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Post by mjclark on Apr 11, 2015 2:00:08 GMT -6
Round 12: Blue Star 2008 (2) vs NOS GEM Micromatic (2): A bit of a surprise, but after it's amazing first shave the Micromatic blade has now degraded into something rough, dull and horrible. It was stored in mineral oil exactly the same as the other blades but is now almost unuseable. Maybe the makeup of the steel is different from the modern blades... ...I'm certainly not pushing this to a third shave, so it's out!
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Post by mjclark on Apr 11, 2015 15:18:40 GMT -6
Round 13: NOS Micromatic vs CVS Another surprise! The CVS blade on its second shave has settled in beautifully. It's still very sharp (sharper even than the Blue Stars) and now superbly smooth too. This settling in of the carbon steel blades is a very interesting characteristic - a lot of people discard them after the first shave due to harshness but it's always worth perservering. That ugly duckling CVS blade has now become a swan! The best blade of Phase Two so far...
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Post by mjclark on Apr 11, 2015 16:45:14 GMT -6
Round 14: CVS (2) vs Personna Industrial (2) No surprises here. On its second shave the Personna Industrial blade was simply not sharp enough to give an acceptable result. It was very smooth though, perhaps because there was no edge on it all! This blade is out of the running.
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Post by mjclark on Apr 11, 2015 17:06:48 GMT -6
Round 15: Personna Industrial (2) vs NOS Valet (2) Of course the Valet and Feather Seikan blades won't fit into the Micromatic which requires those newfangled blades with the central cut out, so I've switched to the setup I'll be using in Phase 3 with the ER 1924, a nice Indian horsehair brush (Dhupar's Diplomat) and Truefitt & Hill No.10. The ER 1924 had to come last in this trial because its steeper shaving angle will render the blades unsuitable for reuse in the other SEs which require a shallower angle. WOW!! The NOS Valet in the ER 1924 took me to the irie 'eights of Pure Land shaving experience. The Shovelhead is unquestionably my favourite safety razor and that NOS Valet on its second shave is unquestionably the best blade of this trial so far. Actually this was one of the best shaves of my entire life to date!! The Valet blade was incredibly sharp and incredibly smooth At points I wondered if there was a blade in the razor at all but the noise of toast being buttered and the feel of BBS reassured me that there was. And my face feels fantastic afterwards. Fantastic! Yes, fantastic!!
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spidey9
Lather Catcher
All SE all the time!
Posts: 641
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Post by spidey9 on Apr 11, 2015 18:10:10 GMT -6
The ER 1924 had to come last in this trial because its steeper shaving angle will render the blades unsuitable for reuse in the other SEs which require a shallower angle. Could you elaborate on this? Since I typically get about a dozen shaves from a stainless steel blade, and up to 6 from a carbon blade, I tend to use the same blade in many different razors, including 1924's. I've never noticed any problem. At least I don't think I have . . . --Bob
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Post by fram773 on Apr 11, 2015 19:01:13 GMT -6
The ER 1924 had to come last in this trial because its steeper shaving angle will render the blades unsuitable for reuse in the other SEs which require a shallower angle. Could you elaborate on this? Since I typically get about a dozen shaves from a stainless steel blade, and up to 6 from a carbon blade, I tend to use the same blade in many different razors, including 1924's. I've never noticed any problem. At least I don't think I have . . . --Bob +1. I have no problem using the stainless PTFE blades in other razors after using them in the 1924 or vice versa. What I have noticed is that when blades are rendered dull in other razors I can get a couple more shaves out of them in the 1924.
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Post by mjclark on Apr 12, 2015 1:05:48 GMT -6
Could you elaborate on this? Since I typically get about a dozen shaves from a stainless steel blade, and up to 6 from a carbon blade, I tend to use the same blade in many different razors, including 1924's. I've never noticed any problem. At least I don't think I have . . . --Bob +1. I have no problem using the stainless PTFE blades in other razors after using them in the 1924 or vice versa. What I have noticed is that when blades are rendered dull in other razors I can get a couple more shaves out of them in the 1924. The ER 1924 had to come last in this trial because its steeper shaving angle will render the blades unsuitable for reuse in the other SEs which require a shallower angle. Could you elaborate on this? Since I typically get about a dozen shaves from a stainless steel blade, and up to 6 from a carbon blade, I tend to use the same blade in many different razors, including 1924's. I've never noticed any problem. At least I don't think I have . . . --Bob Yes - the increase in angle with the ER 1924 will give new life to a blade dulled at a shallower angle but it also rounds the edge slightly. If the same blade is then transferred back to a shallower angle razor the edge is rounded at a different angle again and the blade life greatly deteriorates. Also, the steeper angle of the ER 1924 will give an inherently shorter life to the blade though we may not notice this with the small number of shaves we normally stick to. This effect is well documented for steep angle shaving with DE blades. Someone bold could certainly do a trial to see how moving a blade from 1912 to 1924 back to 1912 shortens its life in comparison to just sticking to 1912 or 1924...
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Post by mjclark on Apr 13, 2015 15:41:53 GMT -6
Round 16: NOS Valet (2) vs Feather Seikan (2) A very interesting shave with the Seikan. For the first two passes it behaved exactly the same as on the first shave - painfully tuggy and not particularly sharp. But on the third pass, the blade began to settle in and gave a pleasantly smooth and seemingly sharper shave. The newer Japanese steel has taken longer to settle in than the American steels and there's also a "face stropping" effect which has improved the edge with use. Something else about the Feather Seikan is that it leaves my face feeling absolutely superb after the shave in a way that none of the other blades have. I predict greatness for later shaves with this blade.
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Post by mjclark on Apr 16, 2015 13:38:15 GMT -6
And here's the results for Phase Two On their SECOND shave the blades ranked as follows: 1) NOS Valet 2) CVS 3) Blue Star 2014 4) Blue Star 2008 5) Treet 6) PAL 7) Feather Seikan Out of the running: NOS Micromatic (too harsh) Personna Industrial (too dull) A radically different performance ranking from the first shave with each blade. Let's see what happens next...
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Post by mjclark on Apr 16, 2015 16:28:48 GMT -6
And so to Phase Three - Round 17: PAL Blue (3) vs Treet (3) The PAL surprised by settling in very nicely on the third pass of its third shave - it is now a smooth and delightful blade good for some more shaves. The Treet on the other hand has just deteriorated. Now dull and harsh, it is game over for the Treet.
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Post by mjclark on Apr 16, 2015 17:13:27 GMT -6
Round 18: Treet (3) vs CVS (3) On its third shave the CVS blade has now settled in to something wonderful. Much much sharper than either the PAL or Treet, it is now also supremely smooth. What a great shave!
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Post by mjclark on Apr 19, 2015 14:34:51 GMT -6
Round 19: CVS (3) vs Blue Star 2014 (3) On its third shave the 2014 Blue Star was very smooth but not as sharp as the CVS. It was a very nice shave though, identical to the third shave of the PAL Blue. In fact at this stage, and at the risk of using the word "blue" a lot, I could easily believe that the 2014 Blue Star is an unblued version of the PAL Blue.
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Post by prometeo on Apr 21, 2015 13:40:55 GMT -6
Great job!
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Post by mjclark on Apr 21, 2015 14:39:36 GMT -6
Round 20: Blue Star 2014 (3) vs Blue Star 2008 (3) The Blue Star 2008 is back in the high life again and is far far superior to the Blue Star 2014 on its third shave. The 2008 is now sublimely smooth and still very sharp - sharper than the PAL and the 2014 but not quite as sharp as the CVS. So the Blue Star 2008 and the Blue Star 2014 are definitely different blades and the 2008 is better. I'd wondered if the Blue Star 2008 and CVS were the same blade with different coatings since on the first shave they were both equally sharp but clearly they are different - the Blue Star 2008 is becoming duller with each shave whereas the CVS is maintaining an astonishing sharpness.
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Post by mjclark on Apr 23, 2015 3:10:14 GMT -6
Round 21: Blue Star 2008 (3) vs NOS Valet (3): I'd wondered how many shaves the Valet would go for unstropped but on its third shave it's game over. After its first two magnificent shaves better than any of the modern blades, the Valet is now duller than the PAL and very rough. It's out for the count, but that steel still left my face feeling great
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