01-17-2020, 07:41 AM
I think the numbers alone probably don't tell the entire story. I have not done any measurements, but I have used a lot of double edged safety razor blades to shave with. I generally get about 7 shaves before I consider them to be too dull to be worth my time. This is a luxury decision of mine. The blades I use cost around $0.17 each, so it's pretty affordable. For $17 I get 100 blades and those last me well over a year. ...and the way I use the blades, I get really, really good shaves almost every time.
Back to the sharpness and blade feel. As I was evaluating DE blades, I tried probably 12 or 15 different brands and models. There are marked sharpness differences between some of them. A lot are pretty close. But the feel can be quite different between blades. The one I ended up choosing, I was slightly biased against: The Gillette Silver Blue. It turns out this blade has a coating on it that makes it feel more smooth than a regular stainless steel blade. I think it's platinum, but I can't be sure.
Also, I occasionally get a blade, straight out of the package, that gives me bad shaves. Not horrible, but definitely rougher and worse than normal. In most cases corking the blade (drawing the edge through cork a few times) fixes this. I think that sometimes their process at the factory is imperfect and they leave behind burr material on the edge.
I also think that edge denting might play a roll in blades seeming "worse", but I have zero evidence to back that up. It's just a theory.
Brian.
Back to the sharpness and blade feel. As I was evaluating DE blades, I tried probably 12 or 15 different brands and models. There are marked sharpness differences between some of them. A lot are pretty close. But the feel can be quite different between blades. The one I ended up choosing, I was slightly biased against: The Gillette Silver Blue. It turns out this blade has a coating on it that makes it feel more smooth than a regular stainless steel blade. I think it's platinum, but I can't be sure.
Also, I occasionally get a blade, straight out of the package, that gives me bad shaves. Not horrible, but definitely rougher and worse than normal. In most cases corking the blade (drawing the edge through cork a few times) fixes this. I think that sometimes their process at the factory is imperfect and they leave behind burr material on the edge.
I also think that edge denting might play a roll in blades seeming "worse", but I have zero evidence to back that up. It's just a theory.
Brian.