What is your all time worst blade?

George Orwell's 1984 has seen recent spikes in sales with recent political shifts. I was listening to an old radio performance on ROY OF HOLLYWOOD's nightly show. I don't have a ready copy and am paraphrasing. Orwell described Winston going to work in the bitter cold, his face beat up by the weather and mediocre razorblades. I always thought George must have encountered a bad blade even in his time. I read once India is the highest per capita user/maker of DE blades. An Indian neighbor explained most men go to a village barber who makes a quick slurry of cheap soap and scrapes a one pass indifferent shave. I had some indian blades and in curiosity asked for a translation of the Sanskrit alphabet, my Hindi and Pashtun limited to traditional greetings and a few vulgar epithets. It was the usual warning about not wiping the blades followed by UGH,TREETS!
I know and accept there may be magical combinations of razor and blade or a change of actual manufacture to the better. I played that alchemical search and rarely turned lead into gold. The mystery is how these companies can keep cranking out such obvious junk. Quoting a fellow revolutionary on the current political winds ' These people are not only ignorant, but they are ignorant of the fact they are.' An awful lot of Winstons must accept Merkur's recycled 88MM flak shrapnel from Construction sites as the best there is.

My all time worst was a counterfeit Gillette Rubie from a vendor in St. Petersburg Russia. Wouldn't cut - anything!

It's a shame Polsilvers are gone now.

I’m not sure what the truth about this matter is right now, but you might find this post and some of the ones after it interesting:
https://damnfineshave.com/thread-so-are-...#pid125822

And on the topic of worst blades, with high hopes I tried an Elios blade today for the first time (in my Above the Tie Calypso R1), and the blade was a joke. (A bad joke, really.) I don’t think I’ve ever binned a blade after just one use, but this one is never touching my face again. I’ll have to try another Elios from the pack that I have, and see if Nº 1 was just a dud…

I'm another Derby anti-fan. One shave was enough for me.

Some years ago, anyone saying that would have been run out of the forums on a rail.  Nowadays, Derbys seem to be the pariah of the online wetshaving world.  Interesting how the products that are most highly esteemed change over time.  I found Derbys to be stellar in a Merkur 34C, but far less stellar in an Edwin Jagger DE89.   Perhaps the question that should be asked is "What is your all time worst blade + razor combination?"

Very interesting. Indeed I would have been trying the Derbys in a DE89 or a super speed. Back in the olden days.

I've only ever tried Derby blades in a DE-89 and wasn't impressed. I think I posted earlier on in this thread that when I was communicating about a year and a half ago with James Dufour, aka Wolfman about the razor he was making for me I asked him which blade he preferred in his Wolfman razor and he said Derby. So to each their own.

I've got another candidate for worst blade Tiger blades made in the Czech Republic - they're horrible.  I'm relegating the 9 remaining blades to scraper duty.  I tried them in both a Rockwell 6s and a ikon 102


http://www.pakcosmetics.com/images/conte...gerBAN.jpg

Marko, I’ve been interested in trying the Tigers. Now I know there’s at least no rush…

a Tiger brand blade. Those folks need to be making weapons - not shaving razors.

Thanks for the heads up Marko!

a Tiger brand blade.  Those folks need to be making weapons - not shaving razors.

I agree Pete123 , its a pretty heavy duty, black blade that has to be at least three times as thick as a feather. Interesting rounded off tabs probably so you don't shear your finger tips off when disassembling the razor.

Marko , I didn't see that you had already mentioned Tiger's. Yeah, those things are dangerous.