SE Artist Club Blade Comparisons

The shave of the day was with the Feather Light blade.
 The way I understand is these do not ordinarily fit a Vector but DanLaw reworked the mounting holes so it fit, correct Dan?
   Today's shave was a little bit painful no matter how fast I went on each stroke.
 I usually move the razor quite a good clip, unless around my mouth and chin area. 
A lot of that first pass was painful each stroke which got a little bit better after that.
There was a lot of hair left even after 4 passes plus cleanup buffing and strokes.
I ended up with a so-so shave that wasn't very fun comfortable or close.
I think this is the least of my favorite of blades I've tried and not sure if I will even bother to use it again. 
 Really glad I get got to experience this blade though, the Feather Professional Light.

The shave of the day was with the Feather Light blade.
 The way I understand is these do not ordinarily fit a Vector but DanLaw reworked the mounting holes so it fit, correct Dan?
   Today's shave was a little bit painful no matter how fast I went on each stroke.
 I usually move the razor quite a good clip, unless around my mouth and chin area. 
A lot of that first pass was painful each stroke which got a little bit better after that.
There was a lot of hair left even after 4 passes plus cleanup buffing and strokes.
I ended up with a so-so shave that wasn't very fun comfortable or close.
I think this is the least of my favorite of blades I've tried and not sure if I will even bother to use it again. 
 Really glad I get got to experience this blade though, the Feather Professional Light.

Correct. It is my experience also. The harshness mellows out substantially after the first shave so less than Pro but shave is not as close as Pro.

Please cork then strop this blade and give it one more shot.

The shave of the day was with the Feather Light blade.
 The way I understand is these do not ordinarily fit a Vector but DanLaw reworked the mounting holes so it fit, correct Dan?
   Today's shave was a little bit painful no matter how fast I went on each stroke.
 I usually move the razor quite a good clip, unless around my mouth and chin area. 
A lot of that first pass was painful each stroke which got a little bit better after that.
There was a lot of hair left even after 4 passes plus cleanup buffing and strokes.
I ended up with a so-so shave that wasn't very fun comfortable or close.
I think this is the least of my favorite of blades I've tried and not sure if I will even bother to use it again. 
 Really glad I get got to experience this blade though, the Feather Professional Light.

Correct. It is my experience also. The harshness mellows out substantially after the first shave so less than Pro but shave is not as close as Pro.

Please cork then strop this blade and give it one more shot.

I'm not used to corking and very rarely do a palm stropping.
You've talked me into it though I'll give it another go

The shave of the day was with the Feather Light blade.
 The way I understand is these do not ordinarily fit a Vector but DanLaw reworked the mounting holes so it fit, correct Dan?
   Today's shave was a little bit painful no matter how fast I went on each stroke.
 I usually move the razor quite a good clip, unless around my mouth and chin area. 
A lot of that first pass was painful each stroke which got a little bit better after that.
There was a lot of hair left even after 4 passes plus cleanup buffing and strokes.
I ended up with a so-so shave that wasn't very fun comfortable or close.
I think this is the least of my favorite of blades I've tried and not sure if I will even bother to use it again. 
 Really glad I get got to experience this blade though, the Feather Professional Light.

Correct. It is my experience also. The harshness mellows out substantially after the first shave so less than Pro but shave is not as close as Pro.

Please cork then strop this blade and give it one more shot.

I'm not used to corking and very rarely do a palm stropping.
You've talked me into it though I'll give it another go

It helps realign and smooth edge. Don't try it on guarded edge blades though; would be disasterous

This is the first part of my AC blade comparison. It's not truly scientific, but I don't have the time to do a perfect study. All my scores are relative, i.e. you can compare them to each other. Here goes!

• Primary goal: Compare five AC blades for smoothness and closeness of shave.
  
• Secondary goal: Find the best blade for my Vector Ti, because it's always felt a bit harsh for my face.
  
• AC blades in my possession: Feather Professional, Kai Captain Titan Pink Mild, Schick Proline, Kai Captain Titan Protouch MG, Feather Professional Super.
  
• Soaps and Aftershaves used: SV 4.3 base with SV aftershave, and B&M Omnibus base with Zingari Man balm.
  
• 5 shaves with each blade: 4 with Vector Ti, and 1 with La Faulx stainless with Classic (mildest) blade gap.
  
• Scoring is out of 5, with 5 being the smoothest and closest.
  
• All blades start out as new.
  
• I did one "control" shave with a Blackbird stainless (DE razor) with Gillette Silver Blue blade. 
  

Feather Professional

1. Vector Ti + SV: Smoothness 3/5, Closeness 3/5 (one cut)
   
2. Vector Ti + Omnibus: Smoothness 3.5/5, Closeness 4/5
   
3. Vector Ti + SV: Smoothness 2/5, Closeness 4/5
   
4. Vector Ti + Omnibus: Smoothness 3.5/5, Closeness 4/5
   
5. La Faulx + Omnibus: Smoothness 4/5, Closeness 3/5
   

Kai Captain Titan Pink Mild

1. Vector Ti + SV: Smoothness 3.5/5, Closeness 4/5 (AS sting)
   
2. Vector Ti + Omnibus: Smoothness 4/5, Closeness 4/5
   
3. Vector Ti + SV: Smoothness 3.5/5, Closeness 4/5 (AS sting)
   
4. Vector Ti + Omnibus: Smoothness 4/5, Closeness 4/5
   
5. La Faulx + Omnibus: Smoothness 5/5, Closeness 3/5 (AS slight sting)
   

Control for Comparison

1. Blackbird SS with GSB + SV: Smoothness 4.5/5, Closeness 5/5 (BBS shave, AS sting)
   

Impressions from this round: The Kai Captain Pink Mild beat the Feather Pro slightly in both smoothness and closeness. But it's also sharper, and when I was using the SV aftershave, which is alcohol-based, it had a noticeable sting as if my skin had been scraped. The La Faulx stainless with Classic gap was a lot smoother with both blades, but also not as close as the Vector Ti. 

The most surprising result so far is how good the Blackbird stainless was. I like SE razors because of their width (fewer strokes needed) and the thickness of their blades. But the Blackbird, when using the shallow angle informed by the top cap's design, was both very smooth and very close. It's delivered the closest shaves I've ever experienced. It still had the aftershave sting, though, which says to me that there was some face-scraping involved. My daily shave is the La Faulx with a Schick Proline, and I don't get much if any sting with that combo. But I also don't look in the mirror and notice the angles on my face and how I can't see any trace of whiskers under the skin at all - which is what the Blackbird gives me. But I have to use much more care with the Blackbird than the La Faulx. After this, I will still use the La Faulx for daily shaves, but will add the Blackbird into my rotation when I have more than one days growth. And, I still have three more SE blades to test with the Vector, I could find one that takes it to the next level.

Funny story: sometimes it's hard to see if there's a blade in my La Faulx if I don't have the lights in my bathroom turned up. I loaded the Kai Captain Titan Pink Mild in my La Faulx for the fifth shave with that blade, without realizing there was already a Schick Proline in it. So two blades stacked on top of each other. That shave was so harsh I couldn't believe it. My La Faulx is my mildest razor. I decided to stop the shave and change blades, at which point I realized there were two blades in there. 

Next up: Schick Proline (it fit in my Vector) and Kai Protouch MG!

(Edited: Changed the paragraph about the Blackbird.)

johnnylighton nice to see how it's going with the blades for you and looking forward to your thoughts.

johnnylighton  would you care to try a Feather SoftGuard?  PM if interested  SoftGuard is the preferred blade for QD or QOD shaves excepting 4+ day growth when use the ProGuard

To demonstrate how vastly different the La Faulx shaves, use a Feather ProSuper in it for QD shaves

Second shave with the Feather Professional Light. I found a cork and corked it then did some palm stropping.
  I got one painful non efficient pass and had to change it out. 
I went plenty fast on each stroke it was like tearing off a Band-Aid from a sore body part.
And definitely adding pressure of any form was not going to be the answer either. 

I cannot deal with those blades, that one's going to the bottom of the list.
    
 I finish up the shave with a Soft Guard and by that point I had already stirring some skin discontent up.
I ended up getting a so so shave after switching blades. 
   So I've made it through all of the blades now. 
I'm going to start going through some of them again and hopefully come to some of my personal ranking conclusions.

Second shave with the Feather Professional Light. I found a cork and corked it then did some palm stropping.
  I got one painful non efficient pass and had to change it out. 
I went plenty fast on each stroke it was like tearing off a Band-Aid from a sore body part.
And definitely adding pressure of any form was not going to be the answer either. 

I cannot deal with those blades, that one's going to the bottom of the list.
    
 I finish up the shave with a Soft Guard and by that point I had already stirring some skin discontent up.
I ended up getting a so so shave after switching blades. 
   So I've made it through all of the blades now. 
I'm going to start going through some of them again and hopefully come to some of my personal ranking conclusions.

Coincides with Light experience here.

Strictly SoftGuards unless extended days of beard growth when ProGuards employed; even then, often stick with SoftGuards requiring some buffing after the third pass to achieve the desired perfect BBS.

I'm going to be switching around back and forth now that I've made my way through all of the AC blades.
 Yesterday's shave was with the Kai Mild blade. 
The shave went pretty good and I do like the mild blade but I'm not sure I love it.
 It seems like these Kai Mild blades are on par with the Schick Prolines that apparently may or may not fit the Vector.