RayClem's Blade Evaluations

Today I paired up the King C. Gillette (Russia) with my Brass Overlander. TBD Total beard destruction! Another great example of as sharp blade with a mild/medium razor. We all know it's an efficient razor to start on its own, when I paired it with this blade, it did a hell of a job on three days growth. No Nicks, no cuts, no blood, nothing. The first time I used this blade, I got reasonably nicked up, but again that was on my Lupo 127 which was maybe overkill in terms of aggression. Ya think?

I’m going to have to try bic chrome blades. 

That is what this chart tells me.

Shaving While Traveling

The past few days, I have been in Kansas City visiting with relatives from Colorado and Oklahoma. It is about 500 miles from Chicago, so we drove. That allowed me to carry my Parker semi-slant razor, some DE blades, a synthetic shaving brush, and a partial tub of Grooming Dept Laundry soap. I did not bring a shaving bowl, but saved a plastic dish from a two-scoop sundae purchased at Culver's along the route. The dish has some ridges near the bottom that help with lather building.

Normally, I shave every two days and do a four-pass shave: WTG, XTG, ATG and clean-up with buffing strokes to achieve a near-BBS shave. During the trip, I have shaved daily. To avoid skin irritation, I have only done a two-pass shave: WTG and then a clean-up pass with combined XTG and ATG strokes with buffing. I only achieved a DFS, but that is fine for daily shaving.

My brother in law has a slow-growing beard and shaves with a cartridge razor. My son-in-law has a slow growing beard and shaves with an electric shaver. Neither are interested in traditional wet shaving. I hoping my granddaughter will one day marry someone whom I can interest in wet shaving to inherit my collection of shaving paraphernalia.

Ray, I have 3 sons - no interest in my gear.  Too bad, i feel ya

Sent from my SM-A536U using Tapatalk

TC, there's always your illegitimate son (Bluegrass)

You sir are adopted!

Sent from my SM-A536U using Tapatalk

I’m going to have to try bic chrome blades. 

That is what this chart tells me.

I did and love them. A great discovery

Sent from my SM-A536U using Tapatalk

I’m going to have to try bic chrome blades. 

That is what this chart tells me.

I did and love them. A great discovery

Sent from my SM-A536U using Tapatalk

I usually like Gillette Nacet and Platinum.  I also use Personna Reds (Israel). I imagine they are similar to Nacet or Platinums.

Thanks to RayClem and his careful work, I too picked up a tuck of Bic Chrome Platinum blades. In a very mild razor, they're nice. These days I'm using an aluminum Karve Christopher Bradley. Even with the A base plate, these blades are close, comfortable, and efficient.

However, I've heard that the Bics can suffer from quality control. Maybe one blade in ten or so is off. Has anyone had troubles with that?

Thanks to RayClem and his careful work, I too picked up a tuck of Bic Chrome Platinum blades. In a very mild razor, they're nice. These days I'm using an aluminum Karve Christopher Bradley. Even with the A base plate, these blades are close, comfortable, and efficient.

However, I've heard that the Bics can suffer from quality control. Maybe one blade in ten or so is off. Has anyone had troubles with that?

I am sure that every manufacturer has QC issues. but I have yet to come across a bad BIC CP blade. That does not say that they don't exist.  Of course, BIC blades are so sharp that even if they are not quite up to par, you might still get a great shave.

After using quite many Bics from different boxes/folded hangers, I have yet to have a dud.  But I did once get two boxes of fake Bics from Vietnam.  They were awful.  The packaging was subtly different than the real ones, but the blades were rotten.  I wonder if that is where some of the poor reviews of Bics come from?

Also a Chinese forum has talk of poor quality Bic fakes. It seems the genuine orange Bics are triple bevelled. You can see this clearly if you look closely at how light reflects. I have yellow Bics that shave just as well, but I cannot clearly see a triple bevel (but my eyes are not what they were).

Only click on this link if you have an updated computer with active security software (Edge can automatically translate for you):

(NVM, the link goes to a login page, you can't see the content anymore).

BIC blades are made in Greece. The BIC factories have received ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications. Thus, their quality should be as good as any blade manufacturer globally.

As for fake blades, as more high quality blades are being produced in China and Vietnam, I am not surprised that the quality of the fakes has also improved. I used to be leery of blades coming from China, but recently I have gotten some great shaves from Chinese made blades. But like blades made in Russia, not all of them are the same. Some are sharp and smooth, others not so much.
.

     Another shave and another good example of how blade/razor combinations can affect each other. This time I used my Above The Tie SSRH open comb razor. It has an 0.80mm blade gap and I'm not sure what the exposure is. I have found it to be very smooth, efficient, and not overly aggressive, feeling at all. At least for me. This time I paired it with the king Gillette blade. Wow! This really woke the SSRH plate up. Perhaps a bit too much, even for me. It was now very much to the aggressive side and very blade forward. Very scratchy feeling is the only way I can think of to describe it, perhaps approaching R41 territory, but not quite that abrasive. I did end up with one nick. This blade was absolutely fantastic in my Overlander, but I have to make a note not to use it in this razor again as it was too much even for me. And I do tend to favor more aggressive shaves.