What is your all time worst blade?

I, too, had written the Derby off as a result of it not performing well in my vintage Gillettes. Along came a Feather AS-D2 to my den and lo-and-behold, the Derby provided a completely acceptable shave over 3 uses. Kinda flies in the face of the "use a sharp blade in a less aggresive razor" advice, but then Feathers are fine in the AS-D2 as well. I can't seem to make the AS-D2 do badly regardless of blade selected.

I'll give the Derby a try in the ikon 102 which is my current favourite razor. When I was starting out and actually keeping notes on various blades that I was trying I had concluded that the Feather blades were too aggressive for the EJ DE89 I was then using and that they were only suitable for the AS-D2. Last week I put a Feather in the ikon 102 and it was excellent. Note to self, every razor must be tried with every blade.

Most of the Gillette blades are pretty nice. I'll be interested to hear your take on the SuperMax tough! I know that's a wide range of blades, since they have many varieties. I tried several on a large sampler pack and none did the job for me.

I, too, had written the Derby off as a result of it not performing well in my vintage Gillettes. Along came a Feather AS-D2 to my den and lo-and-behold, the Derby provided a completely acceptable shave over 3 uses. Kinda flies in the face of the "use a sharp blade in a less aggresive razor" advice, but then Feathers are fine in the AS-D2 as well. I can't seem to make the AS-D2 do badly regardless of blade selected.

I'll give the Derby a try in the ikon 102 which is my current favourite razor.  When I was starting out and actually keeping notes on various blades that I was trying I had concluded that the Feather blades were too aggressive for the EJ DE89 I was then using and that they were only suitable for the AS-D2.  Last week I put a Feather in the ikon 102 and it was excellent.  Note to self, every razor must be tried with every blade.

OK, no...I tried the Derby again this morning in the ikon 102 which I've found to have a remarkably wide range of acceptable to excellent blades and IMO the Derby isn't one of them.  It was a reasonably harsh inefficient shave.  I'll give it a few days and try it in the AS-D2.
Mark

Yeah, Derby's pretty much suck, Marko. Not worth struggling with, IMO.

I, too, had written the Derby off as a result of it not performing well in my vintage Gillettes. Along came a Feather AS-D2 to my den and lo-and-behold, the Derby provided a completely acceptable shave over 3 uses. Kinda flies in the face of the "use a sharp blade in a less aggresive razor" advice, but then Feathers are fine in the AS-D2 as well. I can't seem to make the AS-D2 do badly regardless of blade selected.

I'll give the Derby a try in the ikon 102 which is my current favourite razor.  When I was starting out and actually keeping notes on various blades that I was trying I had concluded that the Feather blades were too aggressive for the EJ DE89 I was then using and that they were only suitable for the AS-D2.  Last week I put a Feather in the ikon 102 and it was excellent.  Note to self, every razor must be tried with every blade.

OK, no...I tried the Derby again this morning in the ikon 102 which I've found to have a remarkably wide range of acceptable to excellent blades and IMO the Derby isn't one of them.  It was a reasonably harsh inefficient shave.  I'll give it a few days and try it in the AS-D2.
Mark

Yeah, Derby's pretty much suck, Marko. Not worth struggling with, IMO.

This is a wise suggestion, ha!

Hmm, Derby blades seem to be the Nickelback of the WetShaving world as a lot of people dislike them.

I used them a few times and they were alright.

I think I will try one tommorow to see if it deserves such ridicule or not (for my skin and hair)

Hmm, Derby blades seem to be the Nickelback of the WetShaving world as a lot of people dislike them.

I used them a few times and they were alright.  

I think I will try one tommorow to see if it deserves such ridicule or not (for my skin and hair)

I like your comparison, ha!

Hmm, Derby blades seem to be the Nickelback of the WetShaving world as a lot of people dislike them.

I used them a few times and they were alright.  

I think I will try one tommorow to see if it deserves such ridicule or not (for my skin and hair)

I like Nickelback, I've always thought the hate was undeserved and it would seem the music buying public agrees with me - the guys in the band are from a small town north east of here, around Hanna, Alberta I believe. Good people from up there.

I like that band too.

I think for a lot of people it's just "cool" to not like them.

So I tried a Derby blade with my Wolfman closed comb razor.

The soap was PAA's Spring Heeled Jack (formula 3).

The shave wasn't bad. Soap was good, blade did its job without any issues.

For me, Derby is a middle of the road blade. Good and not terrible, but doesn't really excel in any one area either.

I like that band too.  

I think for a lot of people it's just "cool" to not like them.

So I tried a Derby blade with my Wolfman closed comb razor.

The soap was PAA's Spring Heeled Jack (formula 3).

The shave wasn't bad.  Soap was good, blade did its job without any issues.

For me, Derby is a middle of the road blade.  Good and not terrible, but doesn't really excel in any one area either.

I asked James (Wolfman) what blades he used in his own razor and he said Derby and Feather and doesn't notice a difference. YMMV