When is a blade not a good one?

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Blades

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So..what criteria do you gentleman (ladies as well) list of criteria for a blade to be worthy of buying more?..aside from price of course..I am curious to know as my first SS flairtip was PIF'd to me by a very caring friend and my first DE blade didnt go well in the end..razor burn/light stinging/nicks n cuts.


Blades
 
For me it's In descending order:

How it shaves (smoothness of shave, absence of "afters")
How long it lasts (how many shaves per blade - I test this to "the bleeding edge" twice and refer to this figure as the "research blade life")
How much it costs per shave (taking the life to be one shave less than the "research blade life" and using the price of 100 blades delivered to me as the cost)
 
Well, i think it is a case of trying lots of different brands, to find the one that suits you most. I know there are those who have special blade / razor combo's, but for me personally i stick to middle of the road blades that will work in anything.

Of course hypothetically the more you shave, the better your technique improves, but when you are throwing different blade makes in you may find that blades you discounted as crap early on in your journey are worth a re-visit.
 
A smooth, notably sharp edge which lasts well and deteriorates evenly, not by going ragged. That's a description of a Swede, basically, and I want the nearest available equivalent, Iridiums coming the nearest in my estimation. Consistency of quality is also very important to me; cost isn't.
 
1.how it shaves no irritation .No I'm not interested in the second shave if the first is crap.
2.How many shaves I can get. I expect to get at least 3 comfortable shaves.
3.Cost.
 
Did..someone say "Sweeede" boy o boy I wish if I realized I truly miss these..I should/woulda..Didnt buy 1,000 of em!... :lol: :roll:




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  • 1. How smooth it cuts; this is tested after the shave with regards to how much tingle i get after applying AS.

    2. How sharp it is; my bench mark blade being an Iridium Super, these i find to be a fraction less sharp than a feather,without the harshness of cut from the feather.

    3. How long the blade keeps its edge and how the degradation of this over a minimum of four shaves pans out. I never push a blade over four shaves in normal use, but in testing out and stocking new blades i like to push them as far as possible (3 blades conseculativley) to see where the drop off point is.

    4. Price; though not really an issue, i won’t pay stupid money.

    [/list:u]
 
Comfort and smoothness above all - That's why I got into DE shaving.

I'm happy with three shaves per blade (as I'm not paying silly money for the blades) and I don't need ultimate sharpness as I have a fairly light beard.
 
Blades said:
Did..someone say "Sweeede" boy o boy I wish if I realized I truly miss these..I should/woulda..Didnt buy 1,000 of em!... :lol: :roll:

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Hi there,

Around three years ago, the Swedes and the Feather blades were the two I used the most. The Swedes were great in all my razors, and the Feather was only excellent in my go to razor at the time (fatboy). There's something about a fatboy that turns a Feather blade magical.

Back then there were only 6-8 different blades being talked about and reviewed. Then an interesting and helpful guy named Gio started a forum and a store, and after that things changed. He was using all the various items in his store himself, including blades, soaps, razors, you name it. As a result of him trying all these blades we'd never heard of.....well that's how the Iridium came to be known.

I'd ordered from him a number of times and he'd always include some blade samples or something else. Really a generous man who enjoyed sharing what he'd learned over the years. The site shut down a few years back for various reasons, and the store was passed along to another person I believe.

Back then Swedes were 80 cents per blade. Way more expensive than any other one, but they were worth the cash to me. They're a sharp and smooth blade that fit me well.

So Gio kept going on about some of the blades he liked ....Polsilver was another I believe. After a while I looked in my sample bag he'd sent to see if he included an Iridium and it turned out he did. I figured what the hell, I'll give it a shot. I sure didn't think it was gonna replace the Swede in my rotation. Oh, at that time, Gio was selling the Iridium for 22 cents each in bulk.

I popped a blade in the control fatboy and man.........I was surprised. Best all around blade I'd ever tried. Course I'd only used maybe 6-8 different ones before that.

Within a week I sold the remaining 100 Swedes from my stash and bought Iridiums.

Martin
 
OMG u sold all your almight Swedes!..some years ago I was on BB and one of the forum guys joked when he said he is gonna stock up on Swedes before they are all gone..so he bought 400 of em!... :lol: ..I doubt he was kidding!... :shock:


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Blades said:
OMG u sold all your almight Swedes!..some years ago I was on BB and one of the forum guys joked when he said he is gonna stock up on Swedes before they are all gone..so he bought 400 of em!... :lol: ..I doubt he was kidding!... :shock:

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Yep........sold em all for what I'd paid for em. The 5 packs were selling for $4 and all 20 packs went to a new home.

To me, the Iridium just fit me better, and I don't miss having the Swedes in my rotation. Wasn't a question of price but of performance. Funny how this YMMV thingy works.

Martin
 
PeterFranks said:
So, can you still buy Iridiums in the US?

I find it hard to believe these things have disappeared off the face of the earth on the back of a rumour on some other shaving forum.
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Hi there,

Right now they're scarce. No one has any sorta quantity for sale, although you may still find some in various sample packs.

This happened before, maybe two years ago. Suddenly no one had em, and no warning in advance. If I'm not mistaken that drought lasted maybe 4-5 months or so. Paul would be the one with more info about this situation. Matter of fact, he was the last one I saw who had any before even his supply ran out.

Martin
 
For me most blades are OK some are a lot better than others in that they give a great shave with no irritation.

There have been very few which are dreadful but mostly a blade is bad if its name starts with a 'D' and ends with 'erby' :mrgreen:
 
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