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Post by mjclark on Jan 14, 2015 4:04:24 GMT -6
Are GEM Blue Stars, Treets and PAL Blues all the same blade but just rebranded and (for the PALs) blued as ASR took over other well established brands?
After all, you never see them in the same place at the same time do you?
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Post by fram773 on Jan 15, 2015 21:37:14 GMT -6
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Post by drumzalot on Jan 15, 2015 22:22:43 GMT -6
I'm going to slightly side track here. I know that everyone has different opinions on SE blades. Of course my input on this is purely my own views. Gem Blue Stars are both very smooth and sharp for me. Treets are a step below Blue Stars. Stainless steel Gem blades are pretty rough for me. The CVS blades tug and pull a bit too much for my taste but they are serviceable. All of these blades don't feel like the same blade to me.
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Post by wchnu on Jan 16, 2015 6:47:47 GMT -6
They are all made by ASR. I use all of the cs blades. The PAL are my favorite. But if I think about it I do not think they shave any different from the blue star or Treet.
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RocketMan
Gem Star
RazorAddict
Welcome To The Sharp Side!
Posts: 4,167
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Post by RocketMan on Jan 28, 2015 2:01:05 GMT -6
They are all made by ASR. I use all of the cs blades. The PAL are my favorite. But if I think about it I do not think they shave any different from the blue star or Treet. If those folks at ASR ever cut back on the SE blade production there are going to be some pretty unhappy SE shavers out there. Does anyone else make shaveable blades??
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norfolkdick
Master Shaver
Captain of the Razor Blades
Posts: 1,601
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Post by norfolkdick on Jan 28, 2015 2:21:15 GMT -6
They are all made by ASR. I use all of the cs blades. The PAL are my favorite. But if I think about it I do not think they shave any different from the blue star or Treet. If those folks at ASR ever cut back on the SE blade production there are going to be some pretty unhappy SE shavers out there. Does anyone else make shaveable blades?? Greetings To my knowledge only Dorco from South Korea and I understand they are 'shaveable' only in inverted commas. Those that have tried them report they are very poor indeed not much better then the ASR non shaving blades. They are not available in the UK, probably also not in Canada, they are branded as supermarket in house blades but which U..S supermarket I do not know, I'm sure somebody here from the states will have tried them. A couple of years back I saw on Alibaba some Chinese SE blades that stated they were for shaving but they were sold by the ten thousands. I'm sure we would have seen some surface here by now if they were any good and if they were available, half the stuff advertised on Alibaba is not in any event available, the site is frankly full of Sh*t! Regards Dick.
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RocketMan
Gem Star
RazorAddict
Welcome To The Sharp Side!
Posts: 4,167
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Post by RocketMan on Jan 28, 2015 2:34:12 GMT -6
Yes I have lived the Dorco experience. Many skin cells gave their lives in support of my choice.
You can't buy them here in Canada but I managed to find some with lots of pestering and emailing. I tested three different blades to be sure - then threw all of them away. I guess they don't even come to my mind when thinking about SE blades!!
I recall that the bevels on the blades were very inconsistent. One blade didn't even have a bevel running across the entire blade but rather one that just pooped out about 4mm's from a corner. The edge apexes also - I found it difficult to tell if they were ground with a secondary bevel or if they were just f*kd up.
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Post by Petrvs on Feb 9, 2015 13:04:05 GMT -6
I finally managed to find a store here in Milan that had some Gem Blue Stars and Treets, so I will finally get to try carbon blades. Any advices? How do they feel when compared to Stainless coated Gems? Shall I try them straight into one of my regular shavers (Gem 1912 or MMCP) or should I be cautious for the first shave and use my break-in razor (Featherweight) as I do for SS blades?
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Post by fram773 on Feb 9, 2015 13:55:21 GMT -6
I finally managed to find a store here in Milan that had some Gem Blue Stars and Treets, so I will finally get to try carbon blades. Any advices? How do they feel when compared to Stainless coated Gems? Like shaving with broken glass. I only use PTFE blades. I would try them in the MMOC. I find they shave the most tolerable in the nub-less, early MMOC.YMMV obviously
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Post by mjclark on Feb 9, 2015 17:06:38 GMT -6
YMMV indeed... ...I find that the carbon steel blades give a beautiful shave in all my SEs, much smoother and sharper than the Stainless. Just store them in mineral oil between shaves.
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Post by Petrvs on Feb 10, 2015 5:33:58 GMT -6
Ok, tried the Treets this morning. I used my Featherweight since I decided to stay more on the safe side, not knowing what to expect. The shave was good, although it felt somehow....strange. During the passes the blade felt smoother than the PTFEs I'm used to, especially considering it was the 1st shave out of a brand new blade. However, after my usual 2 passes, the skin felt a little "stressed"...but this feeling disappeared soon after putting the AS on. I am curious now to see how this blade will perform on the 2nd shave, guess I'll try it in my MMCP.
One thing I noticed is that dark spots were already appearing when I took the blade out of the razor... I've read it's normal for Carbon Blades, but I thought it happened after some time, if the blade wasn't properly dried. Did I do something wrong, considering it happened after such a short time?
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norfolkdick
Master Shaver
Captain of the Razor Blades
Posts: 1,601
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Post by norfolkdick on Feb 10, 2015 5:53:21 GMT -6
Ok, tried the Treets this morning. I used my Featherweight since I decided to stay more on the safe side, not knowing what to expect. The shave was good, although it felt somehow....strange. During the passes the blade felt smoother than the PTFEs I'm used to, especially considering it was the 1st shave out of a brand new blade. However, after my usual 2 passes, the skin felt a little "stressed"...but this feeling disappeared soon after putting the AS on. I am curious now to see how this blade will perform on the 2nd shave, guess I'll try it in my MMCP. One thing I noticed is that dark spots were already appearing when I took the blade out of the razor... I've read it's normal for Carbon Blades, but I thought it happened after some time, if the blade wasn't properly dried. Did I do something wrong, considering it happened after such a short time? Greetings The carbon steel blades going black along the line where the razors cap meets the blade is completely normal as are the black spots, I just dry the blade on a towel and use it again the next day, the one thing I do not do and would not recommend (unless you have a wonderful turbocharged extraction system)is leaving them even overnight in the bathroom and especially do not store unused carbon blades there. Everyones opinion on this matter differs but I find the very first shave with a carbon blade is the best, I normally get just three shaves whereas with the Stainless PTFE coated GEM's I find the second shave the best and get four or five shaves. I like carbon blades, especially Blue Stars and in my experience the moment the blade is unwrapped is as good as it will ever be, nothing, shaving or stropping will ever improve it, it is all downhill from that point onwards. Regards Dick.
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Post by drumzalot on Feb 11, 2015 14:35:31 GMT -6
YMMV indeed... ...I find that the carbon steel blades give a beautiful shave in all my SEs, much smoother and sharper than the Stainless. Just store them in mineral oil between shaves. I feel the same way about carbon steel blades as you do. I love carbon steel SE blades and prefer them. The only carbon steel blade that I don't like are Feather blades. So far every blade that I have used in the 10 pack that I ordered are terrible. The Feather carbon SE blades barely cut, they feel like shaving with a butter knife. I keep hoping that I just received a bad batch.
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Post by mjclark on Feb 12, 2015 5:31:35 GMT -6
The only carbon steel blade that I don't like are Feather blades. So far every blade that I have used in the 10 pack that I ordered are terrible. The Feather carbon SE blades barely cut, they feel like shaving with a butter knife. I keep hoping that I just received a bad batch. I find that stropped on a pasted strop, the carbon Feather Seikans are OK but not a patch on the NOS Valet blades which are much much sharper. Hmm... I wonder how a spined NOS Valet blade would fare in a 1912?
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Post by drumzalot on Feb 12, 2015 10:55:50 GMT -6
Marcus, I'll soon find out! It would be sweet to try in injector blade in a 1912!
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