RayClem's Blade Evaluations

metal_shavings

The Wizamet blades I tested were made By Gillette in Russia. Since blades are no longer being exported from Russia to NATO countries such as the USA, there won't be many vendors stocking them. Hopefully, the one who do will have made large purchases while they were available. Once their stocks are gone, it might be difficult to get them unless they arrive through the grey market. I am glad I grabbed several tucks.

What I find surprising is that a lot of people panicked and were buying up remaining stocks of Polsilver blades after Gillette discontinued them. I never found the blades to be anything special. The Wizamet blades are superior in both sharpness and smoothness. While they are not a bargain, I consider them to be worth the current price.

metal_shavings

The Wizamet blades I tested were made By Gillette in Russia. Since blades are no longer being exported from Russia to NATO countries such as the USA, there won't be many vendors stocking them. Hopefully, the one who do will have made large purchases while they were available. Once their stocks are gone, it might be difficult to get them unless they arrive through the grey market. I am glad I grabbed several tucks.

What I find surprising is that a lot of people panicked and were buying up remaining stocks of Polsilver blades after Gillette discontinued them. I never found the blades to be anything special. The Wizamet blades are superior in both sharpness and smoothness. While they are not a bargain, I consider them to be worth the current price.

I ordered a tuck or I think it was 2 of Polsilver years back. I still have a few left in 1. I paid around maybe $5-$6 per tuck back then. I have now seen them for like $14 per tuck. I would never pay that. I paid around .27¢ per blade for Wizamet. Not a horrible price, certainly not the best. I have 2 tucks of 10 blades each so I should be good for a bit.

metal_shavings 

In my evaluations, I never tested a blade for more than two shaves. With over 60 blades to test, that just would have taken too long. Iridium is a super hard metal so the Wizamet blades might last longer than many competitors. I just have not used one enough to make that determination.  

If you really like the Wizamet blades, I would suggest that you order some more. TRC has them for $12.99 for 50 blades and $21.99 for 100. At Razor Emporium, you can get 30, 60 or 120 blades.  There is no telling how long these blades will be available, at least not the ones made in Russia. They might eventually be available from India or China, but that is not a certainty. 

There are other blades that are comparable to the Wizamet blades, but with the exception of BIC Chrome Platinum and Bolzano Superinox, they are made by Gillette and most of them were manufactured in Russia so their future is uncertain. If you are primarily interested in sharpness, there are plenty of options, but there are fewer blades that are both sharp and smooth.

metal_shavings 

In my evaluations, I never tested a blade for more than two shaves. With over 60 blades to test, that just would have taken too long. Iridium is a super hard metal so the Wizamet blades might last longer than many competitors. I just have not used one enough to make that determination.  

If you really like the Wizamet blades, I would suggest that you order some more. TRC has them for $12.99 for 50 blades and $21.99 for 100. At Razor Emporium, you can get 30, 60 or 120 blades.  There is no telling how long these blades will be available, at least not the ones made in Russia. They might eventually be available from India or China, but that is not a certainty. 

There are other blades that are comparable to the Wizamet blades, but with the exception of BIC Chrome Platinum and Bolzano Superinox, they are made by Gillette and most of them were manufactured in Russia so their future is uncertain. If you are primarily interested in sharpness, there are plenty of options, but there are fewer blades that are both sharp and smooth.

I do have the Bic and Bolzano right now. I haven't used them in a bit, but I still have some blades I bought I have not tried yet like the KCG, Derby Premium.

metal_shavings 

In my evaluations, I never tested a blade for more than two shaves. With over 60 blades to test, that just would have taken too long. Iridium is a super hard metal so the Wizamet blades might last longer than many competitors. I just have not used one enough to make that determination.  

If you really like the Wizamet blades, I would suggest that you order some more. TRC has them for $12.99 for 50 blades and $21.99 for 100. At Razor Emporium, you can get 30, 60 or 120 blades.  There is no telling how long these blades will be available, at least not the ones made in Russia. They might eventually be available from India or China, but that is not a certainty. 

There are other blades that are comparable to the Wizamet blades, but with the exception of BIC Chrome Platinum and Bolzano Superinox, they are made by Gillette and most of them were manufactured in Russia so their future is uncertain. If you are primarily interested in sharpness, there are plenty of options, but there are fewer blades that are both sharp and smooth.

I do have the Bic and Bolzano right now. I haven't used them in a bit, but I still have some blades I bought I have not tried yet like the KCG, Derby Premium.

I understand. The BIC, Bozano, KCG and Derby Premium might be good alternatives. If the Derby Premium work well for you, they are a less expensive alternative.

3rd shave with the Rockwell blade and this was the best so far,BBS shave,very slight irritation,..waited 6 hours to post because I noticed that my whiskers grow back differently after shaving with the rockwell blade,sharper almost feels like I could cut my hand on my face,like sandpaper with sharp glass shards.

Update on Sukeko Amprphous Diamond (new platinum) blade

I was hoping that the Suneko blade used for Friday's shave might be even better on its second use. I used it again for my Sunday shave. The results of today's shave were very similar to those from Friday. The blade still exhibited significant blade resistance on the WTG pass. It was sharp enough to achieve a near-BBS shave using buffing strokes on my clean-up pass, but it could have been closer. I still got significant feedback when applying witch hazel after the shave. Thus, the rating for the blade remains at 4 sharpness and 4 smoothness. This is a respectable rating, but I was hoping for more.

Here is a link to the blade evaluation spreadsheet.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/71ttt15wy...qo8eb&dl=0

At this time I have no more blade evaluations planned. If I am able to obtain a King C Gillette or other Gillette brand formerly made in Russia, but now being made in India or China, I will try to obtain a few and evaluate them to see how they compare to the Russian blades. If anyone has a blade that I have not tested and you would be willing to send me a couple for evaluation, I will be glad to review them as I have done with several of the blades in the current list.

There are a couple of things I hope to accomplish in the next few weeks. One is to go through the more than 300 posts in this thread and relate these posts to specific blades in the spreadsheet. This will make it easier for readers to find information that might be useful to them.

I also need to take an inventory of all the blades currently in my collection. Unless I live to be 100, there is no way I will ever use all the blades. Thus, some of the blades that I do not enjoy using will be offered to forum members who might enjoy them more than I. Once the inventory is completed, I will post the list of those blades that I plan to PIF. These will primarily be blades whose sharpness + smoothness ratings total 8.0 or below. With some blades I have significant quantities. With others, I might have only a few blades left.

Update on Sukeko Amprphous Diamond (new platinum) blade

I was hoping that the Suneko blade used for Friday's shave might be even better on its second use. I used it again for my Sunday shave. The results of today's shave were very similar to those from Friday. The blade still exhibited significant blade resistance on the WTG pass. It was sharp enough to achieve a near-BBS shave using buffing strokes on my clean-up pass, but it could have been closer. I still got significant feedback when applying witch hazel after the shave. Thus, the rating for the blade remains at 4 sharpness and 4 smoothness. This is a respectable rating, but I was hoping for more.

Here is a link to the blade evaluation spreadsheet.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/71ttt15wy...qo8eb&dl=0

At this time I have no more blade evaluations planned. If I am able to obtain a King C Gillette or other Gillette brand formerly made in Russia, but now being made in India or China, I will try to obtain a few and evaluate them to see how they compare to the Russian blades. If anyone has a blade that I have not tested and you would be willing to send me a couple for evaluation, I will be glad to review them as I have done with several of the blades in the current list.

There are a couple of things I hope to accomplish in the next few weeks. One is to go through the more than 300 posts in this thread and relate these posts to specific blades in the spreadsheet. This will make it easier for readers to find information that might be useful to them.

I also need to take an inventory of all the blades currently in my collection. Unless I live to be 100, there is no way I will ever use all the blades. Thus, some of the blades that I do not enjoy using will be offered to forum members who might enjoy them more than I. Once the inventory is completed, I will post the list of those blades that I plan to PIF. These will primarily be blades whose sharpness + smoothness ratings total 8.0 or below. With some blades I have significant quantities. With others, I might have only a few blades left.

RC, big thanks for doing this. You became my daily addiction. READ EVERY POST. Your thoughts on the Gillette Yellow was not found by me.

I have your spreadsheet but give us your thoughts on the Yellows again when you can.

You have increased the communities knowledge of blades! - in fact, the reasons for my preferences have been confirmed, and I have added one blade to my rotation.

There are a couple of blades you detest that work for me so I am going to be a turkey vulture for that PIF.

Sent from my SM-A536U using Tapatalk

Shave #4 yesterday with the rockwell was perfection,todays 5 th shave was just as perfect.seems the blade is getting better with every shave..looked around and these blades aren’t that popular..more for me.Noticed my retail store must have a fresh supply,also raised the price from 21 to 31 for a hundred…I’ll keep going and see how many shaves I get,then try in my rex razor.

metal_shavings 

Losing marbles must be contagious as it happens to me more frequently than I would like. At my age, we call it a "senior moment".

I am glad you were able to get a very nice shave with the Wizamet blade in the Lupo 127. If you did not experience any discomfort, the razor must be well designed. 

I will still be interested to see how you fare with a Derby Extra in that razor. The Lupo might be aggressive enough to work with the less sharp blade.

RR definitely nails smooth and comfortable with both Lupo and GC razors. The Wizamet and the Lupo 127 definitely feels aggressive. Not too much for me and still comfortable, but it may be too much for a lot of folks. You definitely have to be aware using. One pass would likely get you out the door. I'm hoping to get a shave in tomorrow and try it as a daily driver so to speak. I might go with the Derby on that one. I do think this will pair well with less sharp blades and still be efficient.

RayClem 

After regaining a few marbles, I did try the Lupo 127 as a daily driver with a 3rd use Wizamet and I tried the Derby Green with 3 days growth. As a daily driver I felt I could use it, perhaps with a slightly less sharp blade, as I did get a few small nicks. I would venture to say folks who like mild or even medium to medium/aggressive might find it too much. I feel a no brainer for a daily driver would be the Overlander. My 3rd use with Derby and 3 days growth fell a little short for me. It felt "draggy?" to me. It wasn't terribly unpleasant, but wasn't as nice as some other shaves with it. I'm feeling it is a good blade for light/minimal growth perhaps. 3rd shave on the blade with 3 days growth may have exceeded it's abilities. I definitely won't chuck them, but I likely won't use them if I have more than just my usual two days growth. Experimenting!!! It's half the fun!!! Hell, maybe even 3/4.