New Blackland Era

Blackland Razors I kept it a secret. I was in the process of designing a razor. I was looking at the various option. We decided not to go to with them for various reasons.

All the best on the Era release.

Ah that's so cool to hear that while you were supposed to be making soap for us, you instead were stealing my ideas that I texted you privately as a friend after I specifically asked you keep it secret so that you could undercut me and partner with another razor maker. Love it.

alright gents, I think you 2 can handle this stuff in PMs....or I'll lock the thread if you prefer?

I’m good. Problem solved. Back to the Era!!!

good. I'm excited for you, Shane, and kudos for continuing to push the envelope and delivering us with great products at an affordable price.

I'm a frugal, cheap guy, so anything <$100, I'M IN.

I cannot find any example of small 3D metal printed pieces. 
Really looking forward to precision of the new safety razor. 

Materials are a lot with 3D printing:

It's really critical that we clarify that the Era is not made in the way that any of those parts above are made. The kind of 3D printing we're doing here is like nothing available through providers like Shapeways or anywhere else in the world. 3DEO is the one place on earth to get parts made like this because its their novel and proprietary technology. And since I have exclusivity, Blackland is also the only shaving company in the world that can make parts like this. Normal metal printing like the examples above use a process where a laser basically fuses metal powder at each layer. So they lay down some metal powder, fuse the slice of the part and then build another layer on top. This is an acceptable way of 3D printing, but you can't hold tight tolerances or even very good dimensional accuracy at all. On top of those downsides it's expensive, not very scalable, and has worse mechanical properties because many of those stainless prints also have bronze added. All bad things for us.

The Era is made with a different approach that's basically a blend between MIM, CNC, and printing. Calling it 3D printing is a bit like calling space flight flying. Yea it's technically true, but it's a gross oversimplification that obfuscates the complexity of what's going on here simply because we don't have better terminology to describe it.

The way this process works is we lay down a layer of metal powder in the build volume, spray it with a binding agent that keeps it firm (like adding water to sand for a sandcastle), and then CNC endmills come down and machine the outline of the part. Since the layer isn't sintered, it's really easy and quick to machine. Kind of like cutting through wood. This gets repeated a ton of times until we've made our part in the build volume. Then the layers of bound metal are removed. This is called the cake since the entire build volume is firm due to the binding agent. The parts are broken out of the cake and then they are sintered (heated in a super-hot furnace). This causes the binding agent to drop out and the metal powder fuses together creating solid metal with about 99% the density of billet steel. We then do some post machining on shave-critical surfaces to ensure perfect performance. So in a lot of ways these parts are more similar to MIM (like the Rockwell 6S) than other 3D printed parts. With MIM you create the shape in a mold and then sinter it. Here, we're creating the shape layer by layer with printing and then sintering.

I cover this in finer detail on the Lather Talk podcast so go watch/listen to that for a deep dive.

Beyond cool!!!

alright gents, I think you 2 can handle this stuff in PMs....or I'll lock the thread if you prefer?

I’m good. Problem solved. Back to the Era!!!

good.  I'm excited for you, Shane, and kudos for continuing to push the envelope and delivering us with great products at an affordable price.

I'm a frugal, cheap guy, so anything <$100, I'M IN.

I appreciate that! Honestly I think expensive razors are wonderful, but silly. I want to bring incredible quality and performance to the masses at a price that is fair and reasonable. That’s where the growth is and that’s where I want to be.

I appreciate that! Honestly I think expensive razors are wonderful, but silly. I want to bring incredible quality and performance to the masses as a price that is fair and reasonable. That’s where the growth is and that’s where I want to be.

This is what has me pretty excited. Once you get over the novelty of “shiny”, you realize that you’re paying for finishes that eventually deteriorate. You’ve paid big $$ for a razor that shaves as well (sometimes not) as one much cheaper.

Really impressed Shane, and the way you communicate is one of the strongest and most admiral aspects of Blackland.

Hi Shane, Sorry to hear your former friend at Grooming Dept stole your razor idea. Looking forward to supporting the ERA when it's released versus whatever inevitably get delayed and eventually comes out in some recalled-Asylum-like version from GD.

Sorry if you've answered already, but of the base plates you're offering what is the standard? And, can you compare it to your other offerings like the Blackbird? Thanks!

Sorry if you've answered already, but of the base plates you're offering what is the standard?  And, can you compare it to your other offerings like the Blackbird?  Thanks!

There isn’t really a standard, but I think L3 is killer and it’s designed to have the most mass appeal. I’m a Blackbird guy, but Era L2 and L3 have been my go-to because they’re sooo smooth and comfortable while efficient enough. Closest to the Blackbird is L5, but it’s a very different shaving experience.

Sorry if you've answered already, but of the base plates you're offering what is the standard?  And, can you compare it to your other offerings like the Blackbird?  Thanks!

There isn’t really a standard, but I think L3 is killer and it’s designed to have the most mass appeal. I’m a Blackbird guy, but Era L2 and L3 have been my go to because they’re sooo smooth and comfortable while efficient enough. Closest to the Blackbird is L5, but it’s a very different shaving experience.

Great, thanks for the feedback. I'd probably lean towards the L2/3. Although, I've heard the Ti Blackbird may be the smoothest of the bunch...I'd be curious if it's also at the L5-type level.

Sorry if you've answered already, but of the base plates you're offering what is the standard?  And, can you compare it to your other offerings like the Blackbird?  Thanks!

There isn’t really a standard, but I think L3 is killer and it’s designed to have the most mass appeal. I’m a Blackbird guy, but Era L2 and L3 have been my go to because they’re sooo smooth and comfortable while efficient enough. Closest to the Blackbird is L5, but it’s a very different shaving experience.

Great, thanks for the feedback.  I'd probably lean towards the L2/3.  Although, I've heard the Ti Blackbird may be the smoothest of the bunch...I'd be curious if it's also at the L5-type level.

All levels of the Era are designed to be usable for most people and nothing is too wild. So the L5 is probably a notch under the Blackbird's aggressiveness. It's highly efficient, but there's less blade feel and it has a larger gap. It's a bit more of the formula that the BBS-1 uses than the Blackbird does.

Sorry if you've answered already, but of the base plates you're offering what is the standard?  And, can you compare it to your other offerings like the Blackbird?  Thanks!

There isn’t really a standard, but I think L3 is killer and it’s designed to have the most mass appeal. I’m a Blackbird guy, but Era L2 and L3 have been my go-to because they’re sooo smooth and comfortable while efficient enough. Closest to the Blackbird is L5, but it’s a very different shaving experience.

different in what way? more aggressive? more blade feel? I'm a blackbird fan myself.

edited: posted this before seeing your above reply...