Tatara Blades Arrived

Tatra is a sharp blade for me and worked very well at low aggression on muramasa 2.5-3.0 . Always got 4 good quality shaves...

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Am not one to bash manufacturers, and especially artisans, unfairly. In all cases attempt to give the benefit of the doubt until even a fool like me can safely conclude the obvious.

The Tatra blade substituted is from a completely different and unrelated source.

Shall attempt to take this blade to its failure limit and report in this thread.

Irrespective, blades, unlike any other aspect of shaving, are highly subjective: depending heavily on beard type, skin qualities, sensory perception, shave quality preferences and even psychological perspective. Additionally, have found blades are highly razor dependent even taking all the personal variables into account.

Hope this clarifies matters

Dan I quite agree with you specially on the razor dependency impacting performance of the blade directly . It could infact be the single largest reason why any particular blade does not perform in all the razors alike.

What I wanted to actually imply was that with low settings on muramasa or any lesser aggressive razor Tatra performs quite well. ymmv ..

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Tatra is a sharp blade for me and worked very well at low aggression on muramasa 2.5-3.0 . Always got 4 good quality shaves...

Sent from my V2040 using Tapatalk

Am not one to bash manufacturers, and especially artisans, unfairly. In all cases attempt to give the benefit of the doubt until even a fool like me can safely conclude the obvious.

The Tatra blade substituted is from a completely different and unrelated source.

Shall attempt to take this blade to its failure limit and report in this thread.

Irrespective, blades, unlike any other aspect of shaving, are highly subjective: depending heavily on beard type, skin qualities, sensory perception, shave quality preferences and even psychological perspective. Additionally, have found blades are highly razor dependent even taking all the personal variables into account.

Hope this clarifies matters

Dan I quite agree with you specially on the razor dependency impacting performance of the blade directly . It could infact be the single largest reason why any particular blade does not perform in all the razors alike.

What I wanted to actually imply was that with low settings on muramasa or any lesser aggressive razor Tatra performs quite well. ymmv ..

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Neither offence nor malice were noted in your reply nor that of others'.

You have always been a fair player and it reasonable you had different results from an entirely different batch of blades in an entirely different razor shaving a different person.

My response was intended more to clarifying the highly subjective nature of blades and emphasising that the potential issue encountered is being addressed in some methodical undertaking using control parameters to determine if it repeatable and if conclusions possible.

Third shave with Tatara blade loaded in WR1 Custom 0,54 DC.

Great BBS and initial pass and a half ultra smooth; however last pass wasn't terrible but definitely not smooth. Strongly inclined to call it quits after 3 PERFECT 3 pass BBS as in preadolescent girl BBS. Alum bloc indicated the shave far smoother than thought.

Agree with dtownvino that there appears to be a subtle, characterised as 10%, difference favouring the Tatara vis-a-vis the Tatra.

Frankly, to date in the Nodachi Ti, BBS1 and WR1 will proclaim it the best blade ever used. The Tatra also held self to a high standard equaling the Tatara in a Nodachi Ti and being the equal of the second best blades ever used in a BBS1 and WR1, that being Timor and Israeli Red.

All that remains is for the current Tatra to be taken to its limit to confirm whether it a 2 shave and done blade and for more Tatara blades to arrive to test comsistancy from blade to blade and send more members samples

It all on you tatararazors

When they are available in a single package I will probably add them on the list of blade that I will try, considering that they are made with Swedish stainless steel, as my standard blade (Rapira) and who have tried them seem to be happy about them.

Hi Alex, what do you mean as a single package, a 5 pack or a 100 pack? 

You can find a single pack of 5 blades for sales in the US.

I mean as single package of 5 blades.
I'm in Italy.
No major seller in Italy have it.
Even razorbladesclub don't have it.
Only tatararazors.com have it, for what I know.

When they are available in a single package I will probably add them on the list of blade that I will try, considering that they are made with Swedish stainless steel, as my standard blade (Rapira) and who have tried them seem to be happy about them.

Hi Alex, what do you mean as a single package, a 5 pack or a 100 pack? 

You can find a single pack of 5 blades for sales in the US.

I mean as single package of 5 blades.
I'm in Italy.
No major seller in Italy have it.
Even razorbladesclub don't have it.
Only tatararazors.com have it, for what I know.

Ah, understood.  I know quite a few wet shavers in Italy use a forwarder from here who like soaps/splashes they can’t get in Europe easily.

My thanks to DanLaw for sending out some of these blades. I had my first use this morning in the Masamune. It was a very comfortable shave. It seems to be close as well, but not enough time has passed to comment on the longevity of the shave. Immediately after the shave, I would have been hard pressed to differentiate between this and either of my two favorites. I'll report more soon!

Second shave with a second Tatra - to echo an old Sheena Easton tune.

Great shave, again at least equal to Timor or Israeli Red and about 10% behind a Tatara blade in smoothness and closeness. Impression was that two shaves is it for this blade. We shall see come Monday evening.

Stay tuned

I have now tried 3 shaves in 2 of my best known razors with the Tatara blades (Raw Shaving RS10 and Lambda Athena). 

I have also shaved extensively with Gillette Platinums, Personna Platinums (Israeli Reds) and a few shaves in each with Feather, Timor, and now Tatra.  

My typically daily blades are IR.  

The Tatara blades are smoother for the first 2 shaves and sharper.  They are definitely not holding their edge for me on shave 3 (Timor exceeds here, GP is ok, IR is ok, Feather falls apart).  Tatra, for some reason, underperforms my expectations, just not quite as smooth as what I would expect.  

So my conclusion is that for me, if i am going to bin a blade in 2 shaves, these are a great option (and by the way, I do bin every blade but a Timor in 2 shaves).  

The Tatara is probably a little less sharp than and Nacet or Bic Chrome, but a bit smoother than both. Definitely priced as a premium blade, but well worth it to me.  My razors are not cheap so using a blade that performs better at 20 cents per blade is fine for me. 

The one wish, I really hate wax dots. I wish in their packaging it was eliminated.  Probably why I enjoy IR’s so much.  

Right now, I’m waiting to see if there is a holiday sale at Tatara.  If so, I’m likely ordering a new razor and some blades.  If not, I’ll pick up some blades stateside for some longer testing. 

Final conclusion - it isn’t the same blade that Tatra makes.  Similar, but either I’m envisioning something that isn’t true through mental branding or I am becoming the best shaver I have ever been with this blade, which could be true because I am actually paying more attention than normal due to the testing.

Thank you DanLaw for the chance to test the blades!

Tatara blades JUST arrived!  Anybody wanting samples, please let me know via PM

Got my first shave in with the Tatara blade. Thank you DanLaw for sharing. Decided to put it in the Muramasa adjustable razor. I typically like to use that razor on a setting of 3, so that's where I started.

My initial thought upon seeing the blade was that it has beautiful packaging, like everything Tatara produces. Lots of style. The logo is very cool. It has two wrappers. An outer wrapper with branding and an internal blank thinner wrapper. It doesn't seem that the blade has heavy wax spots on it, but there appears to be a small amount of wax (or whatever that sticky stuff is). I couldn't really decide. Nothing like a Feather blade. I don't love blades with lots of wax since it tends to transfer to my razors. This wasn't an issue.

As for the shave. The blade was very sharp and felt smooth. I did get a weird nick above my lip which is unusual for me. Not a normal nick place for me. Equally strange was that it bled for like two seconds and sealed up quickly. Makes me think the blades are very sharp. I did get a little irritation on my neck which happens when I use Feather or Kai blades. Initial impression is that it felt a lot like a Personna blade.

I'm looking forward to getting a few more shaves in. I usually shave every two days, so it will be Thursday before I shave again. I typically get three shaves per blade (my usual blades are Astra Platinums, Gillette Silver Blue, and Treet blades). I'm going to see how long I can stretch this blade. My guess is five plus shaves will be no problem.

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