The forgiving blade

shanky887614 said:
RB73 said:
The other old chestnut would be, how can so many (well ok, a fair few) differently labelled blades made in the same factory be noticeably different.
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nearly all are made from the same grade of steel

the answer is usually the machining/quality control

personally i wouldn't be surprised if two different machine lines in a factory shave different
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But even with two different machine lines the number of differently labelled blades coming from the same factory would still constitute at least two to three coming off of the same press surely.
 
dodgy said:
Mild blades are not to be confused with crap blades......like the Derby.
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Aha! dear dodgy - mild as in Feather Profession Light blades, the mild version of Pro-Guard - and the one that opened up the Japanese Trench over my right cheek bone, still visible from space on a sunny day months after the mild event?

As someone said at the time, 'mild' does not mean 'not sharp'.

I have my sharp and mild/forgiving blades sorted now - almost done experimenting - but I'd love to know what makes them so while the Feather DE remains such a vampire. Unless you put it in a Feather DE razor, anyway.

And that's another test to do - a Polsilver or similar 18 - 20 in the Feather DE razor.

And then back to straights!
 
I don't really find myself subscribing to a lot of blade theories, in my world there are only two variables, sharpness and smoothness. Anything else just messes with my pretty little head. I'm possibly less sophisticated / refined than some, but that's the only two things I can ever pick up.

Oh and I don't mind Derby so much, I've got a stock, and I've had much worse. ;-)
 
Hiya,

Really, most all blades are forgiving to some degree. I can only think of 2-3 that are actually too sharp for me in most razors.

My favorite blades let me waltz around my face without worry. They're sharp enough to whack whiskers without resistance, yet gentle enough not to leave any red marks at all. If I feel the blade doing any cutting, I know something's wrong with my shave.

The few 'rogue' blades will still be very smooth when used, but can leave me with small weepers. Plus, I find myself having to go slower and use shorter strokes. The ATG pass takes more concentration and blade buffing is tough.

I guess they're just not as good natured.......

Bechet45 said:
I have my sharp and mild/forgiving blades sorted now - almost done experimenting - but I'd love to know what makes them so while the Feather DE remains such a vampire. Unless you put it in a Feather DE razor, anyway.
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That Feather blade is somethin else all right. Yeah, those are great if they work for you, and not so hot if they don't. In theory you'd think they'd shave the best because they're the sharpest. Why not use the most effective blade and get a really really close shave.

Ok, did you try it dialed down to #3-4 on a Gillette or in a Stahly head? That should help. Otherwise, you may have to stay behind in the dull, non hip Feather group. (I will keep your secret).

For whatever the reason, they sure feel pretty damn sharp. And yes, the Feather does like a sip of the pink stuff (Soho Sake) now and then.

Marvin
 
I really find this conversation very interesting. And it only seems to solidify my thoughts about Sharp and also the types of Users there are. My rememberences of my father shaving is that he basically used one razor until someone couldn't think of what to give him for christmas or his birthday and got him another Gillette that he then used. The same went for blades but here there really wasn't really that many choices. Gillette or later wilkinson sword. Being an Anglophile he used quite a few Wilkinson's.
I use a different razor almost everyday and when I use a DE I use a different blade with each shave.
My father would note a change in blade quality. I on the other hand would have no idea if it was a blade or razor problem or both.
With a straight razor, who knows what I screwed up.
It may have been an easier time 50 years ago.
 
It may have been an easier time 50 years ago.

Well, as long as you were content with whatever the local Boots or Barber had in stock things were much simpler in the 1960s. The "sharp" blades of those days were Wilkinsons (or such was the general perception) whilst Gillettes in their wee blue metal package were more mundane fare. I can well recall the barber in Saracen St selling Wilkinson blades singly, much as the tobacconists in Liverpool when I lived there would sell cigarettes in "Five and a match".
For myself I greatly appreciate the enormous retail world which has opened up to me with the advent of the internet, not to mention the unalloyed joy which access to Steve's sellotape blog brought into my declining years.

JohnnyO. \:blush:
 
Is anyone else hearing what I am? That blades take on attributes such as 'mild' and 'forgiving' when they suit our skin/beard/razor/technique or whatever individual influence on them makes them appear so to us. Then broad opinion confirms the status with the inevitable detractors who the blade did not suit.

So it is, then, a matter of sharp, sharper and sharpest and finding your own place on that spectrum. And mild, forgiving, comfortable are qualities awarded according to our experience rather than an actual attribute of the blade. I think Canuck catches it when he says, "... in my world there are only two variables, sharpness and smoothness...".

I know I now use blades very comfortably that I would have thought leeches a few months ago - and blades I thought comfortable a few months ago I now find dull and draggy.
 
I really want to like Feather blades as they are smooth and remove hard stubble the best of any blade I've tried but very sharp to the point that I don't feel the nicks and they give me the worst upper lip nicks of any blade.

Regarding the "7" rating for Derby blades, I too can't see this but then only tried in a 34C and don't think I am the only one to find this combo poor.
 
Can a Derby be star of the show?

A Treet Platinum had risen to the top of the blade testing pile - This'll be good! thought I, believing it to be a sharp blade what with its 17 score. I blamed everything but the blade before I just had to abandon it after the 2nd Pass. Much worse than yesterday's Bic at 17 also! Anyway, what to use for the 3rd Pass? I know! Put in a Derby and then chuck it.

It felt like heaven! It felt sharp! It felt smooth! What a fantastic blade! That was for both sides ATG - feeling a little dull when we got to my neck, definitely too blunt to go for BBS on my chin and upper lip - but I got a DFS result, albeit with tenderness from the Treet.

A Derby saved my shave - just!
 
Well as you can tell they work for me. Price and longevity come into that score so the very cheap Treet Platinums will get a higher score because of it. Just goes to show what suits one doesn't suit another. Still, hope you and others will get some use from it. Derbies give ne terrible irritation but not sure others suffer similarly.
 
chrisbell said:
IMO, Treet Platinums are awful things - as you found, they make a Derby feel good.
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Thank you, Chris - you save me another bad shave. The blade I used was single, on its own, by itself and a lone representative so I guess a freebie from somewhere. Was going to try a blade from a pack - hm! which may be a freebie, too, as it's the only pack I have. Ditto yesterday's Bic.

More blades for the PIF.

NotTheStig said:
Derbies give me terrible irritation but not sure others suffer similarly.
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My first wife was like that but she later had men-friends who lasted a while. Later, afaIk.
 
Bechet45 said:
Can a Derby be star of the show?

It felt like heaven! It felt sharp! It felt smooth! What a fantastic blade! That was for both sides ATG A Derby saved my shave - just!
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Dear Carl,

You need to dial waaay back on the mescaline.

I am a little worried about you,

Marvin
 
True, Martin - oh! so very true.

Ignoring my own experience (it may have been a rogue blade) and that of Chris and Canuck, I put another Treet into The Dodgy (over-sized Neep and a Stahly head) this time - and guess what? A slight improvement - I now class Treets as only 'totally un-usable'.

I can report that a Rapira in The Dodgy is a heavenly shave - mind, a Rapira in an anything would be a heavenly shave, I reckon.
 
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