Many apologies guys, it appears I’ve been a twat and not done my due diligence before starting this thread. I assumed ( for whatever reason ) the Gillette Perma-Sharps were out of Russia. Maybe I just assumed this because of the similarity in how it shaved to the GSB and 7 O’Clock SS.
It seems they’re made in Turkey so in fact not from the same factory as the other 2 Gillettes I like so much.
In any case I found them to be superb and I appreciate all the comments and feedback.
 
It's a slippery slope - then there's Moscow, the competition - Voskhod, Ladas and a rainbow of Rapiras. :) - I.
Lol ! There's definitely a very large rabbit-hole for blades. I found the Voskhod pretty decent and Rapira Swedish Supersteel ok. Thats my lot from Moscow thus far. I'm not too fussy about exploring the others but I did just order some Sputnik, Minora and Blue Platinum. WTF ! ! :oops:
 
If you want to know what a real blade is then find some NOS Gillette Blue Blades (carbon steel) made after they started coating them in the late 50's and better yet from the late 60's - early 70's. I have never used a smoother (sharper) blade. (y) ;)

Then those damned Englishmen came along from the garden tool co. and ruined it all!! :mad:


;) :LOL::ROFLMAO:
 
Lol ! There's definitely a very large rabbit-hole for blades. I found the Voskhod pretty decent and Rapira Swedish Supersteel ok. Thats my lot from Moscow thus far. I'm not too fussy about exploring the others but I did just order some Sputnik, Minora and Blue Platinum. WTF ! ! :oops:
5976C4B5-7EA1-4AC0-83BA-F2ACECE2B7B9.jpegI get all my blades here
 
If you want to know what a real blade is then find some NOS Gillette Blue Blades (carbon steel) made after they started coating them in the late 50's and better yet from the late 60's - early 70's. I have never used a smoother (sharper) blade. (y) ;)

Then those damned Englishmen came along from the garden tool co. and ruined it all!! :mad:


;) :LOL::ROFLMAO:

I'm sure they're great blades @Bogeyman and I’d love to try one however I suspect they’re harder to find than rocking horse shit and more expensive than gold. o_O

Reminds me .......... the blade on the lawnmower needs sharpened ! :LOL:
 
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Many apologies guys, it appears I’ve been a twat and not done my due diligence before starting this thread. I assumed ( for whatever reason ) the Gillette Perma-Sharps were out of Russia. Maybe I just assumed this because of the similarity in how it shaved to the GSB and 7 O’Clock SS.
It seems they’re made in Turkey so in fact not from the same factory as the other 2 Gillettes I like so much.
In any case I found them to be superb and I appreciate all the comments and feedback.

They are made in St Petersburg, Gillette following it's usual strategy of buying the brand and then consolidating production to maximize economies of scale. The Turkey specific branding has been retained as the size of the core market makes it viable. The only blades sold by Gillette that are not made in its core production facilities are a few Indian brands e.g. the Winner, which are subcontracted.
 
I'm also a big fan of the permasharp and they do seem to live upto their name and i got plenty of good shaves from each blade I used.

Just to throw another element in the mix, do we think the Permasharp SE blades are the same as the DEs. If so they are definitely one to look forward to using in my leaf.
 
I'm also a big fan of the permasharp and they do seem to live upto their name and i got plenty of good shaves from each blade I used.

Just to throw another element in the mix, do we think the Permasharp SE blades are the same as the DEs. If so they are definitely one to look forward to using in my leaf.
Hi Max, I like the permasharp's as well. I'm not sure if there is a difference between SE and DE. Does anyone know?
 
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