RayClem's Blade Evaluations

Today I tried the Zorrik Super Platinum pif'd to me by RayClem with the Lupo 127. Definitely better results than the KCG in terms of getting nicked. No nicks with the Zorrik blade, but I did feel some drag. Smoothness and closeness was fine, but I feel the drag hurts the comfort. It's not necessarily uncomfortable, it's just, well, a DRAG!!! See what I did there? It does detract from the enjoyment for me. Results were fine. Close, no irritation, no nicks, no post shave feedback, etc. Definitely not a go to blade. I would dare to step this up just a bit to a blade with a minimum sharpness of 4 to avoid drag. The Zorrik is rated at 3.5 sharpness and 4 smoothness. Not a bad shave, but not a great one either.

Today I tried the Zorrik Super Platinum pif'd to me by RayClem with the Lupo 127. Definitely better results than the KCG in terms of getting nicked. No nicks with the Zorrik blade, but I did feel some drag. Smoothness and closeness was fine, but I feel the drag hurts the comfort. It's not necessarily uncomfortable, it's just, well, a DRAG!!! See what I did there? It does detract from the enjoyment for me. Results were fine. Close, no irritation, no nicks, no post shave feedback, etc. Definitely not a go to blade. I would dare to step this up just a bit to a blade with a minimum sharpness of 4 to avoid drag. The Zorrik is rated at 3.5 sharpness and 4 smoothness. Not a bad shave, but not a great one either.

The Zorrik Platinum is definitely less sharp than the King C Gillette. I am glad it minimized the potential for nicks in your Lupo 1.27. For me, the Zorrik is not sharp enough and it sounds like your beard might be similar to mine. There are plenty of blades that fall between the Zorrik and KCG in sharpness while maintaining reasonable smoothness. 

I am glad you are reporting your experience with these blades as it reinforces the idea that not every blade works in every razor, but there should be at least one blade that work in every razor no matter the aggression level. That is why I wanted to review a series of blades that ranged in sharpness from somewhat dull to super sharp. Most blades fall somewhere in between.

Today I tried the Zorrik Super Platinum pif'd to me by RayClem with the Lupo 127. Definitely better results than the KCG in terms of getting nicked. No nicks with the Zorrik blade, but I did feel some drag. Smoothness and closeness was fine, but I feel the drag hurts the comfort. It's not necessarily uncomfortable, it's just, well, a DRAG!!! See what I did there? It does detract from the enjoyment for me. Results were fine. Close, no irritation, no nicks, no post shave feedback, etc. Definitely not a go to blade. I would dare to step this up just a bit to a blade with a minimum sharpness of 4 to avoid drag. The Zorrik is rated at 3.5 sharpness and 4 smoothness. Not a bad shave, but not a great one either.

The Zorrik Platinum is definitely less sharp than the King C Gillette. I am glad it minimized the potential for nicks in your Lupo 1.27. For me, the Zorrik is not sharp enough and it sounds like your beard might be similar to mine. There are plenty of blades that fall between the Zorrik and KCG in sharpness while maintaining reasonable smoothness. 

I am glad you are reporting your experience with these blades as it reinforces the idea that not every blade works in every razor, but there should be at least one blade that work in every razor no matter the aggression level. That is why I wanted to review a series of blades that ranged in sharpness from somewhat dull to super sharp. Most blades fall somewhere in between.

The nicks were not an issue, the blade does just feel dull. I had no problems getting decent results, likely due to the aggression of the 127. I do have the Gillette 7 o'Clock Greens rated at 4 sharpness and 4.5 smoothness. That may be a good for for the 127. I am going to try the Bolzano and eventually the KGC in my Karve (checked myshaveden and I have used the Bolzano with the E plate and had success.). I use the SB-E plate. More aggressive than your C plate, but not their most aggressive. It has a 1.10 gap and 0.17 exposure. Kind of falls in between the GC 1.05-P and the Lupo 127. I never found it to be too aggressive for me. It is efficient af, but still smooth and comfortable. At least for me. I see their C plate is very popular. I started with it but found it just a bit mild personally, but I can see why folks like it.

Today I tried the Zorrik Super Platinum pif'd to me by RayClem with the Lupo 127. Definitely better results than the KCG in terms of getting nicked. No nicks with the Zorrik blade, but I did feel some drag. Smoothness and closeness was fine, but I feel the drag hurts the comfort. It's not necessarily uncomfortable, it's just, well, a DRAG!!! See what I did there? It does detract from the enjoyment for me. Results were fine. Close, no irritation, no nicks, no post shave feedback, etc. Definitely not a go to blade. I would dare to step this up just a bit to a blade with a minimum sharpness of 4 to avoid drag. The Zorrik is rated at 3.5 sharpness and 4 smoothness. Not a bad shave, but not a great one either.

The Zorrik Platinum is definitely less sharp than the King C Gillette. I am glad it minimized the potential for nicks in your Lupo 1.27. For me, the Zorrik is not sharp enough and it sounds like your beard might be similar to mine. There are plenty of blades that fall between the Zorrik and KCG in sharpness while maintaining reasonable smoothness. 

I am glad you are reporting your experience with these blades as it reinforces the idea that not every blade works in every razor, but there should be at least one blade that work in every razor no matter the aggression level. That is why I wanted to review a series of blades that ranged in sharpness from somewhat dull to super sharp. Most blades fall somewhere in between.

The nicks were not an issue, the blade does just feel dull. I had no problems getting decent results, likely due to the aggression of the 127. I do have the Gillette 7 o'Clock Greens rated at 4 sharpness and 4.5 smoothness. That may be a good for for the 127. I am going to try the Bolzano and eventually the KGC in my Karve (checked myshaveden and I have used the Bolzano with the E plate and had success.). I use the SB-E plate. More aggressive than your C plate, but not their most aggressive. It has a 1.10 gap and 0.17 exposure. Kind of falls in between the GC 1.05-P and the Lupo 127. I never found it to be too aggressive for me. It is efficient af, but still smooth and comfortable. At least for me. I see their C plate is very popular. I started with it but found it just a bit mild personally, but I can see why folks like it.

Please do not allow yourself to think that "nicks were not an issue".  You should strive for a perfect shave every time. That means the shave should close enough for your satisfaction, with no nicks, no weepers, and  no irritation. If you fall into the trap of accepting less than perfect, you will never make the incremental improvements that are needed to achieve the perfect shave. That does not mean you need to freak out over a drop of blood or a little post shave sting, but try to figure out why it happened and make adjustments.

When I am not doing evaluations, I can get a perfect shave about 95% of the time. That still means about 1 shave a month is less than ideal. When that happens, I review each element of the shave and try to figure out what I could have done better. I have been doing blade evaluations for about six months now and during that time, I have had a high percentage of less than perfect shaves. I am looking forward to getting back to my normal shaving procedure in March. Hopefully, from what I have learned over the past six months, I can increase my percentage of perfect shaves beyond 95%.

The Zorrik Platinum is definitely less sharp than the King C Gillette. I am glad it minimized the potential for nicks in your Lupo 1.27. For me, the Zorrik is not sharp enough and it sounds like your beard might be similar to mine. There are plenty of blades that fall between the Zorrik and KCG in sharpness while maintaining reasonable smoothness. 

I am glad you are reporting your experience with these blades as it reinforces the idea that not every blade works in every razor, but there should be at least one blade that work in every razor no matter the aggression level. That is why I wanted to review a series of blades that ranged in sharpness from somewhat dull to super sharp. Most blades fall somewhere in between.

The nicks were not an issue, the blade does just feel dull. I had no problems getting decent results, likely due to the aggression of the 127. I do have the Gillette 7 o'Clock Greens rated at 4 sharpness and 4.5 smoothness. That may be a good for for the 127. I am going to try the Bolzano and eventually the KGC in my Karve (checked myshaveden and I have used the Bolzano with the E plate and had success.). I use the SB-E plate. More aggressive than your C plate, but not their most aggressive. It has a 1.10 gap and 0.17 exposure. Kind of falls in between the GC 1.05-P and the Lupo 127. I never found it to be too aggressive for me. It is efficient af, but still smooth and comfortable. At least for me. I see their C plate is very popular. I started with it but found it just a bit mild personally, but I can see why folks like it.

Please do not allow yourself to think that "nicks were not an issue".  You should strive for a perfect shave every time. That means the shave should close enough for your satisfaction, with no nicks, no weepers, and  no irritation. If you fall into the trap of accepting less than perfect, you will never make the incremental improvements that are needed to achieve the perfect shave. That does not mean you need to freak out over a drop of blood or a little post shave sting, but try to figure out why it happened and make adjustments.

When I am not doing evaluations, I can get a perfect shave about 95% of the time. That still means about 1 shave a month is less than ideal. When that happens, I review each element of the shave and try to figure out what I could have done better. I have been doing blade evaluations for about six months now and during that time, I have had a high percentage of less than perfect shaves. I am looking forward to getting back to my normal shaving procedure in March. Hopefully, from what I have learned over the past six months, I can increase my percentage of perfect shaves beyond 95%.

Actually, I meant nicks were not an issue with the Lupo and the Zorrik blade. I realize I didn't make that statement clear enough. Nicks are certainly an issue, I hate getting them. I do generally get a high percent of great shaves and really do get nicks, weepers, or irritation sometimes minor due to sensitive areas from psoriasis flare ups) very rarely. I am definitely paying more attention to the blade/razor combos to track what works best together to further eliminate any blood and/or post-shave discomfort. I am hoping over time to ween down some of my razors to consistent performers as with blades as well.

Actually, I meant nicks were not an issue with the Lupo and the Zorrik blade. I realize I didn't make that statement clear enough. Nicks are certainly an issue, I hate getting them. I do generally get a high percent of great shaves and really do get nicks, weepers, or irritation sometimes minor due to sensitive areas from psoriasis flare ups) very rarely. I am definitely paying more attention to the blade/razor combos to track what works best together to further eliminate any blood and/or post-shave discomfort. I am hoping over time to ween down some of my razors to consistent performers as with blades as well.

Thanks for the clarification. I feel MUCH better now. I am glad most of your shaves are great. Hopefully, over time, your percentage of great shaves will increase.

Tuesday Shave- Bluebird

The Bluebird blade is a private brand made by Derby and has the same complex Chromium-Ceramic-Platinum-Tungsten and Polymer coating as most of the Derby offerings, including the Parker Platinum private brand.

I was hoping that the Bluebird blades might be comparable to the Derby Premium blade; I decided to do a face off shave comparing those blades. I started the shave with the Treet 7 Days Platinum blade in the Karve C-plate stainless razor. After a couple of strokes, I replaced it with the Bluebird blade. While the Treet blade was still sharp and smooth, the initial strokes with the Bluebird was not quite as sharp. However, the blade did become sharper during the shave. I installed a fresh Derby Premium blade in my Karve brass razor, also with the C-plate and used it to shave the left side of my face. The Premium blade was slightly sharper than the Bluebird and similar to the 7 Days blade. However, in the end, I was able to achieve a near-BBS shave on both sides of my face. When applying witch hazel to my face after the shave, I got minimal feedback on the Derby Premium side and sightly more on the Bluebird side.

Based on the results of this shave, the Derby Premium blade still holds onto its 4.5 sharpness, 4.5 smoothness rating. The Bluebird blade appears to be essentially the same as the Parker Platinum blade. Since both are private labels produced by Derby, I guess that makes sense. The Bluebird blade receives a rating of 4.25 sharpness and 4.25 smoothness, the same as the Parker blade and just slightly below the Derby Premium.

Razor Blade Club sells the Bluebird blades for $15 per 100 blades. Since that the higher than the price of Derby Premium blades, I recommend them instead.

The blade evaluation spreadsheet has been updated.

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

I have decided to move the Derba Usta blade up to the next slot so that all the Derby Extra blades will be tested back to back.

Tuesday Shave- Bluebird

The Bluebird blade is a private brand made by Derby and has the same complex Chromium-Ceramic-Platinum-Tungsten and Polymer coating as most of the Derby offerings, including the Parker Platinum private brand.

I was hoping that the Bluebird blades might be comparable to the Derby Premium blade; I decided to do a face off shave comparing those blades. I started the shave with the Treet 7 Days Platinum blade in the Karve C-plate stainless razor. After a couple of strokes, I replaced it with the Bluebird blade. While the Treet blade was still sharp and smooth, the initial strokes with the Bluebird was not quite as sharp. However, the blade did become sharper during the shave. I installed a fresh Derby Premium blade in my Karve brass razor, also with the C-plate and used it to shave the left side of my face. The Premium blade was slightly sharper than the Bluebird and similar to the 7 Days blade. However, in the end, I was able to achieve a near-BBS shave on both sides of my face. When applying witch hazel to my face after the shave, I got minimal feedback on the Derby Premium side and sightly more on the Bluebird side.

Based on the results of this shave, the Derby Premium blade still holds onto its 4.5 sharpness, 4.5 smoothness rating. The Bluebird blade appears to be essentially the same as the Parker Platinum blade. Since both are private labels produced by Derby, I guess that makes sense. The Bluebird blade receives a rating of 4.25 sharpness and 4.25 smoothness, the same as the Parker blade and just slightly below the Derby Premium.

Razor Blade Club sells the Bluebird blades for $15 per 100 blades. Since that the higher than the price of Derby Premium blades, I recommend them instead.

The blade evaluation spreadsheet has been updated.

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

I have decided to move the Derba Usta blade up to the next slot so that all the Derby Extra blades will be tested back to back.

Speaking of private label Derby blades, I have been meaning to post this. While perusing the Razor Blade Club, there are several blades, some of which RayClem has already mentioned, that would appear to be Derby blades. They are all made in Turkey and have the same multi-coating of Chromium-Ceramic-Platinum-Tungsten and Polymer. They are:

Bluebird
Concord
Diamonds Pro Excel
Lion
Parker
Zaza - not sure about these. They are made in Turkey but just have a platinum or stainless coating depending on the blade.

While visiting my local Meijer store today, I discovered that they had restocked the King C Gillette blades. They had been out of stock for a while. As I suspected, the new blades were clearly labeled Made in China, however, they were packaged here in the USA. After I complete the evaluation of the 3 remaining Derby blades, I will complete the series with several Gillette blades made in India and China. I will include the KCG blades in those evaluations.

I also picked up a new pack of Van der Hagen blades. They still say "ice tempered" made in Germany. I do not expect them to be significantly different than the "ice tempered" blades tested previously. Since those blades were rated as a sharpness of 2, I wanted to make sure that I had not treated them unfairly. I purchased those blades several years ago and hope they new once might be sharper. I will evaluate that blade once all others are completed.

Looking forward to you review of the Usta. Some say they are a step up from the Premiums. They are stated to be double honed on new equipment. I have only used the Usta in an SE razor and I felt it more than fine and pretty good.

https://www.razorus.com/derby-usta-shave...des-100pcs