Blackland's new Sabre

The question is when will it be available if ever? Blackland production appears to have gone to the proverbial dogs since they took over ATT with the ATT SE1 and SE2 also missing. Blackland say on their youtube channel that the changes to the Sabre design are not very great so why is production taking so long? In the meantime they appear to be plugging their "most popular razor" the Vector but perhaps some shavers have shrugged off the Artisan price tag and gone for the Yaqi Excalibur instead!
 
Anthorn said:
The question is when will it be available if ever? Blackland production appears to have gone to the proverbial dogs since they took over ATT with the ATT SE1 and SE2 also missing. Blackland say on their youtube channel that the changes to the Sabre design are not very great so why is production taking so long? In the meantime they appear to be plugging their "most popular razor" the Vector but perhaps some shavers have shrugged off the Artisan price tag and gone for the Yaqi Excalibur instead!
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I believe he didn't quite feel like it was right for production and has spent the time finalising the design.
I definitely feel like it's going to happen before Christmas and for me personally I think there has been a lot of thought into this razor and the stand so you will see a finished product but the price will be around his other razors I would guess.

I am a big fan of the Vector and also own the Yaqi Excalibur and they are not the same, they may look the same but they definitely are not IMHO. Don't get me wrong the Excalibur is a great razor and I have recently recommended it to a friend at work because for his needs the Vector is way too much price wise and he really wouldn't appreciate the design etc, he's not into shaving he just wants a blooming good razor that gets the job done. The Excalibur fits the bill perfectly especially for £15.
 
Anthorn said:
The question is when will it be available if ever? Blackland production appears to have gone to the proverbial dogs since they took over ATT with the ATT SE1 and SE2 also missing. Blackland say on their youtube channel that the changes to the Sabre design are not very great so why is production taking so long? In the meantime they appear to be plugging their "most popular razor" the Vector but perhaps some shavers have shrugged off the Artisan price tag and gone for the Yaqi Excalibur instead!
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Quite a random comment. Blackland state in the video that the new Sabre is currently in production and pre-orders will begin in the next couple of weeks. The Osprey was released around the same time as the the purchase of ATT, Lite plates were rolled out for the Vector, Blackland bought a machine shop and they've developed the Sabre Mk 2. I'd say that's pretty good going for 8-9 months.

Buyers who choose the Excalibur over the Vector are unlikely to be Vector buyers. I doubt the Chinese copy is taking sales away from Blackland. Let's hope Blackland continue to be supported by our community so they can continue to innovate - otherwise our friends in China won't have anything to clone.
 
Boycie83 said:
Quite a random comment. Blackland state in the video that the new Sabre is currently in production and pre-orders will begin in the next couple of weeks. The Osprey was released around the same time as the the purchase of ATT, Lite plates were rolled out for the Vector, Blackland bought a machine shop and they've developed the Sabre Mk 2. I'd say that's pretty good going for 8-9 months.

Buyers who choose the Excalibur over the Vector are unlikely to be Vector buyers. I doubt the Chinese copy is taking sales away from Blackland. Let's hope Blackland continue to be supported by our community so they can continue to innovate - otherwise our friends in China won't have anything to clone.
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Unless people are buying both the Vector and the Excalibur then every purchase of the Excalibur is a purchase that could have been of the Vector. Further, all the Stainless Steel versions of the Excalibur have sold out which points to their popularity. However both Blackland and DLC-Yaqi are playing a dangerous game in not keeping up the production to fill the demand. If buyers cannot buy something they will buy something else and then when the manufacturer produces more it's a revival and a hope that customers will ditch what they bought and buy the revived product. This is quite a fundamental aspect of manufacturing and marketing.
 
It's a shame Blackland razors are not a member of this forum, I know they are a member of the Badger and blade site. Perhaps I'll send them an invite and the website link and see if they except as it would be nice to get their feedback and be able to pass on our own.
I know for me personally it will be nothing but positive.
 
Johnny Bravo said:
It's a shame Blackland razors are not a member of this forum, I know they are a member of the Badger and blade site. Perhaps I'll send them an invite and the website link and see if they except as it would be nice to get their feedback and be able to pass on our own.
I know for me personally it will be nothing but positive.
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Hey! I've been a member here since 2015, but it's been a few years since I've stopped in. Happy to be back!

We just acquired a machine shop so we now have full control over our manufacturing. Final changes have been implemented and the Sabre in production now.

To answer the production questions/concerns:
  • Protoyping is different from production. The work required to produce one or two pieces is quite different from the effort needed to go into full production and produce several hundred at once (plus being able to readily turn production back on later and produce thousands). So finalizing the design in prototype phase doesn't mean we get to push the "multiply" button and have Sabres start piling up on the shop floor. We have to take that design and then design production around it. Fixtures, tool paths, etc all change when you go from prototype mode to production.

  • ATT is also in production and the first razor will be back this summer.

  • We don't worry about companies in other countries copying our work and using artificially-devalued currency and poor labor practices to produce cheap copies. Instead, we focus on designing innovative products and producing them to the best of our abilities in-house with employees that are treated and compensated well.
 
ShaneS said:
Hey! I've been a member here since 2015, but it's been a few years since I've stopped in. Happy to be back!

We just acquired a machine shop so we now have full control over our manufacturing. Final changes have been implemented and the Sabre in production now.

To answer the production questions/concerns:
  • Protoyping is different from production. The work required to produce one or two pieces is quite different from the effort needed to go into full production and produce several hundred at once (plus being able to readily turn production back on later and produce thousands). So finalizing the design in prototype phase doesn't mean we get to push the "multiply" button and have Sabres start piling up on the shop floor. We have to take that design and then design production around it. Fixtures, tool paths, etc all change when you from prototype mode to production.

  • ATT is also in production and the first razor will be back this summer.

  • We don't worry about companies in other countries copying our work and using artificially-devalued currency and poor labor practices to produce cheap copies. Instead, we focus on designing innovative products and producing them to the best of our abilities in-house with employees that treated and compensated well.
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A big warm welcome back to TSR .
I for one am excited about the new Sabre, I just need a lot more overtime to feed my shaving habit ha ha ha.

Pay Me Damon Wayans GIF by For(bes) The Culture
 
Zedge said:
Hi guys,
I am going to ask you a what is no doubt a very silly question!
Okay so I used to use proraso shaving soap, brilliant stuff and I got used to its lather. I would soak my brush for a couple of minutes and then soaped it up.
I then got given an Amazon voucher and delved into the “Taylor of Bond Street Shaving Cream”. Now I appreciate that it will lather different but it didn’t seem to really lather at all, just stayed creamy… which I guess hint the name is normal but I just want to see if I follow the same procedure of soaking or whether I’m using it wrong?

Thankyou guys!
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Blackland said:
Hey! I've been a member here since 2015, but it's been a few years since I've stopped in. Happy to be back!

We just acquired a machine shop so we now have full control over our manufacturing. Final changes have been implemented and the Sabre in production now.

To answer the production questions/concerns:
  • Protoyping is different from production. The work required to produce one or two pieces is quite different from the effort needed to go into full production and produce several hundred at once (plus being able to readily turn production back on later and produce thousands). So finalizing the design in prototype phase doesn't mean we get to push the "multiply" button and have Sabres start piling up on the shop floor. We have to take that design and then design production around it. Fixtures, tool paths, etc all change when you go from prototype mode to production.

  • ATT is also in production and the first razor will be back this summer.

  • We don't worry about companies in other countries copying our work and using artificially-devalued currency and poor labor practices to produce cheap copies. Instead, we focus on designing innovative products and producing them to the best of our abilities in-house with employees that are treated and compensated well.
Click to expand...
Re. Copying and I'm assuming you are referring to the rather ubiquitous claim although to my knowledge not mentioned by Blackland nor Yaqi, that the Yaqi Excalbur is a copy of the Blackland Vector: It does appear to me that the design of AC safety razors is largely dictated by the form of the AC blades themselves so that variation in design is limited. By that standard though we may claim that every DE razor ever produced is a copy of the original Gillette DE razor and every DE blade ever produced is a copy of the original Gillette blade.

Re. the new Sabre (Sabre 2?) what is the price likely to be?
 
Anthorn said:
Re. Copying and I'm assuming you are referring to the rather ubiquitous claim although to my knowledge not mentioned by Blackland nor Yaqi, that the Yaqi Excalbur is a copy of the Blackland Vector: It does appear to me that the design of AC safety razors is largely dictated by the form of the AC blades themselves so that variation in design is limited. By that standard though we may claim that every DE razor ever produced is a copy of the original Gillette DE razor and every DE blade ever produced is a copy of the original Gillette blade.
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Form follows function. I agree. I also agree that there are many ways to skin a cat. See, well, pretty much every other AC t-type razor which puts a round post behind the blade.

Do remember that litigation secures design and Gillette were very active in that. The 1904 three-piece was patented and design was protected by that. Patent upon patent upon patent. Minor changes in design to prevent competitors blades working in Gillette razors and vice versa. Ironically, it was the design of the 1930s New blade (which today is the standard) was the very downfall of Gillette whose founder (King C Gillette) actually lost control of the company to his competitor (Henry Gaisman) who took the company as payment.

It all comes down to those special "doodads" which Gaisman was meticulous about.
 
Anthorn said:
Re. Copying and I'm assuming you are referring to the rather ubiquitous claim although to my knowledge not mentioned by Blackland nor Yaqi, that the Yaqi Excalbur is a copy of the Blackland Vector: It does appear to me that the design of AC safety razors is largely dictated by the form of the AC blades themselves so that variation in design is limited. By that standard though we may claim that every DE razor ever produced is a copy of the original Gillette DE razor and every DE blade ever produced is a copy of the original Gillette blade.

Re. the new Sabre (Sabre 2?) what is the price likely to be?
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You're welcome to believe what you like. Again, it doesn't make a difference to us. If we can't change it, we don't worry about. So we just keep our heads down and keep making products that bring new innovation to the shaving space.

Price will be announced when we launch the product page and announce the pre-order date. That should happen today or tomorrow.
 
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