(This post was last modified: 02-13-2024, 05:39 PM by RayClem.)
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.
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