RayClem's Blade Evaluations

Update on Tiger Superior Stainless blades.

Although I was looking forward to the 2nd use of the Tiger blades, they left me disappointed. On the second use, they were neither sharper nor smoother than on the 1st use. Since I did not find them quite sharp for my tough beard with two day's beard growth, I was hoping they might sharpen up. They did not. At least they did not deteriorate. I was still able to get a decent shave but as with the 1st use, I did not push for near-BBS. I did not get significant irritation from the shave, but might have had I chased BBS.

These are certainly not bad blades. I place them in the mid-sharp, mid-smooth category. Those characteristics make them quite suitable for a large percentage of shavers. Unfortunately, I am not a typical shaver. My beard is more coarse and my skin is more sensitive than the typical shaver. Thus, these blades are not quite what I am hoping for, but they are such that I could use them if that was all I had. That cannot be said of a number of blades I have used in the past. For someone who does not need super sharp blades, these might be a good option.

On Friday, I plan to break out the Gillette Wizamet Super Iridium blades. Many people rave about these blades. However, if they perform similar to the Gillette Polsilver Super Iridium I have used in the past, the performance might not be significantly different that what I experienced with the Tiger blades. .

Ray...I have had the identical experience with the Tiger Superior Stainless blades. I also tried the Tatra blades and had the same experience, after which I concluded that they were the same blade. A friend of mine visited friends in the Czech Republic a few months ago, and through knowledgable sources, was assured that the Tiger and Tatra blades came from the same production line and were just different labels (as I suspected).

Jonny

Thanks for the additional information. I wondered if Tiger and Tatra were just rebranding of the same blades for sale in various parts of the world. Tatra is a word derived from some of the languages used in India, such as Sanskrit. Thus, these blades might be marketed to the Indian market. Blades sold in various parts of the world seem to end up in the USA market through various channels.

By any chance has anyone used the Tiger Platinum blades. If so, how do they perform in sharpness and smoothness.

In some instances, I have found Platinum coated blades to be superior to their non-platinum counterparts. For example, I can use Shark Platinum blades but find Shark Super Chrome and Super Stainless blades to be unusable. However, the opposite can also be true. I find Astra Superior Stainless (blue) blades to be both sharp and smooth, but do not enjoy Astra Superior Platinum (green) blades. Thus, I do not find the platinum label to be a good indicator of the performance of blades. What counts is the honing process of the edge.

As promised, the next blade evaluation is of the Wizamet Super Iridium. I was not quite sure what to expect on this one. The blades indicate that they were manufactured by Gillette and The Razor Company indicated that they were made in Russia. I have used Polsilver Iridium bladles made in Russia and found them to be OK blades, but nothing special. I did not know whether Wizamet was simply a rebranding of the Polsilver blades or a new product.

I know that Wizamet blades have received very favorable reviews in most of the wet shaving community. Thus, I was hoping my experience with them would be positive as well.

I started my shave this morning with the Tiger Superior Stainless blades in the razor. I made a couple of short strokes just to remind me of the feel of those blades. As expected, they were mid-smooth and mid-sharp. Then I switched to the Wizamet blade. The difference reminded me of the experience I had a week or so ago when I switched from Kai to King C Gillette. The Wizamet blades were far sharper and far smoother. They might not be the sharpest blades available, but they sliced through my two-day beard with no issues. They were smooth enough that I was able to use buffing strokes to achieve a near-BBS share with zero feedback when I applied witch hazel after the shave.

From a technical standpoint, iridium should be an ideal coating for the edge of a razor blade. It is extremely hard and strong. Unfortunately, iridium is rare and costs four times as much a platinum and even more so when compared to the more abundant titanium. Thus, it is more common to find titanium and platinum used in razor blades than iridium. Due to the high cost of iridium (currently $4500 USD per ounce), Wizamet blades are likely to be more expensive than many competitive blades. Whether or not these blades represent a good value will depend on how many excellent shaves you can achieve using these blades. Since I am only using blades for two shaves during this evaluation, I will not be able to evaluate the endurance of these blades. However, at some point, I will try to use the Wizamet blade until they are no longer sharp and smooth to see if they are a better value than some less expensive blades.

My next shave with the Wizamet blades will be on Sunday. I am looking forward to the experience. As long as they do not deteriorate, I should get another excellent shave.

As I indicated earlier, these blades are said to have been made in Russia at the PPI facility in St. Petersburg. Wizamet blades were originally manufactured in Poland, but when the company failed, Gillette purchased a majority of the shares and moved the blade production to the PPI facility in Russia. P&G/Gillette has withdrawn recently from this facility due to the sanctions against Russia implemented after the "special military operation" in Ukraine. Gillette is moving production to other facilities such as India, I have not idea what will happen with production of the Wizamet brnad. If your are interested in the Russian made Wizamet blades, you might want to get them sooner rather than later before supplies dwindle and prices escalate. In the USA, they are available from The Razor Company and Razor Emporium. I initially ordered 20 blades from TRC, but if my second shave goes well, I plan to order another 100 blades.

I would love to hear from others who have experience with the Wizamet blades.

Update on Wizamet Super Iridium.

I was looking forward to today's shave to see if I could repeat the experience of the first shave. Today's shave was at least as good and perhaps even better. I got a wonderful shave, My face is near BBS and I got zero irritation when applying witch hazel. I suspect this blade as a few more good shaves remaining, but the time constraints of the blade evaluations won't allow me to pursue the longevity of these blades at this time.

The Wizamet blades have the potential of becoming one of my favorite blades. I plan to order 100 of them the next time I place an order with TRC.

The next blade in the queue is Vidyut SuperMax Super Stainless made in India. The only blade I have used from this manufacturer is the Blue Diamond Platinum blade and I enjoy using it. I hope my experience with the Super Stainless is also enjoyable. This shave will be on Tuesday so I will have two days of beard growth to challenge the blade.

Update on Wizamet Super Iridium.

The Wizamet blades have the potential of becoming one of my favorite blades. I plan to order 100 of them the next time I place an order with TRC.

I didn't go through a lot to compare more blades once I got to these and they've been my favorite blade for a several years now. I feel vindicated in my big purchase when I got them and still have a stash of @700 which should outlive me.

When I started this recent evaluation, I had already evaluated 25 blades and had identified 10 brands of them that were keepers. However, just like shaving soaps, I love exploring new options, even through I have enough to last me until I am 100 years old. That is why I acquired another group of blades I had never used previously.

Also, the situation with Gillette exiting the PPI facility, like Personna exiting the Israeli plant a few years ago, leaves some uncertainty in the marketplace for blades. While I probably have enough blades stashed away to last for at least 15 years, my current life expectancy, I still like seeing if there are others worth adding to my collection. Hopefully, others can benefit from my experience.

Unlike most people, I am unusual in that I rarely using a single razor for an entire shave. For evaluation purposes, I am using a Karve SB C-plate for the entire shave throughout the evaluation. However, I plan to go back to my normal procedure of using a different razor for every pass of the shave. Since I do four passes: WTG, XTG, ATG, and clean-up with buffing, I typically use four different razors each equipped with a different blade. Thus, I am always looking to find the very best blade for each of my razors and the very best razor for every pass.

My birthday is next week. I ordered a Timeless Titanium 0.68 as my birthday present from my wife. That is a very mild razor and I am hoping that it find a perfect place in the clean-up spot in my shave. I plan to pair it with a super sharp blade, probably either a Nacet or BIC Chrome, but maybe even a Feather.

I also signed up for the pass-around on the Paradigm Salient which is likely to be somewhat more aggressive than many of my razors (other than the Muhle R41). If I like the razor (perhaps even equipped with a different handle), it might find a spot as my razor of choice for the WTG role. Currently, I am using a Parker 24C open comb for that position, but it is not ideal. 

Thus, once I am no longer in evaluation mode, I am going to be using several blades at one time. No one blade is ideal for every razor.

I was certainly not discounting your experiment/evaluation RayClem I admire it and your approach and detail. I've been following it and ONLY commented because you asked any others that have used Wizamets to comment. Best Wishes !

I also have some Israeli Crystal blades, sometimes known as Israeli Personnas. The Israeli reds have a Platinum Chrome coating. The Crystals are platinum only. Both are good blades, but I have a slight preference for the Platinum Chrome.

The personnas crystal are the same as the Crystals from way back? The price has increased greatly from when I purchased them in 2017

https://imgur.com/v0dQM4d

https://imgur.com/OAlzyak

https://imgur.com/DNy2mMU

The Personna Crystals were manufactured in the Personna plant in Israel. That plant was closed in 2019. I never quite knew what the difference was between the Crystal blades (sometimes called Israeli Personnas) and the Personna Platinum Chrome (often called Israeli Reds, even when they were shipped in the blue UK packaging). They are both supposed to have a Platinum Chrome coating. Although I found the blades to be quite similar, I always had a slight preference for the Israeli Reds.

As the inventory of the Israeli made blades has diminished over the past several years, they are now priced more like vintage blades. There are Personna Platinum Chrome blades now being produced in Solingen, Germany, but I do not know whether they are the same as the Israeli Reds, the Israeli Personnas/Crystals, or something new.